This book contains the history that is part of Hawaiʻi – Stolen Paradise: A Travelogue. This history was originally written as the prelude to a travelogue about a trip I took in October of 2012 to Oʻahu and the Big Island. It includes details about the Hawaiian language, culture, agriculture, aquaculture, music, dance, cuisine, and the Hawaiian people, with a bibliography of source material and a glossary at the end. For either people with a casual interest in Hawaiʻi or formal students of history and culture, and either armchair or serious travelers, this book can serve as a fun starting point for more in-depth study of this fascinating, beautiful paradise.
Would you like to learn the history of Hawaiʻi, and get to know its culture and traditions through the convenience of a book? This one has it all: photographs, stories, and history, all told by a traveler who wanted to study that firsthand. What she compiled is a fun way to learn about Hawaiʻi, the result of her own, self-taught course about the Islands. It includes a bibliography and a glossary of Hawaiian words and phrases at the end, complete with a pronunciation key. As a bonus, the names, addresses, phone numbers, and websites of the places she visited are listed in the bibliographies of both San Francisco - a stop along the way to Hawaiʻi - and for Hawaiʻi itself. Here is a brief summary of the fun described in this travelogue: In October of 2012, the author and her parents took a trip to Hawai‘i, visiting O‘ahu and the Big Island. They stayed at a beautiful resort on O‘ahu called Ko Olina, which means “to be filled with happiness” in the Hawaiian language. They toured historic sites - ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu and Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona. They visited the dead sailors aboard the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. They took a ride in an electric submarine in the waters off Waikiki. They drove down Saddle Road between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island, and then down Chain of Craters Road to see where Kilauea had erupted over the pavement and into the Pacific Ocean. They tasted Kona coffee and saw how it was grown, harvested, dried, and roasted. They attended a hokey lu‘au on O‘ahu and a wonderfully educational one on the Big Island. They walked through a tropical garden on each of the Islands that they visited, looking at orchids, butterflies, palm trees, macadamia trees, and cannonball trees. In short, the author led her parents on a fascinating tour of Hawaiian history, language, music, cuisine, culture, botany, zoology, and volcanology. It was the trip of a lifetime. After all, one can never taste, smell, hear, see, or touch enough of the paradise that is Hawai‘i.
A Stolen Paradise is a controversial new book about the making of The Night of the Iguana. The non-fiction narrative follows the history of this modern classic from its creation as an acclaimed stage play by Tennessee Williams, regarded as the greatest playwright of the twentieth century, to its adaptation as an Oscar-winning movie directed by the legendary filmmaker John Huston. Sharing the spotlight in this riveting saga are two international megastars whose love affair dominated news coverage for much of that millennium: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, together with the highly combustible superstar Ava Gardner, and a third equally impressive star, Deborah Kerr, who lived side-by-side for three months in the Mexican jungle during the film's production. Everyone involved hoped they would benefit from the movie's success. But what was the personal and professional cost to each of them? Through extensive archival research and firsthand interviews, which uncover many previously unknown facts, Howard Johns brings to life the people and events surrounding The Night of the Iguana and its transformative effect on Puerto Vallarta - once a small fishing village, now an international tourist destination. It was there, in the isolated jungles of Mismaloya, that the movie had its greatest impact, introducing the native inhabitants, who had no previous contact with the outside world, to a modern way of life, the effects of which are still being felt today. This richly detailed account of movie making is more than an exposé of Hollywood or a sentimental wallow in nostalgia; it is also a time capsule of world events. A Stolen Paradise combines elements of American pop culture, Mexican history and Aztec mythology to tell a prescient saga of human conquest and its surprising, often tragic, consequences.
Whether you’re just wondering how on Earth we can finally be free or maybe that there is no hope, either way, ‘Just Imagine’ will answer both questions. Perhaps you are worried about the future of our generations or what a world of love actually looks like. Again, either way and in visionary based detail, ‘Just Imagine’ will answer many questions. With creatively imaginative and spiritually based channeling, ‘Just Imagine’ will take you on a journey of self-discovery through the biggest tool ever known in universal history; our imagination. This widely unused tool is not only why we’re here, but our brains cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination. ‘Just Imagine’ is the spark that can easily create Heaven on Earth. When a large collective imagines the same reality, it begins to manifest. When that reality is utterly beautiful, loving, euphoric and an absolutely pristine paradise, this future starts creating before our eyes. We are the creators of our dreams, the magnets to our wildest fantasies and the shapers of our collective future. A world that is so majestically enchanting, abundantly nourishing and liberatingly ecstatic, is ours to create. Oneness is effortlessly harmonious Harmony is peaceful unity Unity is one love Love is a simple intention Intention is everything Everything is us Just Imagine
Critically acclaimed, for readers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Jennifer Egan's The Candy House, a moving and darkly funny novel about an attempt to found an underground Utopia. An abandoned restaurant on a hill off the highway in Western Massachusetts doesn't look like much. But to Rio, a young Black woman bereft after the loss of her newborn child, this hill becomes more than a safe haven—it becomes a place to start over. She convinces her husband to help her construct a society underground, somewhere everyone can feel safe, loved, and accepted. Soon their utopia begins to take shape and attracts the unhoused, the disillusioned, and the spiritually lost. But no matter how much these people all yearn for a sanctuary from the existential dread of life above the surface, what happens if this new society can't actually work? From an exciting new literary voice, The New Naturals is fresh and deeply perceptive, capturing the absurdity of life in the 21st century. In this remarkable feat of imagination, Bump shows us that, ultimately, it is our love for and connection to each other that will save us. **A 2023 NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST Notable Book and a BOSTON GLOBE Best Book of the Year**
Antoinette is a concert violinist and opera singer. She travels and advocates for causes that aim to make the world a better place. She has a friend, Lilith, who does that as a lawyer, politician...and witch. A few months into the year, they receive a surprise visit from an alien botanist, Ileandra. Follow them throughout an entire year on their adventures! The dolls are each unique personalities built using mouline floss embroidery threads for their faces, ears, and manicures, after which wigs were attached and styled with ribbons. All of their outfits and dress designs were created and recreated, in miniature, from observing what the author loves from human fashions. There is a story that follows calendar events, with photographs by the author accompanying each part of it. To get the images, she photographed the dolls in each of their outfits, then used Photoshop to place them in other photographs from her own collection of images from places that she has traveled to, so that it is as if the doll is there. There are a few images of the author holding each doll at the end in matching outfits, just for fun.
The Texas Centennial of 1936, commemorated by statewide celebrations of independence from Mexico, proved to be a powerful catalyst for the formation of a distinctly Mexican American identity. Confronted by a media frenzy that vilified "Meskins" as the antithesis of Texan liberty, Mexican Americans created literary responses that critiqued these racialized representations while forging a new bilingual, bicultural community within the United States. The development of a modern Tejana identity, controversies surrounding bicultural nationalism, and other conflictual aspects of the transformation from mexicano to Mexican American are explored in this study. Capturing this fascinating aesthetic and political rebirth, Border Renaissance presents innovative readings of important novels by María Elena Zamora O'Shea, Américo Paredes, and Jovita González. In addition, the previously overlooked literary texts by members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) are given their first detailed consideration in this compelling work of intellectual and literary history. Drawing on extensive archival research in the English and Spanish languages, John Morán González revisits the 1930s as a crucial decade for the vibrant Mexican American reclamation of Texas history. Border Renaissance pays tribute to this vital turning point in the Mexican American struggle for civil rights.
We humans are capable of great good. In the time that our species has been on Earth, we have done remarkable things to improve the human condition. But a dark and horrible side of our nature often comes to the surface in the form of military conflict. With sad regularity, our leaders become filled with greed, intolerance, and lust for power, resulting in bloodshed and cruelty that has become more and more horrible as our methods of killing become more efficient. Indeed, war is the most hideous of human experiences and is tragically a regular feature of our history. However, in the midst of wartime horror, sometimes people and events come together and give some hope that, in the end, the positive aspects of human nature will triumph over our evil side. Scheherazade Cat: The Story of a War Hero is an example of how love, loyalty, and kindness can shine through the darkness of war, and restore faith in the human spirit. This is the true story of Lieutenant David Haines, a United States Army chemical weapons officer, and Scheherazade, a calico kitten from Failaka Island, Kuwait. He met her while performing a mission there during the Persian Gulf War. Scheherazade was playing with a small bomb during this meeting, but fortunately it did not detonate. Seeing this alerted Lt. Haines to the presence of other mines, allowing his squad to retreat safely. Recognizing that this encounter may have saved his life and those of his men, the soldier adopted Scheherazade and brought her to America. This is a simple tale about a chance encounter, but it is also a heartwarming lesson that showing kindness and loyalty to a small creature in the midst of extreme danger brings out the best in us. For this reason, the message of this book is a positive one that demonstrates the value of compassion and goodness.
