This is a love story about Richard and Cherie and how their love stood the test of time when his naval duty took him away to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf for seven months in 1962. It is a story of Petty Officer Richard Burke and his life aboard an American destroyer as he sailed seas from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf and the many countries and foreign ports they visited. It is a story about the Fred T. Berry (DD-858) and its involvement in the Mercury Program and its part in the recovery of the space capsules that paved the way for the early space flights that would eventually take our astronauts to the moon. It is a story of the fears and uncertainty of the men that served aboard the destroyer Fred T. Berry on patrol during those thirteen days in October 1962 when President Kennedy blockaded Cuba during the missile crisis. It is the story of their search for the Thresher, the loss of our first nuclear submarine off the coast of New England. In 1972, the Fred T. Berry DD/DDE was sunk off the coast of Key West Florida to build up the reef. In June of 1972, a twenty-one-foot minisub dove on the wreck of the Fred T. Berry and got hung up on her, and although there was a rescue attempt by divers in heated diving suits, all men aboard the minisub perished when they ran out of air.
Can an underachieving son reconnect with his father before it's too late? Jacob's life is already complicated enough. Now his Dad, whose mind isn't as sharp as it once was, is driving out for a visit. Or he was, before he got lost along the way. Now it's up to Jacob to get this right. A touching story about families, relationships, and aging parents. Editorial Review by Jon Michael Miller of Readers' Favorite In Dad by Bob Seay, we meet Jacob, our narrator and protagonist, in his mid to late thirties, struggling both in his professional world and in his marriage. With his "compulsion to tell everybody everything," he tells us his story as if we are his best friends, exposing all his failures and amusing quirks. Brooke, his wife, wants all his money, and he has lost his job as a high school teacher. In survival mode, he lives in Colorado and works as a ghost-writer of term papers for college students. He lives and works online from the back room of a laundry. His squalid existence is interrupted when he is informed by his brother back in Cincinnati that their dad, suffering from Alzheimer’s, has hit the road and is in a hotel room in Kansas City, Missouri. Jacob is the logical person to collect his old man. In so doing, he finds his dad having lunch with a hotel maid Amelia, who is watching over him. We soon become familiar with the sights along Interstate 70, as his dad tells Jacob about installing communications devices in St. Louis’s Gateway Arch. He has other stories about his activities on Mars and in submarines. Despite Jacob’s honest flaws and his relentless search for self and redemption, I came to like and even to identify with him. Yes, he is largely responsible, as he admits, for his own problems. Fortunately, he is in a stable, tight-knit family, all intent on taking care of their sad, but sometimes funny dad. But I felt that Dad is the vehicle of the real underlying story, which is Jacob trying to dig himself out of the hole he has dug for himself. He meets his female spiritual twin in the person of Amelia, not really a hotel housekeeper but a refugee from nursing and an aspiring artist. She escapes from an abusive, Confederate flag-flying boyfriend into Jacob’s black Mustang convertible, nicknamed Beast, which hauls Jacob back and forth several times between Denver, Kansas City, Topeka, and Cincinnati. “We’re all doing the best we can,” says Amelia compassionately. I was both sadly moved and often amused by Jacob’s search for a better life. And along with the story, we learn a lot from the various topics Jacob ghost-writes about—nursing burnout, the Feds, Buddhism, and neo-Nazis, to name only a few. Oh, yes, and the Stanford Marshmallow Index, which somehow nibbles at Jacob’s core. And we meet a quirky, loving family in the turmoil of losing the family patriarch, who is quite an overarching backdrop in his own right. Author Bob Seay dedicates his novel Dad “to all families with aging parents,” and I cannot imagine a more accurate portrayal or one more moving.
James is a young man that embarked on the trials and tribulations of life without a planned direction for his future. He fell upon many situations that would test his character, integrity, and moral being. As he finished high school his first test in life was a beautiful girl that captured his eye and she challenged his every move. In their relationship the unexpected happened and Theola, his girlfriend wondered now if James will meet his responsiblities of being a husband and a father or will he retreat to the one person he knew who loved him beyond any doubt? Would he leave her because of his fears and let her to carry the burden of being a mother alone?
“There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.
Curated by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wild, this volume shares intimate perspectives from some of today’s most acclaimed writers. As Cheryl Strayed explains in her introduction, “the invisible, unwritten last line of every essay should be and nothing was ever the same again.” The reader, in other words, should feel the ground shift, if even only a bit. In this edition of the acclaimed anthology series, Strayed has gathered twenty-six essays that each capture an inexorable, tectonic shift in life. Personal and deeply perceptive, this collection examines a broad range of life experiences—from a man’s relationship with Mormonism to a woman’s search for a serial killer; from listening to the music of Joni Mitchell to surviving five months at sea; from triaging injured soldiers to giving birth to a daughter; and much more. The Best American Essays 2013 includes entries by Alice Munro, Zadie Smith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Dagoberto Gilb, Vicki Weiqi Yang, J.D. Daniels, Michelle Mirsky, and others.
When police search seventeen year-old Sawyer Hayden's wallet after he steals and crashes a vintage motorcycle they find just three things:The fake I.D. his brother bought him, his real ID without a motorcycle endorsement and the empty condom wrapper he saved from his first night with Sarah.What police don't find is his list. A list of the three things Sawyer blames for turning his once promising athlete of a father into a trucker who's life went nowhere. A list that before tonight he never left home without. Before tonight Sawyer lived his life by that list, like a map he used to avoid the same path his father traveled. A map he used to find a road of own, a road he knew for a fact would pave the way to a college scholarship and a future in basketball. But that was before tonight. Because despite all Sawyer's careful planning his map sends him down a road toward an obstacle he never sees coming. An obstacle that slams him head on and reveals a fate worse than failure. Success. Now broken, bleeding and running out of time Sawyer is forced to make a new list. A simple list with only one strategy. Live long enough to fail.
This book traces the little-known history of an alternative school system erected in Canada by post-WWII Dutch Neo-Calvinist immigrants. In less than four decades, this community established a kindergarten to university education system that extended from Ottawa, Ontario to Victoria, BC. This remarkable tradition of education imagines the school as a dissident and transformational social institution. While this book offers the narrative of faith-based tradition of education, the author makes a strong case that educators from diverse ideological backgrounds, can learn important lessons from it about the implementation of an alternative educational vision, teacher-led curriculum reform and a self-formative pedagogy. To supplement this narrative, the author also provides a separate set of theoretical discussions on key issues in school reform, as well as, his memoir as an educator and curriculum designer within this tradition.
What's it take for a girl to make it in the big city? A sense of humor, a sense of self, and a desire to succeed in fashion. A stylish novel for teen PROJECT RUNWAY fans.Kat's come to New York City with a dream: to be a big fashion designer and to see her name on a label in Bloomingdale's. Back in upstate New York, she imagined a city paved in Prada . . . but the reality isn't quite so fashionable. Still, there are friends to be made, boys to be flirted with, and amazements to be found . . . sometimes when she least expects it. Even when her lame boyfriend from back home comes to the city to try to reclaim her, Kat knows she's found her place . . . now all she has to do is have NYC find her back!
Since the dawn of time, dogs have been more than just pets; they are our loyal friends, our confidants, and a source of endless joy. Jack and Kitty's Feel-Good Stories for Dog Lovers is a heartwarming collection that celebrates these amazing companions who bring so much happiness into our lives. The true story of the first astronaut dog who journeyed into space. The sports-loving "adventure dog" who rescues her owner from drowning. The stray dog who forms a protective bond with a special-needs child. The affectionate pug who heals the anxious heart of his owner. The rambunctious shelter puppies who flood their building - but inspire a miraculous surprise ... and many more memorable pups who will steal your heart! Whether you're a lifelong dog enthusiast or simply cherish heartwarming stories, this book is for you. From laugh-out-loud anecdotes to touching accounts of friendship and bravery, each story takes you on a delightful journey through the world of our four-legged friends. Unleash the power of unconditional love and healing in this uplifting collection of tail-wagging tales!
