Torn Halves

What is the relation of politics to theory? Theories make political claims, theorists make political critiques, and academics use theory in the pursuit of institutional ends: theory is not only about politics but is itself a political practice.

At the end of the 9th grade, Katie Terosie learns that her family is moving to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. She is devastated about the move and leaving her friends in Minnesota. That is, until she meets her new neighbors, Seth and his sister, Lauren. While snorkeling, Katie finds a map in a bottle at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Katie, her younger sister Anna, Seth, and Lauren decide to follow the map. They discover that they can magically breathe underwater and, in a short time, find themselves in a tricky position. They are in a world of mermaids, mermen, and all kinds of dangers. The only way to get home is to find the King of this magical world and ask for his help. Will he choose to help or will they be forced to stay like all the other humans – as prisoners?This story consists of adventure, friendship, and romance. Though they have good times and bad times in the underwater world, their only mission is to somehow find their way home.

The Melancholy Science is Gillian Rose’s investigation into Theodor Adorno’s work and legacy. Rose uncovers the unity discernable among the many fragments of Adorno’s oeuvre, and argues that his influence has been to turn Marxism into a search for style. The attempts of Adorno, Lukács and Benjamin to develop a Marxist theory of culture centred on the concept of reification are contrasted, and the ways in which the concept of reification has come to be misused are exposed. Adorno’s continuation for his own time of the Marxist critique of philosophy is traced through his writings on Hegel, Kierkegaard, Husserl and Heidegger. His opposition to the separation of philosophy and sociology is shown by examination of his critique of Durkheim and Weber, and of his contributions to the dispute over positivism, his critique of empirical social research and his own empirical sociology. Gillian Rose shows Adorno’s most important contribution to be his founding of a Marxist aesthetic that offers a sociology of culture, as demonstrated in his essays on Kafka, Mann, Beckett, Brecht and Schönberg. Finally, Adorno’s ‘Melancholy Science’ is revealed to offer a ‘sociology of illusion’ that rivals both structural Marxism and phenomenological sociology as well as the subsequent work of the Frankfurt School.

The Frankfurt School' refers to the members associated with the "Institut fur Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) " which was founded in Frankfurt in 1923. The work of this group is generally agreed to have been a landmark in twentieth century social science. It is of seminal importance in our understanding of culture, progress, politics, production, consumption and method. This set of six volumes provides a full picture of the School by examining the important developments that have occured since the deaths of the original core of Frankfurt scholars. All the major figures--Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Benjamin--are represented. In particular, the important post-war work of Jurgen Habermas is fully assessed. The collection also covers the work of many of the minor figures associated with the School who have been unfairly neglected in the past, resulting in the most complete survey and guide to the "oeuvre" of the Frankfurt School.

What is the significance of noise in modernist music and literature? When Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring premiered in Paris in 1913, the crowd rioted in response to the harsh dissonance and jarring rhythms of its score. This was noise, not music. In Sublime Noise, Josh Epstein examines the significance of noise in modernist music and literature. How—and why—did composers and writers incorporate the noises of modern industry, warfare, and big-city life into their work? Epstein argues that, as the creative class engaged with the racket of cityscapes and new media, they reconsidered not just the aesthetic of music but also its cultural effects. Noise, after all, is more than a sonic category: it is a cultural value judgment—a way of abating and categorizing the sounds of a social space or of new music. Pulled into dialogue with modern music’s innovative rhythms, noise signaled the breakdown of art’s autonomy from social life—even the “old favorites” of Beethoven and Wagner took on new cultural meanings when circulated in noisy modern contexts. The use of noise also opened up the closed space of art to the pressures of publicity and technological mediation. Building both on literary cultural studies and work in the “new musicology,” Sublime Noise examines the rich material relationship that exists between music and literature. Through close readings of modernist authors, including James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, E. M. Forster, and Ezra Pound, and composers, including George Antheil, William Walton, Erik Satie, and Benjamin Britten, Epstein offers a radically contemporary account of musical-literary interactions that goes well beyond pure formalism. This book will be of interest to scholars of Anglophone literary modernism and to musicologists interested in how music was given new literary and cultural meaning during that complex interdisciplinary period.

My life of crime started early. I can remember stealing a red squirt gun from the local grocery store at the age of nine. As the years went by, my criminal actions grew bigger and bolder, which eventually led to juvenile hall then prison. Throughout my time while incarcerated, I noticed that the term dog eat dog or only the strong survive applied to daily life in jail, and it was usually the physically bigger that commanded respect, although there were many that had a great deal of respect because they had the bigger heart; however, it was often the ones that were in shapeor, as I like to say, riot ready,who ran the show. It wasnt hard for me to make my choice. I have always been a leader, so I began to exercise vigorously every day. I also sought out any and all information concerning natural bodybuilding. Surprisingly, the more I learned, the more I realized how much I had previously known, and I also realized that the majority of people exercising didnt have a clue as to what they were doing. So I decided to really get serious about learning the ins and outs of fitness. I took a correspondence course on fitness. I found advertisements in the back of a fitness magazine. That was when my body began to really transform. My body grew more in one year than it had grown in several years of exercise. It was very clear that knowledge is power! Since then I have made it my mission to educate and motivate others. I know from experience that its not easy to get in shape while incarcerated. Prisons in California no longer have free weights, and the food is of low quality, but if you really want to get in shape, it can be done. In this book, I have simplified the complex world of fitness. By no means will it be easy, but it is very possible to get in the best shape of your life without weights or supplements. The term no hurt, no big shirt does apply because in order to build your body up, you must first break it down. If you are not willing to push your body to new limits, then you should put this book down now. This book is only for people who are dedicated to fitness and willing to sacrifice to get it. If thats you, then welcome to the world of fitness and health. In this book, you will learn how to exercise properly to achieve maximum growth while you obtain the shredded look coveted by many. You will also learn how to manufacture your own fitness equipment from ordinary objects found around your cell or your home. Finally, you will learn about proper nutrition. If you truly have the willpower and determination, then you will achieve amazing results. Good luck! Brandon Caine