No one has lived a life like Roxie Powell--and if you dont believe it, all you need to do is read his memoir: Tumbleweed of Contradictions. Born in Kansas toward the end of the Dust Bowl period on the high plains, he was raised in western Kansas and the high mountains of Colorado. His father taught him to look out to the horizon and then beyond, and he did just that, working on a cruise ship that took him all over the world. While hes had different loves throughout his life, the constant one has been writing, and he recalls his interactions with literary giants such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and other leading figures of the counterculture movement. He was a rodeo cowboy in the West. He drove race cars everywhere, including Grand Prix tracks in Europe. Neal Cassady admired Powells racing skills. Powell penned one of Allen Ginsbergs favorite books of poetry--a collection of verse totally unlike anything that came before it or since. And more and more. This is a book well-wrought for sure! --W. K. Stratton, author of Chasing the Rodeo and Ranchero Ford/Dying in Red Dirt Country and co-author of Splendor in the Short Grass: The Grover Lewis Reader

In The Tumbleweed Society, Allison Pugh offers a moving exploration of sacrifice, betrayal, defiance, and resignation, as people cope in a society where relationships and jobs seem to change constantly. Based on eighty in-depth interviews with parents who have varied experiences of job insecurity and socio-economic status, Pugh finds most seem to accept job insecurity as inevitable but still try to bar that insecurity from infiltrating their home lives. Rigid expectations for enduring connections and uncompromising loyalty in their intimate relationships, however, can put intolerable strain on them, often sparking instability in the very social ties they yearn to protect. By shining a light on how we prepare ourselves and our children for an uncertain environment, Pugh gives us a detailed portrait of how we compel ourselves to adapt emotionally to a churning economy, and what commitment and obligation mean in an insecure age.

In 2001, poet Anselm Hollo wrote, With humor, tenderness, and surprising candor, Roxie Powell ventures into rarely visited territory to an ever-questioning mind. In his newest collection, Roxie keeps questioning, this time considering the connection between love and painand how one can rarely exist without the other. Letters Like Lettuce Gone Soggy with Pain One realizes that each life is a slippery vessel which glides through pain until it reaches some shore. At which time tents are erected, sometimes castles, and for some moments, all is fine. Old letters remind one that life will have its way, neither your castle nor your tent are sufficient to protect you, Only love has a chance. This book pulls together a wide variety of Powells poetry, the majority of which has never been published before. Most were written over the past twenty-five years, with the exception of a handful, which were written this year, such as Kansas Soliloquy and Turkestan. For Powell, the journey of life is illuminated by love, and emotional pain is native to the process.

Set in 1846, on the Oregon Trail, this is a coming-of-age story, told by young Charity Collins. A large cast of emigrants, each with their own aspirations and beliefs, intermingle and teach each other a great deal.

Some men look to keep the peace. Others look to make trouble. But sometimes even the most law-abiding of men are compelled to cross the line.... Easy Bill Gates is just such a man—as quick with a smile and as slow to anger as Gary Cooper in High Noon. He’s a model of restraint...until he’s forced to strap on a holster and kill the outlaw who murdered his brother. But more than his honor is at stake. A ruthless land baron is out to grab Bill’s ranch and he’s hired a gang of gunslingers to get Bill out of the way. Between the rancher who wants to take his land, and the young guns who want to take his life, Easy Bill will have to make some hard choices—and fast draws—to avoid becoming just another notch in the Gunman’s Tally. Hailing from the western states of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Montana, Hubbard grew up surrounded by grizzled frontiersmen and leather-tough cowboys, counting a Native American medicine man as one of his closest friends. When he chose to write stories of the Old West, Hubbard didn’t have to go far to do his research, drawing on his own memories of a youth steeped in the life and legends of the American frontier. Also includes the Western adventure, Ruin at Rio Piedras, the story of a young cowboy kicked off a ranch for falling in love with the owner’s daughter...only to devise a whip-smart plan to win the day—and the girl. “Outstanding.” —Midwest Book Review

The surprising reasons parents are opting out of the public school system and homeschooling their kids Homeschooling has skyrocketed in popularity in the United States: in 2019, a record-breaking 2.5 million children were being homeschooled. In The Homeschool Choice, Kate Henley Averett provides insight into this fascinating phenomenon, exploring the perspectives of parents who have chosen to homeschool their children. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Averett examines the reasons why these parents choose to homeschool, from those who disagree with sex education and LGBT content in schools, to others who want to protect their children’s sexual and gender identities. With eye-opening detail, she shows us how homeschooling is a trend being chosen by an increasingly diverse subset of American families, at times in order to empower—or constrain—children’s gender and sexuality. Ultimately, Averett explores how homeschooling, as a growing practice, has changed the roles that families, schools, and the state play in children’s lives. As teachers, parents, and policymakers debate the future of public education, The Homeschool Choice sheds light on the ongoing struggle over school choice.