The Way We Bared Our Souls

If you could trade your biggest burden for someone else’s, would you do it? Five teenagers sit around a bonfire in the middle of the New Mexico desert. They don’t know it yet, but they are about to make the biggest sacrifice of their lives. Lo has a family history of MS, and is starting to come down with all the symptoms. Thomas, a former child soldier from Liberia, is plagued by traumatic memories of his war-torn past. Kaya would do anything to feel physical pain, but a rare condition called CIP keeps her numb. Ellen can’t remember who she was before she started doing drugs. Kit lost his girlfriend in a car accident and now he just can’t shake his newfound fear of death. When they trade totems as a symbol of shedding and adopting one another’s sorrows, they think it’s only an exercise. But in the morning, they wake to find their burdens gone…and replaced with someone else’s. As the reality of the ritual unfolds, this unlikely group of five embarks on a week of beautiful, terrifying experiences that all culminate in one perfect truth: In the end, your soul is stronger than your burdens. "Utterly original, haunting, and honest, Strayhorn's literally infectious story of fear and hope will change the way you view your flaws forever." --Una LaMarche, critically acclaimed author of Like No Other and Five Summers

Korea’s first significant encounter with the West occurred in the last quarter of the eighteenth century when a Korean Catholic community emerged on the peninsula. Decades of persecution followed, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Korean Catholics. Don Baker provides an invaluable analysis of late-Chosŏn (1392–1897) thought, politics, and society to help readers understand the response of Confucians to Catholicism and of Korean Catholics to years of violent harassment. His analysis is informed by two remarkable documents expertly translated with the assistance of Franklin Rausch and annotated here for the first time: an anti-Catholic essay written in the 1780s by Confucian scholar Ahn Chŏngbok (1712–1791) and a firsthand account of the 1801 anti-Catholic persecution by one of its last victims, the religious leader Hwang Sayŏng (1775–1801). Confucian assumptions about Catholicism are revealed in Ahn’s essay, Conversation on Catholicism. The work is based on the scholar’s exchanges with his son-in-law, who joined the small group of Catholics in the 1780s. Ahn argues that Catholicism is immoral because it puts more importance on the salvation of one’s soul than on what is best for one’s family or community. Conspicuously absent from his Conversation is the reason behind the conversions of his son-in-law and a few other young Confucian intellectuals. Baker examines numerous Confucian texts of the time to argue that, in the late eighteenth century, Korean Confucians were tormented by a growing concern over human moral frailty. Some among them came to view Catholicism as a way to overcome their moral weakness, become virtuous, and, in the process, gain eternal life. These anxieties are echoed in Hwang’s Silk Letter, in which he details for the bishop in Beijing his persecution and the decade preceding it. He explains why Koreans joined (and some abandoned) the Catholic faith and their devotion to the new religion in the face of torture and execution. Together the two texts reveal much about not only Korean beliefs and values of two centuries ago, but also how Koreans viewed their country and their king as well as China and its culture.

The tumultuous 1960s have passed and given way to the turbulent 1970s where chaos is the word for world politics, war, protest, and vast changes in social reforms, music, art, and virtually all aspects of global civilization. Santa Fe, New Mexico is no exception to these experiences. The family and friends comprising the Warrior Spirit Investigations firm and its alliances have found rich lives with new opportunities, children, and personal and professional growth and challenges. The group and their city have moved past the terror of the infamous “Vampire Killer” that stalked young women in Santa Fe and across the country over decades. But a new killer has emerged from the shadows and his presence is becoming clearer as innocent men and women vanish and fall prey to a misguided search for personal justice and a cleansing of old grievances. During this growing threat, a young woman has appeared on the scene and presents the Grayhawks with a surprising request—find her true identity. An amnesiac with no history past the last five years has come to them as a last resort to reclaim her past and determine her future. Using their talents and undaunted fortitude Memphis, Tucson, Sand, Swan, Percy, Nick, and their devoted and determined associates forge ahead to uncover the ruthless killer and the elusive past. But will their pursuits achieve the desired results or will the unknown pull them into a psychological quagmire that will change their futures?

This book contains more than four decades of experience, strength, and hope in recovery from sexual compulsion. It has been written, edited, and published entirely by members of Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA). This 3rd edition is an expanded and updated version of SCA’s previous recovery book. It includes commentaries on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions as adapted from the original principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, as written by members of SCA. They provide context for working the Twelve Steps and practical wisdom in the observance of the Twelve Traditions. This version also contains new commentaries on The Characteristics Most of Us Seem to Have in Common, an early work that SCA members developed in the 1980s. The book begins with a Foreword written by Alexandra Katehakis, Ph.D., who is a Clinical Sexologist and Founder of the Center for Healthy Sex. She is the author of numerous books on sex addiction and intimacy issues. This edition addresses the individual in recovery and then discusses how SCA members recover together in groups and the fellowship at large. There are also chapters on sexual anorexia and pornography, apps, and internet addiction that SCA developed to address the fellowship’s changing needs. After extensive revisions, many separately released SCA publications, including Moving Through Withdrawal, Avoiding Common Pitfalls, Secret Shame, etc., have chapters in this edition. Other chapters from the SCA: A Program of Recovery, 2nd edition, were revised and updated before inclusion in this edition. These sections address designing a sexual recovery plan, sponsorship, the telephone as a recovery tool, compulsive masturbation, abstinence, and ways to avoid a “slip.” The chapters on individual recovery conclude with SCA’s version of The Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous: The Gifts of Recovery. The group recovery section has updated chapters on starting an SCA meeting, what happens at SCA meetings, and doing service in SCA. Origins of SCA, which are stories written by some of SCA’s founders, appear unchanged from the previous edition. This book also contains twenty-eight (28) stories of individual recovery, written by various SCA members. Keywords: 12-Step Recovery, Sex Addiction, Sexual Compulsion, Compulsive Masturbation, Spirituality, Anonymous Sex, Romantic Obsession, Sexual Sobriety, Pornography, Apps, Webcams, Recovery from Shame, Withdrawal, Sponsorship, Abstinence, Anorexia, Low Self-esteem

"A World War II love story for the ages. . . The kind of book that you think about afterward. . .They [hero/heroine] grip your heart and make you weep."—In Print It is definitely one for the keeper shelf.—Margaret Lawrence I highly recommend It Had to Be You for an all-consuming and powerful love story.—Romance Communications Reviews* Best Mainstream Novel – Golden Triangle* Runner-up Best Mainstream Novel – Book of Your Heart* Runner-up Best Historical – Now and Then* Runner-up Best Historical – Show Me More* under various previous titles* *** The time is 1937. Journalist Dianne Castle mixes with Hollywood's elite post-Prohibition hedonists at the popular Club Borneo, owned by handsome Japanese American, Johnny Honda. Amidst the threat of war and chants of Yellow Peril, Dianne and Johnny fall in love, but it's a love not to be. How can Johnny let his beloved Dianne throw her life away on the likes of him? Dianne stubbornly vows to follow him to the ends of the earth-even if it means entering an internment camp.

A USA TODAY bestseller! What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas... or it changes your life forever. Disjointed images from the night before, the night I can't entirely remember, float into my mind. Meeting him in the bar. Sharing tidbits of our lives. I own a company that plans bachelor parties. He's a pediatric heart surgeon. We both live in Las Vegas, but we come from very different worlds. And then I remember that kiss. The way his lips brushed against mine, gentle at first, then harder, deeper, with more urgency. Sex in the elevator. Hot, forbidden, delicious. I remember the way he made me feel. The way our bodies fit perfectly together. But I don't remember marrying him. And now, he won't let me go. Dr. Sexy who saves children for a living. He wants the summer to prove we are meant to be. I can give him a summer. But can I give him a lifetime? *This is a contemporary romance novel with a happily ever after. It does NOT have a cliff-hanger ending.

When a young Hittite charioteer discovers that the chariot accident that killed his father and maimed his grandfather was sabotage aimed at the king, he sets out to find the killer. Facing the loss of everyone he holds dear, he learns that good and evil are often not what they seem, and he must struggle to adjust to a new truth about himself.

No Destination: A Travellers Way is a collection of poetry spanning six decades. It is my father's work. When I started this project I thought this was a gift for him. After immersing myself with a script of over 1000 pages of poems for well over 10 hours, I was acutely aware of my feelings- past and present. I recalled incidents, stories, memories awash with joy, anger, guilt and surprise. Does everyone close to a poet feel the work with this intensity? I realized then, that this gift was mine.