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See It Feelingly: Classic Novels, Autistic Readers, and the Schooling of a No-Good English Professor (Thought in the Act)
by Ralph James Savarese“We each have Skype accounts and use them to discuss [Moby-Dick] face to face. Once a week, we spread the worded whale out in front of us; we dissect its head, eyes, and bones, careful not to hurt or kill it. The Professor and I are not whale hunters. We are not letting the whale die. We are shaping it, letting it swim through the Web with a new and polished look.”—Tito Mukhopadhyay Since the 1940s researchers have been repeating claims about autistic people's limited ability to understand language, to partake in imaginative play, and to generate the complex theory of mind necessary to appreciate literature. In See It Feelingly Ralph James Savarese, an English professor whose son is one of the first nonspeaking autistics to graduate from college, challenges this view. Discussing fictional works over a period of years with readers from across the autism spectrum, Savarese was stunned by the readers' ability to expand his understanding of texts he knew intimately. Their startling insights emerged not only from the way their different bodies and brains lined up with a story but also from their experiences of stigma and exclusion. For Mukhopadhyay Moby-Dick is an allegory of revenge against autism, the frantic quest for a cure. The white whale represents the autist's baffling, because wordless, immersion in the sensory. Computer programmer and cyberpunk author Dora Raymaker skewers the empathetic failings of the bounty hunters in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Autistics, some studies suggest, offer instruction in embracing the nonhuman. Encountering a short story about a lonely marine biologist in Antarctica, Temple Grandin remembers her past with an uncharacteristic emotional intensity, and she reminds the reader of the myriad ways in which people can relate to fiction. Why must there be a norm? Mixing memoir with current research in autism and cognitive literary studies, Savarese celebrates how literature springs to life through the contrasting responses of unique individuals, while helping people both on and off the spectrum to engage more richly with the world.
See Jane Hit
by James GarbarinoFrom one of America's leading authorities on juvenile violence comes a groundbreaking investigation of the explosion of violent behavior in girls With Lost Boys, James Garbarino became our foremost explicator of violent behavior in boys. Now he turns his attention to its increasing incidence in girls. Twenty-five years ago, ten boys were arrested for assault for every one girl. Now that ratio is four-to-one and dropping. Combining clinical experience with incisive analyses of social trends, Garbarino traces the factors--many of them essentially positive--behind the epidemic: girls' increased participation in sports and greater comfort with their physicality, but also their lack of training in handling aggression. See Jane Hit goes beyond diagnosing the problem to outline a clear-eyed, compassionate solution.
See Justice Done: The Problem of Law in the African American Literary Tradition (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies)
by Christopher Michael BrownIn See Justice Done: The Problem of Law in the African American Literary Tradition, author Christopher Michael Brown argues that African American literature has profound and deliberate legal roots. Tracing this throughline from the eighteenth century to the present, Brown demonstrates that engaging with legal culture in its many forms—including its conventions, paradoxes, and contradictions—is paramount to understanding Black writing.Brown begins by examining petitions submitted by free and enslaved Blacks to colonial and early republic legislatures. A virtually unexplored archive, these petitions aimed to demonstrate the autonomy and competence of their authors. Brown also examines early slave autobiographies such as Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative and Mary Prince’s History, which were both written in the form of legal petitions. These works invoke scenes of Black competence and of Black madness, repeatedly and simultaneously.Early Black writings reflect how a Black Atlantic world, organized by slavery, refused to acknowledge Black competence. By including scenes of Black madness, these narratives critique the violence of the law and predict the failure of future legal counterparts, such as Plessy v. Ferguson, to remedy injustice. Later chapters examine the works of more contemporary writers, such as Sutton E. Griggs, George Schuyler, Toni Morrison, and Edward P. Jones, and explore varied topics from American exceptionalism to the legal trope of "colorblindness." In chronicling these interactions with jurisprudential logics, See Justice Done reveals the tensions between US law and Black experiences of both its possibilities and its perils.
See Me: Prison Theater Workshops and Love
by null Jan Cohen-CruzEncounters, transformations, and reflections from in-prison and post-release theater workshopsSee Me is a collection of intimate dialogues about collective experiences in the context of prison theater workshops. Each essay is a collaboration between two or three people who connected profoundly in the temporary community that a workshop can create. Part I is an exchange grounded in the prison theater workshop between the author and one of the incarcerated participants. They alternately tell the story of what they found in the workshop, each other, the future they imagined together, and the social turmoil and utopian aspirations of the times. Part II consists of essays jointly written by eight other people impacted by close relationships spawned in diverse in-prison and re-entry theater workshops.
See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure in the Interwar Era
by Tara T. GreenPleasure refers to the freedom to pursue a desire, deliberately sought in order to satisfy the self. Putting pleasure first is liberating. During their extraordinary lives, Lena Horne, Moms Mabley, Yolande DuBois, and Memphis Minnie enjoyed pleasure as they gave pleasure to both those in their lives and to the public at large. They were Black women who, despite their public profiles, whether through Black society or through the world of entertainment, discovered ways to enjoy pleasure.They left home, undertook careers they loved, and did what they wanted, despite perhaps not meeting the standards for respectability in the interwar era. See Me Naked looks at these women as representative of other Black women of the time, who were watched, criticized, and judged by their families, peers, and, in some cases, the government, yet still managed to enjoy themselves. Among the voyeurs of Black women was Langston Hughes, whose novel Not Without Laughter was clearly a work of fiction inspired by women he observed in public and knew personally, including Black clubwomen, blues performers, and his mother. How did these complicated women wrest loose from the voyeurs to define their own sense of themselves? At very young ages, they found and celebrated aspects of themselves. Using examples from these women’s lives, Green explores their challenges and achievements.
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism
by Robert BaerIn his explosive New York Times bestseller, top CIA operative Robert Baer paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides startling evidence of how Washington politics sabotaged the CIA’s efforts to root out the world’s deadliest terrorists, allowing for the rise of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and the continued entrenchment of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. A veteran case officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations in the Middle East, Baer witnessed the rise of terrorism first hand and the CIA’s inadequate response to it, leading to the attacks of September 11, 2001. This riveting book is both an indictment of an agency that lost its way and an unprecedented look at the roots of modern terrorism, and includes a new afterword in which Baer speaks out about the American war on terrorism and its profound implications throughout the Middle East. “Robert Baer was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East. ” –Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker From The Preface This book is a memoir of one foot soldier’s career in the other cold war, the one against terrorist networks. It’s a story about places most Americans will never travel to, about people many Americans would prefer to think we don’t need to do business with. This memoir, I hope, will show the reader how spying is supposed to work, where the CIA lost its way, and how we can bring it back again. But I hope this book will accomplish one more purpose as well: I hope it will show why I am angry about what happened to the CIA. And I want to show why every American and everyone who cares about the preservation of this country should be angry and alarmed, too. The CIA was systematically destroyed by political correctness, by petty Beltway wars, by careerism, and much more. At a time when terrorist threats were compounding globally, the agency that should have been monitoring them was being scrubbed clean instead. Americans were making too much money to bother. Life was good. The White House and the National Security Council became cathedrals of commerce where the interests of big business outweighed the interests of protecting American citizens at home and abroad. Defanged and dispirited, the CIA went along for the ride. And then on September 11, 2001, the reckoning for such vast carelessness was presented for all the world to see.
See No Stranger: A memoir and manifesto of revolutionary love
by Valarie Kaur'Stunning, timely and timeless.' -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray LoveRenowned activist, filmmaker and civil rights lawyer Valarie Kaur made headlines when her 'Breathe and Push' speech on how to survive in a time of rage went viral with 30 million views worldwide. In this inspiring and timely debut, she shows you how to reclaim love as a force for justice.When we practise love in the face of fear or rage, it has the ability to transform an encounter, a relationship, a community, a culture, even a country. Love becomes revolutionary. Revolutionary love is the call of our time. A radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents and to ourselves. It invites you to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: You are part of me I do not yet know.Grounded in Valarie's own personal experience of practising love in the face of political oppression, sexual assault, wrongful arrest, detention, racism and murder, See No Stranger is an important and urgent manifesto that shows us a way to build movements that leave no one behind. You will learn to love others without prejudice or judgement, love your opponents through empathy and forgiveness, and ultimately to love yourself.*****Reviews'Valarie Kaur is a prophetic voice of our generation. Her wisdom ignites and inspires me, lighting the way through the darkness. This book will do the same for you.' -America Ferrera, actress and activist'Valarie Kaur is a visionary worker for justice and this book is her radiant offering.' -Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues'See No Stranger is rooted in radical honesty, vulnerability, and fierce commitment to building a world in which we all belong.' -Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow'This is the book we have been waiting for. It calls us up and calls us into the hard and necessary work to heal our wounds and reimagine the world.' -Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance and CNN host'Love-firebrand... Part personal history, part inspiring manifesto, Kaur's immensely readable book implores and inspires us toward love as "sweet labor: bloody, fierce, imperfect, and life-giving."' -Rainn Wilson, actor
See No Stranger: A memoir and manifesto of revolutionary love
by Valarie Kaur'In a world stricken with fear and turmoil, Valarie Kaur shows us how to summon our deepest wisdom.' -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray LoveRenowned activist, filmmaker and civil rights lawyer Valarie Kaur made headlines when her 'Breathe and Push' speech on how to survive in a time of rage went viral with 30 million views worldwide. In this inspiring and timely debut, she shows you how to reclaim love as a force for justice.When we practise love in the face of fear or rage, it has the ability to transform an encounter, a relationship, a community, a culture, even a country. Love becomes revolutionary. Revolutionary love is the call of our time. A radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents and to ourselves. It invites you to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: You are part of me I do not yet know.Grounded in Valarie's own personal experience of practising love in the face of political oppression, sexual assault, wrongful arrest, detention, racism and murder, See No Stranger is an important and urgent manifesto that shows us a way to build movements that leave no one behind. You will learn to love others without prejudice or judgement, love your opponents through empathy and forgiveness, and ultimately to love yourself.(p) 2020 Octopus Publishing Group
See Sooner, Act Faster: How Vigilant Leaders Thrive in an Era of Digital Turbulence (Management on the Cutting Edge)
by Paul J. Schoemaker George S. DayHow organizations can anticipate threats, spot opportunities, and act faster when the time is right; with rich examples including Adobe, MasterCard, and Amazon.When turbulence is the new normal, an organization's survival depends on vigilant leadership that can anticipate threats, spot opportunities, and act quickly when the time is right. In See Sooner, Act Faster, strategy experts George Day and Paul Schoemaker offer tools for thriving when digital advances intensify turbulence. Vigilant firms have greater foresight than their rivals, while vulnerable firms often miss early signals of external threats and organizational challenges. Charles Schwab, for example, was early to see and act on the promise of “robo-advisors”; Honeywell, on the other hand, stumbled when Nest Labs came out first with a “smart” thermostat. Day and Schoemaker show leaders how to assess their vigilance capabilities and cultivate insight and foresight throughout their organizations. They draw on a range of cases, including Adobe and Intuit's move to the cloud, Shell's investment in clean energy, and MasterCard's early recognition of digital challenges. Day and Schoemaker describe how to allocate the scarce resource of attention, how to detect weak signals and separate them from background noise, and how to respond strategically before competitors do. The challenge is not just to act faster but to act wisely, and the authors suggest ways to create dynamic portfolios of options. Finally, they offer an action agenda, with tips for fostering vigilance and agility throughout an organization. The rewards are stronger market positions, higher profits and growth, more motivated employees, and organization longevity.
See You at the Campground: A Guide to Discovering Community, Connection, and a Happier Family in the Great Outdoors
by Stephanie Puglisi Jeremy PuglisiA family-friendly guide for camping with kids and infants — because the best memories are the ones made around the campfire.Road trips with kids aren't easy, but new parents of twins Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi became experts at creating lasting family memories without breaking the bank. Whether you're new to camping or a seasoned pro, hit the road with Stephanie and Jeremy, hosts of the popular The RV Atlas podcast, as they show you the different ways that camping can lead to a happier, healthier family. From hiking with infants to navigating RV camping in state parks and camping in national parks—these outdoor lovers have tried it all, and See You at the Campground is a beautifully illustrated camping book for adults packed with personal anecdotes, packing lists, site recommendations, and recipes that will help you create a one-of-a-kind vacation on a family-friendly budget.Tips include:Reasons camping vacations are betterBuying an RVTrip planning tipsRoad trip tipsCampground etiquetteCamping with family and friendsNational park adventuresThe perfect resource for parents—and a great gift for campers at any level—this is the ultimate family vacation book to bring the family closer every time you set up camp—whether it's in a cabin, tent, or RV.
See You in Court, Second Edition: A Social Worker's Guide to Presenting Evidence in Care Proceedings
by Lynn DavisNow fully revised and updated, See You in Court is an accessible guide for social workers on being a witness in care proceedings. This book de-mystifies the court system explaining court structures and procedures, roles and responsibilities and basic rules of evidence. It considers how to present effective written evidence as well as preparing for the court day itself. It answers questions frequently asked by social workers on how to present oral evidence including how to deal with cross-examination. The material is supported by case studies and checklists. Updates to the second edition reflect recent changes to the family court system, a revised Public Law Outline and the increased recognition of social workers as experts in their own right. An essential addition to every social worker's bookshelf, particularly those working with children and families.
The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables
by Adam Alexander‘Informative, enlightening and entertaining but also important.’ Mark Diacono ‘One of the most inspirational books I have encountered.’ Darina Allen ‘If you’re a vegetable growing addict or just curious about their origins, there’s something for everyone in Adam’s new book.’ Rob Smith, TV presenter 'The writing is rich . . . [This book] is a clarion call to think about our food in new ways and carefully consider where it comes from.' New Scientist Meet the Indiana Jones of vegetables on his quest to save our heritage produce. Have you ever wondered how everyday staples such as peas, kale, asparagus, beans, squash and sweetcorn ended up on our plates? Well, so did Adam Alexander. Adam’s passion for heritage vegetables was ignited when he tasted an unusual, sweet and fiery pepper while on a filmmaking project in Ukraine. Smitten by its flavour, he began to seek out local growers of old and near-forgotten varieties in a mission to bring home seeds to grow and share – saving them from being lost forever. In The Seed Detective, Adam tells of his far flung (and closer to home) seed-hunting adventures and reveals the stories behind many of our everyday vegetable heroes. How the common garden pea was domesticated from three wild species over 8,500 years ago, that the first carrots originated in Afghanistan (and were actually purple or red in colour), how Egyptian priests considered it a crime to look at a fava bean and that the Romans were fanatical about asparagus. Join The Seed Detective as he takes us on a journey that began when we left the life of hunter-gatherers to become farmers. Sharing storiesof globalisation, political intrigue, colonisation and serendipity, Adam shows us the vital part vegetables have played in our food story – and how they are the key to our future.
The Seed Keeper: A Novel
by Diane WilsonA haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakhóta people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato—where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.
Seed Libraries: And Other Means of Keeping Seeds in the Hands of the People
by Cindy ConnerHistorically, seed companies were generally small, often family-run businesses. Because they were regionally based, they could focus on varieties well-suited to the local environment. <P><P>A Pacific Northwest company, for example, would specialize in different cultivars than a company based in the Southeast. However the absorption of these small, independent seed businesses into large multinationals, combined with the advancement of biotechnology resulting in hybrids and GMO seeds, has led to a serious loss of genetic diversity. The public is now at the mercy of the corporations that control the seeds.In the past few years, gardeners have realized the inherent danger in this situation. A growing movement is striving to preserve and expand our stock of heritage and heirloom varieties through seed saving and sharing opportunities. Seed Libraries is a practical guide to saving seeds through community programs, including: Step-by-step instructions for setting up a seed library A wealth of ideas to help attract patrons and keep the momentum going Profiles of existing libraries and other types of seed saving partnershipsWhoever controls the seeds controls the food supply. By empowering communities to preserve and protect the genetic diversity of their harvest, Seed Libraries is the first step towards reclaiming our self-reliance while enhancing food security and ensuring that the future of food is healthy, vibrant, tasty, and nutritious.Cindy Conner is a permaculture educator, founder of Homeplace Earth and producer of two popular instructional gardening DVDs. She is also the author of Grow a Sustainable Diet.
Seed Sovereignty, Food Security
by Vandana ShivaIn this unique anthology, women from around the world write about the movement to change the current, industrial paradigm of how we grow our food. As seed keepers and food producers, as scientists, activists, and scholars, they are dedicated to renewing a food system that is better aligned with ecological processes as well as human health and global social justice. Seed Sovereignty, Food Security is an argument for just that--a reclaiming of traditional methods of agricultural practice in order to secure a healthy, nourishing future for all of us. Whether tackling the thorny question of GMO safety or criticizing the impact of big agribusiness on traditional communities, these women are in the vanguard of defending the right of people everywhere to practice local, biodiverse, and organic farming as an alternative to industrial agriculture.Contents* Seed Sovereignty, Food Security VANDANA SHIVA * Fields of Hope and Power FRANCES MOORE LAPPÉ & ANNA LAPPÉ * The Ethics of Agricultural Biotechnology BETH BURROWS * Food Politics, the Food Movement and Public Health MARION NESTLE * Autism and Glyphosate: Connecting the Dots STEPHANIE SENEFF * The New Genetics and Dangers of GMOs MAE-WAN HO * Seed Emergency: Germany SUSANNE GURA * GM Soy as Feed for Animals Affects Posterity IRINA ERMAKOVA & ALEXANDER BARANOFF * Seeds in France TIPHAINE BURBAN * Kokopelli vs. Graines Baumaux BLANCHE MAGARINOS-REY * If People Are Asked, They Say NO to GMOs FLORIANNE KOECHLIN * The Italian Context MARIA GRAZIA MAMMUCINI * The Untold American Revolution: Seed in the US DEBBIE BARKER * Reviving Native Sioux Agriculture Systems SUZANNE FOOTE * In Praise of the Leadership of Indigenous Women WINONA LADUKE * Moms Across America: Shaking up the System ZEN HONEYCUTT * Seed Freedom and Seed Sovereignty: Bangladesh Today FARIDA AKHTER * Monsanto and Biosafety in Nepal KUSUM HACHHETHU * Sowing Seeds of Freedom VANDANA SHIVA * The Loss of Crop Genetic Diversity in the Changing World TEWOLDE BERHAN GEBRE EGZIABHER & SUE EDWARDS * Seed Sovereignty and Ecological Integrity in Africa MARIAM MAYET * Conserving the Diversity of Peasant Seeds ANA DE ITA * Celebrating the Chile Nativo ISAURA ANDALUZ * Seed Saving and Women in Peru PATRICIA FLORES * The Seeds of Liberation in Latin America SANDRA BAQUEDANO & SARA LARRAÍN * The Other Mothers and the Fight against GMOs in Argentina ANA BROCCOLI * Seeding Knowledge: Australia SUSAN HAWTHORNE
The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food
by Janisse RayA Cross the Country, a Renaissance of Local-Food, Local-Farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold. And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local-food resurgence: seeds. We are losing our seeds. Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost-forever.
Seeding Consciousness: Plant Medicine, Ancestral Wisdom, and Psychedelic Initiation
by Tricia Eastman• Provides a blueprint for responsible and effective use of psychedelics and plant medicines to transform pain and trauma into profound connections with ourselves, nature, and the spirit world• Shares exercises to help readers plant the seeds of transformation in their own consciousness, navigate altered states of consciousness and ego death, work with the shadow, and integrate fragmented parts of the self• Explores ancestral teachings on the interconnectedness of all life, drawing on the author&’s studies with indigenous elders, including Bwiti initiations with ibogaPresenting a deep dive into the world of psychedelic initiation and ancestral wisdom, Tricia Eastman demonstrates the power of plant medicine and psychedelic journeys for cultivating new beliefs, healing trauma, and accessing latent gifts within us—an inner alchemical process she calls &“seeding consciousness.&”Drawing on her studies with Indigenous elders, including two decades of iboga initiations with the Bwiti of Gabon, Africa, and training with the Kogi Kággaba of Columbia, Eastman provides a blueprint for responsible and effective use of entheogens to transform pain and trauma into profound connections with ourselves, nature, and the spirit world. She explores ancient teachings on the interconnectedness of all life and the forces of nature and shows how colonization and modern culture have disconnected us from our spiritual foundations. She shares exercises to help readers seed their own consciousness, navigate altered states of consciousness and ego death, work with the shadow, and integrate fragmented parts of the self. She also examines how to respectfully engage with these potent transformative plants, substances, and ancient traditions, thereby honoring the wisdom keepers who have safeguarded these traditions across the millennia.Revealing how to prepare the fertile soil of the mind for mystical experience, this book presents a psychedelic path to awakening that simultaneously facilitates personal transformation and collective societal change.
Seeds
by Annabel SoutarPart courtroom drama and part social satire, Seeds presents an intelligent portrait of farming and scientific communities in conflict and at the same time penetrates the complex science of genetically modified crops. The play documents the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada showdown between Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser and biotech multinational Monsanto Inc., a David-and-Goliath struggle that cast Schmeiser as the small-farmer underdog fighting the unscrupulous major corporation. Monsanto accused him of growing their genetically patented Round-up Ready canola seeds on his property without paying the licensing fee they require. Through a suspenseful labyrinth of legal conflicts regarding patent rights, scientific showdowns about GM food and property clashes between farmers and the biotechnology industry, Seeds asks the essential question: "Can you patent a living thing?" Or as Schmeiser famously asked, "Who owns life?"A most interesting aspect of the play is the ambiguity around the hero Percy Schmeiser. Is he a victim or an opportunist and self-publicist? Certainly, he's no innocent; as he keeps telling us, he's an experienced politician, in fact an ex-mayor. He's a believer who knows how to frame his beliefs to advantage. He can be grand and he can be petty - and as such he is antihero as much as hero.Named the top play of the decade by Rover Arts in its review of English theatre in Montreal between 2000 and 2010, Seeds takes us back to the seminal moment when a single farmer stood up to international agribusiness and almost won.Cast of 4 women and 3 men.
Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the Texas Borderlands, 1800-1850 (The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History)
by Andrew J. TorgetBy the late 1810s, a global revolution in cotton had remade the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing wealth and waves of Americans to the Gulf Coast while also devastating the lives and villages of Mexicans in Texas. In response, Mexico threw open its northern territories to American farmers in hopes that cotton could bring prosperity to the region. Thousands of Anglo-Americans poured into Texas, but their insistence that slavery accompany them sparked pitched battles across Mexico. An extraordinary alliance of Anglos and Mexicans in Texas came together to defend slavery against abolitionists in the Mexican government, beginning a series of fights that culminated in the Texas Revolution. In the aftermath, Anglo-Americans rebuilt the Texas borderlands into the most unlikely creation: the first fully committed slaveholders' republic in North America. Seeds of Empire tells the remarkable story of how the cotton revolution of the early nineteenth century transformed northeastern Mexico into the western edge of the United States, and how the rise and spectacular collapse of the Republic of Texas as a nation built on cotton and slavery proved to be a blueprint for the Confederacy of the 1860s.
The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From
by Edward DolnickWhy cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs.A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from.
The Seedtime, the Work, and the Harvest: New Perspectives on the Black Freedom Struggle in America (Southern Dissent)
by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn Reginald K. Ellis Peter B. LevyThis volume's contributors expand the chronology and geography of the black freedom struggle beyond the traditional emphasis on the Jim Crow South and the years between 1954 and 1968. Beginning as far back as the nineteenth century, and analyzing case studies from southern, northern, and border states, the essays in The Seedtime, the Work, and the Harvest incorporate communities and topics not usually linked to the African American civil rights movement. The collection opens with a biographical sketch of Thomas DeSaille Tucker, an educational pioneer who served as the first president of Florida State Normal and Industrial School for Colored Students. It then highlights the work of black women, including Bostonian publisher Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, who defied local governments during the Progressive Era by disseminating medical information and providing access to medical professionals. Next, the collection explores the life and work of Norfolk civil rights attorney James F. Gay, who helped to democratize the political establishment in Virginia’s largest city but became a victim of his own success. The collection then moves to York, Pennsylvania, to examine a 1969 riot that went mostly unnoticed until the town's mayor was charged--more than thirty years later--with the riot-related murder of Lillie Belle Allen. Also featured is an essay examining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's "Food for Freedom" campaign that aimed to complement voter registration work in Mississippi by providing everyday sustenance to African Americans. Addressing more recent issues, this volume considers the politics of public memory in Baltimore, Maryland, a city divided by racial "riots" in 1968 and in 2015. It then examines the Black Lives Matter movement that gained international attention for its response to Michael Brown's death at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as the Sandra Bland Movement inspired by the arrest of Bland and her subsequent death in the Waller County jail in rural Texas. These chapters connect the activism of today--shaped in so many ways by social media, student activism, and grassroots organization--to a deeply historical, wide-ranging fight for equality.
Seeing America: Women Photographers Between the Wars
by Melissa A. McEuen“This vibrant and penetrating study. . . . opens a window on American culture between the world wars.” —Publishers WeeklySeeing America explores the camera work of five women who directed their visions toward influencing social policy and cultural theory. Taken together, they visually articulated the essential ideas occupying the American consciousness in the years between the world wars.Melissa McEuen examines the work of Doris Ulmann, who made portraits of celebrated artists in urban areas and lesser-known craftspeople in rural places; Dorothea Lange, who magnified human dignity in the midst of poverty and unemployment; Marion Post Wolcott, a steadfast believer in collective strength as the antidote to social ills and the best defense against future challenges; Margaret Bourke-White, who applied avant-garde advertising techniques in her exploration of the human condition; and Berenice Abbott, a devoted observer of the continuous motion and chaotic energy that characterized the modern cityscape.Combining feminist biography with analysis of visual texts, McEuen considers the various prisms though which each woman saw and revealed America.Winner of the 1999 Emily Toth Award for the best feminist study of popular culture given by the Women’s Caucus of the Popular Culture Association.“A rich resource for anyone interested in the history of photography, women’s history, and American history in general.” —Bloomsbury Review“A valiant, well-researched effort to bridge the history of visual culture with American social and political history.” —Journal of American History“The best books always leave their audience wanting more. That is certainly true of this gem of a work.” —Library Journal (starred review).
Seeing and Being Seen: The Q'eqchi' Maya of Livingston, Guatemala, and Beyond
by Hilary E. KahnThe practice of morality and the formation of identity among an indigenous Latin American culture are framed in a pioneering ethnography of sight that attempts to reverse the trend of anthropological fieldwork and theory overshadowing one another.<P><P>In this vital and richly detailed work, methodology and theory are treated as complementary partners as the author explores the dynamic Mayan customs of the Q'eqchi' people living in the cultural crossroads of Livingston, Guatemala. Here, Q'eqchi', Ladino, and Garifuna (Caribbean-coast Afro-Indians) societies interact among themselves and with others ranging from government officials to capitalists to contemporary tourists.
Seeing and Believing: Religion, Digital Visual Culture, and Social Justice
by Ellen T. ArmourSocial media platforms are often denounced as “bubbles” or “echo chambers.” In this view, what we see tends to reinforce what we already believe, and what we already believe shapes what we see. Yet social movements such as Black Lives Matter rely heavily on the widespread dissemination of digital photographs and videos through social media. In at least some cases, visual images can challenge normative and normalized ways of grasping the world and prompt their viewers to see differently—and even bring people together.Seeing and Believing marshals religious resources to recast the significance of digital images in the struggle for social justice. Ellen T. Armour examines what distinguishes digital photography from its analogue predecessor and places the circulation of digital images in the broader context of virtual visual cultures. She explores the challenges and opportunities that visually saturated social media landscapes present for users and organizers. Despite the power of digital platforms and algorithms, possibilities for disruption and resistance emerge from how people engage with these systems. Armour offers ways of seeing drawn from Christianity and found in other religious traditions to help us break with entrenched habits and rethink how we engage with the images that grab our attention. Developing theological perspectives on the power and peril of photography and technology, Seeing and Believing provides suggestions for navigating the new media landscape that can spark what Armour calls “photographic insurrection.”
Seeing and Believing: The Influence of Television (Communication and Society)
by Greg PhiloTelevision has a powerful impact on our beliefs and is open to use as a political and propaganda tool. Greg Philo has taken a new approach to examining these issues by inviting groups of television viewers to write their own news programmes, based on news pictures from the 1984-5 British miners' strike.