Local Voices

This is Camilla Jean Welsch's first book of poems. I hope you like it: ) Please look forward to the next volume in this series... coming soon!

At the age of 20, Brandon Grimm was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the pituitary gland. The ensuing surgery removed a large portion of the tumor; however, residual tumor was located a few months later. After recovering from the surgery, Brandon was diagnosed with the rare and chronic disease, Acromegaly. This disease causes too much growth hormone to be produced in Brandon's body which reduces life expectancy by several years if left untreated. Over the last 14 years, Brandon has received over 4,000 injections to reduce the level of growth hormone and restore life expectancy back to normal range. This book documents his experiences, including battles with anxiety, fear, doubt and hopelessness. Brandon provides a first-hand account of how God provides all of us with the tools needed to overcome these relentless enemies. In this book, you will unlock the life-saving power of perspective regardless of your current circumstance and learn how to find freedom in fear, belief in the doubt and light in the darkness. Brandon also provides practical applications for unleashing the power of a new perspective by doing instead of having, focusing on how well instead of how long and what it means to sacrifice for the benefit of others.

In The Beautiful Journey, Andrea takes you on an emotional rollercoaster as she chronicles her journey through cancer. You'll laugh (yes, laugh), cry, and cheer her on as she battles to become victorious over this disease. Andrea shares her raw, honest experiences as she is forced to make heavy, life-saving decisions.

However, The Beautiful Journey is more than a story about cancer. Andrea includes many valuable lessons she learns as a result of facing this adversity, including:

- How to overcome fear

- How blessings can be found in adversity

- The difference between living a successful life vs. one of significance

- The importance of living...on purpose

- Finding the beauty in all things

- The importance of listening to your body

As you follow Andrea's story of how she claims victory over cancer, you'll be able to go on your own "beautiful journey" of self-discovery and awareness.

Many are asking, what is wrong with teaching, learning, schooling, and education, and what can be done? You will get the answers (panacea) from the letters of a mad public school teacher: intrepid, irascible, cantankerous, provocative, passionate, thought-provoking, iconoclastic, and enhanced with vitriolic demagoguery.

As a grad student / colleague said, Thanks for an enjoyable class on education issues in society. I also enjoyed your letters to the editor. I've been told that I say what other people think. Well, you write and publish what we're all thinking.

From an anti-other political climate comes a novel that gives voice to outcasts tyrannized by power. Boy in the Hole is the gripping account of Jacob, a boy wrestling to understand himself, his family, and the world in which he lives as he grows up in the Deep South in the seventies. Emerging from a family of sexual deviancy and alcoholism masked by religion and wealth, Jacob learns to define who he is, but struggles to find the balance between faith and sexuality. To embrace his true identity, he must go on an exodus to face his demons and overcome the pressures to conform. But his parents' toxic beliefs and the messages of self-hate taught by religion and society could prove his undoing.Will Jacob love himself despite the potential isolation? Or will he conform to the norms and settle for mediocrity--and a life in which he can never truly live?

World War II is finally over, her fiance Johnny Costello is safe, and Grace Larkin anticipates a blissful future with him. But her happiness is tainted by the unexpected reappearance of her father who abandoned Grace and her mother years before. As the years pass, family misfortunes and tensions escalate along with Johnny's PTSD, culminating in the disturbing revelation of long-buried secrets.

Our country is divided in so many ways, with a growing chasm between men and women.

The news cycle is discouraging. Emotional and physical toxicity is at an all-time high. We're all starting to feel it in some shape or form, and many of us are struggling with how to keep our children protected from it all.

The problem is we're suffering from an empathy deficit.

But the really good news is there's a way out.

Healing starts with re-examining our modern myths about how we work, what "quality time" at home really means, and why the age-old battle of the sexes persists.

We can't continue down the path of least resistance. We need to carve a new way.

Currency of Empathy sets the stage for that new way by tackling disturbingly common issues like:

The fact that 70% of people say they are disengaged at work

The rise in anxiety and depression in children

The lack of women in leadership

And so many more headline-dominating crises!

But here's the real kicker - it's not about gender - it's about nurturing empathy in our children and ourselves so we can help shape and mold happier, healthier, more productive communities and societies.

What is the hope of this book? That we all start valuing caring - especially parenting - in a way that helps us reprioritize how we spend our time, grow the superpower of affective empathy in children and adults, and heal our empathy deficit.

It's that simple, even if it doesn't seem easy, but we're willing to bet this book is the motivator you've been waiting for.

Currency of Empathy already at work:

"The revolution of the future will hinge on the empathy-inducing "co-creation" explained so masterfully and entertainingly in these pages."

"If someone feels that they could use some advice on improving their quality of life - this book is an answer."

"This book is academic without being dense and warm without being overly sentimental or new-agey."

"... an uplifting, inspiring book. It makes you think. It makes you smile. And it makes you feel more hopeful than you did before you picked it up!"

"The book will cause you to self-examine. It will provoke you to think, and think again."

This is a story of nearly 100 years of determination. Albert Pollack's determination was evident at a very young age, as he learned valuable skills - especially woodworking - that last a lifetime. Narrowly escaping the Nazi invasion of his hometown in Chorostkov, Poland, Pollack survived the Holocaust and World War II, where he served in the Russian-formed Polish Army - helping defeat Nazi Germany and bringing all 64 soldiers in his charge safely home to their families.Upon leaving the military, Pollack, a refugee, discovered a new passion for photography. From humble beginnings, he brought his skills to America, where he established a photography studio and custom framing business.Pollack embraces every opportunity in life with energy and determination and freely shares what he has learned with others.

He and his wife, Madelyn, remain active in their community in South Euclid, Ohio, and continue to enjoy their ever-growing family.

Blood is the seat of the soul... Vampire horror set in medieval Spain. Felipe de Hayos, the son of a wealthy statesman is forced by his parents to marry a mysterious Moorish woman named, Lilith Al-Salameh. But Lilith is hiding a dark secret. She is actually Saturn's Immortal High Priestess and has plans to transform Felipe into an immortal, like herself. However, Lilith's plans are dashed when a family friend and her daughter, Zaybeth Castile come to live at the de Hayos estate. It is love at first sight for Felipe and Zaybeth. Learning of her husband's betrayal, Lilith plots the lover's destruction. She calls upon the Daughters of Saturn to aid her in performing a forbidden ritual, opening the Eye of Saturn-cursing Felipe into a vampire and Zaybeth into the only one who can kill him.

The scope and beauty of Gloria Plevin's work are revealed in this gorgeous catalog that springs from a major retrospective at ARTneo: The Museum of Northeast Ohio Art. The book's 106 color reproductions highlight the best paintings, pastels, prints and drawings from the artist's five-decade career. A prominent painter of Northeast Ohio and Chautauqua County, Plevin's still lifes, portraits, botanicals, and Chautauqua landscapes grow from her desire to show us the places, people, pets, and things she loves. According to Butler Institute of American Art curator Robert L. Kurtz, "Plevin creates an art of astounding beauty, an art whose power forces the viewer to look anew at what are often ordinary objects." Inspired by Mary Cassatt, Pierre Bonnard, and Fairfield Porter, Gloria Plevin is one of the small group of American artists who rejected 20th century trends toward abstract and conceptual art, choosing instead to advance art's power to capture and celebrate the life around us. The artist's short essays offer insight into her process for creating specific works along with reflections on art, nature, family, and country life. This splendid catalog is an essential resource for anyone interested in Gloria Plevin's art as well as a wonderful treat for art-lovers, artists, and aspiring artists alike. Includes introductions by William Busta and ARTneo curator Christopher Richards, photos of the artist in her studio, and a detailed chronology of Plevin's career.

When a recent college graduate with a smoking habit is called to serve on the board at his local church, he immediately struggles with separating his public and private lives. His fantasized ideas of religion suddenly become dangerously real as he's enmeshed in a perfect storm of events which leads to, of all things, spending three extremely paranormal days behind bars. When it's all said and done, it seems as though he has entered through the gates of hell and been released to the flip side of life.

There, friends and family often appear as enemies and everyone speaks using a strange, coded lingo. With a mind full of problems, but no solutions, he tries to navigate in this bizarre new world, experiencing strange phenomena on the highways, unnatural episodes during house visits and hospital stays, and futuristic visions while at sea. He journeys across the United States trying to get home, veritably touched by a host of eclectic men and woman along the way.

Hades' Melody is a remarkable coming-of-age memoir which unabashedly explores abandonment, solitary spirituality, prophecy and the dark songs of language. It's a spectacular narrative that delves into the psyche of an individual searching for answers during the subtly explosive dawn of a new era.

Before our three kids, we had been decent people. Interesting even. One of us had taught Shakespeare to gang members while the other flew reconnaissance missions off North Korea. But our own children had proven our biggest challenge. We were passionate and service-driven folks, except we were not demonstrating this to our kids. We spent so much time trying to be good parents that we forgot to be good people.
Something had to change.

Two parents challenge one another to find balance between work and family life. Their stories are both uproarious and poignant as they raise children and strive to leave their mark on the wider world. Filled with tender moments and plenty of laughs, Here Be Dragons recounts the adventures of a family trying to stay afloat, and offers a life raft to the rest of us in choppy waters.

It is entertaining to be anti-Masonic and perpetuate conspiracy theories and stories based on satanic worship rather than join Freemasonry or any other private organization primarily structured with improving the individual in society. The Masonic term "making good men better" is the desire of the craft concerning all people living in a multicultural society to better themselves. This is masonry in a nutshell. To achieve this betterment takes a great deal of work and self-introspection, which the critics of the craft refuse to endure and fail to examine the important historical esoteric symbols associated with the craft. This book is dedicated toward neutralizing such superficial negative ideology pursued by critics who have a personal interest in negating the significant works of the greatest fraternal organization in the world. Contained herein are chapters on women in Freemasonry, the Catholic Church, and Freemasonry (which contains an addendum relating to over one hundred cardinals and bishops who, under pseudonyms, were Freemasons), a chapter on the 133rd Psalm (providing a line-by-line interpretation of a work which provides the important ideological, humanistic basis for both society and Freemasonry) with an important chapter analyzing the final end-period of a man's life as it related to Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. Men join Freemasonry because in their hearts, they seek to improve themselves. In a reality, any can start living as principled individuals, exercising the same values without being a Freemason. All that is required is desire and work effort, with a foundation from the Holy Bible to betterment of himself. However, the Masonic Craft assists an individual in this journey by providing defined structure, support, and a roadmap that helps focus the advancement and, as such, increases the probability of a successful outcome. Freemasonry centers on learning how to charge one's self with thought and physical conduct. However, in order to improve, one must read, study, and understand the true nature of reality in life, buttressed by the role of oneself and those with which one socializes. This philosophy underlines why the most important virtues of Freemasonry are symbolic and teach us to be better humans. Freemasonry gains its structure and foundation through an inherent love of an adherence to the Holy Bible and would not exist without that devotion. The foundation of Masonry is predicated on the fact that the craft and the Bible are intricately interconnected, just as other holy books around the world are central to their Freemason organizations. Much of Masonry's symbolism is taken from biblical sources, especially Genesis and the stories surrounding the building of King Solomon's temples. Great emphasis is placed on the development of moral and ethical virtues and the building of character, with truth being the guiding principle of our lives. Thus, brotherhood and charity are natural outcomes and further define one of Masonry's major tenets. Masonry uses proven methods to enhance the lives and spirits of members in a tangible way. In every Masonic lodge, upon its altar, there is a Holy Bible supporting the square and compasses. This old familiar book, so beloved by so many generations, is our Volume of the Sacred Law and represents the Great Light in Freemasonry. The Bible is open when the lodge opens; the Bible is closed when the lodge closes. No lodge can transact its own business, much less initiate candidates into the mysteries of the craft, unless the Book of Holy Law lies open upon its altar. It is the true responsibility of each individual Mason to seek out and understand the true nature of reality through the teachings of Freemasonry discovered in the symbols of the craft. The individual must learn to recognize and interpret the footprints of the deity and the sublime methods that he uses to reveal his message. So mote it be. May the mystery begin

H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer's Journey equips Alzheimer's caregivers with knowledge, tools, and advice for their difficult road ahead. The concepts are conveyed in an open, honest, and creative manner using original family email communications from Carol B. Amos's own journey. Carol also introduces The Caregiving Principle(TM) a simple approach that provides a deeper understanding of a person with Alzheimer's disease and a framework for the caregiver's role. She provides examples of how The Caregiving Principle(TM) helped her connect with her mother. H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer's Journey encourages caregivers to take care of themselves and provides inspiration for a less stressful, more rewarding journey.

'I Used to Be Racist is about my life growing up in NYC pre and post-9/11. I never discriminated or judged anyone based on their religion and/or race until that tragic day and the weeks that followed. At 10-years old, I loaded up on the information being shared by the local news stations about what the terrorists looked like, and how they could be potentially lurking in various parts of the city. After moving to Ohio, I experienced racism for the first time, which opened my eyes on my own ignorance. Eventually, I became brave enough to encounter the "enemy."

Inspirations, Visions, and Traditions in Fiber Arts is a glance into a modern-day group of African American quilters and dollmakers who have joined together to create and enjoy Fiber Arts. This collection of beautiful quilts and dolls will lead you to turn page after page as you share the vision these artists have brought to fruition. Their personal stories will enable you to understand their fiery passion for the art. Because local guilds did not seem to understand the Black perspective, The African American Quilt and Doll Guild became a safe place for artists to freely express themselves and incorporate the history and stories stored in the hearts of African American fiber artists. They found the freedom to incorporate a different perspective of color, design and African Art in quilts. They have also used that same love of color to create Black cloth dolls that reflect the Black experiences in their lives and those of their families. The African American Quilt and Doll Guild and its' Storyteller members, honor Africans and African Americans by telling the history through quilts and dolls. The artistic images will grab your attention and a knowing smile will grace your lips when you sit back, relax and enjoy the craftsmanship of the artists.

The government of Theos prohibits contact with Earth, having deemed it a hostile and unevolved planet of inhabitants. Two of their leading scientists have worked for years to prove Theosians can successfully survive on Earth, but not before a deadly and fatal explosion takes their lives. Their son, a young, scientific phenom, vows to defend his parents' theories as he disobeys law and escapes his planet, plummeting his craft toward Earth's surface with his ex-girlfriend secretly stowed away.
On Earth, their personality differences erupt causing them to live separate lives. However, an unknown atmospheric anomaly, results in a break-down in body strength, requiring them to meet yearly to perform a regenerative ritual for survival. Despite each being 17 years of age, one chooses to regress to high school for fun, games and no responsibilities, while the other takes on the identity of a college freshman, for a life of logic and pure reason.
Despite their differences, they each struggle to acclimate and find themselves up against deadly illness and evil forces, aimed at exposing their secret existence. But nothing poses a greater threat than a battle against the heart.

Debbie Gadus was fulfilling her childhood dream of working in the horse business and living on her own when the riding arena roof collapsed on her and a young student during an extreme winter snowstorm. Rescue workers dug her out, doctors saved her life and therapists guided her through rehab and into her new life as a paraplegic living in her parents' home. This is the true inspirational story of how horses led a young woman back to her dream, and how disability enabled her to discover abilities she never knew she possessed. Debbie's story intersects with that of a small therapeutic horseback riding center for disabled persons that would go on to become one of the nation's leading facilities. Little Victories: A True Story of the Healing Power of Horses takes readers into the world of therapeutic riding and the little victories Debbie experiences as she learns to ride again, teach others with disabilities from her wheelchair, and develop a new carriage driving program for those who can't ride. In time, a quiet and reserved woman would gain confidence, becoming a leader and advocate for people with disabilities.

In this haunting, richly woven novel of modern life in Japan, the author of the acclaimed debut One for Sorrow explores the ties that bind humanity across the deepest divides. Here is a Murakamiesque jewel box of intertwined narratives in which the lives of several strangers are gently linked through love, loss, and fate.

On a train filled with quietly sleeping passengers, a young man's life is forever altered when he is miraculously seen by a blind man. In a quiet town an American teacher who has lost her Japanese lover to death begins to lose her own self. On a remote road amid fallow rice fields, four young friends carefully take their own lives--and in that moment they become almost as one. In a small village a disaffected American teenager stranded in a strange land discovers compassion after an encounter with an enigmatic red fox, and in Tokyo a girl named Love learns the deepest lessons about its true meaning from a coma patient lost in dreams of an affair gone wrong.

From the neon colors of Tokyo, with its game centers and karaoke bars, to the bamboo groves and hidden shrines of the countryside, these souls and others mingle, revealing a profound tale of connection--uncovering the love we share without knowing.

Exquisitely perceptive and deeply affecting, Barzak's artful storytelling deftly illuminates the inner lives of those attempting to find--or lose--themselves in an often incomprehensible world.

Marie Antoinette has remained atop the popular cultural landscape for centuries for the daring in style and fashion that she brought to 18th century France. For the better part of the queen's reign, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Who was this minister of fashion who wielded such tremendous influence over the queen's affairs? Winner of the Adele Mellen Prize for Distinguished Scholarship, Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution charts the rise of Leonard Autie from humble origins as a country barber in the south of France to the inventor of the Pouf and premier hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. By unearthing a variety of sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, including memoirs (including Léonard's own), court documents, and archived periodicals the author, French History professor and expert Will Bashor, tells Autie's mostly unknown story. Bashor chronicles Leonard's story, the role he played in the life of his most famous client, and the chaotic and history-making world in which he rose to prominence. Besides his proximity to the queen, Leonard also had a most fascinating life filled with sex (he was the only man in a female dominated court), seduction, intrigue, espionage, theft, exile, treason, and possibly, execution.

Medium Brave is the poignant story of what it was like growing up transgender in 1950s Ohio-the challenges, the confusion, the struggle of growing up different twenty years before the term that defines that condition has even been created. Told with gentle humor, insight, and heartbreaking honesty, Medium Brave will touch the heart, inspire the mind, and encourage any soul still struggling with their authenticity and freedom to find out what it means to be medium brave.

Set in Cleveland, Ohio, from its earliest beginnings as a forested frontier to the urban blight of modern times, Mistakes by the Lake is a collection of ten thematically linked stories spanning the many faces of the city's history: A motorman navigates his 1920's back-and-forth trolley until he snaps; A stockyards knocker encounters the Virgin Mary during the 1954 World Series; A wannabe wrestles his unruly mind along the flammable 1960's Cuyahoga River; In a reinvention of Henry IV, a young man must either stick with his bumbling criminal crew or uncover legit ways to support his mother and transgender Gramps.

The collection and its stories have garnered numerous accolades: Finalist: Nilsen Prize (Southeast Missouri State University); Winner: The Lake Prize in Fiction (Midwestern Gothic); Shortlisted: The Novella Award (Liverpool John Moores University); Shortlisted: Munster Literature Centre's Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition; Honorable Mention: Family Matters Contest (Glimmer Train). Praise for the novella, Mistakes by the Lake: "Full of action, movement, tension and shocks. T he world of the Cleveland stockyards and its denizens is brought to life with verve, skill and command" (Vulpes Libris).

Singing specters, secret passageways, unsolved clues, abandoned mansions, old photo albums and hidden motives are all found in the four stories making up this unique collection, Mysterious Tales of the Unexplained. A young sleuth solves a mystery surrounding a creepy, community theatre in Break A Leg & Knock 'Em Dead. She then goes on to investigate the apparent suicide of a wealthy factory owner in House up on the Hill. In Picture on the Wall, a mother/daughter restoration team experience ghostly encounters in an old, abandoned mansion. And six young friends go on a mystery weekend at a spooky inn, deciphering clues and exploring the mysterious property, only to find much more going on than they thought.

"Several years in the life of the author, a former headmaster at the University School in Ohio, reflections on mortality, incidents in his personal life and marriage, with an account of his activities as lecturer and writer on education. Told in diary form."--Provided by publisher.

THIS COLORING BOOK HAS BEEN CREATED WITH YOU IN MIND. THE GOAL IS FOR YOU TO DISCOVER OR RE-DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE SELF WHILE YOU COLOR YOURSELF CALM. DOODLING RELAXES YOUR MIND AND MOVES US ALL INTO A NON-FRENZIED STATE AND HELPS EVERYONE LEARN TO FOCUS. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION WAS FIRST USED BY THE PREHISTORIC CAVEMEN AND CAVEWOMEN. ART IS ABOUT HAVING FUN. LEARN HOW TO PLAY, AGAIN, IF YOU ARE AN ADULT! INDULGE YOUR SENSITIVITIES AND YOUR INSTINCTS FOR COLOR, SHAPE AND DESIGN. I GREW UP AS A BALLET DANCER AND WORKED AS A WRITER AND DANCER IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA FOR MANY YEARS. I EARNED MY Ph. D. AND AFTER WORKING IN THE FIELD OF MENTAL HEALTH FOR 15 YEARS, I ENTERED THE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN AS A PAINTING MAJOR. LET YOURSELF BE....AND HAVE FUN! ENJOY YOURSELF. WARMLY, MIMI

Though decades apart, two young girls are connected in a way that is both fantastical and surreal. When twelve year old Louise Erikson finds out that she holds the key to saving a nine year old who disappeared twenty years earlier, she decides to accept the challenge. Will Louise be able to rescue the girl and the others locked away with her before it's too late?

Her family murdered, her kingdom overrun by invaders, fifteen year-old Princess Scarlet Elwen finds herself the lone survivor of the royal family and goes into hiding . . . in plain sight right there in the castle. Calling herself Newle, she takes up the job as the cook's scullery maid and begins plotting to regain her family's throne. Discovered too soon, she is forced to flee and runs away across the sea to preserve her life. Along the way, she encounters a dwarf, a wizard, a city of elves and eventually, a dragon. It's what she tells the dragon that forces her to recognize how she has abandoned her people and what she must do to save them. Will she find her courage? What will become of her people?

"The Chronicles of Hair Follicles is a very informative, yet inspirational read that highlights Dameka Woods' decades of experience being in the hair industry and the different clients she's encountered regarding their relationship with hair & their various hair conditions. This book also gives great historical information of the different types of hair, shattering myths of different cultural hair types, the DIY crew, and the way the entire body affects the hair when dealing with different health conditions and disorders. She ties in how the different mental and emotional health of an individual can also affect their hair care journey. Finally, there are some great tips and suggestions for those in their hair journey to identify and assist with obtaining healthy hair. This is definitely worth the read."