Since the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis, our lives have completely changed: Shutdowns, working in home offices, contact restrictions, daily bulletins from virologists, protest movements, and conspiracy fantasies seem to have become part of our new everyday life. Could we have been prepared for this? Totally. It’s all been there before: in the movies. Science fiction films and series have always dealt with the future and its possible course, social changes, and conflicts in a speculative way. Denis Newiak searches through the scenes of pandemic movies and series to bring out ideas for how to cope with the social, political, and economic challenges of the crisis. Can the scenarios developed in film help us to pass this test—and to emerge from it with greater strength?
Despite the crucial importance of religion in American life, the place of religion in literary studies continues to take a backseat to trendier academic causes. This book helps remedy this deficiency by exploring the place of faith in the lives of writers beginning with Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A richly imagined portrait of an immigrant woman in the heady and unpredictable first half of the twentieth century. Sweeping and panoramic, You Were There Before My Eyes is the epic and intimate story of a young woman who chafes at the stifling routine and tradition of her small, turn-of-the-century Italian village. When an opportunity presents itself for her to emigrate to America, her hunger for escape compels her to leave everything behind for the gleaming promises that await her and her young husband in Mr. Ford’s factories. Determined to survive, and perhaps even thrive, young Jane finds herself navigating not just a new language and country, but a world poised upon the edge of economic and social revolution—and war. As Jane searches for inner fulfillment while building young family, the tide of history ebbs and flows. From the chaos of Ellis Island to the melting pot of industrial Detroit, You Were There Before My Eyes spills over with colorful characters and vivid period details. Maria Riva paints an authentic portrait of immigrant America and poignantly captures the ever evolving nature of the American dream.
The propulsive start of a dynamic space opera trilogy featuring a gunrunning empress who must navigate alien politics and deadly plots to prevent an interspecies war. Hail Bristol: former runaway princess, interplanetary gunrunner, Empress of Indrana. When the Empire's closest ally asks her to intervene in a galactic military crisis, she embarks on the highest stakes diplomatic mission Indrana has ever faced. Caught between two powerful alien civilizations at each other's throats, Hail has one chance to make peace, before all of humanity becomes collateral damage in a full-blown galactic war. Praise for There Before the Chaos: "An exciting dose of space opera and political intrigue peppered with hard choices. Highly recommended!" —Booklist "Twisty and clever and magnificent, full of political maneuvers, space action, and genuine feeling." —Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger The Farian War Trilogy There Before the Chaos Down Among the Dead Out Past the Stars For more from K. B. Wagers, check out: Indranan War Trilogy Behind the Throne After the Crown Beyond the Empire
How did authority function before the bible as we know it emerged? Lee Martin McDonald examines the authorities that existed from the Church's beginning: the appeal to the texts containing the words of Jesus, and that would become the New Testament, the not yet finalized Hebrew Scriptures (referred to mostly in Greek) and the apostolic leadership of the churches. McDonald traces several sacred core traditions that broadly identified the essence of Christianity before there was a bible summarized in early creeds, hymns and spiritual songs, baptismal and Eucharistic affirmations, and in lectionaries and catalogues from the fourth century and following. McDonald shows how those traditions were included in the early Christian writings later recognized as the New Testament. He also shows how Christians were never fully agreed on the scope of their Old Testament canon (Hebrew scriptures) and that it took centuries before there was universal acceptance of all of the books now included in the Christian bible. Further, McDonald shows that whilst writings such as the canonical gospels were read as authoritative texts likely from their beginning, they were not yet called or cited as scripture. What was cited in an authoritative manner were the words of Jesus in those texts, alongside the multiple affirmations and creeds that were circulated in the early Church and formed its key authorities and core sacred traditions.
Storm Clouds Gathering ... In contrast to these busy first few weeks of establishing back-to-school routines, as well as the uncertainty of medical tests for Kjrsten, I reflected back on the quiet respite we’d had over the past summer. One of our favorite summer activities was to sit on the long, covered front porch of our home and watch the storms as they rolled in from the west across Clear Creek. We’d listen for the thunder and see the lightning striking at the bottom of the hill as the storm climbed upward and through the cornfield to the edge of our yard. We were relieved as it rumbled noisily over the top of our house without leaving any damage as it continued its steady march to the east. Little did we know what kind of storm was brewing for our perfect little family.
When we look at “before,” it is a word that we will experience at some point in our life. Why? I’m glad you asked. We all have had a before: “before I was this” or “before I was that.” Most importantly, you must or will have a period of time preceding. It may a date, event, or time in your before that prepares you for your after. In your before, it’s the preparation for but the anticipation of after that is birthed out of your before. When a woman is pregnant, she experiences the trimesters. The first trimester is the first twelve weeks, where you may not look pregnant but the body is going through enormous changes. The second trimester is thirteen to twenty-seven weeks and is normally the most comfortable period of the pregnancy because most of the early symptoms will be over, though a few new symptoms will start, like heartburn and leg cramps. The third trimester is the twenty-eighth week through to the birthing of the baby, then the body goes back but to another level of change. She starts to really feel the weight of the baby she’s carrying. There will be more visits to the doctor to check blood pressure, test urine, listen to the fetal heart rate, and measure the fundal height and the length of the uterus. Finally, she reaches the full term, the water breaks, and the child comes forth. Medical science says that when a woman is having a baby, she will have the most stress, tension, and pressure on her heart and body that a woman ever experiences through all the trimesters in the before leading up to the baby being born. After the baby is delivered, she is in the mother’s arms and care. The mother remembers the before, but the after makes it so joyful and happy to the point that she remembers the stage of trimesters and pain but only from a place of grace and gratitude because she went from the three trimesters to a new semester, a life of joy with her baby. Remember again that your before is the very catalyst to your after.
After his parents say "goodnight," turn off his lights, and close his door, a young boy imagines creatures coming out of the dark ceiling above his bed.
