Within These Four Walls

"Every word written in this book was written from within the confines of my home. Spanning over nearly three years this book is a testament to my time being housebound and proof that despite all the suffering, there is always happiness to be created, peace to be unearthed, and a life to be lived. A journey of self-discovery and personal growth, I hope this book may offer you comfort, inspiration, and wisdom, whatever path you find yourself on. And I hope by sharing my story and imparting my thoughts, it may help you in some small way too." - You'll find this book is a collection of "pieces": some longer, some shorter, some reading like letters, others like journal entries, some like poems, and some continuous and broken prose. The book is split into three parts: The Storm, The Aftermath, and The Calm, as well as a bonus chapter called 'A Conversation with Wisdom'. This book will take you on a transformative journey from the bad moments, to the good moments, and everything in between.

Architects, we like to believe, shape the world as they please. Reinier de Graaf draws on his own tragicomic experiences to present a candid account of what it is really like to work as an architect. To achieve anything, he notes, architects must serve the powers they strive to critique, finding themselves in a perpetual conflict of interest.

Within the Four Walls is a dream within us to pursue happiness in a world that is not perfect—that is our motivation. The collection of poems by Abuchi Onyema is the inspiration in quintessential struggle of every soul: the consciousness of the imperfections and the aspiration of our contributions to raise above evil .Each one of us is a dolphin in the joyous journey from the abyss to dancing in the sky.

A riveting and redemptive family memoir, The Four Walls of My Freedom is Donna Thomson’s account of raising a son with cerebral palsy and a passionate appeal to change the way we think about “the good life.” Donna Thomson’s life was forever changed when her son Nicholas was born with cerebral palsy. A former actor, director, and teacher, Donna became his primary caregiver and embarked on a second career as a disability activist, author, and consultant. Thomson vividly describes her experience in treading delicately through daily care, emergencies, and medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son’s condition while maintaining value and dignity (for Nicholas, too). She brilliantly demonstrates the vital contribution that people with disabilities make to our society and addresses the ethics and economics of giving and receiving care. Featuring an introduction by John Ralston Saul, and two new chapters, The Four Walls of My Freedom is a passionate appeal to change to the way we think about the “good life” that will touch anyone caring for the life of another.

In their own words nine contemporary teenagers give accounts of violence, as witnesses, victims, instigators or all three. An afterword by a youth services specialist explores how teenagers can come to terms with violent events.

Hip-hop is creating an expanding ministerial and spiritual movement that is changing the socio-historical landscape on a national and global level. From the streets of its birthplace in the South Bronx to the barrios of Colombia in South America; Hip-hop is helping to create sacred spaces that are providing purpose to our marginalized youth and young adult street populations. Beyond the Four Walls: The Rising Ministry and Spirituality of Hip-hop serves as both an autobiographical and ethnographical journey of my love and experiences with Hip-hop as a professor, youth minister and artist. I invite the reader to explore my outlook on Hip-hop, which reaches far beyond the scope of its music, commercialization, and hood life. Instead, it takes another look at the unprecedented impact that Hip-hop continues to have in both our secular and spiritual communities. Because of its ongoing commitment to community organizing, activism, social justice and education, Hip-hop is worthy to be called a 21st Century socio-political, theological and spiritual movement, akin to that of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mohammed, Abraham, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and most notably in this book, Jesus Christ and Paul the Apostle.

“Mamma, look what’s happening down there on the street!” Priaanshi exclaimed at 3 am in the morning. I ran along with her to the balcony of her bedroom. There was some commotion happening near a parked ambulance right across the road from our building. Three persons wearing PPE kits were trying to drag in a patient into the ambulance. Before I could try to make sense of what was happening, the ambulance doors shut, the driver stepped on the accelerator and whizzed past. It was as if death was lurking nearby and coming closer and closer. Was the virus spreading through the air? Would it kill all of us? The fear and panic was already causing palpitations. What would happen next? Would the virus ever go away? Will the world find a solution to bring an end to the spread of this nasty, mysterious microorganism? There were no answers to the constant questions that were bombarding every cell in my brain. Neither did I have an answer when Priaanshi asked me with tears in her eyes, “Ma, what’s exactly happening? What will happen to us? Will all of us die?”

This is the remarkable story of two British officers and their war effort, capture by the Germans, imprisonment and eventual escape to Holland. The pair were stationed in Mons at the outbreak of the war but were both captured and transferred to a POW camp in Burg, Germany. Almost immediatelly after arriving, the pair were planning their escape. After dyeing and tailoring their own uniforms, they simply strolled out of the Burg camp, enjoying nine days of freedom before being recaptured at Rostock. Complete with a collection of original photographs and drawings drawn by the authors, this book reads like the screenplay of a Hollywood blockbuster and is a riveting read from beginning to end.