Download or read book House Built on Ashes written by José Antonio Rodríguez and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 2009, and José Antonio Rodríguez, a doctoral student at Binghamton University in upstate New York, is packing his suitcase, getting ready to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his parents in South Texas. He soon learns from his father that a drug cartel has overtaken the Mexican border village where he was born. Now, because of the violence there, he won’t be able to visit his early-childhood home. Instead, his memories will have to take him back. Thus, Rodríguez begins a meditative journey into the past. Through a series of vignettes, he mines the details of a childhood and adolescence fraught with deprivation but offset by moments of tenderness and beauty. Suddenly he is four years old again, and his mother is feeding him raw sugarcane for the first time. With the sweetness still on his tongue, he runs to a field, where he falls asleep under a glowing pink sky. The conditions of rural poverty prove too much for his family to bear, and Rodríguez moves with his mother and three of his nine siblings across the border to McAllen, Texas. Now a resident of the “other side,” Rodríguez experiences the luxury of indoor toilets and gazes at television commercials promising more food than he has ever seen. But there is no easy passage into this brighter future. Poignant and lyrical, House Built on Ashes contemplates the promises, limitations, and contradictions of the American Dream. Even as it tells a deeply personal story, it evokes larger political, cultural, and social realities. It speaks to what America is and what it is not. It speaks to a world of hunger, prejudice, and far too many boundaries. But it speaks, as well, to the redemptive power of beauty and its life-sustaining gift of hope.
Download or read book House Built on Ashes written by José Antonio Rodríguez and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 2009, and José Antonio Rodríguez, a doctoral student at Binghamton University in upstate New York, is packing his suitcase, getting ready to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his parents in South Texas. He soon learns from his father that a drug cartel has overtaken the Mexican border village where he was born. Now, because of the violence there, he won’t be able to visit his early-childhood home. Instead, his memories will have to take him back. Thus, Rodríguez begins a meditative journey into the past. Through a series of vignettes, he mines the details of a childhood and adolescence fraught with deprivation but offset by moments of tenderness and beauty. Suddenly he is four years old again, and his mother is feeding him raw sugarcane for the first time. With the sweetness still on his tongue, he runs to a field, where he falls asleep under a glowing pink sky. The conditions of rural poverty prove too much for his family to bear, and Rodríguez moves with his mother and three of his nine siblings across the border to McAllen, Texas. Now a resident of the “other side,” Rodríguez experiences the luxury of indoor toilets and gazes at television commercials promising more food than he has ever seen. But there is no easy passage into this brighter future. Poignant and lyrical, House Built on Ashes contemplates the promises, limitations, and contradictions of the American Dream. Even as it tells a deeply personal story, it evokes larger political, cultural, and social realities. It speaks to what America is and what it is not. It speaks to a world of hunger, prejudice, and far too many boundaries. But it speaks, as well, to the redemptive power of beauty and its life-sustaining gift of hope.
Download or read book Rise How a House Built a Family written by Cara Brookins and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you were inspired by Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, you’ll love this extraordinary true story of a woman taking the greatest risk of her life in order to heal from the unthinkable. After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible. Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children. It would be the hardest thing she had ever done. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two story, five bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family. This must-read memoir traces one family’s rise from battered victims to stronger, better versions of themselves, all through one extraordinary do-it-yourself project.
Download or read book From the Ashes written by Jesse Thistle and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER *Winner, Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Nonfiction *Winner, Indigenous Voices Awards *Winner, High Plains Book Awards *Finalist, CBC Canada Reads *A Globe and Mail Book of the Year *An Indigo Book of the Year *A CBC Best Canadian Nonfiction Book of the Year In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. If I can just make it to the next minute...then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead. From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up. Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, whose tough-love attitudes quickly resulted in conflicts. Throughout it all, the ghost of Jesse’s drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling with all that had happened, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. Finally, he realized he would die unless he turned his life around. In this heartwarming and heart-wrenching memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful past, the abuse he endured, and how he uncovered the truth about his parents. Through sheer perseverance and education—and newfound love—he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family. An eloquent exploration of the impact of prejudice and racism, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help us find happiness despite the odds.
Download or read book Ashes to Asheville written by Sarah Dooley and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two sisters take off on a wild road trip in this poignant tale for fans of Counting by 7s and Fish in a Tree After Mama Lacy’s death, Fella was forced to move in with her grandmother, Mrs. Madison. The move brought Fella all sorts of comforts she wasn't used to at home, but it also meant saying goodbye to her sister Zoey (a.k.a. Zany) and her other mother, Mama Shannon. Though Mama Shannon fought hard to keep Fella, it was no use. The marriage act is still a few years away and the courts thought Fella would be better off with a blood relation. Already heartbroken, Fella soon finds herself alone in Mrs. Madison's house, grieving both the death of her mother and the loss of her entire family. Then one night, Zany shows up at Mrs. Madison’s house determined to fulfill Mama Lacy’s dying wish: to have her ashes spread over the lawn of the last place they were all happy as a family. Of course, this means stealing Mama Lacy’s ashes and driving hundreds of miles in the middle of night to Asheville, North Carolina. Their adventure takes one disastrous turn after another, but their impulsive journey helps them rediscover the bonds that truly make them sisters. A heartrending story of family torn apart and put back together again, Ashes to Asheville is an important, timely tale.
Download or read book Ashes of Twilight written by Kassy Tayler and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome or is the world still consumed by fire? When one of Wren's friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome's way of life. But Alex's final words are haunting. "The sky is blue." What happens next is a whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wren unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a revolution that destroys the dome and the only way to survive might be to embrace what the entire society has feared their entire existence. Ashes of Twilight is the first book in a trilogy by Kassy Tayler.
Download or read book Tangled Ashes written by Michèle Phoenix and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-09-21 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2013 Christy Award finalist! When Marshall Becker arrives in Lamorlaye, France, to begin the massive renovation of a Renaissance-era castle, he unearths a dark World War II history few in the village remember. The project that was meant to provide an escape for Becker instead becomes a gripping glimpse into the human drama that unfolded during the Nazi occupation and seems to live on in midnight disturbances and bizarre acts of vandalism.
Download or read book An Ember in the Ashes Ember Quartet Book 1 written by Sabaa Tahir and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Tahir spins a captivating, heart-pounding fantasy’ – Us Weekly Read the explosive New York Times bestselling debut that’s captivated readers worldwide. Set to be a major motion picture, An Ember in the Ashes is the book everyone is talking about.
Download or read book The Shallow End of Sleep written by José Antonio Rodríguez and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: José Antonio Rodríguez's poetry is one of memory, both private and public. It is grounded in storytelling and lyricism that reveal a speaker's developing awareness as he traverses borders of nation, language, class, and sexuality. The poems move back and forth between a home left behind on the south side of the Rio Grande and a new home on the north side. Both awe-struck by and apprehensive of the world around him, the speaker searches for a way to claim a new space, a place of belonging. Through these poems, both lyrical and narrative, tender and tense, familiar and estranging, the poet invites us to examine the very concept of home--how we define it, what constitutes it, the ways it can be destabilized and how, in the most trying times, we must learn to sustain the hope of it in our hearts.
Download or read book A Study in Ashes written by Emma Jane Holloway and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evelina's problems are part of a much larger war. The Baskerville affair is finally coming to light, and the rebels are making their move to wrest power from the barons and restore it to Queen Victoria. Missing heirs and nightmare hounds are the order of the day - or at least that's what Dr. Watson is telling the press. But their plans are doomed unless Evelina escapes to unite her magic with the rebels' machines - and even then her powers aren't what they used to be. A sorcerer has awakened a dark hunger in Evelina's soul, and only he can keep her from endangering them all. The only problem is . . . he's dead.
Download or read book The Homes We Build on Ashes written by Christina Park and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book This American Autopsy written by José Antonio Rodríguez and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this powerful collection of free-verse poetry, immigrant, poet, and memoirist José Antonio Rodríguez encapsulates the experiences of an artist and citizen caught between two worlds. At once deeply personal and thematically expansive, these works offer a bracing look at the darker impulses of contemporary America. Saturated with allusions to family, immigration, sexuality, and violence, This American Autopsy is also an unsettling meditation on life and death. With its provocative title, the collection calls to mind an image of our nation as a body awaiting examination to determine the cause of death. In this scenario the poet vacillates between various roles: coroner, pathologist, and the body itself. Some of the poems in this collection look to the past: events such as the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion or the author’s first trip to an American grocery store. Others muse on more recent tragedies, including the racial violence in Ferguson, Missouri, and the illicit drug trade. A few of the poems are written in Spanish, and the volume concludes with two English translations of these poems, which the author originally wrote in his native language. Even as he paints a vivid picture of American diversity, Rodriguez exposes the deterioration of our nation—broken promises, failed prosperity, the shattering of dreams. Intimate and urgent, these timely dispatches from the Texas-Mexico border reveal the tensions and contradictions of today’s America.
Download or read book From These Ashes Part Iii written by T.E. Reynolds and published by Author House. This book was released on 2011-02-18 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Even in historys darkest times, enlightened men looked to the heart when choosing a friend. From These Ashes, is about a young man from Barnwell County, South Carolina who inherits 150 of his fellow human-beings. Part I, A Friend Loveth at All Times, speaks of the close relationships that existed on plantations between master and slave and the unrecognized struggle for freedom complicated by loyalty to a fair master. Part II, A Brother Offended, continues the story through the war. The characters serve with the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry under Edgefields M.C. Butler - sharing in such adventures as Brandy Station, Hamptons cattle raid and the bitter return to South Carolina to fight against Kilpatricks Army, who gloried in burning a path from the low country to Columbia with more vengeance than Sherman dealt Georgia. After the war, the main character returns home to find another challenge. Following true accounts of the Reconstruction, Part III, Through Wisdom is a House Built, places the characters into this agonizing time. In Part III, the main character does what he must to build a safe future for those he loves from the ashes left by Kilpatricks invasion. From These Ashes celebrates positive qualities in men of both colors. Reynolds believes what we give our power over to will manifest. With this story he has chosen to celebrate the good in mankind - the good that was present then and is now. President Lincoln once said when meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, So youre the little lady who wrote the book that started this great war! Reynolds shares a veiled history with a new generation of Americans. Knowledge brings understanding and understanding empathy. So with this tale his prayer is set free Let the South be free to celebrate her Confederate heritage.
Download or read book Report of the Commissioners of State of Large Towns and Populous Districts written by and published by . This book was released on 1844 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thirty sixth Thirty seventh annual report together with the annual report of the secretary written by Massachusetts board of educ and published by . This book was released on 1874 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Public Documents of Massachusetts written by Massachusetts and published by . This book was released on 1874 with total page 1464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book House of Ashes written by Loretta Marion and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cassandra Mitchell lives in the majestic Battersea Bluffs, a brooding Queen Anne home originally built by her great-grandparents. Local lore has it that there was a curse placed on the family and the house is haunted. Cassie stands to lose her beloved home due to mounting debt and the machinations of her ex-husband. Her hopes are raised when a young couple wanders onto the property and promise to help Cassie renovate the carriage house into a guest rental. And when they vanish without a trace, Cassie is devastated. Digging into their disappearance starts to uncover her own family's long-forgotten secrets.
