PrologueAt a young age his life revolved around the next paycheck and nights at the local tavern. After three years he knew the mind numbing factory work, was but a slow death drowning in drudgery. The excitement of adulthood had long ago lost its luster. The endless cycle that he had fallen into with only a high school education he saw no favorable escape from. Traversing the highway of life between youth and responsibly there are unexpected bends and turns and even detours along the way. Decisions made, both good and not so favorable, affect each each leg of our journey. Late on a Friday night, in a smoke filled tavern, a seed was planted that would forever change a life. Full of a nights worth of drinking an old railroad employee steadied himself against the bar and said in a gruff voice, "If you want a real job be in Newton at 7:00 a.m. and I don't mean 7:01 either." Those few words were about to change a life. On April 20, 1970 a kid climbed on board this train. This is a collection of memories over thirty-seven plus years. It is the life of a kid who became a man during this journey. I am that kid and this is my story.

Sean O'Sullivan, once a roaring twenties playboy, has been forced by his railroad president father to work as a Gandydancer, unskilled workers who use shovel and pick to keep the rail lines straight, a job that begins to have a positive effect, when one night he finds himself rescuing Anne Miller, a spoiled coed abandoned on a mean street in Baltimore by her feckless date when she resists his amorous advances. Sean lets her believe he is a common laborer, and she is charmed by his gentlemanly ways, but unsure that he could ever fit into her upper class life. When Sean meets the saddened sister of one of his fellow workers whose fiancé was lost in the Great War, he, too, is torn, unable to choose between two women who both believe he is merely a Gandydancer.

On November 26, 1943 the United States sustained its largest loss of troops at sea. Over 2,000 U.S. servicemen were aboard the British troop ship HMT Rohna in the Mediterranean on their way to the China-Burma-India Theater of war. Traveling in a convoy, the Rohna and 23 other ships were attacked by German bombers. After a fierce fight that ended with no ships lost, a single bomber made a final run. Armed with the latest technology (a rocket powered, remote controlled Henschel HS-293 glide bomb), it set its sights on the Rohna. Many men were killed instantly by the direct hit. Rescue ships spent hours pulling survivors from the water. By the time the losses were totaled, 1,015 U.S. servicemen had lost their lives. During a four-year period, author Michael Walsh met with survivors at their annual reunions, sitting with them as they recorded their stories of that night. Rohna Memories: Eyewitness to Tragedy is a repository of their recollections, whenever possible in their own words. Also included are: Diagrams and photos Letters home Witness reports Tributes by relatives Lists of survivors and casualties

All of the stories in The Gandy Dancer are touching and surprising, O'Henry twists to Jack London yarns. This delightful collection, full of beautiful imagery of land and skies and people, are stories of the USA told by an American girl, raised coast to coast, and north to south, who took off on her own at 17 to see what's up. There's persistent virtue to each adventure, triumph over adversity, as they reach heart and soul for a rare look at the lives of strangers and the paths they picked up for themselves. The classic independent spirit of the American adventurer is captured in each original tale, and the everlasting joy of charting new territory. Has anything, Sparhawk asks, got more punch to it than a road map? "Your book is very handsomely put together, and you write in a lively and engaging way." Larry P. Arnn, President Hillsdale College, Michigan, USA From the Monterey Herald, March 8, 2004, Page One, Section B, Five column story and photograph Author Draws from Rich Life "Sparhawk's life has been a coast to coast odyssey of day jobs, art and writing... she's worked as a radio producer and press secretary to onetime Vice Presidential Candidate Geraldine Ferraro, network news writer, newspaper reporter, painter and sculptor. 'I like doing things that are a challenge, ' she said."

Haunting, alarming, transformative, and elusive, these poems bridge together the gaps between development stages: from girl, to woman, and then mother. With the complexities that intertwine them, can you be all three at once? Who shapes our identity, and who is in control here? How do we recognize, acknowledge, and honor the changing of who we are?

Following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, a child of the Ukrainian diaspora challenges her formative ideologies, considers innocence and complicity, and questions the roots of patriotism.

Blood Memory, Colleen J. McElroy's collection of narrative poetry, emerges from deep seated memories with enormous emotion. Through the rhythms and musicality unique to McElroy's voice, it portrays an extended family, a complex culture spanning several decades, multiple victories and failures, and a single brilliant soul that frames the poems. Dedicated to McElroy's mother, the book is universal in its scope, inescapable in its earthy particularity. McElroy writes, "I am the last female of a family/ of women who wove the fabric/ of stories into doilies and slip coversÉ/" Blood Memory offers consummate storytelling and unforgettable poetry capturing a place and time gone forever. And as an evolving history, the poetry has a cinematic quality, large and intimate and at the same time, characters utterly vivid.

Except for the official record of the USS Mississippi, there are not many accounts from the men who served on her during WWII. Now fifty years after my dad was in the Navy, he tells his story. ItaEUR(tm)s not in the order of how it was in WWII, but you have to remember it was fifty years ago. He told me, aEURoeYou had to be stupid not to be scared.aEUR Every man was fighting to survive. It was the most decorated battleship in WWII.

If you grew up during the baby boomer years, you will enjoy reading this book, and if not, you will enjoy learning what it was like growing up in the late fifties. It will spark memories of your own childhood. OJ Hurt grew up instilled with a Christian faith and describes himself as "just a man living as best I know how and as taught me by my parents and grandparents." This book will take you into small-town memories and describe what it's like to be a police officer. As a police pilot, OJ will place you in the cockpit of a police helicopter and will make you feel as though you are in the cockpit flying with him. This book will describe what it's like being a federal investigator and will allow you some insight into investigative questioning techniques. OJ's three decades of investigative experience and his experience as an army counterintelligence officer is a career-rich in action and stories. OJ describes his leadership philosophy and how committed leadership can effect improvement. OJ describes what it's like as an army counterintelligence officer and developing a tough mindset as a leader of combat operations. Learn how he put together six intelligence teams from scratch and how tactical intelligence sources are determined and why one does not leave a footprint on an intelligence source. Enjoy.

Railroads and the American People is a sparkling paean to American railroading by one of its finest historians.