Despite her parents' struggles with addiction, Lilly Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal the instability around the edges? Dancyger's father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass, and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him—despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away. As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she'd created about her father—the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father's work to find the truth of who he really was.

These exceptional sermons by J. Wayne McKamie are among the most thought-provoking and spiritually challenging that you will find concerning the human application of the parables of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He captures both the divine nature and the human nature of Jesus' words and then points out life-changing lessons from these truths, which, if we truly apply them to our hearts and lives, will make us much better people in the service of our Lord. According to Wayne, his main attempt has been to make these grand sermons live anew in the hearts of the Lord's people. He has said, "They have lived for me; I want them to live for others." This series of sermons can be utilized as a great study tool in gaining a more thorough understanding of Jesus' parables. It is also just an enjoyable read for the spiritually minded!

Bob's journey spans over four decades, transitioning from a young actor in California to a successful business career. In 2019, he retires from the corporate world to pursue his original passions of acting, filmmaking, and living a nomadic life traveling throughout Europe. In January 2020, Bob's European adventure begins in Vienna, Austria, and everything goes smoothly until mid-March when a global pandemic changes the world. He narrowly escapes border closures and reaches Zagreb, Croatia, only to face a devastating earthquake, the worst in the country in 140 years. The US Travel Department advises him to return home, but lacking a real home to go back to, Bob decides to stay in Europe. Riding out the pandemic in Europe grants Bob a unique perspective on the world as he learns to face fears, develop resilience, and keep moving forward. Upon returning to the US after three years, Bob is met with a different world, where discussing sensitive subjects like the pandemic, health, politics, and just about any subject seems to pose challenges and creates occasional tension. The atmosphere feels delicate and uncertain, leading to shifts in relationships. However, reconnecting with loved ones after a long absence proves to be a transformative, healing, and enlightening experience for Bob. His journey represents a testament to embracing change, facing adversity, and finding personal growth through exploration and pursuing one's passions.

The wars of the twentieth century uprooted people on a previously unimaginable scale to the extent that being a refugee became an increasingly widespread experience. With the arrival of refugees, governments of host countries had to mediate between divided national populations: some wished to welcome those arriving in search of refuge; others preferred a strategy of exclusion or even expulsion. At the same time, refugees had to manage conflicts of the self as they responded to the loss of nationhood, families, socio-political networks, material goods, and arguably also a sense of belonging or home. While return migration was usually perceived by governments and refugees alike as the best solution to the dilemmas of forced displacement, consensus about the timing and dynamics of how this would actually occur was very difficult to achieve. In practice, the return of refugees to their countries of origin rarely, if ever, produced a wholly satisfactory outcome. Conflicts clearly resulted in forced displacement, but it is equally true that forced displacement created conflicts. The complex inter-relationship of conflict, return migration and the sometimes chimerical, but still compelling search for a sense of home is the central preoccupation of the contributors to the two volumes of the Coming Home? series. Scholars from history, literature, cultural studies and sociology explore the tensions between nation-states and migrants as they have anticipated, implemented or challenged the process of return migration during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The first volume – Coming Home? Conflict and Return Migration in the Aftermath of Europe’s Twentieth-Century Civil Wars – covers the period of the Spanish Civil War to the Cold War with a focus on Western, Central and Eastern Europe. This book shifts attention to the colonial and post-colonial framework of the French-North African nexus.

How do cats know when it's time to go to the vet, even before the cat carrier comes out? How do dogs know when their owners are returning home at unexpected times? How can horses find their way back to the stable over completely unfamiliar terrain? With a scientist's mind and an animal lover's compassion, world-renowned biologist Rupert Sheldrake presents a groundbreaking exploration of animal behavior that will profoundly change the way we think about animals -- and ourselves. After five years of extensive research involving thousands of people who have pets and work with animals, Dr. Sheldrake proves conclusively what many pet owners already know: there is a strong connection between humans and animals that defies present-day scientific understanding. This remarkable book deserves a place next to the most beloved and valuable books on animals, including When Elephants Weep, Dogs Never Lie About Love, and The Hidden Life of Dogs.