More Conversations on the Porch
More Conversations on the Porch

Author: Beth Lindsay Templeton

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2014-01-28

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 1491721545

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Author Beth Lindsay Templeton originally created her screened porch as a sanctuary for herself. With its shabby furniture, potted flowers, and tinkling wind chimes, the porch soon became a haven not only for her, but also for other women who craved a sacred refuge to nurture their spirits. It is in this way that powerful conversations with women from the Bible came to Templetons pen, first in Conversations on the Porch and now with this sequel, More Conversations on the Porch. The women gracefully share their stories of faith so others might listen anew in their own worlds. As different women visit Templeton on her porch, scriptures come alive in fresh and insightful ways. The conversations she shares with Jezebel, the Witch of Endor, Joanna, Rhoda, and others not only address issues of women and of the world in general but also demonstrate that biblical womens stories and insights are as vital and important today as they were when their stories were first told. Conversations center on such common challenges as family, courage, compassion, risk taking, using your gifts, curiosity, Gods way, and above all, living in the power of Gods love and grace. With discussion questions and calls to action included, More Conversations on the Porch shares the refreshing and courageous voices of ancient women as they encourage others to embrace life as children of God and continue the inspiring conversations.

Something Better Coming
Something Better Coming

Author: Megan Saben

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781736455005

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A picture book illustrating various scenes from the life of Christ, pointing to his resurrection and the ultimate glorification of believers in heaven.

Making Conversation
Making Conversation

Author: Fred Dust

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2020-12-01

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 0062933914

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A former Senior Partner and Global Managing Director at the legendary design firm IDEO shows how to design conversations and meetings that are creative and impactful. Conversations are one of the most fundamental means of communicating we have as humans. At their best, conversations are unconstrained, authentic and open—two or more people sharing thoughts and ideas in a way that bridges our individual experiences, achieves a common goal. At their worst, they foster misunderstanding, frustration and obscure our real intentions. How often do you walk away from a conversation feeling really heard? That it moved the people in it forward in some important way? You’re not alone. In his practice as a designer, Fred Dust began to approach conversations differently. After years of trying to broker communication between colleagues and clients, he came to believe there had to a way to design the art of conversation itself with intention and purpose, but still artful and playful. Making Conversation codifies what he learned and outlines the seven elements essential to successful exchanges: Commitment, Creative Listening, Clarity, Context, Constraints, Change, and Create. Taken together, these seven elements form a set of resources anyone can use to be more deliberate and purposeful in making conversations work.

The Porch
The Porch

Author: Charlie Hailey

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-04-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 022677001X

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Come with us for a moment out onto the porch. Just like that, we’ve entered another world without leaving home. In this liminal space, an endless array of absorbing philosophical questions arises: What does it mean to be in a place? How does one place teach us about the world and ourselves? What do we—and the things we’ve built—mean in this world? In a time when reflections on the nature of society and individual endurance are so paramount, Charlie Hailey’s latest book is both a mental tonic and a welcome provocation. Solidly grounded in ideas, ecology, and architecture, The Porch takes us on a journey along the edges of nature where the outside comes in, hosts meet guests, and imagination runs wild. Hailey writes from a modest porch on the Homosassa River in Florida. He sleeps there, studies the tides, listens for osprey and manatee, welcomes shipwrecked visitors, watches shadows on its screens, reckons with climate change, and reflects on his own acclimation to his environment. The profound connections he unearths anchor an armchair exploration of past porches and those of the future, moving from ancient Greece to contemporary Sweden, from the White House roof to the Anthropocene home. In his ruminations, he links up with other porch dwellers including environmentalist Rachel Carson, poet Wendell Berry, writers Eudora Welty and Zora Neale Hurston, philosopher John Dewey, architect Louis Kahn, and photographer Paul Strand. As close as architecture can bring us to nature, the porch is where we can learn to contemplate anew our evolving place in a changing world—a space we need now more than ever. Timeless and timely, Hailey’s book is a dreamy yet deeply passionate meditation on the joy and gravity of sitting on the porch.

Teaching Off Trail
Teaching Off Trail

Author: Peter Dargatz

Publisher: Redleaf Press

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 1605547514

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Teaching Off Trail describes the transformation of Peter Dargatz, a national board-certified teacher, and public school coordinator, from an anxious assessor to a fair and fun facilitator of learning. It shares his personal professional journey detailing his evolution as an educator while simultaneously offering strategies for readers to implement Peter's unique teaching philosophy to increase opportunities for play, creative expression, and personalization in both the indoor and outdoor classroom. In his own classroom, Peter brought learning outside by creating a nature kindergarten program that emphasizes community partnerships, service learning, and meaningful and memorable experiences in the outdoors. Teaching Off Trail aims to inspire educators, administrators, and parents across all levels to turn their outrage for today’s educational system into outreach that promotes passionate and purposeful problem-solving. He incorporates techniques often seen in private educational settings like Reggio and Montessori—student-centered, self-directed experiential approaches to learning) and shows how they work within a public school system.

The Liberal Redneck Manifesto
The Liberal Redneck Manifesto

Author: Trae Crowder

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1501160400

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"The Liberal Rednecks--a three-man stand-up comedy group doing scathing political satire--celebrate all that's good about the South while leading the Redneck Revolution and standing proudly blue in a sea of red. Smart, hilarious, and incisive, the Liberal Rednecks confront outdated traditions and intolerant attitudes, tackling everything people think they know about the South--the good, the bad, the glorious, and the shameful--in a laugh-out-loud funny and lively manifesto for the rise of a New South. Home to some of the best music, athletes, soldiers, whiskey, waffles, and weather the country has to offer, the South has also been bathing in backward bathroom bills and other bigoted legislation that Trae Crowder has targeted in his Liberal Redneck videos, which have gone viral with over 50 million views. Perfect for fans of Stuff White People Like and I Am America (And So Can You), The Liberal Redneck Manifesto skewers political and religious hypocrisies in witty stories and hilarious graphics--such as the Ten Commandments of the New South--and much more! While celebrating the South as one of the richest sources of American culture, this entertaining book issues a wake-up call and a reminder that the South's problems and dreams aren't that far off from the rest of America's"--

Pleasures of the Porch
Pleasures of the Porch

Author: Daria Price Bowman

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13:

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Ideas for gracious outdoor living.

Magic Blue Rocks
Magic Blue Rocks

Author: April Shprintz

Publisher:

Published: 2023-03-04

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9781736265826

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Magic Blue Rocks shares the secret power we all have within ourselves that makes it possible to do anything. Join April as she discovers that secret in six short stories and learn how to use the power within yourself to have the life you've always wanted. Even your wildest dreams aren't too wild. Your biggest goals aren't unrealistic. You'll learn in Magic Blue Rocks that no matter what anyone else says-if you believe you can do it, you're right.

The Art of Conscious Conversations
The Art of Conscious Conversations

Author: Chuck Wisner

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2022-10-25

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 1523003286

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Ditch the negative mental habits that derail conversations and destroy projects, and discover a framework for forging authentic, enduring, and productive connections. We live in conversations like fish live in water-we're in them all the time, so we don't think about them much. As a result, we often find ourselves stuck in cyclical patterns of unproductive behaviors. We listen half-heartedly, react emotionally, and respond habitually, like we're on autopilot. This bookis a practical guide for thoughtfully reflecting on conversations so we can avoid the common pitfalls that cause our relationships and work to go sideways. Chuck Wisner identifies four universal types of conversations and offers specific advice on maximizing the effectiveness of each: Storytelling-Investigate the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and others Collaborative-Explore the way our stories and other people's stories interact Creative-See new possibilities and discover unforeseen solutions Commitment-Make promises we know we can keep These conversations unfold sequentially: our awareness of our and others' stories transforms our ability to listen and collaborate, which opens our thoughts to creative possibilities, guiding us toward mindful agreements. Our conversations-at home, at work, or in public-can be sources of pleasure and stepping-stones toward success, or they can cause pain and lead to failure. Wisner shows how we can form a connection from the very first conversation and keep our discourse positive and productive throughout any endeavor.

The Front Porch Revolution
The Front Porch Revolution

Author: Robert H. Lengel

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2018-07-18

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1525519875

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A piece of music is more than the sum and sequence of its notes. The spaces between the notes, the rests or silences, are just as essential. Without those spaces, the notes do not properly relate to each other and even the most profound composition degrades into mere noise. Front porches metaphorically represent those rest-spaces in our lives and they are vanishing. Without them we are denying ourselves access to our music and possibility – and the evidence is clear at all levels of interaction. The social and political discourse in this country has, of late, eroded into noise and acrimony, dialogue having been abandoned for weaponized partisan monologues. Diatribes and rhetoric are gleefully accelerated like charged particles online, and on competing TV news and talk radio shows. In fact, this dynamic is experienced in meetings of any scale where diverse perspectives clash around topics we care about. But ask yourself, what is being accomplished beyond gridlock, frayed relationships and destructive polarization. We need to meet in new ways. The Front Porch Revolution is about the need to reassert true conversation and dialogue and reaffirm an earnest commitment to genuine communication. If anything is to be accomplished (and there is much that needs to be accomplished) we must be able to hear ourselves think and be present with our personal stories that give context to that thinking. This is more likely to happen on front porches than on the floor of Congress, in board rooms, in classrooms or on Facebook or Twitter. Viewing the world from the front porch invites a new way of thinking about our communication challenges, leadership and what we have become in the absence of front porches. Based on decades of research and first-hand experience at the Center for Professional Excellence at the University of Texas at San Antonio, The Front Porch Revolution maps out a lucid thoughtful and hopeful path forward to possibility.