The alternative history, paranormal romantic adventure of a young fat woman with low self esteem who falls into another world where fat people lead happy, normal, guilt-free lives. Most of her life Jenny has felt she's not good enough, not attractive enough, because she's fat. Then one day she stumbles through a portal between a world that values thinness and one that values roundness. Sometimes falling can wake you up.
H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost: For a generation of children growing up in the late sixties and early seventies, these were some of the most memorable shows on Saturday morning television. At a time when television cartoons had lost some of their luster, two puppeteers named Sid and Marty Krofft put together a series of shows that captivated children. Using colorful sets and mysterious lands full of characters that had boundless energy, the Kroffts created a new form of children's television, rooted in the medium's earliest shows but nevertheless original in its concept. This work first provides a history of the Kroffts' pretelevision career, then offers discussions of their 11 Saturday morning shows. Complete cast and credit information is enhanced by interviews with many of the actors and actresses, behind-the-scenes information, print reviews of the series, and plot listings of the individual episodes. The H.R. Pufnstuf feature film, the brothers' other television work, and their short-lived indoor theme park are also detailed.
Fat prejudice is exploding in American society, yet even social justice advocates tend to deny fat individuals protection because fat is seen as unhealthy and permanently changeable—concepts supported by a great deal of societal belief and very little scientific evidence. Using bell hooks' ideology of domination, Lonie McMichael explores the phenomena of fat prejudice—from inception to resistance—through a rhetorical lens. Looking at the actual experiences of fat people, she argues that fat prejudice is neither acceptable nor tolerable in our society. Publishers Weekly called Acceptable Prejudice? "a useful introduction to a burgeoning movement...will make readers question their attitudes about overweight people."
Clinical social worker Bette J. Freedson shares seven key insights she has identified through years of workshops, counseling sessions, and her own self-examination as a single mother. Millions of heroic single mothers around the world, poor and rich, are rearing their own or someone else's children. Deaths, separations and divorces, and military deployments send many more women into single mother status every year, while other "hidden" single mothers bring up children virtually alone as fathers are ill, disabled, disengaged or just plain disinterested. In Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother Bette Freedson gently guides often-overwhelmed single mothers to a strong personal identity, a rediscovery of resilience, strength, and courage, and an affirmation of parenting purpose. Soul Mothers' Wisdom helps the woman parenting on her own understand that she can create the life she wants and become the woman she desires to be, transforming challenges into opportunities and solutions, chaos into calm, and discovering (or re-discovering) all she has to offer to her children and her self. Mental health professionals agree—children have a better chance of becoming emotionally healthy adults when their mothers' choices are guided by the wisdom that emanates from a solid core of self, i.e., "soul." Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother offers single mothers the knowledge, counseling and affirmation to help them and their children thrive. "This is a fine book full of support for single parents who have to face the job of raising children alone, and having to share them with another caregiver when they return to work," says T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., .former host of the Emmy-award-winning TV show What Every Baby Knows. "I would advise all single mothers to read it."
Maria Fama's poetry takes us into the hearts and souls of animals -- domesticated, feral, captive, free.Her poems challenge the notion that animals are on this planet solely for humans to use and exploit. Instead, the poems recognize the individuality of each animal with the view that animals are, as the naturalist Henry Beston saw them, "other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."
Melanie Brock could not believe that she, the daughter of wealthy New York City parents, was homeless in Dallas, Texas. She'd been laid off from her job at a local car dealership during a round of cutbacks. So here she was—twenty-seven years old, no job, no home, sleeping in her car, with just enough money to buy a little more gas and a little food if she only ate one good meal a day. And that would only be for a week. Exhausting every avenue for work, but knowing she'd rather go hungry than crawl back to her parents and ask for help, Melanie was at a loss as to her next option. Until she saw a flyer on the windshield of her car that read "NANNY NEEDED, ASAP." Using the cell phone she was about to lose, she made the call that would change her life forever. ASAP Nanny is a nine-chapter novella. The ebook also contains the first chapters of all of Pat Ballard's books, so it's a perfect way to dip a little further into the Queen of Rubenesque Romance's universe. It's a smorgasbord of rubenesque romance and body positivity!
In the ancient Middle East a pious, wealthy young widow risks her life to save her town from a besieging army. Judith is a finalist in the 2015 International Book Awards. "The apocryphal Book of Judith is considered by some to be fiction, its actual historical truth in doubt," Publishers Weekly says. "But the chutzpah of its heroine and its message of fidelity to God arouse both admiration and inspiration. Moise (Love is the Thread: A Knitting Friendship), a folklore specialist, evokes the heroine's side of this ancient parable. Extensive research into the period when events in the story of Judith occurred, around 350-100 BCE, allows her to include abundant detail regarding the customs, clothing, and domestic arrangements of Hebrew villagers; behaviors of Assyrian warriors; and, in particular, perceptions and treatment of women. Faithful widow Judith, grieving and childless, befriends the Assyrian defector Achior, whose message from Nebuchadnezzar's general, Holofernes, to Judith's village of Bethulia is 'Surrender or die.' As Holofernes lays siege to the village, Judith receives visions from God and pleas from her friends to help save the village. In danger of rape and death, she overcomes fear through faith and ritual, with the support of her maid, Abra; Achior; and the general's slave. Her defeat of Holofernes forms the satisfying climax of this occasionally slow-moving but always well-imaged novel."
In his third book of poetry, Félix Garmendía celebrates the popular LGBTQ+ vacation destinations of Fire Island and commemorates Titania, a trans woman of Manhattan. In his first book, Flying on Invisible Wings, Félix lives parts of his lonely childhood, journeys to the USA, becomes triumphantly accepted. Contracts HIV, hangs on, HIV becomes undetectable. Finds everlasting love, gets married. Then, as if daring him to stay happy, IBM—Inclusion Body Myositis— lands him in a wheelchair. He continues to live and love with his husband in Washington/Hudson Heights in Manhattan, and finds his poetic voice. Félix’s second book, Poems of Reckoning and Hope, explores his neighborhood, the pandemic, and January 6 and its ramifications. Yet he continues to hold out the possibility of hope through the USA’s dire reckoning. Now, in his third book, Fire Island and Their Sister, Félix sails out to Fire Island. Then we meet Titania, trans woman of Manhattan. As we read Félix’s loving and detailed poems about both, we enter the next stage of his life. And we cheer his deep and unquestionable support for and celebration of the people he knows and loves best.
Before Bonnie Shapbell's husband died, he made her promise she would be OK. She kept that promise, rebuilding a joyful life without him while cherishing her memories. Now she offers a helping hand to those on a similar journey. Hiking the Pack Line provides practical advice and a workbook section for those who want to create—or re-create—lives that nourish them after devastating loss. Foreword by clinical psychologist & publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D.
