The sentence for being gay and Arab is death-even when the punishment is self-inflicted. Living a closeted life in a Middle-Eastern culture is brutal-and potentially deadly. Add to the mix mental illness and your odds of survival drop to near zero. How I Lost My Mind and Found Myself is the true story of how one man lived to tell the tale. Gay Arab, David Rabadi, had been taught from a very young age that there are no genies and no gay Arabs. But while David might accept the fact that genies might not exist, he knew from a young age there was at least one gay Arab and it was, in fact, him. The fear of losing the love and respect of his family kept David in the closet for more than twenty years, but living with undiagnosed mental illness kept him a prisoner in his own head for what seemed an eternity. How I Lost My Mind and Found Myself is a touching, sometimes funny story of David's struggles and eventual triumph in overcoming not one but two stigmas still judged, misjudged, and misunderstood in today's society. Told with poignant honesty, David shares his inspirational journey from a fresh perspective and gives the reader a rare view of what it means to be living as an openly gay Arab and coping with mental illness. David Rabadi is the first Jordanian to come out publicly in Yonkers.

I was sexually abused as a young child and spent many years trying to remember and then trying to forget, while dealing with the aftermath. I struggled with relationships and intimacy, had multiple psychiatric ward stays, several different diagnoses, suicide attempts and periodic unprofessional psychiatric care. How could I become an authentic whole woman? I spent close to 30 years as a counselor facilitating both small and large groups. I also volunteered as a Peer Support Worker, both at the Canadian Mental Health Association at their Clubhouse and on the In-Patient Psychiatric Unit. For most of those years I was part of the "walking wounded." I came out to to Vancouver after college, and fell in love with the West Coast. From the age of 21 I never lived anywhere else. I currently live on scenic Vancouver Island with my tortoiseshell cat among my book shelves and piles of books.

A New York Times Notable Book A Daily Beast Best Book of the Year A Huffington Post Best Book of the Year From elementary school on, Walter Kirn knew how to stay at the top of his class: He clapped erasers, memorized answer keys, and parroted his teachers’ pet theories. But when he launched himself eastward to an Ivy League university, Kirn discovered that the temple of higher learning he had expected was instead just another arena for more gamesmanship, snobbery, and social climbing. In this whip-smart memoir of kissing-up, cramming, and competition, Lost in the Meritocracy reckons the costs of an educational system where the point is simply to keep accumulating points and never to look back—or within.

Lost in My Mind is a stunning memoir describing Kelly Bouldin Darmofal's journey from adolescent girl to special education teacher, wife and mother -- despite severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Spanning three decades, Kelly's journey is unique in its focus on TBI education in America (or lack thereof). Kelly also abridges her mother's journals to describe forgotten experiences. She continues the narrative in her own humorous, poetic voice, describing a victim's relentless search for success, love, and acceptance -- while combating bureaucratic red tape, aphasia, bilateral hand impairment, and loss of memory. Readers will:Learn why TBI is a "silent illness" for students as well as soldiers and athletes.Discover coping strategies which enable TBI survivors to hope and achieve.Experience what it's like to be a caregiver for someone with TBI.Realize that the majority of teachers are sadly unprepared to teach victims of TBI.Find out how relearning ordinary tasks, like walking, writing, and driving require intense determination. "This peek into the real-life trials and triumphs of a young woman who survives a horrific car crash and struggles to regain academic excellence and meaningful social relationships is a worthwhile read for anyone who needs information, inspiration or escape from the isolation so common after traumatic brain injury." -- Susan H. Connors, President/CEO, Brain Injury Association of America "Kelly Bouldin Darmofal's account is unique, yet widely applicable: she teaches any who have suffered TBI—and all who love, care for, and teach them--insights that are not only novel but revolutionary. The book is not simply worth reading; it is necessary reading for patients, poets, professors, preachers, and teachers." -- Dr. Frank Balch Wood, Professor Emeritus of Neurology-Neuropsychology, Wake Forest School of Medicine Learn more at www.ImLostInMyMind.com From the Reflections of America Series at Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Andrea Buchanan lost her mind while crossing the street one day. Suffering from a horrible cough, she inhaled the cold March air, and choked. She was choking on a lot that day. A sick child. A pending divorce. The guilt of failing, as a partner, as a mother. Relieved when the coughing abated, she thought it was over. She could not have been more wrong.When Andrea coughed that day, a small tear was ripped in her dura mater, the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord. But she didn’t know that yet. Instead, she went on with her day, unaware that her cerebrospinal fluid was already beginning to leak out of that tiny tear.What followed was nine months of pain and confusion as her brain—no longer cushioned by a healthy waterbed of fluid—sank to the bottom of her skull. There was brain fog and cognitive impairment to the point where she could not even make sense of the most basic concepts. At a time when she needed to be as clear-thinking as possible, she was trapped by her brain.The mind-brain connection is one of the greatest mysteries of the human condition. In some folklore, the fluid around the brain is where consciousness begins. Here, in the pages of The Beginning of Everything, Andrea seeks to understand: Where was “I” when I wasn’t there?

What happens when 21 university students encounter the teachings and practices of Zen for the first time? Most writings on Zen have come from Zen masters, scholars, and experienced practitioners. Here, a cross-section of American students with no prior experience of Zen read contemporary Zen texts, engage in meditation practice, and participate in in-class inquiry, documenting their emerging understandings, challenges, doubts, and questions over the course of a fifteen-week semester in a college course titled Non-argumentative rhetoric in Zen. Despite the common framework of texts, meditation practice, and class discussion, each chapter is a unique and fresh account of this work.

Becoming a mother takes more than the physical act of giving birth or completing an adoption: it takes birthing oneself as a mother through psychological, intellectual, and spiritual work that continues throughout life. Yet most women’s stories of personal growth after motherhood tend to remain untold. As writers and mothers, Andrea Buchanan and Amy Hudock were frustrated by what they perceived as a lack of writing by mothers that captured the ambiguity, complexity, and humor of their experiences. So they decided to create the place they wanted to find, with the kind of writing they wanted to read. This unique collection features the best of the online magazine literarymama.com, a site devoted to mama-centric writing with fresh voices, superior craft, and vivid imagery. While the majority of literature on parenting is not literary or is not written by mothers, this book is both. Including creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, Literary Mama celebrates the voices of the maternally inclined, paves the way for other writer mamas, and honors the difficult and rewarding work women do as they move into motherhood.