CREATING MISSIONAL COMMUNITY Down We Go is a practitioner’s guide for creating and cultivating missional community. It’s based on the idea of... living into the Beatitudes, and explores what it means to follow Jesus into the hard places of suffering, inequality, and injustice in order to cultivate, hope, beauty, justice, equality, generosity and healing. The dream of living out the upside-down ways of Jesus is in our hearts, but many don’t know how to make “what could be” really be. We need practical, tangible ideas to make dreams reality. We need to hear how it can work, from people on the margins and practitioners living in the trenches. We need real stories of practice that will fan our hopes and dreams for justice, mercy, equality, and healing in the kingdom of God into flame. Down We Go fleshes out practicing the ways of Jesus in action, personally and through life in community. Endorsements "Page after page in Down We Go, I feel the crazy sanity of the kingdom of God seeping back into me. I'm so thankful for Kathy Escobar, the Refuge, the TransForm Network, and everyone who dares to switch directions and become more profane - in the holiest sense of the word." - Brian D. McLaren, author of Naked Spirituality and A New Kind of Christianity. "Kathy Escobar explores how to move from 'doing' ministry for others into creating sacred spaces where all can be a part of the Kingdom of God. Those desiring something beyond “comfy church” will find inspiration in Kathy’s downwardly mobile journey" - Becky Garrison, author of Jesus Died For This? “Kathy Escobar leads us on a guided tour of the wild ways of Jesus. She is one of my favorite leaders. I hope to continue to learn from her example for years to come" - Jim Henderson, D. Min, Author of Jim and Casper Go To Church and The Resignation of Eve. "Kathy takes us down into the trenches where ordinary hurting people live and where we too need to live out our faith. Her personal faith journey from mega-church pastor to ministry with the destitute and marginalized is a compelling and convicting read." - Christine Sine, Author and Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates.

Walden Bello on Ho Chi Minh’s inspirational anti-imperialism.Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Vietminh and President of the Democratic Republic of... Vietnam, having defeated Japanese and French colonialist became a hate figure of the USA during the Vietnam War. Anti-globalization activist Walden Bello shows why Ho Chi Minh should still be read by anti-imperialists the world over.

An immensely readable, provocative, and entertaining exploration of the Titanic as cultural icon."I suggest, henceforth, when a woman talks women's... rights, she be answered with the word Titanic, nothing more—just Titanic," wrote a St. Louis man to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was not alone in mining the ship for a metaphor. Everyone found ammunition in the Titanic—suffragists and their opponents; radicals, reformers, and capitalists; critics of technology and modern life; racists and xenophobes and champions of racial and ethnic equality; editorial writers and folk singers, preachers and poets. Protestant sermons used the Titanic to condemn the budding consumer society ("We know the end of . . . the undisturbed sensualists. As they sail the sea of life we know absolutely that their ship will meet disaster."). African American toasts and working-class ballads made the ship emblematic of the foolishness of white people and the greed of the rich. A 1950s revival framed the disaster as an "older kind of disaster in which people had time to die." An ever-increasing number of Titanic buffs find heroism and order in the tale. Still in the headlines ("Titanic Baby Found Alive!" the Weekly World News declares) and a figure of everyday speech ("rearranging deck chairs . . ."), the Titanic disaster echoes within a richly diverse, paradoxical, and fascinating America.

“Brimming over with wit and insight. . . . Fresh and fascinating.”—Dan RatherEveryone from suffragists to their opponents; radicals, reformers,... and capitalists; critics of technology and modern life; racists and xenophobes and champions of racial and ethnic equality; editorial writers and folk singers, preachers and poets found moral and cultural lessons in the sinking of the Titanic. In a new edition that both commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of the disaster and elaborates, in a revised afterword, on the ship's continued impact on the public imagination (evidenced by the Titanic mania evoked by James Cameron's 1997 film), Steven Biel explores the Titanic in all its complexity and contradictions. 16 pages of black-and-white photographs and illustrations

The Hindu custom of dowry has long been blamed for the murder of wives and female infants in India. In this highly provocative book, Veena Oldenburg... argues that these killings are neither about dowry nor reflective of an Indian culture or caste system that encourages violence against women. Rather, such killings can be traced directly to the influences of the British colonial era. In the precolonial period, dowry was an institution managed by women, for women, to enable them to establish their status and have recourse in an emergency. As a consequence of the massive economic and societal upheaval brought on by British rule, women's entitlements to the precious resources obtained from land were erased and their control of the system diminished, ultimately resulting in a devaluing of their very lives. Taking us on a journey into the colonial Punjab, Veena Oldenburg skillfully follows the paper trail left by British bureaucrats to indict them for interpreting these crimes against women as the inherent defects of Hindu caste culture. The British, Oldenburg claims, publicized their "civilizing mission" and blamed the caste system in order to cover up the devastation their own agrarian policies had wrought on the Indian countryside. A forceful demystification of contemporary bride burning concludes this remarkably original book. Deploying her own experiences and memories and her research at a women's shelter with "dowry cases" for almost a year in the mid-eighties, the author looks at the contemporary violence against wives and daughters-in-law in modern India. Oldenburg seamlessly weaves the contemporary with the historical, the personal with the political, and strips the layers of exoticism off an ancient practice to show how an invaluable safety net was twisted into a deadly noose. She brings us startlingly close to the worsening treatment of modern Indian women as she challenges us to rethink basic assumptions about women's human and economic rights. Combining rigorous research with impassioned analysis and a nuanced treatment of a complex, deeply controversial subject, this book critiques colonialism while holding a mirror to gender discrimination in modern India.

This text aims to set the frame for a discussion and exploration of the relations between worship, doctrine and life - themes that continue to occupy... the attention of thoughtful belivers.

This book is unique. Ann P. Turnbull, Co-Director, Beach Center for Families and Disabilities, University of Kansas, states, "Cutting through the... rhetoric and jargon of the partnership literature, Janice Fialka and Karen Mikus offer us an entirely fresh, dynamic, and interactive way to gain new insights. They have "colored outside the lines" in creating a dialogue that enables us, the readers to gain insights about the partnership dynamics between parents and professionals. In their unique creation, we learn about the feelings, hopes, fears, uncertainties, and expectations from both parent and professional perspectives. Whether you are a parent, professional, or both, you are in for treat in not only getting more in touch with your own feelings but with the feelings of your significant partner. I strongly recommend it to you with every confidence that new insights are here for everyone." Do You Hear What I Hear? is designed to be used by parents of children with special needs, professionals who work with families, university faculty members, and other trainers. it is filled with thoughtful stories, suggestions for next steps in partnerships, and practical insights. Highly readable, it is a resource which can enhance self-reflection, personnel preparation, and parent-professional training.

Do You Know What I Mean? -Discovering Your Personal Communication Style offers a dynamic and groundbreaking approach to successful interpersonal... communication. The communication styles framework pioneered by Bob Keteyian is a practical and powerful tool for: couples seeking deeper understanding and connection; parents managing complex, challenging behaviors; executives aiming to improve leadership skills; management groups needing greater collaboration. This book takes you on a journey similar to what Bob offers in his consultations, workshops and training sessions. Part 1 defines the seven communication components, illuminated by numerous real life examples and offers rich communication tips in each chapter. Part 2, the workbook, helps you discover your own communication style and gives you the tools for effective communication, problem-solving, and relational harmony. Following the workbook is a special section on "Basic and Necessary Communication Skills" in a very user friendly format. Learning about communication styles opens a pathway to mutual understanding and respect for individual differences. The result is greater connection, clarity, and collaboration in all relationships.

Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic... variations?These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses.With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language.Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle?Or2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer?Or3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle?Or4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio?Or5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan?Or6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral?1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish

Is the growing influence of Spanish threatening to displace English in the United States? Are America's grammatical standards in serious decline? Has... the media saturation of our culture homogenized our speech?These and other questions catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran, coauthors of the language classic The Story of English, on a journey that took them around the country in search of answers. Do You Speak American?, the companion volume to a PBS special, is the tale of the surprising discoveries they made while interviewing a host of native speakers and observing everyday verbal interactions across the country. Examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, MacNeil and Cran address highly emotional anxieties and assumptions about our language-and offer some unpredictable responses.With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling follow-up to The Story of English that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language.

Explore the gray areas in your gray matter?philosophical brainteasers from the bestselling author of The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten Is your brain ready... for a thorough philosophical health check? The author of the international bestseller The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten and his fellow founding editor of The Philosopher?s Magazine have some thought-provoking questions about your thinking: Is what you believe coherent and consistent?or a jumble of contradictions? If you could design a God, what would He, She, or It be like? And how will you fare on the tricky terrain of ethics when your taboos are under the spotlight? Here are a dozen philosophical quizzes guaranteed to make armchair philosophers uncomfortably shift in their seats. The answers will reveal what you really think?and it may not be what you thought. Fun, challenging, and surprising, this book will enable you to discover the you you never knew you were.

A new edition of a classic of contemporary American literature, first published in 1997 by Sun & Moon Press but unavailable in recent years.Dra—,... the nondescript heroine of this grim, hilarious fiction, might have fallen through the same hole as Lewis Carroll's Alice, only now, 130 years later, there's no time for frivolity, just the pressing need to get a job. In a sealed, modern Wonderland of "small stifled work centers, basements and sub-basements, night niches, and training hutches connected by hallways just inches across," Dra— seeks employment . . . This labyrinthine journey is brilliantly mimicked in the architecture of the prose. Levine creates cozy little warrens, small safe spaces made of short clear sentences, then sends the reader spiraling down long broken passages, fragmented by colons and semi-colons which give a halting, lurching gait to our progress. A quest, a comedy of manners, and a parable, Dra— is, above all else, a philosophical novel concerned with the most basic questions of living.