The shocking true story of Mary Thompson, a Eugene, Oregon, anti-gang activist who secretly ran her own murderous mob of teenagers—including her own son. Aaron Iturra was just eighteen years old when he was found dead in the bedroom of the Eugene, Oregon, home he shared with his mother and sister. Investigating the crime, Detective Jim Michaud found evidence pointing to an unlikely suspect: Mary Louise Thompson, also known as Gang Mom. Once a biker chick and police informer, she had become a locally famous anti-gang activist. Michaud soon learned Thompson was a modern-day Fagin who was running her own gang of juveniles—including her own son, Beau—which preyed on the unsuspecting city, dealing dope and burglarizing homes. When Thompson had found out Iturra planned to testify against Beau in a felony case, she put out a hit on him.

The shocking true story of Mary Thompson, a Eugene, Oregon, anti-gang activist who secretly ran her own murderous mob of teenagers—including her own son. Aaron Iturra was just eighteen years old when he was found dead in the bedroom of the Eugene, Oregon, home he shared with his mother and sister. Investigating the crime, Detective Jim Michaud found evidence pointing to an unlikely suspect: Mary Louise Thompson, also known as Gang Mom. Once a biker chick and police informer, she had become a locally famous anti-gang activist. Michaud soon learned Thompson was a modern-day Fagin who was running her own gang of juveniles—including her own son, Beau—which preyed on the unsuspecting city, dealing dope and burglarizing homes. When Thompson had found out Iturra planned to testify against Beau in a felony case, she put out a hit on him.

When 18 year old Aaron Iturra was shot to death in bed in his Eugene, Oregon home in October of 1994, the first person his grief stricken mother Janyce Iturra turned to was Mary Louise Thompson. Why? Because Thompson, herself the mother of a troubled teen, had become an active campaigner against teen gang activity and a surrogate mother to many local teens. But neighbors were horrified when police arrested this supposed model mother for setting up the hit and persuading two teens to carry out the brutal murder of the sleeping teen. Police discovered that this crusader against gangs had, in fact, been heavily involved with the Hell's Angels as a young woman and had masterminded the criminal activities of a violent local gang called the 74 Hoover Crips. In July of 1996, Thompson was sentenced to life without parole.

Many people believe that gangs are made up of violent thugs who are in and out of jail, and who are hyper-masculine and heterosexual. Vanessa Panfil introduces us to a different world. Meet gay gang members - sometimes referred to in popular culture as "homo thugs" - whose gay identity complicates criminology's portrayal and representation of gangs, gang members, and gang life. In vivid detail, Panfil provides an in-depth understanding of how gay gang members construct and negotiate both masculine and gay identities through crime and gang membership. She draws from interviews with over 50 gay gang- and crime-involved young men in Columbus, Ohio, the majority of whom are men of color in their late teens and early twenties, as well as on-the-ground ethnographic fieldwork with men who are in gay, hybrid, and straight gangs. Panfil provides an eye-opening portrait of how even members of straight gangs are connected to a same-sex oriented underground world. Most of these young men still present a traditionally masculine persona and voice deeply-held affection for their fellow gang members. They also fight with their enemies, many of whom are in rival gay gangs. Most come from impoverished, 'rough' neighborhoods, and seek to defy negative stereotypes of gay and Black men as deadbeats, though sometimes through illegal activity. Some are still closeted to their fellow gang members and families, yet others fight to defend members of the gay community, even those who they deem to be "fags, " despite distaste for these flamboyant members of the community.

In this high-interest sports novel, Jamal and his teammates take a stand against their new coach when his bullying and discrimination go too far.

A zoo volunteer shares her diary of 12 years working in the World of Primates at the Houston Zoo. She helped raise three orangutan babies and a baby siamang gibbon, and was loved, hugged, and peed on by all four. When she wasn't helping with the babies, she helped clean orangutan cages and continues to do so. In this book she shares her experience learning about the orangutans; watching their interactions with each other, the keepers, other volunteers, and vet staff. Orangutan means "person of the forest" and that's how she thinks about her orange ape buddies. They are her friends. This diary lets you share her experiences as a zoo volunteer; the best non-paying job in the world according to her.

Betrayal hurts, especially when committed by those we love the most. Kez is devastated when she finds out the lengths of her mom's betrayal, and is shattered by her father's passivity before his spouse's crimes. Blamed as an accomplice by her mom's relatives, isolated in spiraling depression and financially broke, Kez needs to find a job, pay her bills, pay the bank, and get out of her mom's house as soon as possible. As she fights back the legacy of carelessness from those who are supposed to love her unconditionally, she must make the ultimate decision: she will either sacrifice all she has achieved in Germany, abandoning the life she had built away from all this mess, or return to look after her father in his last days. Her decision has the potential to destroy her. The aftermath has the power of ripping her away from her family. once and for all.