Up Up Down Down

Despite the warnings of her mother and father, Anna persists in trying to climb things, until she gets stuck in the top of a tree and needs their help to get down.

In the tradition of John Jeremiah Sullivan and David Foster Wallace, Cheston Knapp’s Up Up, Down Down “is an always smart, often hilarious, and ultimately transcendent essay collection” (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) that brilliantly explores authenticity and the nature of identity. Daring and wise, hilarious and tender, Cheston Knapp’s “glittering” (Leslie Jamison) collection of seven linked essays tackles the Big Questions through seemingly unlikely avenues. In his dexterous hands, an examination of a local professional wrestling promotion becomes a meditation on pain and his relationship with his father. A profile of UFO enthusiasts ends up probing his history in the church and, more broadly, the nature and limits of faith itself. Attending an adult skateboarding camp launches him into a virtuosic analysis of nostalgia. And the shocking murder of a neighbor expands into an interrogation of our culture’s prevailing ideas about community. Even more remarkable, perhaps, is the way he manages to find humanity in a damp basement full of frat boys. Taken together, the essays in Up Up, Down Down amount to a chronicle of Knapp’s coming-of-age, a young man’s journey into adulthood, late-onset as it might appear. He presents us with formative experiences from his childhood to marriage that echo throughout the collection, and ultimately tilts at what may be the Biggest Q of them all: what are the hazards of becoming who you are? With “a firmly tongue-in-cheek approach to the existential crises of male maturity for the millennial generation…Knapp’s intelligent take on coming-of-age deserves to be widely read” (Publishers Weekly). “Compelling…Precise and laugh-inducing” (The New York Times Book Review), Up Up, Down Down signals the arrival of a truly one-of-a-kind voice.

Follow an energetic toddler's day with Dad that's full of opposites - up and down, make and break, yum and yuck, and more. From his first demand to be picked up and then immediately put down, opposites pop up all day long for this energetic boy. Breakfast is no, no, no, yes! At the sandbox, it's make, make, make, break! And jumping into the pool goes from can't, can't, can't, to can! Kimberly Gee's expressive illustrations emphasize the loving connection between a boy and his father in this clever concept book about everyday highs and lows that is sure to entertain little (and big!) members of the family.

Sprightly illustrations set the mood for a rhythmic text that follows nature's course as it demonstrates how seeds in a garden grow into a final feast of backyard bounty. Full color.

Have you ever dreamed about getting paid to write about video games and the fascinating people who make them? Unless you live on the West Coast and are lucky enough to land a rare staff position at one of the major gaming publications, freelancing is the best way to turn slinging words about your favorite hobby into a viable and lucrative career. The best part? You can do it from anywhere! Up Up Down Down Left WRITE: The Freelance Guide to Video Game Journalism covers everything you need to get started along the path to launching and maintaining a successful freelance career in the gaming industry. Pro freelancer Nathan Meunier has written for more than 30 of the top gaming outlets -- from Nintendo Power, GamePro, and Official Xbox Magazine to IGN, GameSpot, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and more. In this advice-packed tome for aspiring freelance game journos and more established writers alike, Nathan delivers detailed insights and how-to tips based on many years of professional writing experience. You will learn how to: -Generate killer article ideas, pitch editors, and score paying work -Build towards quitting your day job to freelance full-time -Juggle the business-related side of freelancing -Cover gaming conventions and press junkets -Network with editors and writers -Work with PR to gain coverage opportunities and free review games. And much, much more!

More than one hundred and twenty-five images and more than eighty texts--including flyers, zines, newsprint weeklies, book covers, and more--capture the spontaneity of New York's downtown literary scene between 1974 and 1992, offering profiles of Spalding Gray, Lynne Tillman, Eric Bogosian, Kathy Acker, Miguel Pi¤ero, and other writers. Simultaneous.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Frontiers of Algorithmics Workshop, FAW 2014, held in Zhangjiajie, China, in June 2014. The 30 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 65 submissions. They provide a focused forum on current trends of research on algorithms, discrete structures, operations research, combinatorial optimization and their applications.