Robinson, Stacy L. Smith--Martin Morse Wooster "Washington Times"

They were falling through time together. Moth was being clubbed by Travis in perpetual night, in foreign landscapes. It was Day One. The sky was blue and Moth was dead. He fought Travis in the ring, in a palace, on a barge. He could see every fight imposed on the fight before, the past getting smaller the closer it got to the bottom of the tunnel. This fight was miles and centuries away from the first. They fought in a dream. Travis had a moustache and Moth was a boy. His hair hung down like Stanley Ketchel's. He killed Travis with one thunderous blow to the temple. Hundreds of men surrounded them in a clearing in the woods without a woman in evidence. He had always known Travis. It's the summer before the Summer of Love in the 1960s. Small-town Ontario. Beer, fights, boredom, sex. Kid stuff. Tom Walmsley's first novel in eleven years is an expansive, visceral narrative that dissects the lives of young teens loitering at the edge of adulthood. Moth and Beryl are teenaged siblings anaesthetized by their emotionally broken family; it is only in the spectacle of feral violence and the unearthliness of sex that they come alive. But they are not alone: in the circle of teens and adults that surrounds them, the brutality of the empty landscape becomes self-evident, leading them all down a path of betrayal, deception, and even murder. With an unwavering eye, Tom Walmsley captures perfectly the essence of small-town kids up to no good, if only because it is the only thing they can know. Ferocious and unabating, Kid Stuff is a bittersweet opera, about a time and place that is both then and now.

How popular debates about the so-called digital generation mediate anxieties about labor and life in twenty-first-century America “The children are our future” goes the adage, a proclamation that simultaneously declares both anxiety as well as hope about youth as the next generation. In The Digital Is Kid Stuff, Josef Nguyen interrogates this ambivalence within discussions about today’s “digital generation” and the future of creativity, an ambivalence that toggles between the techno-pessimism that warns against the harm to children of too much screen time and a techno-utopianism that foresees these “digital natives” leading the way to innovation, economic growth, increased democratization, and national prosperity. Nguyen engages cultural histories of childhood, youth, and creativity through chapters that are each anchored to a particular digital media object or practice. Nguyen narrates the developmental arc of a future creative laborer: from a young kid playing the island fictions of Minecraft, to an older child learning do-it-yourself skills while reading Make magazine, to a teenager posting selfies on Instagram, to a young adult creative laborer imagining technological innovations using design fiction. Focusing on the constructions and valorizations of creativity, entrepreneurialism, and technological savvy, Nguyen argues that contemporary culture operates to assuage profound anxieties about—and to defuse valid critiques of—both emerging digital technologies and the precarity of employment for “creative laborers” in twenty-first-century neoliberal America.

Describes how to bring all kinds of clutter under control, offering advice on how to stow, organize, clean, and categorize to avoid a messy household space.

Over the years, in a variety of venues, Lawrence Watt-Evans has turned his sharp, analytical, and slightly crazed mind to everything from weaponized poetry to why the Enterprise doesn't have seatbelts, and everyone from Jane Austen to Buffy Summers. Collected for the first time are twenty-three of these essays, discussing icons of comic books, television, novels, movies, and much more!

In this wise and hilarious parenting book, Elaine Rose Glickman tells parents that—when it comes to their bratty kids—the buck stops with them! You’ve seen them—kids running wild through restaurants while the parents avert their gaze and order another cappuccino. You’ve heard them—kids telling their parents to “shut up” and “get me that.” You’ve met them—kids who dress inappropriately and roll their eyes and never say “thank you.” Maybe one of those kids belongs to you. Combining incisive commentary with grounded, practical advice, Your Kid’s a Brat and It’s All Your Fault will have you recognizing and laughing at yourself, your fellow parents, and a culture that seems determined to turn our precious angels into not-so-precious brats. Divided into three sections—”Your Budding Brat” for toddlers and preschoolers, “Your Bratty Child” for grade-schoolers, and “Your Bratty Tween”—this book is packed with wisdom and tips culled from the trenches of child-rearing. Your Kid’s a Brat and It’s All Your Fault will not only help you grow adept at responding to specific misbehaviors, but also will encourage and empower you to become the confident, respected parent you yearn to be.

Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins stand as giants of the musical-theatre world, but it was ballet that launched their stage careers and established their relationship. With Fancy Free (1944), their triumphant debut collaboration produced by Ballet Theatre, Bernstein, Robbins, and set designer Oliver Smith-all in their mid-twenties- captured the spirit of wartime New York, created a defining ballet of the period still widely performed today, and became overnight sensations. The hit musical On the Town (1944) and a now largely forgotten ballet, Facsimile (1946), followed over the next two years. Drawing extensively on previously unpublished archival documents, Bernstein and Robbins: The Early Ballets provides a richly detailed and original historical account of the creation, premiere, and reception of Fancy Free and Facsimile. It reveals the vital and sometimes conflicting role of Ballet Theatre, explores how Bernstein composed the scores, sheds light on the central importance of Oliver Smith, and considers the legacy of these works for all involved. The result is a new understanding of Bernstein, Robbins, and this formative period in their lives.

“With a sensitive heart and introspective mind, Ann Hazard has written a concise and deeply practical devotional guide for any man or woman trying to navigate the treacherous waters of Divorce Country. “Ann shares highly personal parts of her own journey through divorce and invites you, the reader to embrace the wise and practical discoveries she has made. “This profound guidebook offers no easy answers, but carefully guides the reader to face each day with courage. You will identify with the myriad of feelings that can scramble the life of any person facing a journey through the lonely, barren land of divorce. You will find points of personal healing and growth as you move from day to day and page to page in this chronicle of hope. “There is a bright light shining at the end of your tunnel through divorce. That light is hope, and Ann helps you open your heart each day in this powerful book. You are not alone. God loves you! Read slowly. Grow consistently.” Jim Smoke Author of: Growing Through Divorce, Single Again: The Uncertain Journey, Moving Forward: Finding Hope and Peace in the Midst of Divorce and Growing Beyond Divorce