This book explores the experience of China's migrant labourers in Shanghai from anthropological, and gendered analyses, offering extraordinary insights into the life-world of the marginalized people. China has hundreds of millions of internal migrants coming from the countryside to the big cities in search of fame, fortune, or just a living. The author also examines the gender dynamics at work, in intimacy and leisure of this marginalized, yet huge population. With an in-depth and multidisciplinary examination of the experience of restaurant workers in Shanghai, this book sheds humanising new light on the experience of the megacity from the inside and will be of direct value to policymakers, demographers, feminist scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and responsible citizens.
"A Mother's Journey: Through Laughter and Tears" is a book that will inspire, encourage, and validate all mothers who have the important job of raising the wonderful children that God has blessed us all with. The author's humorous writings teach us to be able to laugh at life's little tragedies, as we remember that we are not alone in our journey. Motherhood is a shared voyage, the commonalties of which span all ages and all women throughout the world! Kimberly Garrow creatively reminds us that we are together in this beautiful journey called motherhood. The stories in this book will make you laugh and will tug at your heart. The author understands a woman's heart, in relation to preconception, pregnancy, and being a new mom; the whole journey in between and beyond is beautifully captured in the pages of this book. Reading Kimberly's book is like taking a trip through your own life as a mother, whether you are just contemplating becoming a mother, whether you are a mom, or whether you are now enjoying your children's children. Every reader will relate to Kimberly Garrow's cleverly written stories and poems, as well as the underlying emotions and strengths captured throughout this book. This book is a celebration of mothers everywhere! Enjoy the journey!
As eighteen-year-old Lorenzo Adamani works his way down the Aspromonte mountainside toward the coastal town of Gioia Taura, he is carrying a small hemp sack over his shoulder - a sack containing everything he owns. He is on his way to America, escaping the extreme hardship and poverty of the oppressed Italian South. Responding to American corporate labor recruiters, he does not know what to expect, but is hopeful of a better life -- a life that will enable him to support his mother and siblings left behind in Calabria. With hopes unfulfilled, Lorenzo is left to make his own way while navigating rough terrain and perilous life circumstances. He eventually finds Mariella, and the two of them create a life together -- struggling, desperately at times, to support a large family in a hostile anti-immigrant environment. Their ultimate success is a testament to their unshakable character and the strength and durability of their Calabrian roots. With Tears and Laughter is an historical fiction novel telling the story of millions of Southern Italians forced to leave Italy during the late nineteenth century and first part of the twentieth century. This mass immigration is seen in the lives of protagonists whose circumstances and identities shift from peasant subsistence roots in Calabria, Italy to hardship and confusion in America. Lost dreams and financial struggles gradually turn into a life beyond mere survival - a life of contrasting values, cultural integration, and triumphs across generations. Moving back and forth between Southern Italy and the United States, arranged marriages are intertwined with love, Italian wedding feasts, and sometimes humorous intergenerational and cultural differences. As the book moves back and forth in time and between locations, stories are generated from the standpoint of historical events and actual, as well as fictionalized, recollections. The chapters containing these integrated stories sometimes tell us about the direct experiences and hardships associated with a de facto forced immigration. "New York, New York" stands out in this regard. Here we see how arrival and adaptation to urban tenement life, difficult and stressful in its own right, transitions into the recruited laborers' realization of their indentured servitude. Other chapters tell stories indirectly related to the protagonists' immigration - stories depicting what it is like to be reduced in status as a result of being displaced and unwanted. For example, "Confessions" speaks to how Lorenzo, as a result of a life constantly challenged by hardships and accusations, uses the confessional as an opportunity to proclaim his innocence rather than confess his sins. "Sickle-Bar Farm" demonstrates how the quest to reproduce the familiar terrace farm lifestyle of Southern Italy becomes distorted and confused in the United States. With a humorous touch, we experience the contrast between a subsistence farm-life of the Calabrian mountainsides and a failed small business farm in Western Pennsylvania. When finished with this book the reader will have journeyed through the lives of two diaspora Italian immigrants - two courageous and strong people who suffered greatly to make a better life for their children, and others as well.
Sarah’s Laughter provides a reflection on suffering that is deeply personal and both theologically and philosophically astute. Vinoth Ramachandra draws on his distinctive positioning as a Sri Lankan Christian theologian – one who has lived and ministered in contexts shaped by the destruction of natural disasters and the violence of human evil – to confront the intellectual, moral, and political challenges posed to faith in the increasingly broken world of the twenty-first century. Yet far from being an abstract discussion of theodicy, this book is intimate and vulnerable, embracing the biblical practice of lament and inviting an authentic response to grief – one that makes space for serious doubt and profound questioning. Sharing his own ongoing journey with suffering and a questing faith, Ramachandra reminds us that lament and joy, faith and protest, clarity and ambiguity, belong together in faithful Christian discipleship. It is not in bypassing the darkness of the world, but in embracing it – in imitation of the incarnate God – that we may glimpse the new creation.
Provine boldly goes where other scientists seldom tread—in search of hiccups, coughs, yawns, sneezes, and other lowly, undignified, human behaviors. Our earthiest instinctive acts bear the imprint of our evolutionary origins and can be valuable tools for understanding how the human brain works and what makes us different from other species.
A memoir by the legendary television executive detailing his pioneering work on Saturday Night Live, Sunday Night Football, the Olympics, the NBA, music videos, late night, and more. Think of an important moment in live TV over the last half-century. Dick Ebersol was likely involved. Dropping out of college to join the crew of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, Ebersol worked the Mexico City Olympics during the famous protest by John Carlos and Tommie Smith as well as the Munich Olympics during the tragic hostage standoff. He went on to cocreate Saturday Night Live with Lorne Michaels and later produced the show for four seasons, helping launch Eddie Murphy to stardom. After creating Friday Night Videos and partnering with Vince McMahon to bring professional wrestling to network TV, he next took over NBC Sports, which helped turn basketball into a global phenomenon and made history as the first broadcaster to host the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, and the Summer Olympics in the same year; it was Ebersol who was responsible for Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame in Atlanta. Then, following a plane crash that took the life of his fourteen-year-old son Teddy and nearly killed him, he determinedly undertook perhaps his greatest career achievement: creating NBC’s Sunday Night Football, still the #1 primetime show in America. The Today show’s headline-making hosting changes, the so-called “Late-Night Wars,” O.J. Simpson’s Bronco chase—Ebersol had a front-row seat to it all. From Saturday Night to Sunday Night is filled with entertaining and illuminating stories featuring such boldface names as Billy Crystal, Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, and Larry David. (Ebersol even inspired the famous Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza pretends he didn’t quit his job.) More than that, the book offers an insightful history and analysis of TV’s evolution from broadcast to cable and beyond—a must-read for casual binge-watchers and small-screen aficionados alike.
Laughter After will appeal to a number of audiences—from students and scholars of Jewish and Holocaust studies to academics and general readers with an interest in media and performance studies.
One day during an afternoon at the ball park, author Eric Gray asked his wife, daughter, and friend to identify their favorite game that they had been to. Little did he know, that simple question would soon take on a life of its own. As the question made its way to family members, friends, friends of friends, strangers and beyond, it gave way to a surprising collection of incredibly diverse stories and perspectives. Thus, Bases to Bleachers was born. Much more than your average baseball book, the many special and unique stories shared with readers here, whether they're about watching or playing, either at the Major League level or Little League, represent a wide gamut of experiences. Some entail meeting the stars or attending famous games--and some offered are personal, intimate moments involving family connections and the importance of baseball in people's lives. Unlike most baseball books, this is not a biography, or a discussion of a team, or analysis of a season. Baseball here is a setting in which both astounding feats and some of the most beautifully touching moments in peoples' lives have happened. Whether it's the first game, falling in love at the park, or even a beloved baseball glove that survived World War II, these stories are about more than just baseball. They reflect the joys, triumphs, and disappointments of the human condition, and often illustrate what's truly important in life--those things we hold most dear in our hearts.
