Crafted from authentic experiences shared by principals, Reality Calling: The Story of a Principal’s First Semester reveals fictional Principal Joe Gentry’s first few months on the job. We see his efforts to establish relationships with students, staff and community, handle unexpected (and sometimes unimaginable) events, and pursue the often elusive concept of instructional leadership. Throughout the process, Joe seeks guidance and support from his wife, mentors and two friends, who are also new principals. As the months roll by, he strives to navigate the complex ups and downs of school leadership, find personal and professional balance, apply the standards that govern school leaders and learn from his mistakes. This extended, real-world case study provides readers an authentic, unvarnished account of a fully-human principal knee deep in what is appropriately called the toughest job in education. The book concludes with Joe and his two principal friends reflecting on lessons learned and setting goals for the second half of the school year -- revealed in this book's companion, Seeking Balance: The Story of a Principal's Second Semester.

All arts and sciences, in their own way, ultimately try to come to grips with reality. What sets philosophy, theology, and religion apart is that they grapple with ultimate reality. Over the decades spanned by John Hick's life, in the course of this grappling (reminiscent of Jacob's nocturnal encounter with the angel) philosophy became analytic, theology dialogical, and religion comparative along one line of development. In these essays, written in honour of Professor Hick, leading world scholars in these fields share their most recent insights. They are, so to speak, postcards from the cutting edge.

A call to action for America to embrace a new society that honors the spiritual reality of the human soul. Offers hope with a framework for creating an entirely new society that truly uplifts and honors the spiritual reality of the human soul, while fostering the conditions for humankind to transcend the existential fears, anxieties, and petty concerns of this temporal physical world. The author explores the writings of the Bahai Faith and uncovers prophecies that foreshadow a glorious destiny for the United States and its peoples.

Kathleen E. Smith examines the use of collective memories in Russian politics during the Yeltsin years, surveying the various issues that became battlegrounds for contending notions of what it means to be Russian.

Over the last few decades, the radio documentary has developed into a strikingly vibrant form of creative expression. Millions of listeners hear arresting, intimate storytelling from an ever-widening array of producers on programs including This American Life, StoryCorps, and Radio Lab; online through such sites as Transom, the Public Radio Exchange, Hearing Voices, and Soundprint; and through a growing collection of podcasts. Reality Radio celebrates today's best audio documentary work by bringing together some of the most influential and innovative practitioners from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In these nineteen essays, documentary artists tell--and demonstrate, through stories and transcripts--how they make radio the way they do, and why. Whether the contributors to the volume call themselves journalists, storytellers, even audio artists--and although their essays are just as diverse in content and approach--all use sound to tell true stories, artfully. Contributors: Jad Abumrad Jay Allison damali ayo John Biewen Emily Botein Chris Brookes Scott Carrier Katie Davis Sherre DeLys Lena Eckert-Erdheim Ira Glass Alan Hall Natalie Kestecher The Kitchen Sisters Maria Martin Karen Michel Rick Moody Joe Richman Dmae Roberts Stephen Smith Sandy Tolan

A landmark book, “brilliant, thoughtful” (The Atlantic) and “raw and gorgeous” (LA Times), that fast-forwards the discussion of the central artistic issues of our time, from the bestselling author of The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead. Who owns ideas? How clear is the distinction between fiction and nonfiction? Has the velocity of digital culture rendered traditional modes obsolete? Exploring these and related questions, Shields orchestrates a chorus of voices, past and present, to reframe debates about the veracity of memoir and the relevance of the novel. He argues that our culture is obsessed with “reality,” precisely because we experience hardly any, and urgently calls for new forms that embody and convey the fractured nature of contemporary experience.