A collection of essays discussing issues surrounding the sexual coming-of-age experiences of African American women.

The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class explores the dynamics of the modern American family and how they have adapted to the changing economy and culture. Contributors from a variety of disciplines redefine the concept of the "model American family" and provide well-researched insight into what the new standards for judging family life and its functionality will be.

First published in 1993, The Virgin Suicides announced the arrival of a major new American novelist. In a quiet suburb of Detroit, the five Lisbon sisters—beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the neighborhood boys—commit suicide one by one over the course of a single year. As the boys observe them from afar, transfixed, they piece together the mystery of the family’s fatal melancholy, in this hypnotic and unforgettable novel of adolescent love, disquiet, and death. Jeffrey Eugenides evokes the emotions of youth with haunting sensitivity and dark humor and creates a coming-of-age story unlike any of our time. Adapted into a critically acclaimed film by Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides is a modern classic, a lyrical and timeless tale of sex and suicide that transforms and mythologizes suburban middle-American life.

This play is a serious comedy, intended to be staged simply and symbolically. Take a beautiful girl desperate to get out of Marawa, a fictional island in the South Pacific. Add a retired psychology professor from Europe looking for a virgin bride. Sir, then sprinkle with an anthropologist from Harvard collecting data on sexual harassment. Pour into the mixture a native feminist, educated at the Australian National University in search of her roots. What do you get? Last virgin in Paradise. At the end of the play are two brief essays that will be of assistance to anyone interested in directing this play.

Megan is in no hurry to lose her virginity, but she doesn't want to be the last either. She has other things on her mind too as she gets to know her biological father who has problems of his own. Issues of celibacy, sexual identity and religious difference surface amongst her group of friends.