Blooming Fiascoes is a collective of verse that deconstructs identity. We are beautiful and monstrous. We live in a beautiful and monstrous world. Ellen Hagan poetically mirrors these metaphoric adversaries, drawing on her experiences as a woman, an artist, a mother, a transplanted southerner, and above all, a human being. She plumbs origins in history, body, and living to question how we reckon our whole selves in the catacombs of a world gone mad: We mourn, we bless, / we blow, we wail, we / wind—down, we sip, / we spin, we blind, we / bend, bow & hem. We / hip, we blend, we bind, / we shake, we shine, / shine. We lips & we / teeth, we praise & protest. In these poems, Assyrian, Italian, and Irish lines seep deeper into a body that is growing older but remains engaged with unruly encounters: the experience of raising daughters, sexual freedom, and squaring body image against the body’s prohibitions. This is a work where the legacy is still evolving and always asking questions in real time. Blooming Fiascos spindles poetry that is not afraid to see itself and the lives it inhabits.

A crisis of governance is widespread in western societies. Public administration is caught in a web of personal and organizational inter-dependencies that require continuous awareness and readjustment on the part of its practitioners. Understanding Policy Fiascoes applies policy analysis to come to terms with policy fiascoes, with a full appreciation of its limits. Despite the fact that policy failures may seem universal, they are in fact better understood as social, political and academic constructions. Bovens and 'tHart trace how and why certain episodes of public policymaking become labeled as "fiascoes." They highlight the analytical and political biases that shape our judgments of policy outcomes and the performance of policymakers and institutions. When put in their proper historical, institutional, and policymaking perspective, many policy fiascoes could easily have turned out quite differently. The authors show that the fact that these policy episodes unfolded as they did does not mean that they were inevitable. Careful analysis indicates that a whole series of variables, if not always manageable, can, through careful configurations of decisions, alter the course and outcomes of policies and programs, as well as the post-hoc judgments made about them. In examining public policymaking, certain questions arise: If public policymaking has failed so miserably, what does this tell us about the state of policy analysis? While policymakers are facing a crisis of legitimacy, policy analysis have been forced to reconsider the validity o their knowledge claims and the extent of their impact on the practice of policymaking. Understanding Policy Fiascoes will provide social scientists, policymakers, and political scientists with compelling perspectives on old problems and a path-breaking way to handle new problems.

Second series statement from page 4 of cover.

The co-author of Watch Us Rise pens a novel in verse about all the good and bad that comes with middle school, growing up girl, and the strength of family that gets you through it. Beatrice Miller may have a granny's name (her granny's, to be more specific), but she adores her Mamaw and her mom, who give her every bit of wisdom and love they have. But the summer before seventh grade, Bea wants more than she has, aches for what she can't have, and wonders what the future will bring. This novel in verse follows Beatrice through the ups and downs of friendships, puberty, and identity as she asks: Who am I? Who will I become? And will my outside ever match the way I feel on the inside? A gorgeous, inter-generational story of Southern women and a girl's path blossoming into her sense of self, Reckless, Glorious, Girl explores the important questions we all ask as we race toward growing up.

Learn the truth about George W. Bush and his graft infested administration. They will go down in the annals of American History as causing more long-lasting damage to this country and its world-wide reputation than our enemies could ever do. Tragically, it will take many decades to fully recover.

Continue the Stranded in Getaway Bay Romance series by USA Today bestseller Elana Johnson! THE CRUISING FIASCO features a billionaire football player hero and a single mom who connect on a singles cruise...then get stuck together on an abandoned island in the Pacific Ocean! There's steamy-sweet kisses, clean romance, and plenty of room for you inside this found family of sisters! Read today! He can successfully throw a precision pass, but he's dead in the water in matters of the heart... Quarterback Maine Fitzgerald has struck out with more women than he'd like to admit—and he doesn't even play baseball. Armed with a plan to get out of his comfort zone onboard a singles cruise, he joins the very first event: a mix and mingle. Too bad he's almost completely deaf in one ear and doesn't hear the beautiful blonde tell him her name. Orchid Stone doesn't want to be on the singles cruise. She has an eight-year-old daughter to tend to, and a job to do, and a husband to mourn. But her sisters think eight years is long enough to mourn, and she promises them she'll at least try to meet someone on the cruise. She can't help it if the meathead quarterback isn't interested. When a tsunami strikes their ship, she's forced overboard with Maine and a security guard, and they make their way to a deserted island. Desperate to get back to her daughter, Orchid will do anything to survive. She climbs rock walls, escapes from wild boars, and plucks chickens. She knows she's lucky to be washed up on an old World War II outpost, complete with an overgrown garden and a herd of wild chickens, but she needs to get home. Maine does too—but he's scared of the man he'll have to be once he leaves the island. He's sure Orchid won't want to be with him once he has to go back to the public persona of Perfect Quarterback Maine Fitzgerald. Can Orchid and Maine make things work between them when they're so different? Or will their time stranded together be all they get? Read the entire Stranded in Getaway Bay series by Elana Johnson - all clean romance, sweet romance, and beach romance at its finest! 1. The Perfect Storm - billionaire, stranded, second chance, friends to lovers, beach 2. The Overboard Mistake - Navy SEAL, military, alpha hero, sisters saga, stranded, beach 3. The Cruising Fiasco - sports, football, billionaire, stranded, beach, single mom, opposites attract, fish out of water 4. The Sand Bar Misstep - cowboy, mail order bride, found family, stranded, beach, billionaire