Without A Net

An urgent testament to the trials of life for women living without a financial safety net Indie icon Michelle Tea -- whose memoir The Chelsea Whistle details her own working-class roots in gritty Chelsea, Massachusetts -- shares these fierce, honest, tender essays written by women who can't go home to the suburbs when ends don't meet. When jobs are scarce and the money has dwindled, these writers have nowhere to go but below the poverty line. The writers offer their different stories not for sympathy or sadness, but an unvarnished portrait of how it was, is, and will be for generations of women growing up working class in America. These wide-ranging essays cover everything from selling blood for grocery money to the culture shock of "jumping" class. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Bee Lavender, Eileen Myles, and Daisy Hernáez.

Confronted by omnipresent threats of job loss and change, even the brightest among us are anxious. Packed with practical advice and inspiring stories, "Flying Without a Net" explains how to draw strength from vulnerability.

Does the idea of speaking without a manuscript in the pulpit make you feel like a trapeze artist trying to negotiate a high wire without a net? There you are, ly.balancing delicately in the stratosphere and holding on for dear life with nothing but you and your ballet shoes, wondering "Why, oh why, didn't I bring even a sliver of paper up here to catch me when I fall?" For many pastors, preaching without notes is a terrifying prospect -- yet reading verbatim from a manuscript prevents a sermon from being natural and spontaneous. This book shows how you can learn to preach freely without needing the net of written reminders, while still retaining full control over your material. It presents a concise and workable method for creating memorable sermons that connect with listeners. By focusing on delivery, Shepherd casts the entire sermon preparation process, including both study and composition, in a completely new light. Using this approach will make it easy to preach sermons without notes, because they were meant to be preached in the paperless pulpit. Featuring a user-friendly design, Without A Net is a convenient, instructive text for both beginning and experienced preachers. In addition to a complete system for constructing and delivering a sermon from start to finish, there's a brief outline of the entire process that allows you to quickly locate more details on specific topics. A concise "nutshell" summarizes each chapter's highlights, and there are plenty of pithy "hints and tips" to help you with the essential steps. Several sample sermons are also included so you can see how this approach actually works. Preaching without a net may seem like magic to congregations. But there's no real secret; the answer is right here in this book. With a little practice, one day they'll be asking you too, "How do you do that?" William H. Shepherd is an author, teacher, biblical scholar, and Episcopal priest who currently serves as an Interim Ministry Specialist in the Diocese of Connecticut. In addition to 19 years of experience in parish ministry, he has taught preaching and biblical studies at Candler School of Theology, Virginia Theological Seminary, George Mercer Memorial School of Theology, and Immaculate Conception Seminary. Shepherd's writing has appeared in Christian Century, Anglican Theological Review, Emphasis: A Preaching Journal for the Parish Pastor, and several other publications. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, Yale Divinity School, and received his Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Emory University.

Michelle Kennedy had a typical middle class American childhood in Vermont. She attended college, interned in the U.S. Senate, married her high school sweetheart and settled in the suburbs of D.C. But the comfortable life she was building quickly fell apart. At age twenty-four Michelle was suddenly single, homeless, and living out of a car with her three small children. She waitressed night shifts while her kids slept out in the diner's parking lot. She saved her tips in the glove compartment, and set aside a few quarters every week for truck stop showers for her and the kids. With startling humor and honesty, Kennedy describes the frustration of never having enough money for a security deposit on an apartment—but having too much to qualify for public assistance. Without A Net is a story of hope. Michelle Kennedy survives on her wits, a little luck, and a lot of courage. And in the end, she triumphs.

Imagine a future without cyberspace or without the Web or virtual reality. What would happen in an alternate Information Age? What would you do? What would you fear? What wouldn’t you know? Today’s top masters of speculative fiction offer visions of futures near and far, of alternative histories, and journeys down roads not taken. What does await us at the end of a different tunnel? What would we find in dimensions where the inevitable vastness of cyberspace has been replaced by things surprising and strange? Welcome to science fiction unplugged, and set free to be. Live Without a Net contains works by such standout science fiction authors as Lou Anders, John Grant, Matthew Sturges, and many more!

Endorsed by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Working Without a Net is a thought-provoking management book which offers growth and success strategies, powerful exercises, and practical, self-motivating "rules of the game" to help managers compete successfully in today's high-risk business environment. Major media attention.

As Fred the Mermaid tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur, the High Prince of the undersea realm, and Thomas, a hunky marine biologist. She's also caught between two factions of merfolk: those happy with swimming under the radar-and those who want to bring their existence to the surface.

As Fred the Mermaid tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur, the High Prince of the undersea realm, and Thomas, a hunky marine biologist. She's also caught between two factions of merfolk: those happy with swimming under the radar-and those who want to bring their existence to the surface.