Download or read book Stabs at Happiness written by Todd Grimson and published by Schaffner Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marking the first original publication by Todd Grimson in almost 20 years, the 13 stories compiled in this volume showcase the author’s fascinating fictional canvases, peopled by authentic and sympathetic characters with settings ranging from the Amazon to the Sahara and stops in between to 1970s East Village and pre-Castro Cuba. Whether it’s a Hollywood starlet who goes AWOL from her movie set in the wake of her husband's suicide and in disguise embarks anonymously on a hedonistic bender or an African American man seeking the answer behind the mysterious disappearance of his friend in the heart of Muslim North Africa, each individual within these stories is striving to break free, to make new meaning of their world, to find recognition or self-definition in an otherwise bleak and unsympathetic world. Fresh and bold and original in his voice and depiction of character, places, and events, Grimson’s range is extraordinary, his imagination is unsurpassable, and his empathy for his characters—whether killers, transvestites, prostitutes—are all deeply heartfelt.
Download or read book Choosing Happiness written by Francisco Ugarte and published by Scepter Publishers. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: St. Josemaría once wrote, “Our Lord does not expect us to be unhappy in our life on earth and await a reward only in the next life. God wants us to be happy on earth too, but with a desire for the other, total happiness that only he can give.” Our lives are full of highs and lows, successes and struggles, joys and sorrows. We are called to live with a happy heart alongside it all. But it is not enough to want to be happy: we must learn to be. Fr. Francisco will help you to discover happiness regardless of life’s circumstances, by uniting your heart with the heart of God. In this book, you will be given the knowledge and the tools to embrace and live out an all-encompassing happiness —a daily fulfillment— that ensures joy now as well as in the afterlife.
Download or read book A Small Boy and Others written by Michael Moon and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moon illuminates the careers of James, Warhol, and others by examining the imaginative investments of their protogay childhoods in their work in ways that enable new, more complex cultural readings.
Download or read book Do What You Love written by Miya Tokumitsu and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American claim that we should love and be passionate about our job may sound uplifting, or at least, harmless, but Do What You Love exposes the tangible damages such rhetoric has leveled upon contemporary society. Virtue and capital have always been twins in the capitalist, industrialized West. Our ideas of what the “virtues” of pursuing success in capitalism have changed dramatically over time. In the past, we believed that work undertaken with an ethos of industriousness promised financial stability and basic comfort and security for our families. Now, our working life is conflated with the pursuit of pleasure. Fantastically successful—and popular—entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey command us. “You’ve got to love what you do,” Jobs tells an audience of college grads about to enter the workforce, while Winfrey exhorts her audience to “live your best life.” The promises made to today’s workers seem so much larger and nobler than those of previous generations. Why settle for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a perfectly functional eight-year-old car when you can get rich becoming your “best” self and have a blast along the way? But workers today are doing more and more for less and less. This reality is frighteningly palpable in eroding paychecks and benefits, the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny few, and workers’ loss of control over their labor conditions. But where is the protest and anger from workers against a system that tells them to love their work and asks them to do it for less? While winner-take-all capitalism grows ever more ruthless, the rhetoric of passion for labor proliferates. In Do What You Love, Tokumitsu articulates and examines the sacrifices people make for a chance at loveable, self-actualizing, and, of course, wealth-generating work and the conditions facilitated by this pursuit. This book continues the conversation sparked by the author’s earlier Slate article and provides a devastating look at the state of modern America’s labor and workforce.
Download or read book Finding True Happiness written by Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the hottest topics in contemporary culture is happiness—so much so that the United Nations declared an International Happiness Day in response to the immense popularityof Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy”. The explanation for this current fixation seems to lie in the contrary phenomenon—unhappiness. Despite the fact that we have tremendous access to every imaginable form of entertainment, we experience a pervading sense of insecurity, emptiness, and malaise amid sporadic peak experiences. The problem seems to lie less in the external environment than in the internal one. We seem, in the words of Viktor Frankl, to be suffering from an absence of meaning that pervades both individuals and societies, giving rise to a collective emptiness, loneliness, and alienation. Finding True Happiness attempts to provide a way out of this personal and cultural vacuum by helping people to identify and then reach for happiness. As Aristotle noted 2,400 years ago, happiness is the one thing we can choose for its own sake—everything else is chosen for the sake of happiness. After an exhaustive investigation of philosophical, psychological, and theological systems of happiness, author Fr. Spitzer developed the “Four Levels of Happiness”, which he based on the classical thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas; the contemporary philosophers Marcel, Scheler, Buber, Ricoeur, and Jaspers; and the modern psychologists Maslow, Frankl, Erikson, Seligman, Kohlberg and Gilligan. Finding True Happiness is both a philosophical itinerary and a practical guidebook for life’s most important journey—from the mundane and the meaningless to transcendent fulfillment No other book currently available combines such breadth of practical advice and such depth of philosophical, psychological, and spiritual wisdom.
Download or read book Brand New Cherry Flavor written by Todd Grimson and published by IPG. This book was released on 2011-10 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the world of Hollywood s panderers, philanderers, has-beens, and sycophants, aspiring screenwriter and director Lisa Nova considers herself a rising star who can transcend the lies, cheating, and hypocrisy for the sake of her art. When she is coldly betrayed by one leering producer too many, she turns to Boro, the enigmatic leader of a local biker gang, to exact vengeanceand she gets more than she bargained for. It begins with the strange tattoos that appear overnight on her skin like stigmata, followed by the hallucinations of ancient cults of the undead. Lisa soon finds herself contending with white jaguars and cannibalistic demons rising from the grave, and the lines between dreams and reality quickly dissolve in this surreal and exhilarating blend of satire and the macabre."
Download or read book Flaming Creatures written by Constantine Verevis and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banned soon after its first midnight screenings, the prints seized and the organizers arrested, Jack Smith’s incendiary Flaming Creatures (1963) quickly became a cause célèbre of the New York underground. Championed and defended by Jonas Mekas and Susan Sontag, among others, the film wildly and gleefully transgresses nearly every norm of Hollywood morality and aesthetics. In a surreal and visually dense series of episodes, the titular “creatures” reenact scenes drawn from the collective cinematic unconscious, playing on mainstream film culture’s moral code in a way that is at once a love letter to classical Hollywood and a searing send-up of its absurdities. Tracing the film’s production and reception history, Constantine Verevis argues that it embodies a unique type of cinematic rewriting, one that combines Smith’s multifaceted artistic work with exotic fragments drawn from the cinematic past. This study of Smith’s magnum opus explores its status as a cult film that appropriates the visual texture, erotic nuance, and overt fabrication of old Hollywood exoticism.
Download or read book Surprised by Laughter written by Terry Lindvall and published by Thomas Nelson Inc. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surprised by Laughter looks at the career and writings of C. S. Lewis and discovers a man whose life and beliefs were sustained by joy and humor. All of his life, C. S. Lewis possessed a spirit of individuality. An atheist from childhood, he became a Christian as an adult and eventually knew international acclaim as a respected theologian. He was known worldwide for his works of fiction, especially the Chronicles of Narnia; and for his books on life and faith, including Mere Christianity, A Grief Observed, and Surprised by Joy. But perhaps the most visible difference in his life was his abiding sense of humor. It was through this humor that he often reached his readers and listeners, allowing him to effectively touch so many lives. Terry Lindvall takes an in-depth look at Lewis's joyful approach toward living, dividing his study of C. S. Lewis's wit into the four origins of laughter in Uncle Screwtape's eleventh letter to a junior devil in Lewis's The Screwtape Letters: joy, fun, the joke proper, and flippancy. Lindvall writes, "One bright and compelling feature we can see, sparking in his sunlight and dancing in his moonlight, is laughter. Yet it is not too large to see at once because it inhabited all Lewis was and did." Surprised by Laughter reveals a Lewis who enjoyed the gift of laughter, and who willingly shared that gift with others in order to spread his faith.
Download or read book The Lines of Happiness written by Venetia Di Pierro and published by Bella Books. This book was released on 2022-04-14 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fleeing Melbourne and her broken relationship, Gloria Grant still has one ace up her sleeve—a job offer to work with traumatized horses in Wyoming. But instead of blissful mountain air and fulfilling ranch work, she finds a family ruined by tragedy and a ranch owner who refuses to let Gloria near her horses. After a tragic event, Lo Ballantyne has no interest in riding her horses any longer. And she certainly doesn’t want to let anyone close—especially not a stranger from Australia. But when Gloria stubbornly refuses to leave, her free spirit and the natural beauty around them begin to break through Lo’s walls. Though Gloria tries to bury her feelings for Lo she knows she sees her own desire reflected in Lo’s eyes. The sensible thing to do is let her go. But Gloria rarely does the sensible thing…
Download or read book Healing the Culture written by Robert Spitzer and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-10-16 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Father Spitzer, President of Gonzaga University, has been using the principles in this book over the last eight years to educate people of all backgrounds in the philosophy of the pro-life movement. The tremendous positive response he has received inspired him to start the Life Principles Institute. This book is one of the key resources used for this program. This work effectively draws out the connections between personal attitudes toward happiness and the meaning of life, and the larger cultural issues such as freedom and human rights. Relying on the wisdom of the ages and respecting the human persons' unique capacity for rational analysis, this work offers definitions of the key cultural terms affecting life issues, including Happiness, Success, Love, Suffering, Quality of Life, Ethics, Freedom, Personhood, Human Rights and the Common Good.
Download or read book The Unbroken Thread written by Sohrab Ahmari and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We’ve pursued and achieved the modern dream of defining ourselves—but at what cost? An influential columnist and editor makes a compelling case for seeking the inherited traditions and ideals that give our lives meaning. “Ahmari’s tour de force makes tradition astonishingly vivid and relevant for the here and now.”—Rod Dreher, bestselling author of Live Not by Lies and The Benedict Option As a young father and a self-proclaimed “radically assimilated immigrant,” opinion editor Sohrab Ahmari realized that when it comes to shaping his young son’s moral fiber, today’s America is woefully lacking. For millennia, the world’s great ethical and religious traditions have taught that true happiness lies in pursuing virtue and accepting limits. But now, unbound from these stubborn traditions, we are free to choose whichever way of life we think is most optimal—or, more often than not, merely the easiest. All that remains are the fickle desires that a wealthy, technologically advanced society is equipped to fulfill. The result is a society riven by deep conflict and individual lives that, for all their apparent freedom, are marked by alienation and stark unhappiness. In response to this crisis, Ahmari offers twelve questions for us to grapple with—twelve timeless, fundamental queries that challenge our modern certainties. Among them: Is God reasonable? What is freedom for? What do we owe our parents, our bodies, one another? Exploring each question through the lives and ideas of great thinkers, from Saint Augustine to Howard Thurman and from Abraham Joshua Heschel to Andrea Dworkin, Ahmari invites us to examine the hidden assumptions that drive our behavior and, in doing so, to live more humanely in a world that has lost its way.
Download or read book Optic Antics written by Michele Pierson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ken Jacobs has been making cinema for more than fifty years. Along with over thirty film and video works, he has created an array of shadow plays, sound pieces, installations, and magic lantern and film performances that have transformed how we look at and think about moving images. He is part of the permanent collections at MoMA and the Whitney, and his work has been celebrated in Europe and the U.S. While his importance is well-recognized, this is the first volume dedicated entirely to him. It includes essays by prominent film scholars along with photographs and personal pieces from artists and critics, all of which testify to the extraordinary variety and influence of his accomplishments. Anyone interested in cinema or experimental arts will be well-rewarded by a greater acquaintance with the genius, the innovation, and the optical antics of Ken Jacobs.
Download or read book How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed in the Back My Fingerprints Are on the Knife written by Jerry B. Harvey and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 1999-08-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role we each play in our own downfalls create the profound--and profoundly entertaining--basis for this series of linked "meditations" as the author of The Abilene Paradox takes another irreverent look at the nature of life on the job. In this work, Harvey explores the ethical, moral, and spiritual dilemmas we all face in the modern world of work. But he does it in a most unconventional way. His is an approach that mixes equal parts humor, philosophy, and insight to make us laugh, think, and examine organizational behavior in a brand new light. The twelve essays themselves carry such spirited titles as "What If I Really Believe this Stuff," "On Tooting Your Own Horn," and "Ode to Waco." Altogether, it's an enthralling collection of wise and witty parables that illustrate the redemptive value of the truth in a voice that is ultimately understanding of human shortcomings.
Download or read book Big leg Music written by David Kirby and published by Orchises Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Verity written by Colleen Hoover and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whose truth is the lie? Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Too Late and It Ends With Us. #1 New York Times Bestseller · USA Today Bestseller · Globe and Mail Bestseller · Publishers Weekly Bestseller Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.
Download or read book Out in Culture written by Corey K. Creekmur and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out in Culture charts some of the ways in which lesbians, gays, and queers have understood and negotiated the pleasures and affirmations, as well as the disappointments, of mass culture. The essays collected here, combining critical and theoretical works from a cross-section of academics, journalists, and artists, demonstrate a rich variety of gay and lesbian approaches to film, television, popular music, and fashion. This wide-ranging anthology is the first to juxtapose pioneering work in gay and lesbian media criticism with recent essays in contemporary queer cultural studies. Uniquely accessible, Out in Culture presents such popular writers as B. Ruby Rich, Essex Hemphill, and Michael Musto as well as influential critics such as Richard Dyer, Chris Straayer, and Julia Lesage, on topics ranging from the queer careers of Agnes Moorehead and Pee Wee Herman to the cultural politics of gay drag, lesbian style, the visualization of AIDS, and the black snap! queen experience. Of particular interest are two "dossiers," the first linking essays on the queer content of Alfred Hitchcock's films, and the second on the production and reception of popular music within gay and lesbian communities. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography--the most comprehensive currently available--of sources in gay, lesbian, and queer media criticism. Out in Culture explores the distinctive and original ways in which gays, lesbians, and queers have experienced, appropriated, and resisted the images and artifacts of popular culture. This eclectic anthology will be of interest to a broad audience of general readers and scholars interested in gay and lesbian issues; students of film, media, gender, and cultural studies; and those interested in the emerging field of queer theory. Contributors. Sabrina Barton, Edith Becker, Rhona J. Berenstein, Nayland Blake, Michelle Citron, Danae Clark, Corey K. Creekmur, Alexander Doty, Richard Dyer, Heather Findlay, Jan Zita Grover, Essex Hemphill, John Hepworth, Jeffrey Hilbert, Lucretia Knapp, Bruce La Bruce, Al LaValley, Julia Lesage, Michael Moon, Michael Musto, B. Ruby Rich, Marlon Riggs, Arlene Stein, Chris Straayer, Anthony Thomas, Mark Thompson, Valerie Traub, Thomas Waugh, Patricia White, Robin Wood
Download or read book Sought Through Prayer and Meditation written by Geno W. and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-28 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspiring collection of meditations, prayers, and insights designed to facilitate the weekly practice of the 11th step, heightening our conscious contact with God as we understand him. Each year, hundreds of men and women cross the threshold of the Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Many of them attend the "Hour of Power," a weekly Sunday morning meeting focused on heightening one's spiritual awareness and growth by focusing on the Eleventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." This special book, designed for weekly study, offers a prayer, a meditation, and related insights from the discussions that emerged during the "Hour of Power." Sought Through Prayer and Meditation brings the insights of the collective consciousness of the Wolfe Street groups to recovering people everywhere. This book reminds us that if we are vigilant in our spiritual pursuit, we may well achieve what is promised: "a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom." (Geno W.)
