The Four Walls of My Freedom
The Four Walls of My Freedom

Author: Donna Thomson

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2014-01-13

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1770894802

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A riveting and redemptive family memoir, The Four Walls of My Freedom is Donna Thomson’s account of raising a son with cerebral palsy and a passionate appeal to change the way we think about “the good life.” Donna Thomson’s life was forever changed when her son Nicholas was born with cerebral palsy. A former actor, director, and teacher, Donna became his primary caregiver and embarked on a second career as a disability activist, author, and consultant. Thomson vividly describes her experience in treading delicately through daily care, emergencies, and medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son’s condition while maintaining value and dignity (for Nicholas, too). She brilliantly demonstrates the vital contribution that people with disabilities make to our society and addresses the ethics and economics of giving and receiving care. Featuring an introduction by John Ralston Saul, and two new chapters, The Four Walls of My Freedom is a passionate appeal to change to the way we think about the “good life” that will touch anyone caring for the life of another.

Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New City Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1565482255

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An informative and fascinating look at Merton's life and writings by a fellow-Trappist. Father Basil takes us on a whirlwind review through the seasons of Merton's life and work. An engaging approach for new readers and a refreshing review for long-time Merton fans, this carefully planned anthology by a fellow monk and a friend abounds with helpful insights into the life and writings of the most influential spiritual mentor of our time." William H. Shannon Author of Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story A splendid introduction to Thomas Merton in his own words. Selections paint a balanced and rich portrait of the monk, mystic, poet, prophet, and spiritual master. Once again, Father Pennington reveals his intimate knowledge of his subject." E. Glenn Hinson Professor Emeritus Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond

The Seven Storey Mountain
The Seven Storey Mountain

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9780156010863

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A celebration of Merton's spiritual autobiography is accompanied by an introduction from the editor and a note from Merton's biographer.

The Unexpected Journey of Caring
The Unexpected Journey of Caring

Author: Donna Thomson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-06-05

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1538122243

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With a foreword by Judy Woodruff, The Unexpected Journey of Caring is a practical guide to finding personal meaning in the 21st century care experience. Personal transformation is usually an experience we actively seek out—not one that hunts us down. Becoming a caregiver is one transformation that comes at us, requiring us to rethink everything we once knew. Everything changes—responsibilities, beliefs, hopes, expectations, and relationships. Caregiving is not just a role reserved for “saints”—eventually, everyone is drafted into the caregiver role. It’s not a role people medically train for; it’s a new type of relationship initiated by a loved one’s need for care. And it’s a role that cannot be quarantined to home because it infuses all aspects of our lives. Caregivers today find themselves in need of a crash course in new and unfamiliar skills. They must not only care for a loved one, but also access hidden community resources, collaborate with medical professionals, craft new narratives consistent with the changing nature of their care role, coordinate care with family, seek information and peer support using a variety of digital platforms, and negotiate social support—all while attempting to manage conflicts between work, life, and relationship roles. The moments that mark us in the transition from loved one to caregiver matter because if we don’t make sense of how we are being transformed, we risk undervaluing our care experiences, denying our evolving beliefs, becoming trapped by other’s misunderstandings, and feeling underappreciated, burned out, and overwhelmed. Informed by original caregiver research and proven advocacy strategies, this book speaks to caregiving as it unfolds, in all of its confusion, chaos, and messiness. Readers won’t find well-intentioned clichés or care stereotypes in this book. There are no promises to help caregivers return to a life they knew before caregiving. No, this book greets caregivers where they are in their journey—new or chronic—not where others expect (or want) them to be.

Between 4 Walls of the 1930 Prison
Between 4 Walls of the 1930 Prison

Author: Victoire Umuhoza

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-09-20

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9781976593598

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"Everything begins on my return to Rwanda" begins Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's new book written from her prison cell. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza's new book written from her prison cell. After 16 years of exile in Holland, Victoire decided to return to her home country. This book recounts her life experience for 3 years, from the moment she announced her candidacy for presidential elections, to her incarceration into the famous "1930" maximum security prison. In this book, she describes her encounter with corrupt Rwandan judicial system from within. Interrogations, continuous threats, fabricated charges, her attempts to register her party, the prohibition of visiting her family in the Netherlands especially not being able to attend her son's 8th birthday. "Those politicians are ruthless. There are reasons to be afraid to live in this country. I have just spent more than twelve hours behind bars having done nothing, whatsoever" "The problem is not that they ignore who I am or that they don't know what is good for our fellow citizens, they just don't want to run the risk of losing power."

Witness to Freedom
Witness to Freedom

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0374291918

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These letters deal with periods of serious crisis in Merton's life and vocation, about which many rumors and half-truths were circulated during his lifetime. They give readers, for the first time in his own words, the true details and the behind-the-scenes facts. Things came to a head in 1959 when Merton petitioned the Vatican, asking for an indult of exclaustration, or release, not from the Trappist Order, but for "a more solitary primitive existence in a monastic life" outside the United States. Abbot James Fox made a trip to Rome and the indult was not granted. Later Merton, who despised Communism and advocated Gandhian non-violence, was forbidden to publish anything against war and nuclear aggression - as if it was inappropriate for a monk to oppose war.

Never Grow Up
Never Grow Up

Author: Jackie Chan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-12-04

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1982107235

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A candid, thrilling memoir from one of the most recognizable, influential, and beloved cinematic personalities in the world. Everyone knows Jackie Chan. Whether it’s from Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, The Karate Kid, or Kung Fu Panda, Jackie is admired by generations of moviegoers for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and mind-bending stunts. In 2016—after fifty-six years in the industry, over 200 films, and many broken bones—he received an honorary Academy Award for his lifetime achievement in film. But at 64 years-old, Jackie is just getting started. Now, in Never Grow Up, the global superstar reflects on his early life, including his childhood years at the China Drama Academy (in which he was enrolled at the age of six), his big breaks (and setbacks) in Hong Kong and Hollywood, his numerous brushes with death (both on and off film sets), and his life as a husband and father (which has been, admittedly and regrettably, imperfect). Jackie has never shied away from his mistakes. Since The Young Master in 1980, Jackie’s films have ended with a bloopers reel in which he stumbles over his lines, misses his mark, or crashes to the ground in a stunt gone south. In Never Grow Up, Jackie applies the same spirit of openness to his life, proving time and time again why he’s beloved the world over: he’s honest, funny, kind, brave beyond reckoning and—after all this time—still young at heart.

Fear In the Shadows
Fear In the Shadows

Author: Héron-Mimouni

Publisher: Babelcube Inc.

Published: 2015-06-16

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1633390977

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Along the corridors of Fresnes’ women’s prison, within its cells, death is on the prowl. Suspicious fatalities mean fear is hovering over the inmates. Are they suicides...or murders? Louise delves into an investigation which will put her life in danger. Does she know too much? How did she find the clues that eluded her? And who is threatening the women detainees? Behind the grey stone walls of the prison, Louise’s past rears its head, coming back to haunt her. Yet she will have little time to draw strength from her memories of the past to help her fight against an invisible enemy. Fear in the Shadows, a novel filled with unrelenting suspense which in its guise of crime novel paints a picture of prison life. An immersion into the world of the penitentiary.

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom
A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom

Author: John Boyne

Publisher: Hogarth

Published: 2020-08-11

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 0593230167

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From the bestselling author of A Ladder to the Sky—“a darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart” (People)—comes a new novel that plays out across all of human history: a story as precise as it is unlimited. This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons, one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across fifty countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold. From the award-winning author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies comes A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom, an epic tale of humanity. The story of all of us, stretching across two millennia. Imaginative, unique, heartbreaking, this is John Boyne at his most creative and compelling.

A Question of Freedom
A Question of Freedom

Author: Dwayne Betts

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-08-06

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1101133368

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A unique prison narrative that testifies to the power of books to transform a young man's life At the age of sixteen, R. Dwayne Betts-a good student from a lower- middle-class family-carjacked a man with a friend. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. In Virginia, carjacking is a "certifiable" offense, meaning that Betts would be treated as an adult under state law. A bright young kid, he served his nine-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state. A Question of Freedom chronicles Betts's years in prison, reflecting back on his crime and looking ahead to how his experiences and the books he discovered while incarcerated would define him. Utterly alone, Betts confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system. Confined by cinder-block walls and barbed wire, he discovers the power of language through books, poetry, and his own pen. Above all, A Question of Freedom is about a quest for identity-one that guarantees Betts's survival in a hostile environment and that incorporates an understanding of how his own past led to the moment of his crime.