A vital and triumphant story of perseverance and recovery by one of Canada’s foremost advocates for mental health When Mark Henick was a teenager in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, he was overwhelmed by depression and anxiety that led to a series of increasingly dangerous suicide attempts. One night, he climbed onto a bridge over an overpass and stood in the wind, clinging to a girder. Someone shouted, “Jump, you coward!” Another man, a stranger in a brown coat, talked to him quietly, calmly and with deep empathy. Just as Henick’s feet touched open air, the man in the brown coat encircled his chest and pulled him to safety. This near-death experience changed Henick’s life forever. So-Called Normal is Henick’s memoir about growing up in a broken home and the events that led to that fateful night on the bridge. It is a vivid and personal account of the mental health challenges he experienced in childhood and his subsequent journey toward healing and recovery.
In the shifting (or even collapsing) of everything familiar in life, you don’t have to wring your hands in fear. Push past the loss of your “normal” with bestselling author and Bible teacher Laura Story, and step into the new story God is writing for you. You've been faced with circumstances beyond your control. Your plans are altered. But you have the blessing of a Father who loves you enough to take off the training wheels and place his beloved child in the best possible scenario for your good and growth. So Long, Normal guides you to leave behind the idols of comfort, caution, and routine so you can live strong and well, even when life takes an unwelcome turn. In her confessional, conversational style, worship leader, Bible teacher, and Christian recording artist Laura Story weaves her own personal stories with examples from Scripture of characters whose lives were upended by unexpected (and undesired) change. So Long, Normal will help you: Process the trauma of the loss of your “normal” Learn to rest in God’s plan for you instead of trying to control your circumstances Find true community and encouragement in your struggle with uncertainty Discover three great comforts and three gifts to steady you on your journey Face the future with fresh spiritual eyes and find joy in the unwavering strength of Christ Losing your “normal” is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new adventure. It is possible to grow with grace through tough times, navigating the unknown secure in the knowledge that God is with you—every step of the way.
A kooky kid is banished to another planet in this hilarious adventure about a futuristic world where different is dangerous, imagination is insanity, and creativity is crazy! Norbert Riddle lives in the United State of Earth, where normal means following the rules, never standing out, and being exactly the same as everyone else, down to the plain gray jumpsuits he wears every day. He's been normal his whole life -- until a moment of temporary hilarity when he does a funny impression of their dictator, Loving Leader . . . and gets caught! Now, Norbert's been arrested and banished to planet Zorquat 3 in the Orion Nebula, where kids who defy the rules roam free in the Astronuts camp. Norbert has been taught his whole life that different is wrong, but everyone at Astronuts is crazy, creative, and insane! Norbert wants nothing more than to go back to earth where things are awful but at least they're familiar. But he soon realizes that being different could be better -- and maybe the crazy farm is exactly where he belongs after all.
Growing up in post-World War II Alberta in a stable, loving home, Tom Symington didn’t feel that he was “different.” Evading early pressures of romance and sexual exploration, repressing instances of name-calling (“femmy”), and hostility from schoolmates, Tom was almost able to believe in a world that valued the rights and freedoms of all citizens. From Calgary to Sierra Leone to France, this candid, heartbreaking memoir braids the evolution of gay rights in Canada with the life journey of one individual. Following high school, as Tom entered university and became a teacher, he was forced to reconcile his sexual orientation with the prevailing social and legal environment in Alberta, Canada, and the world beyond. As decades passed, “femmy” merged with “gay,” “queer,” and “LGBTQ+ community” in a rallying movement and an enduring struggle towards pride and self-acceptance against the current of societal expectations and discriminatory legislation. Not So Normal is as much a coming-of-age odyssey and a celebration of selfhood as it is a grave reminder that there is still much work to be done in the realm of human rights, and an urgent call to action to recentre love in our increasingly diverse and divisive world.
By age four, Claudia Marseille had hardly uttered a word. When her parents finally had her hearing tested and learned she had a severe hearing loss, they chose to mainstream her, hoping this would offer her the most “normal” childhood possible. With the help of a primitive hearing aid, Claudia worked hard to learn to hear, lipread, and speak even as she tried to hide her disability in order to fit in. As a result, she was often misunderstood, lonely, and isolated—fitting into neither the hearing world nor the Deaf culture. This memoir explores Claudia’s relationships with her German refugee parents—a disturbed, psychoanalyst father obsessed over various harebrained projects and moneymaking schemes and a Jewish mother who had survived the Holocaust in Munich—and with her own identity. Claudia shares how she emerged from loneliness and social isolation, explored her Jewish identity, struggled to find a career compatible with hearing loss, and eventually opened herself to a life of creativity and love. But You Look So Normal is the inspiring story of a life affected but not defined by an invisible disability. It is a journey through family, loss, shame, identity, love, and healing as Claudia finally, joyfully, finds her place in the world.
In every new story we pick up, we're seeking an exciting original voice. So why are there still voices we don't hear from nearly enough? Why are there characters that so rarely take centre stage? In this collection from Odd Voice Out press, we discover the stories of twelve teenagers who stand out from the crowd and who'll not easily be forgotten. These are stories about bending the rules and breaking the law. Stories of fighting for survival and finding your place in the world. Stories of family solidarity, unlikely friendships and aching first love told by teenagers who don't always fit in and aren't often heard. With a foreword by award winning YA author Catherine Johnson, this anthology brings together the top ten stories of Odd Voice Out's 2019 Not So Normal Narrators contest, as well as bonus stories from in-house authors Kell Cowley and K.C. Finn.
FBI Special Agent Faith Bold and her K9 German Shepherd, Turk, have gained a reputation for solving even the most perplexing cases, but when victims of a new serial killer are found left in plain sight, in the busiest train stations, Faith—and Turk—are stumped. The overwhelming amount of sensory information and the muddled crime scene make the killer untraceable. This time, Faith will have to help Turk, as the two of them watch each other’s backs as they walk into a deadly trap that seems set just for them. “A masterpiece of thriller and mystery.” —Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ SO NORMAL is book #4 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 7,000 five star ratings and reviews. FBI Special Agent Faith Bold doesn’t believe she can ever return to the force after the trauma she’s been through. Suffering from past demons, she feels unfit for duty and content to retire—until Turk walks into her life. Turk, a former Marine Corps dog, wounded in battle, suffers from his own demons. But he never lets it show as he gives everything to Faith to get her back on her feet. Each are slow to warm up to each other, but when they do, they are inseparable. Each is equally determined to hunt down the demons chasing them, whatever the cost, and to watch each other’s backs—even at the risk of their own life. A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the Faith Bold series is a riveting mystery, packed with non-stop action, suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Fans of Rachel Caine, Teresa Driscoll and Robert Dugoni are sure to fall in love. Future books in the series are now also available. “An edge of your seat thriller in a new series that keeps you turning pages! ...So many twists, turns and red herrings… I can't wait to see what happens next.” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A strong, complex story about two FBI agents trying to stop a serial killer. If you want an author to capture your attention and have you guessing, yet trying to put the pieces together, Pierce is your author!” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A typical Blake Pierce twisting, turning, roller coaster ride suspense thriller. Will have you turning the pages to the last sentence of the last chapter!!!” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Right from the start we have an unusual protagonist that I haven't seen done in this genre before. The action is nonstop… A very atmospheric novel that will keep you turning pages well into the wee hours.” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Everything that I look for in a book… a great plot, interesting characters, and grabs your interest right away. The book moves along at a breakneck pace and stays that way until the end. Now on go I to book two!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Exciting, heart pounding, edge of your seat book… a must read for mystery and suspense readers!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This lively collection of essays examines statistical ideas with an ironic eye for their essence and what their history can tell us for current disputes. The topics range from 17th-century medicine and the circulation of blood, to the cause of the Great Depression, to the determinations of the shape of the Earth and the speed of light.
The OpenIntro project was founded in 2009 to improve the quality and availability of education by producing exceptional books and teaching tools that are free to use and easy to modify. We feature real data whenever possible, and files for the entire textbook are freely available at openintro.org. Visit our website, openintro.org. We provide free videos, statistical software labs, lecture slides, course management tools, and many other helpful resources.
