A Teach for America volunteer recounts his own tenuous education as well as his tenure in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest districts in the country, during which he encountered fierce racial divisions, drug problems, and gang violence. Reprint.

In the Deep Heart's Core is the uplifting story of young Teach for America volunteer who becomes an English teacher in a desperately impoverished African-American high school in the rural Mississippi Delta beset by gang violence, drug abuse, ruptured families and teen pregnancy-but among the sorrow and struggle he finds dignity and hope, and works to bring the nascent intellectual curiosity of his students to full flower.

What Wild at Heart did for men, Captivating is doing for women. Setting their hearts free. This groundbreaking book shows readers the glorious design of women before the fall, describes how the feminine heart can be restored, and casts a vision for the power, freedom, and beauty of a woman released to be all she was meant to be.

Alice was a caregiver for both of her grandparents and shortly after assumed primary care of her parents. It took a toll on her when they passed away. Overwhelmed with the grief from these consecutive painful life events she witnessed firsthand, poetry gave her freedom. The Beauty of My Heart is proof that Alice has used poetry as a medium to start over and take control of her life. This collection is carefully curated; Each page gives the reader a deeper look into her intimate thoughts and real life experiences. It examines relatable topics such as love and relationships, motherhood and caregiving and spiritual growth through faith in a higher power. In Poetic Words of a Poet, she vividly details her writing process: "The poetic words of a poet are filled with grace. They flow with rhythm, like a dance performed in pace. The words of a poet are elegant as they overflow with charm. The words are delightful and enchanting, also precise in their tone. The expressions fashioned by a poet are stylish yet uniquely tasteful in pitch. The words of a poet are explicit and sometimes misconstrued. But the words of a poet are truly from the heart, filled with zeal and occasionally laced with a little rage. The poetic words of a poet linger, while they flow with simplicity." By the grace of God, Alice was able to overcome a difficult time in her life. Through this beautiful collection of poems, she courageously shares her story. Be touched and entertained...become inspired and empowered by The Beauty of my Heart by Alice Manuel.

" ... A series of 52 essays, each with a nugget of wisdom that invites you to pause, come alive to the moment, and remember the deepest truth of who you really are. We start with what is here: holding a grudge, believing the harsh critical voice in our minds, being stuck in feelings from the past. Over and over, we discover the unifying field of aware presence that holds everything with love. It is the living, breathing, timeless knowing that all is well beyond our personal attachments to stories and emotions. At the Core of Every Heart skillfully navigates the paradox of this messy, emotional human life and the freedom that is available in any moment. Right here and now, we honor everything and realize the most profound release into limitless ease, spontaneous joy, and loving celebration."--

Women are constantly faced with choices and demands. They can achieve great success in life, yet they still have a deep, nurturing center that longs to be expressed and fulfilled. They want to be a leader for their families and communities, and attain all that they desire, require, and deserve. How can women fully manifest their power while honoring their fluid and flexible feminine nature? After traveling down this road herself, Sierra Bender experienced a hard-won spiritual breakthrough and discovered that the answers to her questions couldn't be found in traditional healing systems or in our spiritually disconnected society-they were found, quite simply, within. In Goddess to the Core, Sierra offers a new way of living with true power and purpose by redefining fitness, beauty, and power for the twenty-first-century woman. Her unique method of healing from the inside out breaks the cycle of stress and disempowerment by developing all four bodies-spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical-to help women reclaim, restore, and rejoice in their core feminine essence. Cultivate inner knowing to understand one's true nature Learn silence so the mind and heart can evaluate and reflect Work with the breath to deepen emotional intelligence Gain a stronger, leaner, more stable muscular foundation Using an innovative mix of yoga techniques and indigenous spiritual tools such as smudging, prayer, ritual, and meditation, Sierra offers women practical guidance and inspiration for taking back vital energy while rediscovering happiness, health and wellness, inside and out. Praise: "Her unique integrative program offers women a blend of ancient and modern, spiritual and physical tools for strengthening themselves from the inside out. When women leave her workshop at Omega, their transformation is absolutely visible!" —Carla Goldstein, Director of the Women's Leadership Center at the Omega Institute "...[A] force of nature, an inspired teacher who has through direct experience created an astonishing technique of transformation certain to reveal the goddess within." —Wade Davis, Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Society and bestselling author of One River and The Serpent and the Rainbow "She has seemingly interminable knowledge about how to help women 'be women.' She herself is challenging, compassionate, and radiantly confident, a model of how to balance the warrior and goddess energies women have." —Sharon M., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School executive coach for women "Sierra Bender is not an academic who was dying to teach because she was afraid of living; she is a "Warrior of Life" who can teach because she allowed nearly dying to release her to discover living." —Warren Farrell, Ph.D., author of Why Men Are the Way They Are and Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say