Wanderlost

“WanderLOST is a beautiful story, a tremendous global-adventure kind of story...Sims asks all the right questions. He gently invites you to ask them with him. He travels the world and brings you along. He offers the hope he has found with a humility that invites you to ponder with him where you have found hope”. – Shane Claiborne, Author, Activist This exuberant coming of age story charts one millennial’s decades-long globetrotting adventure in pursuit of meaning, significance, and belonging. With each intriguing anecdote, harrowing encounter, and entertaining mishap the author challenges readers to reckon with accepted notions of freedom and identity. Sims expertly melds memoir with moral philosophy as he weighs the costs of a life in pursuit of liberty and happiness. In the void left from this path, WanderLOST offers readers glimpses of wholeness in the deeper journey of learning to love.

Not all those who wander are lost, but Aubree Sadler most definitely is on this novel’s whirlwind trip through Europe. A romantic and charming YA debut perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins and Jenny Han. Aubree can’t think of a better place to be than in perfectly boring Ohio, and she’s ready for a relaxing summer. But when her older sister, Elizabeth, gets into real trouble, Aubree is talked into taking over Elizabeth’s summer job, leading a group of senior citizens on a bus tour through Europe. Aubree doesn’t even make it to the first stop in Amsterdam before their perfect plan unravels, leaving her with no phone, no carefully prepared binder full of helpful facts, and an unexpected guest: the tour company owner’s son, Sam. Considering she’s pretending to be Elizabeth, she absolutely shouldn’t fall for him, but she can’t help it, especially with the most romantic European cities as the backdrop for their love story. But her relationship with Sam is threatening to ruin her relationship with her sister, and she feels like she’s letting both of them down. Aubree knows this trip may show her who she really is—she just hopes she likes where she ends up.

A coming-of-age travel memoir that probes thorny spiritual questions while taking the reader on a wild ride from the deep American South to the Middle East, Europe, and the Far East. Once the golden girl of her Arkansas town, Natalie finds herself squeezed under small town shame and rejection after being kicked out of church for getting a divorce. It’s a hard fall off of a sanctimonious high horse, and religious fundamentalism has left her feeling broken and stuck. But she can’t shake the ‘wanderlust woes’ that have plagued her since childhood, so she runs away to the Middle East. As a mostly-sheltered Southerner, she struggles to adapt but is determined to be ‘at home’ in the world. Her journey is more than a pilgrimage, it’s a peregrination: a one-way ticket to elsewhere in search of the place of her own resurrection. Within these pages is a suspenseful adventure filled with love, loss, laughter, tears, and a little bit of scandalous behavior, but at the heart of it, Natalie walks squarely into the unknown to confront the secret matters of the soul that we wrestle with at night.

Technological advancements have influenced many fields of study, and the visual arts are no exception. With the development of new creative software and computer programs, artists and designers are free to create in a digital context, equipped with precision and efficiency. Analyzing Art, Culture, and Design in the Digital Age brings together a collection of chapters on the digital tools and processes impacting the fields of art and design, as well as related cultural experiences in the digital sphere. Including the latest scholarly research on the application of technology to the study, implementation, and culture of creative practice, this publication is an essential reference source for researchers, academicians, and professionals interested in the influence of technology on art, design, and culture. This publication features timely, research-based chapters discussing the connections between art and technology including, but not limited to, virtual art and design, the metaverse, 3D creative design environments, cultural communication, and creative social processes.

This book addresses the issue of smart and sustainable development in the Mediterranean (MED) region, a distinct part of the world, full of challenges and risks but also opportunities. Above all, the book focuses on smartening up small and medium-sized cities and insular communities, taking into account their geographical peculiarities, the pattern of MED urban settlements and the abundance of island complexes in the MED Basin. Taking for granted that sustainability in the MED is the overarching policy goal that needs to be served, the book explores different aspects of smartness in support of this goal’s achievement. In this respect, evidence from concrete smart developments adopted by forerunners in the MED region is collected and analyzed; coupled with experiences gathered from successful, non-MED, examples of smart efforts in European countries. More specifically, current research and empirical results from MED urban environments are discussed, as well as findings from or concerning other parts of the world, which are of relevance to the MED region. The book’s primary goal is to enable policymakers, planners and decision-making bodies to recognize the challenges and options available; and make to more informed policy decisions towards smart, sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban and regional futures in the MED.

A passionate, thought-provoking exploration of walking as a political and cultural activity, from the author of Orwell's Roses Drawing together many histories--of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores--Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers. She profiles some of the most significant walkers in history and fiction--from Wordsworth to Gary Snyder, from Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet to Andre Breton's Nadja--finding a profound relationship between walking and thinking and walking and culture. Solnit argues for the necessity of preserving the time and space in which to walk in our ever more car-dependent and accelerated world.

TROLLS hits theaters everywhere on November 4, 2016! DreamWorks Animation’s TROLLS is an irreverent comedy extravaganza with incredible music! From the genius creators of SHREK, TROLLS stars Poppy, the optimistic leader of the Trolls, and her polar opposite, Branch. Together, this unlikely pair of Trolls must embark on an adventure that takes them far beyond the only world they've ever known. Now you can meet the main characters and tour Troll Town before you see the movie! Harper is nervous about making friends. She's an artiste, and that can mean sometimes she has her head—and her multicolored hair—stuck in a project. But she has nothing to worry about. Poppy and her friends are the chattiest, friendliest, danciest group of trolls she'll ever meet! And they're determined help Harper overcome her friendship fear! This paper-over-board prequel novel introduces readers to their soon-to-be favorite characters and features a totally original story.

Now in paperback, inspired by Joan of Arc, a girl builds a submarine and pilots it across the Chesapeake Bay to escape her abusive father in this gorgeous middle-grade debut Mary Murphy feels like she’s drowning. Her violent father is home from prison, and the social worker is suspicious of her new bruises. An aunt she’s never met keeps calling. And if she can’t get a good grade on her science project, she’ll fail her favorite class. But Mary doesn’t want to be a victim anymore. She has a plan: build a real submarine, like the model she’s been making with Kip Dwyer, the secretly sweet class clown. Gaining courage from her heroine, Joan of Arc, Mary vows to pilot a sub across the Chesapeake Bay, risking her life in a modern crusade to save herself. Mary Underwater is an empowering tale of persistence, heroism, and hope from a luminous new voice in middle-grade fiction.