This fast paced book tells the comically raw and honest story of Mario, a vivacious fashionista, who transform into the fabulous "awkward hitch" right before the eyes of everyone she knows. Marlo moved from New York to London to make it in the music business, aided by the money made at her day job as a luxury retail manager. Her plans are bamoozled when she starts to lose her eyesight after only a month of living in her dream city! Through a series of roller coaster events taking her to Paris, Miami, London, and New York, she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the most common disabling neurogical disease affecting young adults today.
The increased use of digital tools for political activism has triggered heated debates about the effectiveness of digital campaigns for political change and feminist causes. While technology’s immediacy and transnational reach have broadened the potential impact of activism, it has, at the same time, complicated the goals, materiality, and consumption of feminist actions. In Awkward Politics, Carrie Smith-Prei and Maria Stehle suggest that awkwardness offers a means of engaging with twenty-first century feminist activism by accounting for the uncertainty of popfeminist moments and movements, its sometimes illegible meanings, affects, and aesthetics. By investigating transnational media ranging from popfeminist performance art, music, street activism, blogs, and hashtags to literature, film, academic theory, and protests, the authors demonstrate that viewing activist art through the lens of awkwardness can yield a nuanced critique. By developing awkwardness into a theoretical tool for intervention, a key concept of feminist politics, and a moving target, this innovative study dramatically alters the ways in which we approach activism, its forms, movements, and effects. It also suggests a broad range of applicability, from social movements to the academy. Breaking new ground through the intersections of technology, consumerism, and the political in popfeminist work, Awkward Politics highlights the urgency of feminist politics and activism.
You may know W. Kamau Bell from his new, Emmy-nominated hit show on CNN, United Shades of America. Or maybe you’ve read about him in the New York Times, which called him “the most promising new talent in political comedy in many years.” Or maybe from The New Yorker, fawning over his brand of humor writing: "Bell’s gimmick is intersectional progressivism: he treats racial, gay, and women’s issues as inseparable." After all this love and praise, it’s time for the next step: a book. The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell is a humorous, well-informed take on the world today, tackling a wide range of issues, such as race relations; fatherhood; the state of law enforcement today; comedians and superheroes; right-wing politics; left-wing politics; failure; his interracial marriage; white men; his up-bringing by very strong-willed, race-conscious, yet ideologically opposite parents; his early days struggling to find his comedic voice, then his later days struggling to find his comedic voice; why he never seemed to fit in with the Black comedy scene . . . or the white comedy scene; how he was a Black nerd way before that became a thing; how it took his wife and an East Bay lesbian to teach him that racism and sexism often walk hand in hand; and much, much more.
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is Alison Arngrim’s comic memoir of growing up as one of television’s most memorable characters—the devious Nellie Oleson on the hit television show Little House on the Prairie. With behind-the-scenes stories from the set, as well as tales from her bohemian upbringing in West Hollywood and her headline-making advocacy work on behalf of HIV awareness and abused children, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is a must for fans of everything Little House: the classic television series and its many stars like Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert; Gilbert’s bestselling memoir Prairie Tale... and, of course, the beloved series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that started it all.
Weird is a sad clown in church. Weirder, that the congregation is all clowns. Weird: you're a sad clown, too, and you think you like it.That says it all. In 'Weird, Weirder & WEIRD,' descend into the depths of A.A. Garrison's particular brand of strange. Begin with the traditional, sci-fi weird ("Suffer," "RIP, Krokinski"), progress to the hauntingly peculiar ("Faith," "Chesterfield Drive"), and then end with some full-throttle, no-apologies bizarro ("The Enema Flower: A Love Story," "GG Allin Must Die"). Altogether, these twenty stories deliver a full spectrum of weirdness-and then some.Come on, don't be shy. Everyone likes a little weird. Or are you afraid you'll like life as a sad, church-going clown?
Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri turns her satirical eye on her own life in this hilarious new memoir... Most twentysomethings spend a lot of time avoiding awkwardness. Not Alexandra Petri. Afraid of rejection? Alexandra Petri has auditioned for America’s Next Top Model. Afraid of looking like an idiot? Alexandra Petri lost Jeopardy! by answering “Who is that dude?” on national TV. Afraid of bad jokes? Alexandra Petri won an international pun championship. Petri has been a debutante, reenacted the Civil War, and fended off suitors at a Star Wars convention while wearing a Jabba the Hutt suit. One time, she let some cult members she met on the street baptize her, just to be polite. She’s a connoisseur of the kind of awkwardness that most people spend whole lifetimes trying to avoid. If John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris had a baby…they would never let Petri babysit it. But Petri is here to tell you: Everything you fear is not so bad. Trust her. She’s tried it. And in the course of her misadventures, she’s learned that there are worse things out there than awkwardness—and that interesting things start to happen when you stop caring what people think.
On a miserable January morning Sarah is sitting on a plane to Tenerife - dickheads' destination of choice - for a week-long getaway. She's just realised that she's very angry and becoming a bitter bitch, despite being just thirty years old. With her on the plane she has a copy of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying and wishes it were 1975 instead of 2005. Sarah never intended for things to turn out the way they have: she just dreamed of love like everyone else. But now she's sitting here, thinking about all the injustices she's suffered. Thinking about how thoroughly fooled she was by the promise of love - the one that makes us want to start a family. Thinking about all the women she knows who, like her, were drained of all their energy by family hell - an inheritance passed down directly from generation to generation, from her restless mother's eczema-covered dishpan hands to her own nervous over-achiever complex. Angry and candid, Bitter Bitch is an uncompromising novel, at the heart of which is one of the most important women's issues: how can we ever have an egalitarian society when we can't even live in equality with those we love?
New York Times bestselling author Nicole Lapin is back with a sassy and actionable guide empowering women to be the boss of their own lives and careers. You don’t need dozens or hundreds of employees to be a boss, says financial expert and serial entrepreneur Nicole Lapin. Hell, you don’t even need one. You just need to be confident, savvy, and ready to get out there and make your success happen. You need to find your inner Boss Bitch — your most confident, savvy, ambitious self—and own it. A Boss Bitch is the she-ro of her own story. She is someone who takes charge of herself and her future and embraces being a “boss” in all senses of the word: whether as the boss of her own life, a boss at work, or the literal boss of her own company (or all three). Whichever she chooses, being a Boss Bitch isn’t something to apologize for—it’s something to be proud of! We all have what it takes to be a boss bitch, says Lapin. The problem is: we don’t learn how to do it in school. Even if we study business, we’re not getting enough real-deal business education. Until now. Here, Lapin draws on raw and often hilariously real stories from her own career and experiences starting businesses—the good, the bad, and the ugly—to show what it means to be a "boss" in twelve easy steps. In her refreshingly honest and relatable style, she first shows how to embrace the boss-of-you mentality by seizing the power that comes from believing in yourself and expanding your personal skillset. Then she offers candid no-nonsense advice on how to kill it as the boss at work whether you have a high-up role or not. And finally, for those who want to take the plunge as an entrepreneur, she lays out the nuts and bolts of how to be the boss of your own business—from raising money and getting it off the ground to hiring a kickass staff and dealing office drama to turning a profit. Being a rock star in your career is something that should be worn as a badge of honor. Here Lapin shows how to crush it in our careers like like a Boss Bitch!
Beware of the company you keep. K’wan’s urban fiction coming-of-age novel, Promise Broken, is set in the gritty streets of Newark, New Jersey. The story follows seventeen-year-old Promise Mohammed as she attempts to uphold friendships and new relationships—even if they lead to her demise. After Promise’s mother dies in a tragic car accident, it leaves a void in Promise’s life that she is yearning to fill. This titular novel finds Promise spiraling into a life of crime and drug affiliation by the company she chooses to keep. Also coping with abandonment and a lifelong broken commitment from her biological father, Promise ultimately has two goals: to graduate from high school and to be loved. But can she find the love that she seeks from her aunt Dell, two best friends, Mouse and Keys, or drug-dealer Asher—the man who captivates her—despite the fact that each relationship will lead to life-altering events? Only time will tell.
Writer Andie M. Long returns with a further book in her hilarious supernatural dating agency series. The Withernsea gang are back! Author note: Samara's part of this storyline previously featured in Crazy, Stupid, Lazy, Cupid. However it has been re-edited and thirty thousand words added to this new story. At cupid school there are lessons in love. Tired of his representative’s reluctance to make love matches, Cupid takes drastic action. With the assistance of Fate, Samara is sent back to training school. However, Samara’s frustration that Cupid won’t listen to her gets pushed aside when she realises someone’s out to get her… but who? Back in Withernsea, Shelley is busy helping her daughter plan her wedding while looking for new premises for the dating agency. When Samara asks for her assistance with changing the future of cupiding, Shelley has an idea. But can they get Cupid to move his targets from statistics back towards hearts, and will Samara discover who’s behind the vendetta before it’s too late? SUPERNATURAL DATING AGENCY SERIES #1 The Vampire Wants a Wife #2 A Devil of a Date #3 Hate, Date, or Mate? #4 Here for the Seer #5 Didn't Sea it Coming #6 Phwoar and Peace #7 Acting Cupid #8 Cupid Fools - out April 2023 #9 Dead and Breakfast - coming 2023.
