A Great Smile, a Great Life Dr. Barakat believes a smile is one of the most precious gifts you can give someone. For this reason, he is committed to serving the community by crafting world-class smiles through exceptional oral care. But more than anyone, Dr. Barakat knows that visiting the dentist is often an event met with fear, anxiety, and dread. He prides himself on cultivating a relaxed, pain-free environment so dental care is accessible to any patient who walks through the door. In Perfecting Smiles, Changing Lives: Your Guide to an Exceptional Dental Experience you will learn how Dr. Barakat has set Villanova Dental Studio apart from the rest in terms of patient care, quality of service, and community engagement. In addition, you will also learn how to best care for your own dental health at every stage of your life and gather helpful information for addressing common dental ailments. This book will teach you how to: Ÿ -Improve your overall health Ÿ -Increase your self-confidence Ÿ -Reduce your risk of oral disease Ÿ- Unlock your full potential

Atlanta magazine’s editorial mission is to engage our community through provocative writing, authoritative reporting, and superlative design that illuminate the people, the issues, the trends, and the events that define our city. The magazine informs, challenges, and entertains our readers each month while helping them make intelligent choices, not only about what they do and where they go, but what they think about matters of importance to the community and the region. Atlanta magazine’s editorial mission is to engage our community through provocative writing, authoritative reporting, and superlative design that illuminate the people, the issues, the trends, and the events that define our city. The magazine informs, challenges, and entertains our readers each month while helping them make intelligent choices, not only about what they do and where they go, but what they think about matters of importance to the community and the region.

Changing Lives recounts the experiences of a dozen men on probation in Massachusetts who took classes for three months to read and talk about great works of literature. The men explored the writings of Malcolm X, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov, amongst others. In these writings the men discovered many issues relating to their own lives, such as substance abuse, family breakdown, poverty and racism. The lessons create a safe space for reflection and earnest conversation, in which the students no longer have to bluff or be cool, guarded, or evasive. And because the classroom puts them on equal footing with authority figures - teachers, probation officers and even judges - a new social awareness begins to emerge. Changing Lives shows how reawakening moral consciousness and a fresh commitment to society is essential if probationers are not to cycle endlessly through the limbo of street life and jail time.

"When twenty-eight-year-old Gustavo Dudamel ascended the podium at the Hollywood Bowl for his inaugural concert as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he immediately captivated the hearts of his audience and the minds of critics, who designated him a modern-day Leonard Bernstein. In this beautifully woven narrative, the young maestro's story becomes the entry point to an equally captivating subject: El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education program that took Dudamel from child violinist to conductor extraordinaire."--Jacket.

DescriptionPerfection is a true story about a young women's struggle with anorexia, bulimia, drug addiction and depression. Although harrowing in parts it is ultimately a positive tale about how good can come out of darkness and how happiness after years of sorrow can be achieved. About the AuthorAlexandra Hunter was diagnosed as anorexic at 15 years old and in the seven years that followed she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals. She abused her body by starvation, purging and by taking illegal drugs in a desperate attempt to quieten the voices that told her she was worthless. It was not until she learned to accept her faults and her failings that she was able to move on and begin to live life to the full. She is now married with three children and recently took part in a BBC documentary about mental illness and the stigma attached to being diagnosed with one.

Inspired by Marie Corelli's book, The Life Everlasting, Swami Kriyananda—direct disciple of the great world teacher, Paramhansa Yogananda (author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi)—retells the dramatic story of a woman's discovery of her twin soul—a discovery that propels her to undertake an arduous and perilous climb to the loftiest heights of spiritual awakening. Fueled by her love, the heroine must overcome harrowing challenges before she realizes the goal of her yearning in union with God. Love Perfected, Life Divine is a timeless tale that carries the reader to the heart of the inner quest. As Swami Kriyananda wrote in his introduction: The Life Everlasting is the only novel Paramhansa Yogananda ever finished reading. I can understand why he did so. It has a deep spiritual potential. I myself have enjoyed it, and have read it many times. I would not have undertaken this endeavor, however, if Yogananda himself had not also addressed the subject [of soul-mates] once, so obliquely as to cry for clarification. He said—and, to the best of my knowledge, once only—that everyone, before attaining oneness with God, must be united with his soul dual, even if that dual is living on another planet and the union can be achieved only in vision. . . . The Life Everlasting . . . exerts an undeniable spell. . . . [It is] not afraid to express openly the author's devotion to God without enclosing the reader in a narrow box of sectarianism. . . . I have rewritten [this] story because, with all its faults, I have always loved it. I have cleared out massive amounts of excessive verbiage; introduced a note of greater kindness; cut out many pages as unnecessary and, indeed, deleterious to the lofty mood of the book. I have rewritten the book also to make it correspond to my own beliefs. I think, as you read, you will understand my reasons for the countless changes I have made. And I conclude by saying I am happy with the results. I hope you, dear reader, will be happy also.