Lia Nautilus may be a Mermaid but she's never lived in the ocean. War has ravaged the seven seas ever since the infamous Little Mermaid unleashed a curse that stripped Mer of their immortality. Lia has grown up in a secret community of land-dwelling Mer hidden among Malibu's seaside mansions. Her biggest problems are surviving P.E. and keeping her feelings for Clay Ericson in check. Sure, he's gorgeous in that cocky, leather jacket sort of way and makes her feel like there's a school of fish swimming in her stomach, but getting involved with a human could put Lia's entire community at risk. So it's for the best that he's dating that new girl, right? That is, until Lia finds out she isn't the only one at school keeping a potentially deadly secret. And this new girl? Her eyes are dead set on Clay, who doesn't realize the danger he's in. If Lia hopes to save him, she'll have to get closer to Clay. Lia's parents would totally flip if they found out she was falling for a human boy, but the more time she spends with him, the harder it is for her to deny her feelings. After making a horrible mistake, Lia will risk everything to stop Clay from falling in love with the wrong girl.
“Plagues and politics and romance, oh my! Dystopia meets science fiction in Emerge, the first book in a new series from popular YA author Heather Sunseri. …Truly, a well-crafted dystopian romance! Don’t miss this one!” ~Serena Chase, USA Today‘s Happy Ever After blog, author of The Ryn Six years ago, a highly contagious virus wiped out more than ninety-nine percent of the country’s population. The only person to contract the virus and survive, Cricket fled her identity and the safety of New Caelum, an airtight city. Now eighteen, she watches the city where the wealthy cocooned from the devastating outbreak. When the city’s rumbling incinerator wakes her one night while she and her friends are camping just beyond the city walls, she alone knows what the fiery machine means: the lethal virus is back. Only eighteen, Westlin Layne is already being groomed to succeed his mother as New Caelum’s next president. Suddenly West’s sister develops symptoms of the deadly virus thought to be eradicated years ago. Placed under quarantine, the president confesses to West a long-held secret: Christina Black, West’s childhood friend and first love, survived the virus, and her body alone holds the precious antibodies to save his sister. Now West must leave the city to find Christina. But Cricket has no intention of being found.
From the crushing comfort of the womb-dark ocean, the poems in Francesca Marais's Emerge rise to the surface and breathe deeply. "Blood surges through my body, / Refusing to gently creep into the shores / Of my heart's quiet," she says. Untangling the tentacles of family and romance and imagination, the poet carries the reader along on a journey toward self-love and acceptance. Her advice to us? "Cherish then savour / The salt of the pain, / Lick your fingers dry." Salt of tears, of stinging wounds, of breaking waves-to know the self requires all of these. There is ache here, but also nourishment. Emerge shows us how to stop holding our breath; how to see our own reflection in the ocean's blue eyes.
The parents of children with autism know that research is a full-time job. For parents with limited time, ability, or resources to do this, Ken Siri and Tony Lyons have compiled the latest in autism research and treatment. Cutting-Edge Therapies for Autism contains contributions from more than eighty experts on a variety of therapies, models, and multifaceted evaluation and treatment centers. Each contributor provides readers with an easy-to-understand description of the topic, including its scientific rationale, development, risks, and benefits. Siri and Lyons include the therapies of the future, focusing on current clinical trials, ongoing research, and the researchers who are striving to better understand autism and find new treatments. Revised and updated to reflect the new developments in the last year, the 2011–2012 edition explains possible causes of autism, including food allergies and gastrointestinal diseases in children. An extensive variety of therapies is discussed, from dietary interventions that reduce sugars and remove gluten to animal assisted therapies that place a dog or cat in the care of the autistic individual to help enhance social and developmental skills. Filled with numerous case studies and more than seventy distinct subjects, Cutting-Edge Therapies for Autism is a detailed and informative guide for anyone affected by autism.
Laney Walker is a quick witted, athletic, southern tomboy who lets few get too close, using her sarcastic zingers to deflect and no idea how others view her.Evan Allen's always been "friend zoned" yet protected and coveted Laney since they were children. But college puts a gap between them that neither were prepared for- old relationships are tested, new ones are formed and nothing will ever be the same. Especially when in walks one Dane Kendrick, not at all the familiar, southern charmer of home, but an animal all his own. A story of growing up, friendship, loyalty, first love, primal love...and life. Mature content.
Chance Cessna was homeless and lived in her car. She grew up in a single-parent home. She was fired from six jobs. In her inspiring book, Chance reveals how she survived these trials and shares wisdom on how the power of faith leads to a life of victory. Chance explains the core principles to success that will accelerate you in your purpose and position you to live life in full throttle! This book will light your inner fire, ignite your passions and provide you with a clear action strategy to accomplish your dreams and career ambitions. From faith, family, relationships and business, Chance gives you keys on how to expertly balance them all. Most importantly, you will learn how to fearlessly overcome difficult setbacks, build your vision from the ground up, navigate through life's detours and unleash your divine power.
An incisive study showing how cultural ideas of merit in academic science produce unfair and unequal outcomes. In Misconceiving Merit, sociologists Mary Blair-Loy and Erin A. Cech uncover the cultural foundations of a paradox. On one hand, academic science, engineering, and math revere meritocracy, a system that recognizes and rewards those with the greatest talent and dedication. At the same time, women and some racial and sexual minorities remain underrepresented and often feel unwelcome and devalued in STEM. How can academic science, which so highly values meritocracy and objectivity, produce these unequal outcomes? Blair-Loy and Cech studied more than five hundred STEM professors at a top research university to reveal how unequal and unfair outcomes can emerge alongside commitments to objectivity and excellence. The authors find that academic STEM harbors dominant cultural beliefs that not only perpetuate the mistreatment of scientists from underrepresented groups but hinder innovation. Underrepresented groups are often seen as less fully embodying merit compared to equally productive white and Asian heterosexual men, and the negative consequences of this misjudgment persist regardless of professors’ actual academic productivity. Misconceiving Merit is filled with insights for higher education administrators working toward greater equity as well as for scientists and engineers striving to change entrenched patterns of inequality in STEM.
This book begins with a presupposition. The subtitle of the work implies that you, the reader, share in the belief that the modern Western paradigm is encased in a cultural cocoon that is fortified by a subtle socialization birthed of mass media messages. If you agree with that construct, even somewhat, read on. If you disagree with that concept, whether mildly or vehemently, may we first challenge you to read the studies and statistics put forth in this book, analyzing the scientific, biological, and sociological data thoroughly, and weighing the evidence carefully? The hallmark of a free society lies within its citizens' willingness to speak to one another respectfully and charitably--yet openly--with regard to our observations and opinions. It is to this free exchange of ideas that we, the authors, appeal. In 1946, an experimental drug was introduced into the United States' consciousness. Its ubiquitous nature makes it as imperceptibly prevalent as water, while its potency makes it as insidiously powerful as strychnine. The drug's popularity rose from 0 percent in 1946 to a staggering 98 percent in 2009, with its early models spawning later offspring that boasted larger taps, instant connectivity, and the potential for a continuous high. Today, its wares are promulgated from every corner of the house: the living room, the bedroom, the office, the kitchen, even the bathroom. In fact, the modern American home contains more dispensers of the drug than it does indoor toilets. Over the last 60 years, the maddening concoctions spewing forth from its spigots appear to have impacted the emotional health of millions upon millions of people, spreading malaise throughout the civilized world and reaching into the far corners of the earth, leaving two generations pleading in silent helplessness for relief. Its populace, millions strong and nurtured on the mind-numbing narcotic for over 60 successive years, is characterized by a host of predictable emotions--anger, depression, anxiety, restlessness, self-loathing. These are the effects of a media-central society. But there is something you can do to escape the grasp of this postmodern pandemic sweeping the planet: Don't drink the water. Or, at the very least, test the tainted water for potential aftereffects. This we shall do in the pages to come. This is a book about paradigms, worldviews, lenses, interpretations. Our paradigms are difficult to scrutinize with great accuracy, for an intricate process is required for any of us to interpret with even relative precision the culture we live in: We are part of the system we attempt to analyze. And, as sociologists note, a fish is oblivious to the water it swims in. However, if we are able to step out of our solitary seas and take a momentary leap into the global perspective of socialization, we may be surprised at the messages that have shaped our existing paradigms--and how these messages may have kept us from the true pursuit of life and liberty. This book is, in essence, a written quest for answers--answers that help make sense of the impact of socio-environmental influences on human behavior, connections between humans and the environment in which they live.
A famed political scientist's classic argument for a more cooperative world We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1980, he organized the famed Computer Prisoners Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the optimal strategy for survival in a particular game. Over and over, the simplest strategy, a cooperative program called Tit for Tat, shut out the competition. In other words, cooperation, not unfettered competition, turns out to be our best chance for survival. A vital book for leaders and decision makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy, to political elections, to family dynamics.
