Reflections of Mamie - A Story of Survival

Reflections of Mamie - A Story of Survival PDF

Author: Rosemary Adkins

Publisher:

Published: 2013-05-27

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781938686535

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Rosemary 'Mamie' Adkins pens her story of survival as a heart rending account of her life that took sixteen years to write. Her message to other victims is to 'share your story' with someone you trust and if you are able, 'shout it out' to other victims, showing them how you overcame and got help. Always 'nurture your spirit' --it belongs to you and no one can take it away from you. Be healthy and never give up!

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

The Cross and the Lynching Tree PDF

Author: James H. Cone

Publisher: Orbis Books

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 160833001X

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A landmark in the conversation about race and religion in America. "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree." Acts 10:39 The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk. Both the cross and the lynching tree represent the worst in human beings and at the same time a thirst for life that refuses to let the worst determine our final meaning. While the lynching tree symbolized white power and "black death," the cross symbolizes divine power and "black life" God overcoming the power of sin and death. For African Americans, the image of Jesus, hung on a tree to die, powerfully grounded their faith that God was with them, even in the suffering of the lynching era. In a work that spans social history, theology, and cultural studies, Cone explores the message of the spirituals and the power of the blues; the passion and of Emmet Till and the engaged vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.; he invokes the spirits of Billie Holliday and Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Well, and the witness of black artists, writers, preachers, and fighters for justice. And he remembers the victims, especially the 5,000 who perished during the lynching period. Through their witness he contemplates the greatest challenge of any Christian theology to explain how life can be made meaningful in the face of death and injustice.

Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter

Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter PDF

Author: Barbara Robinette Moss

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2002-01-27

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0743219503

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A haunting and triumphant story of a difficult and keenly felt life, Change Me into Zeus's Daughter is a remarkable literary memoir of resilience, redemption, and growing up in the South. Barbara Robinette Moss was the fourth in a family of eight children raised in the red-clay hills of Alabama. Their wild-eyed, alcoholic father was a charismatic and irrationally proud man who, when sober, captured his children's timid awe, but when (more often) drunk, roused them from bed for severe punishment or bizarre all-night poker games. Their mother was their angel: erudite and stalwart -- her only sin her inability to leave her husband for the sake of the children. Unlike the rest of her family, Barbara bore the scars of this abuse and neglect on the outside as well as the inside. As a result of childhood malnutrition and a complete lack of medical and dental care, the bones in her face grew abnormally ("like a thin pine tree"), and she ended up with what she calls "a twisted, mummy face." Barbara's memoir brings us deep into not only the world of Southern poverty and alcoholic child abuse but also the consciousness of one who is physically frail and awkward, relating how one girl's debilitating sense of her own physical appearance is ultimately saved by her faith in the transformative powers of artistic beauty: painting and writing. From early on and with little encouragement from the world, Barbara embodied the fiery determination to change her fate and achieve a life defined by beauty. At age seven, she announced to the world that she would become an artist -- and so she did. Nightly, she prayed to become attractive, to be changed into "Zeus's daughter," the goddess of beauty, and when her prayers weren't answered, she did it herself, raising the money for years of braces followed by facial surgery. Growing up "so ugly," she felt the family's disgrace all the more acutely, but the result has been a keenly developed appreciation for beauty -- physical and artistic -- the evidence of which can be seen in her writing. Despite the deprivation, the lingering image from this memoir is not of self-pity but of the incredible bond between these eight siblings: the raucous, childish fun they had together, the making-do, and the total devotion to their desperate mother, who absorbed most of the father's blows for them and who plied them with art and poetry in place of balanced meals. Gracefully and intelligently woven in layers of flashback, the persistent strength of Barbara Moss's memoir is itself a testament to the nearly lifesaving appreciation for literature that was her mother's greatest gift to her children.

No Mountain High Enough

No Mountain High Enough PDF

Author: Linda Armstrong Kelly

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781863254724

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The old adage that 'behind every strong man there is a stronger woman' has never been more true than in the case of Lance Armstrong, six-time Tour de France winner, cancer survivor and bestselling author. Anyone who knows Lance is in no doubt about where he found his inspiration. A force of nature, his mother Linda's determination and sheer joie de vivre not only nurtured one of our era's greatest athletes, but fuelled her transformation from poverty-stricken teen to powerful role model. Kicked out of home at 17 after refusing to get an abortion, dismissed from high school for being pregnant, and trapped in an abusive relationship as an unmarried mother, Linda was a candidate for disaster. But, armed with a fierce belief in herself as a work in progress and buoyed by a tidal wave of love for her little boy, she beat the odds as a struggling single parent and, despite her lack of education, went on to become a highly successful telecommunications executive and a no-nonsense, empowering mother whose desire to excel was contagious. Her resolve to make every setback an opportunity set an extraordinary example for Lance and her remarkable story is a testament to dreaming big - and making a difference.Upbeat, determined, hard-working, loving, forgiving, funny and unsinkable, this is a woman who managed to not only overcome the odds but embrace life and enjoy it, whatever it threw at her. And the readership for this inspirational tale of triumph over adversity will extend well beyond those merely curious about Lance Armstrong. The philosophy that shines through these pages will appeal to many women, and most certainly mothers everywhere. Linda was at Lance's side throughout his treatment for cancer and they remain extremely close. His first book, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE, was dedicated to her, and he has written a moving Foreword to this remarkable book.

Salvaged

Salvaged PDF

Author: Roy Goble

Publisher: NavPress

Published: 2019-01-08

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1631469584

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Successful Silicon Valley real estate developer and wealth creator Roy Goble shares the surprising lessons he learned as a boy working in his family junkyard. Skillfully uniting the teachings of Jesus with the sometimes messy realities of leading people and getting things done, Salvaged helps leaders at all levels discover powerful opportunities to follow Jesus in the real world—and in surprisingly simple ways. Working in his dad’s junkyard as a kid, Roy had no idea what his future held: an incredibly successful career in commercial real estate, as well as founding and leading multiple ministries, churches, and nonprofits across the globe. So when Roy talks about what it means to follow Jesus daily as a leader, people pay attention. Entrepreneurs, pastors, and managers who learn to lead from Roy won’t parrot his jargon or practice his “system”—these men and women will simply know how to lead better. After a no-nonsense and compelling introduction, Roy delivers 31 of his most surprising, memorable, and practical leadership lessons, many of which are culled from his junkyard days. Each focuses on a personal “junkyard” story, leadership lesson, and comparable Bible passage perfect for daily study. A growth and action section is included after each chapter that gets to the heart of the lesson through thought-provoking questions with action steps designed to be immediately put into practice.

The Emancipator's Wife

The Emancipator's Wife PDF

Author: Barbara Hambly

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2005-01-25

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13: 0553901214

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As a girl growing up in Kentucky, she lived a sheltered, privileged life filled with picnics and plantation balls. Vivacious, impulsive, and intoxicated by politics, she is a Todd of Lexington, an aristocratic family whose ancestors defeated the British. But no one knows her secret fears and anxieties. Although she is courted by the most eligible suitors in the land, including future senator Stephen Douglas, it is a gangly lawyer from Illinois who captures her heart. After a stormy courtship and a broken engagement, Abraham Lincoln will marry twenty-four-year-old Mary Todd and give her a ring inscribed with the words “Love Is Eternal.” But their happiness won’t last nearly so long. Their first child will be born under the gathering clouds of a civil war, and three more follow. As Lincoln’s star rises, the pleasure-loving Mary learns, often the hard way, the rules of being a politician’s wife. But by the time the fiery storm of war passes, tragedy will have claimed two sons, scandal will shadow her days as First Lady, and an assassin’s bullet will take Lincoln himself, leaving Mary alone and all but forgotten by the nation that owed her husband its survival. Yet it is in the years to come that Mary Todd Lincoln will truly come into her own. In public, she will fight to preserve Lincoln’s memory even as she battles a bitterly contested insanity trial. In private, she will struggle with depression and addiction as she endures the betrayals–both real and imagined–of family and friends. With a gifted novelist’s imagination and a historian’s eye for detail, Barbara Hambly tells a story of astonishing scope, richly peopled with real-life characters and their fictional counterparts, a tour-de-force tale of power, politics, and the role of women in nineteenth- century America. The result is a Mary Todd Lincoln few have seen and none will forget–the fascinating, controversial woman of whom her husband could say: “My wife is as handsome as when she was a girl and I fell in love with her; and what is more, I have never fallen out”–Mary Todd, the woman who loved Abraham Lincoln.

What's Behind Your Belly Button?

What's Behind Your Belly Button? PDF

Author: Martha Char Love

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781466429895

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Although numerous books and articles have recently talked about the gut instincts as valuable in giving us useful hunches in the decision-making process, "What's Behind Your Belly Button?" goes much further and explains how gut feelings not only have a psychological intelligence of their own, but are also understandably rational in their functioning. The authors explore how gut feelings are like a gas gauge in our guts indicating through an emotional feeling of emptiness or fullness how well the two instinctive human needs for acceptance (attention from others) and of control of one's own responses (freedom) in our lives are being met and how our behavior attempts to keep these two instinctive needs in balance at all times. They explore how these two instinctive needs motivate nearly all our behaviors all through our lives and that the feeling memory of how well these needs are met from moment-to-moment may be accessed through somatic awareness of our gut feelings of empty and full by using the Somatic Reflection Process the authors have developed."What's Behind Your Belly Button?" explains exactly what your gut feelings are capable of telling you about your inner instinctive needs, how to listen to the voice of your gut, and how to use both of your brains-head and gut-to work together for your optimal health and well-being. This book is recommended for anyone looking for a hopeful view of humankind and a method for getting in touch with gut instincts to reduce stress, cope with fear and anxiety, deal with health issues and make efforts to stay healthy, and to increase optimal problem-solving and life decision-making abilities. In 1998, neurological research at Columbia University published the work of Dr. Michael Gershon that identified the enteric nervous system as a center of feeling-intelligence in the gut, which he called the "Second Brain". The authors carefully examined this material and accepted the research findings as pointing to the same universal feeling intelligence they experienced in counseling with hundreds of people. Utilizing the research of Dr. Gershon, the work of Dr. Lise Eliot who charts the development of children from conception through the first five years of life, recent research of their own in the Psychology Department at Sonoma State University, and their vast clinical experience, the authors have presented an interpretation of recent medical research into a Gut Psychology and a more accurate behavioral understanding of the Self and human nature than has previously been available. They share a complete protocol and results of clinical research findings for the Somatic Reflection Process that they have created and used successfully, with themselves and hundreds of people, to assist the process of getting in touch with the voice of the gut and learning to follow its wisdom toward a healthy life-unifying the body-mind split in the individuation process. The authors suggest that we are at the beginning of a Renaissance in human consciousness and that understanding our true human nature is the way to thrive in this present era. The authors suggest that early in a child's learning process, care be taken to offer the experience of freedom and acceptance to the child to form a positive self-concept and to self-regulate his and her behavior as part of the learning process in becoming a loving, caring person. After careful examination of life's processes, they conclude that of all the mammals in the animal kingdom, humans seem to be the only species that has been denied the open use of their natural instincts. Out of ignorance, fear or wanton control by others-"we are denied the use of the brains we were born with". This awareness is of growing concern since the absence of the use of the feeling intelligence of the body interferes with a major stabilizing force-built into the human system-that can affect human behavior, provide a sense of well-being, and the ability of the body to combat disease.

The Maid Narratives

The Maid Narratives PDF

Author: Katherine Van Wormer

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 2012-09-17

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0807149691

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The Maid Narratives shares the memories of black domestic workers and the white families they served, uncovering the often intimate relationships between maid and mistress. Based on interviews with over fifty people -- both white and black -- these stories deliver a personal and powerful message about resilience and resistance in the face of oppression in the Jim Crow South. The housekeepers, caretakers, sharecroppers, and cooks who share their experiences in The Maid Narratives ultimately moved away during the Great Migration. Their perspectives as servants who left for better opportunities outside of the South offer an original telling of physical and psychological survival in a racially oppressive caste system: Vinella Byrd, for instance, from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, recalls how a farmer she worked for would not allow her to clean her hands in the family's wash pan. These narratives are complemented by the voices of white women, such as Flora Templeton Stuart, from New Orleans, who remembers her maid fondly but realizes that she knew little about her life. Like Stuart, many of the white narrators remain troubled by the racial norms of the time. Viewed as a whole, the book presents varied, rich, and detailed accounts, often tragic, and sometimes humorous. The Maid Narratives reveals, across racial lines, shared hardships, strong emotional ties, and inspiring strength.