24-year-old Renee's life comes crashing down when she is admitted for treatment in a psychiatric ward. While she is inpatient, she reflects on her life and how it has spiraled out of control. Renee struggles to cope with life's challenges, past and present, and to face the chaos she has been trying so hard to avoid. She sees there is more to her life if she is free from drugs. She knows she has potential but she just trying to survive life while picking up the pieces of the mess she made.
Her parents never really explained what a D.P. was. Years later Daiva Markelis learned that “displaced person” was the designation bestowed upon European refugees like her mom and dad who fled communist Lithuania after the war. Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, though, Markelis had only heard the name T.P., since her folks pronounced the D as a T: “In first grade we had learned about the Plains Indians, who had lived in tent-like dwellings made of wood and buffalo skin called teepees. In my childish confusion, I thought that perhaps my parents weren’t Lithuanian at all, but Cherokee. I went around telling people that I was the child of teepees.” So begins this touching and affectionate memoir about growing up as a daughter of Lithuanian immigrants. Markelis was raised during the 1960s and 1970s in a household where Lithuanian was the first language. White Field, Black Sheep derives much of its charm from this collision of old world and new: a tough but cultured generation that can’t quite understand the ways of America and a younger one weaned on Barbie dolls and The Brady Bunch, Hostess cupcakes and comic books, The Monkees and Captain Kangaroo. Throughout, Markelis recalls the amusing contortions of language and identity that animated her childhood. She also humorously recollects the touchstones of her youth, from her First Communion to her first game of Twister. Ultimately, she revisits the troubles that surfaced in the wake of her assimilation into American culture: the constricting expectations of her family and community, her problems with alcoholism and depression, and her sometimes contentious but always loving relationship with her mother. Deftly recreating the emotional world of adolescence, but overlaying it with the hard-won understanding of adulthood, White Field, Black Sheep is a poignant and moving memoir—a lively tale of this Lithuanian-American life.
“This is the story of the groundwork that paved the way to my faith. It is not an easy story to tell….” This powerful memoir from Grammy Award winner Ashley Cleveland reminds us that even in the lowest times of our lives, beauty can shine through. As a young woman from a deeply flawed family, Ashley had little hope she would amount to anything. If there was trouble, near or far, she found it. Yet, in her destructive days of drugs, alcohol, and sex, she encountered a forgiving God who was relentlessly faithful. Change did not come quickly. The brokenness did not disappear. But little by little, Ashley allowed God to heal her, to transform her desires, to bring courage to others through her journey. Little by little, she saw that it was her brokenness itself that God wanted to use. This beautifully told story will take you from the back rooms of Nashville to the churches of the San Francisco Bay area to a tender new life where one woman discovers that God can work in broken places.
In 1977, Tom McGrath crossed the United States in the record time of 53 days and seven minutes. Few would have guessed that he was a bar owner or that he would fight harder to stay sober than he ever did to keep running. With countless charity runs organized all over the world and his 10th bar still up and running in New York City, the question still remains, "Who is Tom McGrath?" "A compelling tale of an authentic man. Tom McGrath has lived a life with two great themes, one as a fearless ultramarathon runner, the other a harrowing descent into alcoholism. His is a story of rare heroic athletic achievement and personal survival. I could not put it down." - David Blaikie Ultra marathon World "A monument whose inscription offers truth to all who visit: the drinker;the smoker;the athlete; the Christian; the philosopher." - Jesse Riley Trans-Am Race Director 92-96"
Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all—the fight to survive. The World War II air war in the Pacific needed tough men like Colonel Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron. The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave new definition to “hell-raising”—on the ground and in the skies. Pappy himself was a living legend—he personally shot down twenty-eight Japanese planes, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. He broke every rule in the book doing so, but when he fell into the hands of the vengeful Japanese his real ordeal began.
A highly opinionated, vibrantly illustrated wine guide from one of the country’s most celebrated—and unorthodox—sommeliers and winemakers. In this entertaining, informative, and thoroughly unconventional wine guide, award-winning sommelier, winemaker, and wine educator Andre Mack presents readers with the 99 bottles that have most impacted his life. Instead of just pairing wines with foods, Mack pairs practical information with personal stories, offering up recommendations alongside reflections on being one of the only African-Americans to ever work at the top level of the American wine industry. Mack’s 99 bottles range from highly accessible commercial wines to the most rarefied Bordeaux on the wine list at The French Laundry, and each bottle offers readers something to learn about wine. This window into Mack’s life combines a maverick’s perspective on the wine industry with an insider’s advice on navigating wine lists, purchasing wine, and drinking more diverse and interesting selections at home. 99 Bottles is a one-of-a-kind exploration of wine culture today from a true trailblazer.
The autobiography of 92-year-old Chicagoan Faith Block is a perfect blend of a gripping inspirational story and practical advice so you can live a longer, more positive, happy, and healthy life. Her journey takes you from her defiant, blind "black sheep" childhood, emotionally damaged by her father, to murder, greed, and corruption that eventually destroyed her own family.Blind Black Sheep is a skillful mix of entertainment, enlightenment, and encouragement. It explores a fundamental question: Can a blind person develop normally, change the world, and find personal happiness every day? Faith was born legally blind. She struggled with a demon, her black sheep complex, and her own deep character flaws that needed redemption before it was too late. Her dysfunctional family held her back, especially her father, who punished her for her birth defect. A blood enemy is now tearing her apart.As a child, she was a quirky tomboy and a rebel who defied elders. Strong-willed and persistent, nothing has stopped her in life--not blindness, age, injuries, parents, gender, or common sense. She did what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. She finally found her calling, teaching children, advising seniors, and family and friends. A positive personality, Faith was determined to make herself and the world better. Faith's story can be summarized in six words: Legally blind but changed the world. Her playboy, psychopathic father, Joe Brickman, was a classic success story: A Russian immigrant becomes a multimillionaire home builder by age 49 through hard work. By 76, he was dying as a convicted felon, like some of his mafia buddies, and mostly broke.Faith's mom taught her early in life, "Don't let disabilities or challenges stop you from enjoying every minute of the day." Faith teaches many lessons that can enhance your experience, including her favorite inspired by her mom: "Have Faith . . . Things will be better tomorrow."
Llama Drama! Ellie and Ben Krueger arrived in Plum Harbor eager to live out their dream—tending a herd of gentle, friendly llamas for fun and profit, on a farm just beyond the village. Their grand opening fiber festival kicks off on a bright note but abruptly ends in malicious mayhem. Knitting shop owner Maggie Messina and her friends soon learn that this is not the first time a vicious visitor has called. The Kruegers suspect that Justin Ridley, their eccentric neighbor, is the troublemaker. A misfit and loner, he’s known to roam the woods all night, though no one knows for sure what he’s hunting. Then there’s Angelica Rossi—the lovely owner of a rival fiber farm—who’s been as busy as a spider, spinning spiteful lies about the Kruegers’ yarns. Or, are the naïve newcomers merely caught in the tangle of Plum Harbor politics, and an intense land protection debate? Suddenly, vandalism turns to murder—and the Kruegers’ dream descends into a nightmare. The Black Sheep knitters must pull the threads together and uncover this crafty menace . . . before more lives—and more llamas— are lost.
In this touching memoir about the relationship between father, daughter, and animals, Carole George explores life after adopting thirteen pet Karakul lambs. Throughout her years with the lambs and her aging father, she comes to realize the distinct personality of each creature, and to understand more fully the almost spiritual bond between man and animals.
Leonora Russell details the painstaking process of joining the family's black sheep rejects (quite by surprise), after letting her sexist, money-grubby, close-minded family know how she felt about, well, everything good girls don't talk about. Ms. Russell shares the heartbreak of being denied the ability to care for her dying maternal grandmother (after cleaning and caretaking for her grandparents for twenty years) in this funny, relatable, and poignant tale of family dysfunction.
