There are love stories and then there's Days Like These—the story of Kristian and Rachel Anderson. When Kristian wanted to show his wife, Rachel, how much he loved her after learning he was terminally ill, he ended up winning a million hearts around the world, thanks to the now famous YouTube video he made for her 35th birthday. This heartfelt and moving tribute by a young Australian father of two and his battle with cancer drew attention to a much larger story—an ordeal so many families face alone. Like Oprah, who invited Kristian and Rachel on her show, and Hugh Jackman, who helped make one of Kristian's dreams come true by appearing on the tribute, though we didn't know him, we were so inspired by him we felt like we did. He touched lives, gave hope, and left behind a precious legacy that will mean a longer and better quality of life for thousands of cancer sufferers. His story, told in his own words from his blog entries, with additions from his beloved Rachel, will inspire you to know that even in your darkest moments, the light can shine through.
The Illusion Factory is a poetry journal that includes forty one poems and thirty one daily challenges. Some of the challenges are just for random fun and others purpose are much more meaningful. To help break down sociological barriers in our society and to point out and challenge people to stand up against stereotypical beliefs and images.
The Sun Still Shines, Living with Chronic Illness, (spirituality), by Janice Tucker, is a gripping, practical and moving book. Tucker draws inspiration from writers, philosophers and health care professionals, from stories of friends with chronic illness, and her own personal 30-year journey with scleroderma. If you or a loved one are dealing with chronic illness, this message of hope is for you. Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Helen Keller, Michael J. Fox, and Henry David Thoreau, Jan Tucker courageously shares her personal journey dealing with chronic illness. From despair and desperation and soul searching to ultimately a spirit of acceptance and most importantly hope, it's a message that is worth reading for anyone whose life is impacted by chronic illness. Robert J. Riggs, Scleroderma Foundation Janice Rand Tucker was diagnosed with the CREST form of scleroderma in 1978. Unwilling to succumb to the negative predictions that accompanied her diagnosis, she dedicated herself to finding hope. During the intervening years she has written articles for the Scleroderma Foundation. This gripping, practical, and moving book, the result of many years of journal keeping, tells her story, providing numerous helpful and inspiring ways to cope with chronic illness. Throughout the book she includes quotations and practical suggestions from writers, philosophers, health care professionals and friends with chronic illness. Care givers will find her book useful in understanding their challenging role. Readers who are currently enjoying good health will appreciate their good fortune as they also fi nd themselves educated and moved. If you are dealing with chronic illness, this book is for you! Donald Vedeler, Author of A Shipwreck Survivor's Tale: Letters to His Grandchildren, and two other novels
"Love Away" is a poetic journey through the heartaches and soul-searching that come with love. It is a raw and emotional exploration of the highs and lows that one experiences when their heart is truly invested in another. With every page, readers will be taken on a voyage of self-discovery, as the protagonist grapples with their deepest desires and darkest fears. From the pain of loss to the ecstasy of new beginnings, Love Away will leave no emotion unexplored. This book is a testament to the power of the human spirit and its ability to endure even the most heart-wrenching of experiences. It is a reminder that, even in the depths of our suffering, there is always a light to guide us towards a better tomorrow. Through vivid imagery and beautifully crafted prose, Love Away will transport readers into a world of love, passion, and introspection. It is a journey that will leave a lasting impact on anyone who has ever loved and lost, and a beacon of hope for those still searching for their soulmate.
Like Fire chronicles an indigenous movement for radical change in Papua New Guinea from 1946 to the present. The movement’s founder, Paliau Maloat, promoted a program for step-by-step social change in which many of his followers also found hope for a miraculous millenarian transformation. Drawing on data collected over several decades, Theodore Schwartz and Michael French Smith describe the movement’s history, Paliau’s transformation from secular reformer and politician to Melanesian Jesus, and the development of the current incarnation of the movement as Wind Nation, a fully millenarian endeavour. Their analysis casts doubt on common ways of understanding a characteristically Melanesian form of millenarianism, the cargo cult, and questions widely accepted ways of interpreting millenarianism in general. They show that to understand the human proclivity for millenarianism we must scrutinise more closely two near-universal human tendencies: difficulty accepting the role of chance or impersonal forces in shaping events (that is, the tendency to personify causation), and a tendency to imagine that one or one’s group is the focus of the malign or benign attention of purposeful entities, from the local to the cosmic. Schwartz and Smith discuss the prevalence of millenarianism and warn against romanticising it, because the millenarian mind can subvert rationality and nourish rage and fear even as it seeks transcendence. ‘Like Fire consummates remarkable longitudinal ethnographic research on the Paliau Movement in Papua New Guinea, pursued from the 1950s into the 1990s by Theodore Schwartz, with Michael French Smith as his sometime assistant, and updated by Smith in 2015. The theoretical arguments are highly provocative and the book is well written and fascinating throughout. Like Fire poses important questions about the driving forces and contours of Pacific Island history and the place in it of cargo cults and other millenarian movements.’ —Aletta Biersack, Professor Emerita, University of Oregon ‘Like Fire synthesises old, but inaccessible, and new material on an important and long-lasting indigenous Melanesian movement, while making extensive use of the wider literature on cargo cults and millenarianism. I find the theorising in this book both very original and an important contribution to the debates on Melanesian religion, cargo cults, and millenarianism more generally. As the authors state, the topic of millenarianism has great relevance because of its ubiquity in the contemporary world.’ —Ton Otto, Professor of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark, and James Cook University, Australia
A daily spark to ignite the fire in your life. This is a daily reading that will hopefully build you up and give you that hope you need. Written by the host of the popular podcast Spread Hope Like Fire Tony Garcia takes his message of hope to book form to ignite the spark to spread hope like fire.
Pale As Hope tells the story of a dark future where virulent blood-plague, nuclear war, and a resurgent Ice Age all converge to test the limits of the human race. But a sickly boy treated as though he was already dead, a battered woman with strange light-infused visions, and a cursed but inspired musician emerge from the bloody chaos of a civilization collapsed. Each with a singular curse and an unbelievable gift struggles for life, and in the end, to save the remnants of humankind from the brink of extinction. Publisher's website:
Keep your hands busy and your mind playing and free of stress with A Happy Book of Little Gifts to Make. From professional artist Sarah Hand, the author of Art Makers: Papier-Mache, this book features easy-to-follow step-by-step projects, creative inspiration, and prompts—all designed to be done at home using affordable, accessible materials. Best of all, the projects are small-scale, so they are portable, giftable, adorable, and fun! A Happy Book of Little Gifts to Make includes varied projects done in all kinds of materials, from papier-mache and paper to crayons, paint, and paint pens. With this book, you can learn to make: Dioramas Papier-mache creatures Pop-up cards Cotton dolls And much more Throughout the book, find tips for having fun and relaxing as you create, plus creative inspiration and prompts so that you can use this book as a starting point for art projects you devise on your own. After a stressful year (or decade?), everyone needs to have fun and let loose, and what better way than with art that can be created at home and with materials you already have? The small size of the projects makes them manageable even for beginning crafters and artists, and kids will love working on the projects too (possibly with a little adult help). The art is adorable and whimsical and appeals to artists of all ages and skill levels, including beginning crafters, DIYers, crafty families, and more. Grab your paper, paints, and more and then set up at the kitchen counter to start your stress-free creative life with A Happy Book of Little Gifts to Make from a professional artist and instructor.
This detailed study of fire metaphors provides a deep understanding of the purposeful work of metaphor in discourse. It analyses how and why fire metaphors are used in discourses of awe (mythology and religion) and authority (political speeches and media reports). Fire serves as a productive and salient lexical field for metaphors that seek to create awe and impose authority. These metaphors offer a rich linguistic and conceptual resource for authors of mythologies, theologies, literature, speeches and journalism, and provide insight into the rich interplay of thought, language and culture. This book explores the purpose of fire metaphors in genres ranging from the Norse sagas to religious texts, from Shakespeare to British and American political speeches. Ultimately it arrives at an understanding of the rhetorical work that metaphor accomplishes in communicating evaluations and ideologies.
