Walking backward in the wind was often a child's game. But in West Texas during the Great Depression, whether you were child or grownup, it was a method of moving ahead by backing through the legendary windstorms which swept the landscape, the same winds that covered beds, furniture and even food with a thick layer of dust. Helen Mangum Field's account opens and closes with the winds - one a nameless windstorm, the other the fabled Black Duster. But Walking Backward in the Wind is about more than the winds - they are only bookends, a blustery literary device. What occurs between the winds - the rhythms of farm families and communities in the 1920s - is the heart of this narrative. Cleaning the stove, daily dusting or shoveling dirt, planting, killing hogs, box suppers, dipping snuff, candling eggs, wringing chickens' necks and drawing names at Christmas are all richly detailed without sentimentality. In spite of gusts which grabbed and tore at the fabric of life, Helen Mangum Fields proves how successful walking backward in the wind was.

As stage and screen artists explore new means to enhance their craft, a new wave of interest in expressive movement and physical improvisation has developed. And in order to bring authenticity and believability to a character, it has become increasingly vital for actors to be aware of movement and physical acting. Stage and screen artists must now call upon physical presence, movement on stage, non-verbal interactions, and gestures to fully convey themselves. In Bringing the Body to the Stage and Screen, Annette Lust provides stage and screen artists with a program of physical and related expressive exercises that can empower their art with more creativity. In this book, Lust provides a general introduction to movement, including definitions and differences between movement on the stage and screen, how to conduct a class or learn on one's own, and choosing a movement style. Throughout the book and in the appendixes, Lust incorporates learning programs that cover the use of basic physical and expressive exercises for the entire body. In addition, she provides original solo and group pantomimes; improvisational exercises; examples of plays, fiction, poetry, and songs that may be interpreted with movement; a list of training centers in America and Europe; and an extensive bibliography and videography. With 15 interviews and essays by prominent stage and screen actors, mimes, clowns, dancers, and puppeteers who describe the importance of movement in their art and illustrated with dozens of photos of renowned world companies and artists, Bringing the Body to the Stage and Screen will be a valuable resource for theater teachers and students, as well as anyone engaged in the performing arts.

Marty liked Yvonne...at first. When he saved her from the boys taunting her and calling her a witch, he thought maybe they could be friends. Yvonne thought so too... until she saw him, later that night, kissing someone else. Then all hell, literally, broke loose. The Eye of Mephistopheles is an action-packed tale of witchcraft set in modern-day New York City. Author Dr. Tyrone L. Bennett has created believable characters who find themselves at the hands of the evil Yvonne. Based on a true story, this tale will have you turning pages in anticipation until the thrilling climax. A modern tale of terror, The Eye of Mephistopheles will mesmerize its readers.

A staple of postwar academic writing, “nationalism” is a contentious and often unanalyzed abstraction. It is generally treated as something “imagined,” “fashioned,” and “disseminated,”as an idea located in the mind, in printed matter, on maps, in symbols such as flags and anthems, and in collective memory. Between Frontiers restores the nation to the social field from which it hasbeen abstracted by looking at how the concept shapes the existenceof people in border zones, where they live between nations. Noboru Ishikawa grounds his discussion of border zones in materials gathered during two years of archival research and fieldwork relating to the boundary that separates Malaysian from Indonesian territory in western Borneo. His book considers how the state maintains its national space and how people strategically situate themselves by their community, nation, and ethnic group designated as national territory.Examining these issues in the context of concrete circumstances, where a village boundary coincides with a national border, allows him to delineate the dialectical relationship between nation-state and borderland society both as history and as process. Scholars across the humanities and social sciences will learn from this masterful linking of history and ethnography, and of macro and micro perspectives.

No one ever sat down with me to teach me about the history of my country, the culture, the wealth, or how to count, measure, or any basic skills that most children learn in school and when they are growing up as they become adults. Not because I was a bad kid but because the Civil War created dysfunction in our families and communities. I had to find a way to learn by myself instead. Most boys in South Sudan tend to learn from their fathers, but my father died before I was born. I didn’t even have a chance to get to know him, so I had no choice but to rely on myself regarding things a child should learn from their fathers. My name is William Deng. My birth name was Deng Kuol Ahoi or Deng Kuol Ahoi Deng. In our culture, we use three to four names instead of two. I got the name William when I received my baptism. Baptism in Catholic Christianity is considered a rebirth, and I needed to add my Christian name, William. Deng means "rain" in my language.

This story is about an illusion of a young fellow who happens to be me, who thought that he was the only one who had a mind-boggling problem that was not like his. As it was during my childhood, I had to contend with the reality of being very nearsighted. During that time, I used to think that I was the little Casanova that lived on my street whose ambition was to impress my peers and friends. But when the optometrist prescribed some thick-lens glasses to me to correct my sight, the playing field became uneven, and my image was put on hold. It was after my vision was somewhat corrected that I was able to navigate through the critics and the jokers coming from my running buddies. Overall, my journey as a child became very interesting. During the beginning of my years of puberty, I had one of the worst experiences: being bullied, which took me to a dark place in my life. I must confess that during that time, I was guilty of not sharing this with my family or anyone else. After I overcame being bullied, my life as a child took on a whole new perspective. When I was relinquished from that bully, I was convinced in my mind right then that a good prayer life works when nothing else will. The reason why I invested in this story is because I wanted others to know that if I could overcome them, so can they. During my early years, I had my share of crisis and didn’t know at that time how to deal with them. Yes, it wasn’t long thereafter that I made up in my mind that I was going to put my trust in someone who is much stronger and much wiser than me. After I made that kind of resolve in my life, it was then that I became a dreamer. Even after I became an adult, that resolution became much stronger. You will have to read this story in order to understand what I am saying. Let me try to encourage you to know that I am a witness to the fact that with persistence, some resolutions do come sooner than others. From my childhood into my adult life, I never stopped chasing after my dream. Actually, the reason why I decided to start writing is because I wanted to defy the odds of doing what my family and friends as well as my doctor said concerning me securing a driver’s license to drive a car.