Why Buy This Book? I awakened to the sound of Mama shucking sweet summer corn. Galash! Ga-lash! Ga-lash! Oh, boy, I thought, as I lazily crawled out of bed and headed down the hall, ready to help Mama before I dressed. But Mama was nowhere in sight. That's when I realized inside my ten-year-old mind that what I had heard was Mr. Tyler beating his dog, old Dash, again. I had to call Anna Lee. After all, we were best friends. She would know what to do. Dash's story is one of many in my writer's heart, festering like a boil waiting to come to a head. Just like that night that had been brewing between Cindy Lou and me for the longest time. She had been talking about Mama and Mother for days, calling my mother and grandmother "them old African women." And what about the other stories circling around the inside of my head? Like the one about the rock that came barreling through the air, splitting my head open; or the joy of having a birthday party; my first experience with prejudice; the pain of losing my favorite doll, Donna; the horror that stirred inside me when one of my good friends died; finding out about my friend's terrible secret; the sadness I felt for the two brothers who came begging for food one Sunday; my second boyfriend who moved away without letting me know; and several other events that had a tremendous impact on my youth. Meet Mama, Mother, Sister, and Anna Lee, common folks you'll like. Come travel with me. I may be only ten, but I'm ready, willing, and quite capable of helping you discover those Voices Still Heard, Dreams Still Believed, and Scenes Still Viewed.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

"Soldier mortals would not survive if they were not blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope," wrote Confederate Private Henry Graves in the trenches outside Petersburg, Virginia. "The second angel of mercy is the night dream." Providing fresh perspective on the human side of the Civil War, this book explores the dreams and imaginings of those who fought it, as recorded in their letters, journals and memoirs. Sometimes published as poems or songs or printed in newspapers, these rarely acknowledged writings reflect the personalities and experiences of their authors. Some expressions of fear, pain, loss, homesickness and disappointment are related with grim fatalism, some with glimpses of humor.