Why Must I Cry

This thoughtful, poetic book uses metaphors and beautiful imagery to explore the reasons for our tears. In a soft voice, Mario asks, “Mother, why do we cry?” And his mother begins to tell him about the many reasons for our tears. We cry because our sadness is so huge it must escape from our bodies. We cry because we don’t understand the world, and our tears go in search of an answer. Most important, she tells him, we cry because we feel like crying. And, as she shows him then, sometimes we feel like crying for joy. This warm, reassuring hug of a book makes clear that everyone is allowed to cry, and that everyone does.

For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. It is a ritual no woman can refuse. But Fauziya dared to try. This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S. prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars. Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.

Sorin Cerin's poetry contributes, through each new verse, through each new poem or collection, to the construction of such an autarchic (Autarky) spiritual system. Therefore, the poet's terminology has a precise intrinsic logic: when he says that any Cathedral of the Absurd is built with matter taken from death, when he writes about the Subconscious Stranger or the Frozen Words floating around us like thorns of ice, the meaning of these phrases must be sought within the mythographic system created by the poet, and not interpreted by extrapolation. Let us try, therefore, to decrypt the symbolic and narrative structure of this myth, in order to understand its meaning. The universe that the poet evokes in his verses is one of the endings of cosmic cycle, being, therefore, one of eschatological origin. There are, in it, "cemeteries of words ," "ruined cathedrals," cluttered dawns, which "crumble," or "broken windows of Heaven," in which "it rains with sharp shards, of moments." We will not find anywhere in the perimeter of this universe, which seems inspired by the ruins suspended in ether, of the Giovanni Battista Piranesi, no space of compensation or refuge, the ruin and the dispersion being ubiquitous.(Stefan Borbely)

"In 2011 and 2012, while more than 900 people were being murdered on the streets of Chicago, creative-writing students from DePaul University fanned out all over the city to interview people whose lives have been changed by the bloodshed. The result is How Long Will I Cry?: Voices of Youth Violence, an extraordinary and eye-opening work of oral history. Told by real people in their own words, the stories in How Long Will I Cry? are at turns harrowing, heartbreaking and full of hope."--Publisher's website.

Ever since their daughter Angel became ill with AIDS, Sam and Mary Stone’s home life completely changed, but it’s been especially hard on Mary. When their friends and family reject them, Angel has to drop out of private school, and Mary leaves her career as a cardiologist. Even her husband Sam, the one person Mary thought she could count on for love and support, begins cheating on her with another woman. Those who not so long ago phoned or visited the Stones most every day, now don’t want anything to do with them. Even Angel’s grandmother rejects them. Without support from her husband and friends, Mary does her best to protect her daughter from what has become a nightmare. Mary’s first instinct is to seek help at a highly touted medical center that cares for AIDS patients, but she learns that the center is not what it’s cracked up to be. Mary takes Angel away for a new start, and comes to realize that there’s nothing more important than offering her love and spending time with her daughter. But then another tragedy strikes. This uplifting novel about illness in the family looks at the situation from the side of the caregiver, as it profiles a mother who faces the pain that any parent would feel when her child is ill.

Between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema were modern! For five short years women in American cinema were modern! They took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality, led unapologetic careers and, in general, acted the way many think women only acted after 1968. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties - good or bad - sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along to blast away these common stereotypes. Garbo turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale. Meanwhile, Norma Shearer succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. Garbo and Shearer took the stereotypes and made them complicated. In the wake of these complicated women came others, a deluge of indelible stars - Constance Bennett, Ruth Chatterton, Mae Clarke, Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Ann Harding, Jean Harlow, Miriam Hopkins, Dorothy Mackaill, Barbara Stanywyck, Mae West and Loretta Young all came into their own during the pre-Code era. These women pushed the limits and shaped their images along modern lines. Then, in July 1934, the draconian Production Code became the law in Hollywood and these modern women of the screen were banished, not to be seen again until the code was repealed three decades later. Mick LaSalle, film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, takes readers on a tour of pre-Code films and reveals how this was the true golden age of women's films and how the movies of the pre-Code are still worth watching. The bold, pioneering and complicated women of the pre-Code era are about to take their place in the pantheon of film history, and America is about to reclaim a rich legacy.

One man's personal journey of grieving the loss of his wife written over a period of 3 years January 11 2002 Oh Booby, Booby, Booby. This explains it all. I want you back so much, yet fully understand this is a fantasy. It must be my way of handling (or trying to) my pain, thinking of the good times, wanting the good times, knowing that now they have to come from what I make. Round and round we go, it ́s an intriguing web we weave ourselves. The web breaks, so we have to spin a new one. This I will continue to do until I make a web so strong that I will feel safe, feel confident with myself. March 2 2002 Still feeling as though I ́m just floating like a feather in the wind. Like the feather I don't know where I will land. It's as though I have no control but I know for sure that this is not so. I ́m in complete control; it is me allowing myself to be in this state. I want companionship' so much, but I ́m scared, I want to touch, explore, and feel someone. Selfishly for my own needs but it's something I need to happen because I have to justify to myself that I can love again.

This autobiography is a memoir of poetry and short stories depicting the personal triumph over tragedy and the life of Christina M. Brown. She gives personal accounts of the experiences in her life; taking you inside her mind as she struggled and battled many storms and strongholds. Many of these challenges directed her down dangerous paths. However, she goes on to tell of how she found the light and through it all would weather the storms and survive.She is passionate about uplifting and edifying the souls of others. With great detail she encourages the reader to fight for life and realize they are not alone. If she can beat the odds, so can you. The riveting and deep poems and stories are sure to reach inside your soul to find the will to make it and find your purpose.