The purpose of this book is to make the point that we should allow ourselves to dream about a perfect world and then go ahead and set our sails in that direction. It may take time, but what life-labored mission is any more worth the while?

El Zarape Press presents its first collection of poetry by the eclectic Daniel García Ordaz, The Poet Mariachi, "the voice of the Rio Grande Valley" (Texas), an emerging voice in Latino and Hispanic American poetry.You Know What I'm Sayin'? is a celebration of the common experience of language and culture transfiguring time and place and juxtaposing the politics of urban hip-hop America with the lyricism of rural deep South Texas, a retelling of ancient history sung by a contemporary Chicano voice.With an introduction by Fulbright Scholar Dr. Debbie Cole, a linguistic anthropologist.Mainly English; some bilingual (English/Spanish) pieces. This book is being taught at university and high school campuses across the U.S., especially by linguistics professors and those seeking diverse new voices to connect with young Hispanic, Latino, Chicano readers.The first half of the book is very American-experience based; the second half has a more Mexican American experience flavor to it. The middle of the book has a monologue and a "Play On Words" that's meant to be enjoyed read though may be acted out: it's about preconceived notions and about how we hear and perceive communication.

Online version of Common Errors in English Usage written by Paul Brians.

In this one-of-a-kind collection of monologue plays, Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have gathered a breathtaking array of human voices and stories by master playwrights and emerging new writers. Each of the plays, ranging from one-acts and ten-minute plays to full-length works, creates a rich and specific world. In these pages, readers will meet a dazzling group of dramatic and comic characters: an actress chasing a role as a prison guard on a soap opera, an Indian waiter new to America, a lesbian performance artist taking her father to Auschwitz, a surfer dude trying to summarize the plot of Moby-Dick in under two minutes, and a Dutch librarian hunting down a book that's 123 years overdue. Because each selection is a complete monologue, Talk to Me is an unprecedented source for actors in search of material for auditions, classes, and performances, as well as a literary gold mine for anyone who loves drama. From the Trade Paperback edition.

How a DJ's innovative chopped and screwed technique changed the Houston hip-hop scene.

When M.L. Matthews was a teenager, he found himself falsely accused of paternity; a DNA test proved he was not the father of the child in question. Even so, this false accusation had a tremendous impact on his life. In I Am Not the Father, he presents his own tale, as well as the stories of four other men falsely accused of paternity, in hopes of providing a better understanding of the consequences of such claims. Each man dated the women making false claimscared about them and had sex with them. Still, DNA tests proved that none of the men in this book were the biological fathers of the children birthed by the women who named them as the fathers of their children. In-depth narrative interviews reveal how the couples met, how their relationships developed, why the men doubted the paternity of the children in question, and ultimately how the men reacted to finding out they were not fathers. Matthews then explores the shared qualities of the mens relationships and suggestions on avoiding similar situations.

Charles W. Harvey is an award winning writer of fiction, poetry, and drama. His story Cheeseburger, won the 1987 PEN/Southwest Award. The story WHEN DOGS BARK has been widely anthologized in SHADE, Soulfires, STORY MAGAZINE and others. His poetry has appeared in the James White Review and other Publications. Please be on the lookout for his novel THE ROAD TO ASTROWORLD which had quite a few New York Editors wagging their tongues. He resides in Houston, Texas with his cat Electra.

“Wonderfully, in Akashic’s Oakland Noir, the stereotypes about the city suffer the fate of your average noir character—they die brutally.” —San Francisco Chronicle In the wake of San Francisco Noir, Los Angeles Noir, and Orange County Noir—all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series—comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller (the “Czar of Noir”), this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint. Oakland Noir offers stories by Nick Petrulakis, Kim Addonizio, Keenan Norris, Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder, Katie Gilmartin, Dorothy Lazard, Harry Louis Williams II, Carolyn Alexander, Phil Canalin, Judy Juanita, Jamie DeWolf, Nayomi Munaweera, Mahmud Rahman, Tom McElravey, Joe Loya, and Eddie Muller. “From the Oakland hills to the heart of downtown, each story brings Oakland to life.” —San Jose Mercury News “Oakland is a natural for the series, with its shadowy crimes and disgruntled cops.” —Zoom Street Magazine “San Francisco’s grittier next-door neighbor gets her day in the sun in 16 new stories in this tightly curated entry in Akashic’s Noir series. The hardscrabble streets of Oakland offer crime aplenty . . . Thompson and Muller have taken such pains to choose stories highlighting Oakland’s diversity and history that the result is a volume rich in local culture as well as crime.” —Kirkus Reviews

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Recovering Identity examines a critical tension in criminalized women's identity work. Through in-depth qualitative and photo-elicitation interviews, Cesraéa Rumpf shows how formerly incarcerated women engaged recovery and faith-based discourses to craft rehabilitated identities, defined in opposition to past identities as "criminal-addicts." While these discourses made it possible for women to carve out spaces of personal protection, growth, and joy, they also promoted individualistic understandings of criminalization and the violence and dehumanization that followed. Honoring criminalized women's stories of personal transformation, Rumpf nevertheless strongly critiques institutions' promotion of narratives that impose lifelong moral judgment while detracting attention from the structural forces of racism, sexism, and poverty that contribute to women's vulnerability to violence.

THIRST FOR DOMINATION Luca Linn keeps a low-profile but her presence is felt throughout her old stomping grounds of New York. Nestled deep in the heart of Canarsie, Brooklyn is a five-block radius that the police have coined Bad Girl Blvd. BGB is the name of the heroin that has infiltrated the streets and has turned a once up and coming middle class neighborhood into a drug den. The mastermind, Luca, has seen success by allowing underage girls to carry out the most harsh elements of organized crime. But as her empire grows, she realizes the heat is just around the corner and one fateful decision could place her in a fight or flight situation.