A beautiful photographic board book featuring babies from all over the world and the sounds their hearts make as they beat with love. No matter what language we speak, no matter where we live in the world, our hearts beat with the same rhythm. We may hear and say the sounds differently—doki doki in Japanese, tu tump tu tump in Italian, dugeun dugeun in Korean, dhak dhak in Urdu, boum boum in French and thump thump in English—but when our hearts beat, all the sounds mean the same thing: you are alive and you are loved.
Sometimes, even true love isn’t enough to prevent bad choices. Meet Inaya, a good girl who made some hard choices to keep her daughter safe. Inaya’s life is a total wreck, but she is trying her best to keep her head above water for her four-year-old daughter, Kadia. When she bumps into her new neighbor, Phantom, she can’t get him off her mind or out of her heart. Phantom is tall, handsome, and a complete jerk. He thinks all women are in one category, the one marked “no good,” and he’s not afraid to express that to any woman who crosses his path. He likes Kadia because she reminds him of his little girl, but he works hard at being mean to her mother. Slowly, his heart begins to soften a little. Maybe Inaya is different from all the other women he has known. He realizes he loves her, but women from his past and present continue to threaten what Phantom and Inaya are building. One bad decision on his part threatens their relationship, and the consequences leave Kadia in danger. Meet Lox, son of a Jamaican Don, a ladies’ man who even takes these chicks to dinner and a movie sometimes. Fate brings Lox’s first love, Sahnai, back into his life. He never stopped loving her, even after she disappeared from his life for reasons unknown to him. Sahnai is accustomed to using her looks to get what she wants from men. When she sees Lox after all these years, she is happy to see the only man she has ever loved, but she’s having a hard time letting him in her life again. She knows her secrets are enough to make him hate her and take away the one thing she cherishes the most. After Lox sees that Sahnai is still a hothead who is not ready to grow up, he decides to walk away for good—until events out of his control may change his plans.
Sometimes, even true love isn’t enough to prevent bad choices. Meet Inaya, a good girl who made some hard choices to keep her daughter safe. Inaya’s life is a total wreck, but she is trying her best to keep her head above water for her four-year-old daughter, Kadia. When she bumps into her new neighbor, Phantom, she can’t get him off her mind or out of her heart. He is tall, handsome, and a complete a-hole. He thinks all women are in one category, the one marked “no good,” and he’s not afraid to express that to any woman who crosses his path. He likes Kadia because she reminds him of his little girl, but he works hard at being mean to her mother. Slowly, his heart begins to soften a little. Maybe Inaya is different from all the other women he has known. He realizes he loves her, but women from his past and present continue to threaten what Phantom and Inaya are building. One bad decision on his part threatens their relationship, and the consequences leave Kadia in danger. Meet Lox, son of a Jamaican Don, a ladies man who even takes these chicks to dinner and a movie sometimes. Fate brings Lox’s first love, Sahnai, back into his life. He never stopped loving her, even after she disappeared from his life for reasons unknown to him. Sahnai is accustomed to using her looks to get what she wants from men. When she sees Lox after all these years, she is happy to see the only man she has ever loved, but she’s having a hard time letting him in her life again. She knows her secrets are enough to make him hate her and take away the one thing she cherishes the most. After Lox sees that Sahnai is still a hothead who is not ready to grow up, he decides to walk away for good—until events out of his control may change his plans.
A “heroic” biography of John Cage and his “awakening through Zen Buddhism”—“a kind of love story” about a brilliant American pioneer of the creative arts who transformed himself and his culture (The New York Times) Composer John Cage sought the silence of a mind at peace with itself—and found it in Zen Buddhism, a spiritual path that changed both his music and his view of the universe. “Remarkably researched, exquisitely written,” Where the Heart Beats weaves together “a great many threads of cultural history” (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings) to illuminate Cage’s struggle to accept himself and his relationship with choreographer Merce Cunningham. Freed to be his own man, Cage originated exciting experiments that set him at the epicenter of a new avant-garde forming in the 1950s. Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Allan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli were among those influenced by his ‘teaching’ and ‘preaching.’ Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
Love has been one of the most powerful and enduring themes in poetry throughout the ages. From the ancient Greeks to the present day, poets have expressed their deepest feelings and experiences in the language of love. This anthology contains a collection of love poems from different poets and scholars. Each poem speaks of the universal human experience of love and explores its many facets: from the joy of new love to the pang of heartbreak, from the tenderness of intimacy to the longing for connection. As you journey through these pages, you will encounter love in all its forms: passionate and engaging, tender and nurturing, transformative and enduring. These poems will inspire you to reflect on your experiences in love and appreciate the beauty and complexity of this very human emotion. Whether you're a lifelong lover of poetry or just want to explore this rich and timeless genre, this anthology will capture your heart and deepen your appreciation for the power of love and the beauty of language.
Part of a groundbreaking series of photobooks on LGBTQ communities around the world, a moving portrait of a group of queer East Africans who fled their home countries for the United States Same-sex relations are illegal in thirty-eight African countries, often under colonial-era laws. One of the most dangerous countries has been Uganda, which is attempting to pass an Anti-Homosexuality Bill (commonly known as the "Kill the Gays" bill) that seeks to broaden the criminalization of same-sex relations, making it punishable by life imprisonment and, in some instances, death. This Is How the Heart Beats is a portrait by acclaimed photographer Jake Naughton of a group of East Africans who have fled unimaginable abuse in their homeland for the United States. One couple, Sulait and his boyfriend, had been tortured in prison in the months after the anti-homosexuality bill had been proposed and, on their release, had made their way to Kenya, where they were attacked by a mob of machete-wielding men. It was only after years in hiding that many such refugees have been resettled in the United States. With an introduction by journalist Jacob Kushner and a foreword by Ugandan queer activist Ruth Muganzi, This Is How the Heart Beats is a record of LGBTQ forced migration unlike any other, following this community from its darkest moments to an uncertain future. At a time of great uncertainty for both LGBTQ and refugee rights, this work illuminates the stakes for those at the center of a firestorm.
After surviving an abusive relationship, Nautica realizes she needs a fresh start where she can feel safe. Taking a leap of faith, she moves to Atlanta to be with her cousins, Amaris and Ahnais. Ahnais is in a relationship with the love of her life Dravien, everything was going perfect for them until Ahnais finds out that Dravien betrayed her in the worse way. Can Dravien prove that his intentions were not to hurt Ahnais? Is there something deeper behind his secret? Amaris has dated a few guys here and there but none of them where "the one". When Jaysun enters her life will he be able to prove that he is the one to change Amaris' cold heart or will it be a failure like all the rest? When Dravien's best friend Majik sees something special in Nautica, he's ready to change her view of men but there's one problem standing in the way, CoCo, his worrisome baby mama. Can Majik get CoCo out of the way and focus his love on Nautica?
Part one of My Heart Beats for an Atlanta Boss was full of drama for Nautica, Amaris and Ahnais. Things finally started going well for the trio and then it quickly spiraled out of control. Nautica's past comes back with a vengeance and Majik vows to do whatever to keep her safe. When the unthinkable happens will Majik and Nautica's relationship survive or will Nautica end up back in the same situation she tried so hard to escape? Ahnais' rapist is closer to home that she realized and it has become a distraction to her engagement to Draiven. She wants nothing more than to plan the wedding of her dreams but how can she when her rapist is still out lurking? Draiven knows that he can keep Ahnais safe and that she has nothing to fear but the doubt in her eyes is still present. Can Draiven really keep Ahnais safe? Will a tragic past keep her from moving on to an amazing future? Amaris and Jaysun faced a horrible tragedy in the first installment that they have not fully recovered from.
Scotland, 1940 In a house on the east coast, Jane faces motherhood alone. With her husband away at war, there is no one to protect her from small town suspicions and she must learn to keep her secrets to herself.
Jandy Nelson meets Friday Night Lights in this sweeping, warm, arrestingly original novel about family, poverty, and hope. Wing Jones, like everyone else in her town, has worshipped her older brother, Marcus, for as long as she can remember. Good-looking, popular, and the star of the football team, Marcus is everything his sister is not. Until the night everything changes when Marcus, drunk at the wheel after a party, kills two people and barely survives himself. With Marcus now in a coma, Wing is crushed, confused, and angry. She is tormented at school for Marcus’s mistake, haunted at home by her mother and grandmothers’ grief. In addition to all this, Wing is scared that the bank is going to repossess her home because her family can’t afford Marcus’s mounting medical bills. Every night, unable to sleep, Wing finds herself sneaking out to go to the school’s empty track. When Aaron, Marcus’s best friend, sees her running one night, he recognizes that her speed, skill, and agility could get her spot on the track team. And better still, an opportunity at a coveted sponsorship from a major athletic gear company. Wing can’t pass up the opportunity to train with her longtime crush and to help her struggling family, but can she handle being thrust out of Marcus’s shadow and into the spotlight? "The swiftly paced story will quickly sweep up readers...[a] well-crafted, inspirational debut with plenty of heart, hope, and determination." —Booklist "A story showing how hope and love can blossom in the midst of chaos." —Publishers Weekly
