A scholar and bride-to-be spends a year without mirrors to get a better view of what really matters When Kjerstin Gruys became engaged, she was thrilled—until it was time to shop for a wedding dress. Having overcome an eating disorder years before, Gruys found herself struggling to maintain a positive self-image; so she decided to refocus her attention. Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall charts Gruys’s awakening as she vows to give up mirrors and other reflective surfaces, relying on friends and her fiancé to help her gauge both her appearance and outlook on life. The result? A renewed focus on what truly matters, regardless of smeared makeup or messy hair. With humorous and poignant scenes from Gruys’ life, Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall sparks important conversations about body image and reclaiming the power to define beauty.

In 1932, a twelve-year-old girl who lost her sight in an accident keeps a diary, recorded by her twin sister, in which she describes life at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

An invitation to the kind of beauty that does not come off at night. Recipes and exercises are included.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: I Am My Mother After All is the story of a daughter's resistance to repeating the enmeshed relationships and patriarchal oppressions suffered by her brilliant and talented mother. The work relates a mother's struggle to achieve and flourish despite an abusive childhood with a cruel and crazed father and the disillusionment and heartbreak of a failed and broken marriage. It follows the author's quest for enlightenment and her determination to forge new paths from the patriarchal oppression she grew up with. Along the way, she discovers similar vulnerabilities and ultimately travels full circle to understand her mother as she learns to accept herself. Mirror, Mirror appeals to those who enjoy biographies and those seeking self-enlightenment and growth. The book quietly details a pursuit for balance between the masculine and the feminine and offers the challenge of following one's calling with unanticipated outcomes.

The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vicente. One day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes to the farm—and the world comes to Montefiore. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia—decadent children of a wicked pope—no one can claim innocence for very long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a year's quest to reclaim a relic of the original Tree of Knowledge, he leaves Bianca under the care, so to speak, of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest there can be found salvation as well. . . . A lyrical work of stunning creative vision, Mirror Mirror gives fresh life to the classic story of Snow White—and has a truth and beauty all its own.

Jason was 2-years old when we brought his brother, Dawson, home from the hospital. I had fallen in love with mothering my first child. "Honestly, how much tougher could rearing two children instead of one be?" I thought to myself as I lay the tightly wound bundle on the couch. Jason timidly tiptoed over to see the new baby. I pulled the receiving blanket back from Dawson's face as Jason stared in wonder at his little brother. "So far, so good," I whispered tentatively to my husband, Craig, as he hung back by the door. "This won't be so difficult," I said confidently as I tried to bolster my sagging self-assurance. "Lots of women have two babies in two years. We will be fine." Like hollow promises my words fell onto our hardwood floor. Neither Craig nor I believed a single word I had said. Sadly, we both knew better. Although I have now reared two sons and launched them off into the adult world, I have not forgotten how I, as a new mom, felt. I loved God with all of my heart. My single-minded desire was to train my boys in the Lord. Without question my goal was to see my boys reach an early decision for Christ and to live for Him all the days of their lives. However, my own insecurities surfaced; I struggled with feelings of inadequacy. I have never forgotten the anxiety of those early days of mothering as I fought to catch my breath and find my bearings. Life seemed to be spinning wildly out of control and sucking me into the vortex of its madness Those deeply imbedded memories of my greatest joy intermingled with fretfulness and fear compel me to write a Bible study geared toward mothers of children of all ages. Mothering is just plain tough. There, I said it. It is full of twists and turns, ups and downs, jubilation and tribulation, ecstasy and insanity. I am sure you can relate Moms are on-call 24-hours a day, with no sick leave and no vacation days. On some days rearing children is closely akin to herding cats. Dealing with sleep deprivation and a temperamental 2-year-old can push you to the edge. A stubborn school-aged child can strain your last nerve to the breaking point. A testy teen can make you crazy. What's a mom to do? My heart's desire is to stand alongside you and to point you to Jesus. He is the source of our help and our hope. Take a good, long look into the mirror of God's Word and see Jesus " Join Jean Stockdale for a look into the mirror of God's Word for timeless truths for training toddlers to teens. She will help you apply God's profound truths and make them practical in your life. As you become a doer of the Word and not a hearer only, she will help you look into God's mirror and see a work in progress for the glory of the Lord. As you work your way through this interactive study, God will work His truths into your life. "

Ultimately moves beyond these to propose a new cultural aesthetic that aims to center black women and their philosophies. Book jacket.

Contemporary artists, writers, and theorists challenge standard interpretations of family photographs.

Black youth, particularly college-educated youth, are the supposed inheritors of the civil-rights struggles. Today many of this new generation are engaged in a new struggle--for their own identities. In Testimony black students across the country express their own understandings of their generation's shared experiences--from racism in school to the politics of hair.