The first book to focus on the migrant and immigrant experience in the District, Urban Odyssey traces the growth and transformation of ethnic and cultural communities - Native American, African American, European, Latino, and Asian American - throughout the city's history. Seventeen essays, accompanied by more than fifty photographs, challenge stereotypes and draw out common threads from the richly woven fabric that is Washington. Urban Odyssey reflects upon the changing demographics of contemporary urban America, where ethnic groups mingle and overlap in fertile and surprising ways. Identifying a common quest among all groups to establish community, to transplant cultural traditions, and to rebuild familiar social and institutional networks on unfamiliar terrain, the authors illustrate the diverse ways in which each migrant or immigrant community has reconstructed Washington's cultural and built landscape and redefined the meaning of American pluralism.

Odyssey Works infiltrates the life of one person at a time to create a customtailored, life-altering performance. It may last for one day or a few months and consists of experiences that blur the boundaries of life and art—is that subway mariachi band, used book of poetry, or meal with a new friend real or a part of the performance? Central to this book is their 2013 performance for Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm. His Odyssey lasted four months and included a fake children's book, introducing the themes of his performance, and a cello concert in a Saskatchewan prairie (which Moody almost missed after being stopped at customs with, suspiciously, no idea why he was traveling to Canada). The book includes Moody's interviews with Odyssey Works, an original short story by Amy Hempel, and six proposals for a new theory of making art.

The inspiring, true coming-of-age story of a ferociously determined young man who, armed only with his intellect and his willpower, fights his way out of despair. In 1993, Cedric Jennings was a bright and ferociously determined honor student at Ballou, a high school in one of Washington D.C.’s most dangerous neighborhoods, where the dropout rate was well into double digits and just 80 students out of more than 1,350 boasted an average of B or better. At Ballou, Cedric had almost no friends. He ate lunch in a classroom most days, plowing through the extra work he asked for, knowing that he was really competing with kids from other, harder schools. Cedric Jennings’s driving ambition—which was fully supported by his forceful mother—was to attend a top college. In September 1995, after years of near superhuman dedication, he realized that ambition when he began as a freshman at Brown University. But he didn't leave his struggles behind. He found himself unprepared for college: he struggled to master classwork and fit in with the white upper-class students. Having traveled too far to turn back, Cedric was left to rely on his intelligence and his determination to maintain hope in the unseen—a future of acceptance and reward. In this updated edition, A Hope in the Unseen chronicles Cedric’s odyssey during his last two years of high school, follows him through his difficult first year at Brown, and tells the story of his subsequent successes in college and the world of work. Eye-opening, sometimes humorous, and often deeply moving, A Hope in the Unseen weaves a crucial new thread into the rich and ongoing narrative of the American experience.

This book is a tapestry of stories, woven from the threads of my experiences and observations. The characters you'll meet are drawn from the vivid, chaotic, and often harsh reality of New York City life. Some names will be familiar, some events will echo true stories, and some dialogues will seem like whispers you've heard before. But remember, it's all fiction. These stories are my attempt to capture the essence of a city that never sleeps, to shine a light on its shadows, and to celebrate its resilience. Some tales may provoke thought, others may simply entertain. My hope is that each story leaves a mark, just as the city has left its mark on me

Francesca Schmidt was born in Greenville, SC in 1991. She has been writing poetry since childhood. While attending the Fine Arts Center of Greenville in high school, she learned about a strict, poetic structure called the sestina. In "Urban Odyssey," she branches out from her usual format and experiments with free verse poetry. This book is a compilation of sestinas, free verse poems, and short stories addressing a variety of subjects, including adoption, travel, dreams, and autobiographic experiences in writing.

An evocative, candid reveal of the media and design worlds by an award-winning journalist and activist urban planner in search of the soul of cities and self, from the stoops of Brooklyn, the streets of East Harlem, the newsrooms of New York and beyond, off the freeways of Los Angeles and on the shores of Malibu. A rollicking read.