This book has been awarded with the Gold Seal of Literary Excellence. "A person diagnosed with EMR, (which stands for educable mentally retarded) has an IQ range of 50-70... learning will take them longer." Tarell Johnson is born on a summer day in 1984, to a mother addicted to crack and a father who does not want him. His grandmother attempts to care for him, but after repeated kidnappings by his birth-mother, he is finally taken by Child Welfare. He is adopted by a Ms. Thomas, a physically and emotionally abusive single mother who keeps him in clothing bought from Goodwill. Tarell's status as an "EMR" or person suffering from educable mental retardation becomes apparent, and before long he is sexually abused by a teacher who only wants to take advantage of him. At eighteen, the adoption agency informs him of his actual parents and his curiosity makes the vindictive Ms. Thomas kick him out. Tarell flees to New York where he sings on the subway for money. He is seduced by a series of women and even a man who only want to use him sexually for a short while before kicking him back on the streets. Eventually the young man is tricked into marriage by a 44-year-old 400 pound HIV-positive woman. Again, it is only for her own benefit, and Tarell finds himself out on the streets. It is not until Tarell finds Theresa, a Christian woman who helps young men in trouble, that Tarell finds true love and care. Theresa helps him mature and learn, until Tarell overcomes his disability and graduates from college, able to support himself. Spotlighting the plight of an educable mentally retarded child of a single, drug-addicted teenage mother, the author has provided a window into the world of mental disability and the concomitant poverty and abuse such a child can face. The theme of human depravity and aggression against the weak is made quite viscerally manifest. It is the author’s contention that only a selfless and Christian dedication to the welfare of such individuals can lift them from a condition of dependence to one of self-sufficiency. Some irregular grammar may jar some reader's ears, but the characterizations and plot are gripping and realistic. - US Review of Books

Blind Innocence II is a unique story of trials, tribulations and overcoming one's obstacles. Tarell Johnson has come a long way from where he started out in life. Now having just about everything a man could want and need, the one thing he doesn't have is the woman of his dreams (Debbie). As you follow along in this very complicated, confusing and controversial love story, you will see the meaning of true love. Monique Johnson, a former crack addict and street hustler, even after changing her life continues to face many trials. Losing yet, another child, but this time to a violent crime and almost losing her own life as well, still perseveres even through her tears. Traveling through scenes of Monique's life will show readers what the words strength and courage truly means. Theresa, the minister, is looked at by many people as one having God's wisdom and knowledge of Him, and knowing to do the right things. However, with her husband Eric being in the military over 15 years, and away from home; she battles with her spirituality and humanity as she becomes lonely, angry, and just tired of it. Through Theresa's trials readers will see how important it is to pray for those in authority and leadership.

Tarells story is one that couldnt have stayed hidden. He was both humbled in the sight of God through his innocence and abused in the blindness of many in their own ignorance. This story will evoke emotions ranging from sadness to joy, while making you laugh in between. In a world where movies and literature reign supreme, Blind Innocence offers a unique story that has yet to be portrayed, offering a refreshingly, new journey through the life of a troubled adolescent. Tarell is mentally challenged and has been through a lot in his young life, suffering abuse from both his biological mother and his adoptive mother, women in general, and society. Just when it appears as though things are finally starting to look up for Tarell, who after meeting his biological family, all hell breaks loose. What started out as a dream quickly becomes reality, and soon, it all turns out to be a nightmare. Then he meets Debbie, a young girl who, among all the other women he came across, has a heart filled with compassion and sorrow after hearing his story. Debbie talks her mother into taking in the homeless Tarell, but more drama erupts when Debbies mother, a conniving, Christian woman, uses his mental disability against him in order to pacify her insecurities, causing him to endure even more mental and emotional damage. But as they say, What doesnt break you will only make you strong. Blind Innocence shares a poignant glimpse into one mans life as he faces seemingly insurmountable odds and slowly tries to create a meaningful life. After everything Tarell has been through, will he be broken, or arise, victorious and strong?

A playboy divorce lawyer’s new intern is about to lose her innocence in this scorching hot contemporary romance. Brad De Luca is used to getting whatever and whomever he wants. The premier divorce attorney in town, he’s a playboy who’s bedded half the city—including his own clients. And when the newest intern at his firm poses a challenge, his seductive prowess goes into overdrive. Pre-law student Julia Campbell is fresh off a failed engagement and happy with her new independence. Even if she hadn’t been warned away from Brad at every turn, she’d know he was bad news. The last thing she needs is a man who could destroy her job prospects, not to mention her innocence. But before she knows it, the incorrigible charmer has her under his spell. His deviant tastes plunge her deep into a forbidden world of sexual exploration . . . but her heart may not survive the fall.

This book – written for teacher educators, teachers and admirers of James Baldwin –employs his essays and speeches to discuss how the effects of race and racism enter the souls of African American students and become attached and difficult to dislodge. Yet, his essays also provide educators and students with purpose, meaning and suggestions for how to stand up against racism, develop an authentic self and fight oppression. Whereas this book takes advantage of the full body of Baldwin’s work – fiction, nonfiction, interviews, lectures, speeches and letters – its foundation is three speeches James Baldwin gave in the 1960s on the education of African American children and African American and European American race relations in the United States. The purpose of education, defying myths, freedom, willful ignorance and developing identity are discussed through a Baldwinian lens. African American and European American teachers are encouraged to "Go for Broke" as this book explores the important role Baldwin’s work can play in schools and universities.

This is Barth's most distinguished masterpiece. This modern classic is a hilarious tribute to all the most insidious human vices, with a hero who is "one of the most diverting . . . to roam the world since Candide." "A feast. Dense, funny, endlessly inventive (and, OK, yes, long-winded) this satire of the eighteenth-century picaresque novel—think Fielding's Tom Jones or Sterne's Tristram Shandy—is also an earnest picture of the pitfalls awaiting innocence as it makes its unsteady way in the world. It's the late seventeenth century and Ebenezer Cooke is a poet, dutiful son and determined virgin who travels from England to Maryland to take possession of his father's tobacco (or "sot weed") plantation. He is also eventually given to believe that he has been commissioned by the third Lord Baltimore to write an epic poem, The Marylandiad. But things are not always what they seem. Actually, things are almost never what they seem. Not since Candide has a steadfast soul witnessed so many strange scenes or faced so many perils. Pirates, Indians, shrewd prostitutes, armed insurrectionists—Cooke endures them all, plus assaults on his virginity from both women and men. Barth's language is impossibly rich, a wickedly funny take on old English rhetoric and American self-appraisals. For good measure he throws in stories within stories, including the funniest retelling of the Pocahontas tale—revealed to us in the 'secret' journals of Capt. John Smith—that anyone has ever dared to tell." —Time

" BACK IN PRINT WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION The turn of the last century saw a greatwave of moral fervour among Protestant social reformers in English Canada.Their targets for moral reform were various: sex hygiene, immigration policy,slum clearance, prostitution, and "whiteslavery." Mariana Valverde's groundbreaking TheAge of Light, Soap, and Water examines the work and the ideas of moralistclergy, social workers, politicians, and bureaucrats who sought to maintain - orcreate - a white Protestant Canada. The morality idealized by evangelical,feminist, and medical activists was not, as is often assumed, completely repressiveand puritanical. On the contrary, the self-defined social purity movement atthe centre of this book talked endlessly about sex in order to create a healthsexuality among both native-born and immigrant Canadians. Sexual health was linkedto racial purity, and both of these were in turn linked to efforts to abolishurban slums by means of symbolic as well as physical "light, soap, andwater." Back in print with a new introduction by the author, this classicwork offers fascinating insights on the social history of Canada. "learance, prostitution, and "white slavery." Mariana Valverde's groundbreaking The Age of Light, Soap, and Waterexamines the work and the ideas of moralist clergy, social workers, politicians, and bureaucrats who sought to maintain - or create - a white Protestant Canada. The morality idealized by evangelical, feminist, and medical activists was not, as is often assumed, completely repressive and puritanical. On the contrary, the self-defined social purity movement at the centre of this book talked endlessly about sex in order to create a healthy sexuality among both native-born and immigrant Canadians. Sexual health was linked to racial purity, and both of these were in turn linked to efforts to abolish urban slums by means of symbolic as well as physical "light, soap, and water." This study uncovers a little known dimension of Canadian social history and shows that moral reform was not the project of a marginal puritanical group but was central to the race, class, and gender organization of modern English Canada.

Daniel DeForest London argues that the Fourth Gospel offers a potentially transformative response to the question of suffering and the human compulsion to blame. Based on his reading of John 9 (the man born blind), London argues that the Gospel does not offer a theodicy, but rather a theodical spirituality, an experience of praying the question of suffering and remaining open to a divine response. London shows how the Johannine Jesus’s response poses three sets of symbols in dichotomy (day/night, vision/blindness, sheep/wolf), each subverted by another, core symbol (light, judge, shepherd). By interpreting these symbols in light of mimetic theory, he argues that Jesus’s response reveals the scapegoat mechanism in which an innocent victim is blamed by violent victimizers. However, rather than blaming the victimizers, Jesus continues to engage with the characters who appear to be villains: the light of the world transforms night and day into one continuous day; the Good Shepherd welcomes sheep and wolf into his beloved flock. In this way, readers are invited to bring to the Johannine Jesus their own violence, resentment, and wolfish rage regarding the question of suffering and to experience the theodical spirituality of the Fourth Gospel.

This book is a detailed theological analysis of blindness in the Hebrew Bible. It explores blindness in the context of religion, law codes, theodicy, social justice, and healing. McAllister first considers the wider context of ancient Near Eastern cultures before analyzing various words for blindness found in the Hebrew Bible. The focus then shifts to examining blindness in various blocks of material, in the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, before synthesizing the findings. This book is excellent for scholars and students interested in better understanding disability in the context of the Bible and the ancient Near East.

Larking Skylark is a collection of poems offering an exciting mind map to master the mind of an individual. A tool to recognise the turning points in life, to enhance the power of faith, combat negativity, balance a life of outer and inner harmony. People will find this book to be a mirror image of their lives. It is also a natural outlet of a poet’s personal experience exploring the joys of passionate love, marriage and commitments. They make the reader feel alive in a way that nothing else can. A perfect read to capture nature in a type of poetry from Japanese culture, to preserve the moments of life in a lyric or ode poems. This is an escalator ride to God to taste the divine love nourishing the body, mind and soul.