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KidSounds, YouthSounds & TeenSounds NW Present 'Sleigh Ride' Dec. 10
KidSounds, YouthSounds & TeenSounds Northwest are presenting their holiday show "Sleigh Ride" on Friday, Dec. 10th beginning at 7pm at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien.
Directed by Artistic Director Paula Hawkins, "Sleigh Ride," is a joint production that will give families a spirited start for their holiday season.
Here's more from a flier:
The first half of the program for Sleigh Ride will include traditional and modern Christmas favorites including Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful and The First Noel. In the second half of the show, the singers will present a 30-minute musical entitled The Runaway Snowman, an imaginative and enjoyable rock-style piece with an important lesson about friendship.
Bright costuming and creative choreography highlight the show, as NWAA's youngest singers put the ho-ho-ho into the Holidays!
Take advantage of our FREE Youth Ticket Program and bring the entire family out for this charming evening of your favorite Christmas music.
Tickets are $15 for Adults, and $10 for Students and Seniors – you can purchase them online here.
Please note also that there is a FREE Youth Ticket Program, where people 17 or younger can get free tickets (full details here):
We believe that music is a vital element in a well-rounded life, and are pleased to offer a FREE ticket to all of our mainstage concerts to young people 17 & under, when accompanied by a paid adult.
Each person attending our shows will need a ticket; order your Youth Tickets using the online Box Office at the same time you order your adult tickets. For Reserved Seating events, free youth tickets will be seated with the adult ticket(s) ordered.
Free tickets are subject to our standard $1.50 per ticket service fee.
More information available at their website here.


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The week of New Year's is one of my favorites of the year. The run-up to Christmas is over but schedules aren't quite back to normal, so things are quieter, more relaxed. The kids are out of school (though they've been driving me a tidge crazy at times). And my birthday so close to New Year's invites reflection and taking stock.
I love the idea of the new year being a clean slate. I need that every year. (I need it more often than that, actually—thank heaven for the weekly prayer of confession in worship, when we let go of the brokenness and ask that it be healed and renewed.)
As I think about what 2015 might bring to birth in my life, the following video came my way, "Acorn" by Madeline Sharafian. I love the story that's told in just 4 beautiful minutes. I'm touched by this little acorn's attempt to fulfill its destiny of "acornness," yet in its own unique way. That is our human calling, is it not? I heard Jesuit priest and writer James Martin tell Krista Tippett this week:
As [Thomas] Merton said, for me to be a saint means to be myself. …I remember in the novitiate, there was a young novice who would get up in the morning at 6:30 and pray all the time. And I thought well, gee, to be holy, I guess I have to do that. So I'd get up and I'd pray, and I was falling asleep all the time. And then there was another novice who was super quiet, so I thought oh I have to be really quiet, and diffident. And, sort of soft spoken. And my spiritual director said to me, what's wrong with you? You're so quiet. I said, well, so-and-so's quiet. And he's really holy. And he said, you know, in order to become holy, you don't become someone else. You just become yourself.
Whether you're a resolution/intention-maker like me or not, I invite you to watch this in with a seeker's heart and consider the hard work of transformation and the grace at play as well. What might 2015 hold for you?
As the artist says in her description: "Growing up is hard, but it's also beautiful. We can do it!" Indeed.


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Hells Gate National Park
Hells Gate Nat Park
A size A2 map showing park boundary, park roads, rivers, steam jets,water holes, hotels, lodges, viewpoints, picnic sites, trees, and park gates
Scale 1: 30,000
Hells Gate Nat Park
A living volcanic area. The park got its name for the pair of massive red tinged cliffs framing a geothermically active interior of steam vents and bubbling springs. The park is home to a profusion of plains, game and birdlife. Walking is allowed, making it ideal for hiking, biking and rock climbing. The towering cliffs, the gorges, rock towers, and volcanoes make it a memorable park. The unique geological formations which include Hobley's volcano, Obsidian caves, Fischer's tower, and numerous birds especially raptors upon the cliffs are some of the attractions of this park.
There is rich wildlife such as Maasai Giraffe, Zebra, Thomson's and Grant's Gazelle, Warthog, Eland, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Impala, Klipspringer, Rock Hyrax, and Chanler's Mountain Reed Buck. More than 100 species of birds have been recorded, including the rare Lammergeyer Vulture, the Cape Eagle Owl, and the elusive Verreaux's Eagle- both eagles nest at the Ol Njorowa gorge.
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WhatsApp : 0722-982186 or 0733-769841


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i wanted to share a post i wrote a few years ago
Thursday, September 1
Further inside of me ( post revisited)
i wanted to share a post i wrote a few years ago
8 comments:
I am so glad that you revisited this! I don't think I could have worded this so nicely as you have, but I feel like I can relate to the feelings you are describing here so well.
It was really nice to read this, Nadia.
Thank you!
- September 1, 2011 at 9:52 AM
- Jane Flanagan said...
Dreaming for everything to be different while it remains the same. Isn't that a beautiful tension? We have such tenacity for our lives, even when we're dreaming about alternatives and missed opportunities. I love that you can say all this without regret. Beautiful sentiments, beautifully expressed.
- September 1, 2011 at 9:56 AM
- jennifer said...
"the person i rushed through..." such sad and beautiful truth to this.
- September 1, 2011 at 10:15 AM
- the wild magnolia said...
I am shaking and tears fill my eyes, somehow I believe, there are many women my age feeling the same emotions.
The words you have written here express in a way I have been unable too, how I feel at this time in my life.
"...the person I rushed through...", chilling and hauntingly true.
All our life I believe we get further and further from "moments of innocence".
I agree, life is good, but there is a melancholy for me too. I am a dreamer and I think I look through a different window.
Thank you for sharing, thank you for honesty.
- September 1, 2011 at 11:55 AM
- the Lady said...
this post hit a chord with me. thank you for sharing your thoughts so honestly...
- September 1, 2011 at 1:43 PM
- Lucia said...
Finding ourselves is not an easy path at all. We should respect our souls, even when life makes it difficult and tough.
- September 2, 2011 at 7:48 AM
- VSC said...
Touching. And your words also make me wonder: who are we? Are we the ones of the times of innocence, or our present selves, after our experiences, after melting with other persons?
- September 4, 2011 at 3:09 PM
- Erika said...
What a beautiful post... it resonates for me too, in so many ways, and perhaps explains why I have often been moved to tears by a piece of music or song. Thank you for sharing such an intimate thought.
- September 15, 2011 at 11:56 AM


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We always believe our first love is our last,
and our last love our first.
Love waits for one thing, the right moment.
Loving you was easy, losing you was hard.
Loving you is still easy,
but knowing you are no longer mine,
is the hardest of it all.
Heavy hearts,
like heavy clouds in the sky,
are best relieved by the letting of a little water.
Woman's happiness begins
with her first love and ends about then.
Love is like a puzzle. When you're in love,
all the pieces fit but when your heart gets broken,
it takes a while to get everything back together.


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|John Behnke
Project Onward is an arts program providing workspace and materials to artists with mental and developmental disabilities. Located downtown in Chicago's Cultural Center, you can just walk in and be in the midst of their operation which is what happened when DH & I were walking around Chicago last weekend.
I've known about the program and have been there before but for some reason, this was the first time I really stopped and took a good look around. Maybe thats what happens when you move away from a place and come back a tourist. We noticed that you could commission a portrait by one of their artists. Sittings are available throughout the week but they are holding a special Valentine's day portrait slam at discounted prices for couples! Sweet deals! I'm going to try to get Bun and Mei in our portrait too but we'll see.
Some favorites by the artists at Project Onward:
|George Zuniga
|Adam Hines
|Michael Bryant
|Lucy Woodhouse
|Michael Hopkins
|Blake LeNoir


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Welcome to MacVoy School of Irish Dance!
Competitive and recreational programs for boys and girls ages 3+ and adults
in Mississauga and Ajax.
Fall classes start Tuesday September 11th in Mississauga.
Fall classes start Thursday September 6th in Ajax.
Registration is always open - new students are welcome at any time.
Visit our events page to see where we'll be performing next.
Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.
-Martha Graham


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The TOF (Time of Flight) design allows 360° 2D scanning and detection of surrounding environment.
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An upgrade in structure to realize wireless transmission of electricity and internal LiDAR data.
Quick-wear parts are eliminated.
(N301 Host Displays Point Cloud Data)
It can withstand sunlight up to 110000lx,
and allows robots to walk freely both inside and outside.


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Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Cardiff Singer off the World Победитель Ekaterina Scherbachenko to appear at Covent Garden
Way back in the middle of the year when I believed fellow bus / train / hot air balloon passengers' confident inside knowledge of a hot and sunny summer to come I spent a week sat in the Comfiest Seats in Showbiz (TM) during the BBC Cardiff Singer of the Year 2009 competition at St David's Hall. The eventual winner was Russia's Ekaterina Scherbachenko (aka Golden Cheekbones) who had me jelly legged after her Liù stylee number (that note's still ringing in my memory). She'd marked most judges cards with her earlier heat rendition of Tatyana's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin and folks at Covent Garden will get to see her in the flesh as Tatyana come August 2010 as the Bolshoi Ballet & Opera Company take up a brief residency.
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I am screwed. I am totally and utterly, incomprehensibly screwed.
Chris was a catch. The most almighty catch I had ever had in my life. He was muscly, he was tanned, he had the most beautiful clear green eyes and thick luscious hair and when his eyes caught mine the first time we met, he strode confidently across the room to tell me, "You have a very pretty face." The girls who had been fighting for his attention all night and I almost fell over in shock.
Now I'm not saying I'm overly hideous, and to be honest I probably do have some endearing qualities, so it's not COMPLETELY crazy that he came to speak to me, but still… I couldn't quite believe that he had chosen me.
Annoyingly, his amazing qualities didn't stop there. He was intelligent. He was funny. He was incredible with his hands and could fix or build anything. Seriously, it was not a rarity for literal strangers that we had met for the first time together as a couple to turn to me and say, "Oh my god, you are soooooooo lucky!" It was such a common comment that it became a running joke for him to do something gross like fart on me, or accidentally break something, and he would turn to me with a cheeky grin on his face and tease, "Wow… You are sooooooo lucky!!"
He looked like freaking Ryan Gosling for god's sake! (Which, by the way, he hated being compared to.)
But I was lucky. And I knew it.
Fast forward 11 months after the accident, many, many, many, MANY (times infinity) tears later, and I'm really feeling the loneliness.
I haven't even kissed another human on the lips since the day before he died.
It's quite a bizarre feeling to be totally and utterly in love with someone, but actively searching to hook up with someone else.
Cue last night where a quiet cocktail housewarming party turned into a tequila, vodka, peach schnapps, champagne fuelled rave. TONIGHT WAS GOING TO BE THE NIGHT!!!
I was going to break that drought, because, "It's not like it's going to mean anything anyway." So I chose to do it at the dodgiest (and only) club in town.
First I had to find my prey. "Mmm, no he's not attractive enough. Mmm.. He's a bit sweaty. Hmm… WHAT is going on with that guy's HAIR?" Ok. So none of these guys were gonna be a Christopher but they were going to have to do.
I started my "sexy" "woops, I accidently bumped into you" dancing, and realised I have the confidence of a gnat whilst doing this. Now, I don't know how confident a gnat is, but I'm assuming not very. And awkward. Very, very awkward.
Unsurprisingly, none of the guys were confidently striding across the room to give me a compliment. One of them even kind of pushed me out of the way!
This was fucked.
I went and sat down on the dingy, alcohol soaked couch in the dark corner and started drunkenly reflecting my night.
I was competing against girls and getting rejected by guys that don't even have an inch on Chris. How did my life end up like this?
Oh no. I was beginning to get my drunk cry on. Time to leave!!
After an hour of hysterical sobbing at home I passed out, and today I've been left with a killer hangover and lovely, puffy eyes to match.
So can you see why I am screwed?? The Bachelor plan is really starting to make sense now isn't it!?
I don't want this life. I don't enjoy this life.
I just want Chris to be back, farting on me and joking how lucky I am, while seeing in his eyes that actually, he thought he was really lucky too.


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Kevin Flaherty is a mortgage banker with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, and has been committed to helping his clients purchase a home, refinance a home, or determine their mortgage eligibility since 2012.
Kevin was born in Riverside, IL, and is a graduate of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, IL, and the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA (Go Hawks!). Coming from a family of four boys, Kevin is used to rolling up his sleeves and getting things done. What sets Kevin apart from other mortgage professionals is that he doesn't look for the fastest or easiest solution to his clients' needs. Instead, he takes the extra time and effort to find the best solution for his clients while making sure that it aligns with the future plans they have for their home. That's why you can always rely on Kevin for smart home financing options and exceptional service.
When Kevin is not working, he enjoys trying a new recipe, reading a good book, and checking out all the amazing things Chicago has to offer. He likes to stay active by riding his bike on the lakefront, and he's always up for a game of pick-up basketball. Kevin also volunteers for a non-profit Big Sibling organization in Chicago by spending time and working with high school-aged students.
Kevin is honored that people put their trust in him with such a big investment in their lives. He looks forward to working with new clients, finding a solution that works for them, and making sure that he's there every step of the way. So whether you're buying your first home, your second home, or your dream home, contact Kevin today!


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Good morning!
Today is my first day to host the Karleigh Sue Inspiration Blog! I'm so excited to share a card I made using the lovely new image Sexy Irie.
For more details, please visit my blog This Creative Day.
We would love if you would be a follower of this blog, and also the Karleigh Sue Challenge Blog. There are 2 challenges a month, where you'll have a chance to win some Karleigh Sue digis!
You can check out Sexy Irie and more at the Karleigh Sue Digi Shop on Etsy.
We also have a Karleigh Sue Facebook Group where you can find out about challenges, and share your Karleigh Sue creations!
Thanks for stopping by:) Enjoy your weekend!
~ Bonnie


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Woman Shot After Laser Pointer Shines into Her Home
Tulsa Police responded to a shooting on the 6300 block of North Denver at approximately 10:30 p.m. Thursday evening.
Police say a 50-year-old woman went out her back door to investigate a laser pointer being shined on her house.
Philip Klimcak, 23, is the woman's son. He identified her as Dawn Adams. He said she had asked someone to stop shining the laser at her home, because it was upsetting the family's dogs. Then, he said the family heard gunshots and feared the person had shot the dogs in the backyard.
Klimcak and Adams went outside. They saw someone on the vacant lot behind their home.
"In that field right there, somebody just comes out of the blue in a bunch of dark clothes, it looked to me, and started shooting," Klimcak said. He said he pushed his mother back towards the door to protect her, when a bullet fired through the home and struck her lower leg.
Klimcak said he turned off the lights to make it more difficult for the suspect to shoot his family members.
Police interviewed neighbors but do not have a good description of the suspect. Klimcak said someone at the scene mentioned the possibility of a gang initiation.
Police believe the shooter used a pistol rather than a high-power rifle with a laser.
His mother was home from the hospital after a couple hours and is recovering.


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Everyone who has an iPhone wants to keep it safe, although you may think insuring your precious is enough it kind of isn't so this is where the cover craze comes in.
Now accessorizing doesn't only mean matching a necklace or a bracelet to your outfit but an iPhone cover. We are gone iCrazy for them... Pinterest and Instagram have brought the craze to a new level, people posting new and funky covers to show of to the iFans.
I have an iPhone myself and have gone through 3 covers in a year, yes that might seem like a lot to people who dont dress up their phone in pretty covers but its actually very little. Many people now have a variety of covers to choose from and change them weekly even daily!
Its mad what people pay to put a cover on their phones. Reading online about these expensive covers I found a blog about the most expensive iCovers exceeding price up to 100,000!!!! http://www.mostexpensiveofthings.com/most-expensive-iphone-case.html iCrazy.
If your a more simple person that wants your phone to look great for cheap I suggest shopping around markets where they are usually a tenner and have nice variation of designs. The cheaper covers in the Pound Shops or Value Land stores are usually unreliable and will brake, but then again better the cover then the phone. I have found the best places for cheap covers are either the Chinese shops which repair phones, Penneys and H&M...
I went for a stroll around the shops the other day and have found a few new cool covers in Penneys which might tickle your fancy and are only 5 euro!


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Pronounced "Ho-Ho-Ba," Jojoba oil is known the world over as an all-around excellent replacement for naturally occurring oils in human skin and hair. As such, the benefits of Jojoba oil abound.
Jojoba oil is, in fact, a misnomer. It isn't really an oil at all, but more of a semi-viscous wax. Because it is so similar to sebum (the oil found in human skin) the application of Jojoba oil to problematic skin can fool the skin into believing on a cellular level that it is producing enough oil, which triggers a balance in natural oil production.
Because Jojoba oil is a naturally occurring compound with such similarities to the oil produced by human skin, it is less prone to clog pores and lead to the exacerbation of acne, making it non-comedogenic.
There are also several other benefits of Jojoba oil. Here are just a few:
1. Aside from the potential embarrassment of dandruff, a dry scalp can cause a number of other discomforts. Jojoba oil works to relieve itchiness and moisturize the scalp and hair follicles without causing further irritation. This also helps to reduce the amount of hair shed by an irritated scalp.
2. Jojoba oil can help add volume and body to flat or thin hair. By stimulating blood flow to the scalp, it helps to reduce thinning hair, and strengthen the shafts. Also, because of its vitamin and nutrient content (including Vitamins B and E), Jojoba oil helps prevent and repair the brittleness of hair that often occurs from the constant swelling and reduction of individual hair strands that occurs with washing and drying.
3. One of the most renowned benefits of Jojoba oil is that it provides symptom relief to those who suffer from psoriasis. Because of its inherent anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, Jojoba oil helps reduce the swelling and redness associated with psoriasis while preventing further infection and irritation. Acting as a sort of conditioner for affected skin, it reduces the signature scaly patches of skin produced by chronic skin condition and thereby helps to bolster the self-confidence of sufferers.
4. Again, because of its antimicrobial properties, Jojoba oil helps prevent the pores of the face from becoming clogged with bacteria, which can lead to blackheads and acne. By helping to regulate the skin's oil production, Jojoba oil reduces the amount of natural oils produced which further minimizes clogged pores.
5. Because of its soothing properties, Jojoba oil provides much-needed relief to those who suffer irritation from shaving. When applied before shaving, the oil softens the hair follicles and skin to allow for a closer shave with fewer resulting bumps, rashes, or razor burn.
There are a multitude of other benefits of Jojoba oil which include treating sunburn, helping minor wounds heal, keeping fingernails and cuticles healthy, and lessening the appearance of wrinkles, and relieving the symptoms of rosacea, cystic acne, and eczema.
* The above contents and information are only a recommendation and contain free information collected from around the internet in Israel and abroad It should not take the place of a consultation with a qualified physician or medical professional. We are not medical professionals
These products are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or prevent it.


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If you ever find yourself awake and unable to return to sleep at 3:am then whatever you do, do not and I repeat, do not get out of bed, or so help you, you will be doomed to wander in a sea of thoughts.
I found myself awake not by default, but simply because my mind had had enough of rest and wanted to indulge me in a journey that I was not so pleased to embark on. I looked outside the window hoping to count the raindrops in the dark. After a while, I walked to the living room and sat down to write.
It has been a great week for me, because I have officially mastered the art of doing 30 squats, and twenty second wall-sits a day.
It has also been the week where everything I planned to do like clean and re-arrange my bedroom has constantly been postponed and I am afraid that today I will have to do it because I cannot find my favorite PVC eraser.
Grace is due anytime soon and we have been on the hunt for the perfect baby name for her beautiful daughter. She says that I cannot call her unborn daughter beautiful because I have not yet seen her, but I have a feeling that she would have her mother's nose and father's eyes. I had to sit down and listen to her argue with Joseph about the name of the baby. She wants something African and he wants to name her, Faith, after his mother. Grace went on a rant for close to twenty minutes and when Joseph turned to me for help, all I could say was "never argue with a pregnant woman, especially if she is your wife."
What's my take on baby names?
I don't have any really, save for the fact that I have always thought of naming my daughter (Lord, if ever I have one)- Aurora.
Yes, I want her to always get back up when she is pushed down or weighed down by life's challenges, just like dawn. There's always a new dawn. Sometimes when I ask people whether they were named after someone, I find myself seeing the other person in them.
I paced up and down the room for a while and made my way back to bed at 5am.
I thought about reading a book on Kindle, but I did not want to be all hot and bothered by a steamy romance novel at 5am.
Unable to sleep, I got out of bed and started asking myself what I would do next- and that's when it hit me that I have the ability to zone out and stay silent and that I could use it to my advantage. Over the years, whenever I have feelings that I cannot explain I always detached myself. And that's why based on my to-do list, I can write a novel titled, "Detached."--
Do not let anyone define you.


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Aught3Posts: 4290Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:36 amLocation: New Zealand Gender: Male
Personal investing
As a follow up to my realisation of how money is created I became further interested in how the economy works and eventually into investing. I read to a deep enough level to be fairly confident of my understanding of the general principles but have not delved into the mathematics that sophisticated investment institutions would apply. The following is my attempt to distill what I have learned after months of reading both for clarifying my own thoughts and hopefully to spark a discussion on any points of disagreement*.
What I learned from my study of personal investing:
1) On average, over the long run, stocks produce the best returns.
Year to year the best returns can come from any one of the four major asset classes (cash, fixed interest, real estate, and stocks) but over the long run stocks generally out perform the others. This means when my goal is portfolio growth, I want to have the majority of my investments in stocks.
2) No active trader consistently beats their stock index.
Okay there are two exceptions to this but one is retired and the other is Warren Buffet. If you can get him to manage your money, go for it. For the rest of us going DIY into the stock market or even using an actively managed fund is not the way to go. On average I am better off buying the stock index itself (i.e., an index fund or ETF) rather than trying to beat it.
3) Reducing risk means reducing volatility.
Essentially, the riskiness of an investment is the same thing as its downside volatility, the chance that the investment will decrease in value. Downside volatility is bad for two reasons. One, you might lose all your money. Two, excessive volatility reduces average return over the long run. However, risk is also the basis for return. That is, investments with a higher perceived risk would be expected to produce a higher average return. Ideally, an investment portfolio needs to strike a balance between volatility and return.
4) The most effective way to reduce portfolio volatility while maintaining return is to buy assets which are not correlated
Assets in different classes do not always increase/decrease in value at the same time. For example, bonds prices might rise as stocks fall. Additionally, different segments of the same asset might increase/decrease at different time (i.e., US stocks vs Japanese stocks). Therefore I can use non-correlated asset classes to dramatically decrease portfolio volatility (risk) while only slightly decreasing the average return.
5) The most effective way to reduce asset class volatility is diversification.
By buying multiple assets of the same class I reduce the risk that the value of this class will swing wildly up and down. The value of diversification kicks in at around thirty assets of the class and tapers off after fifty. Therefore, I need to hold between 30 - 50 assets in the asset classes I build into my investment portfolio.
6) Rebalancing is the only consistent way to 'time the market'.
All else being equal, I would prefer to buy and investment when it is cheap and sell it when it was expensive, of course there is no way I can have this knowledge at the time I could take advantage of it. However, by periodically rebalancing my portfolio I will, on average, sell-more/buy-less of an investment when it is valued highly and sell-less/buy-more of an investment when it is valued low. This is dollar cost averaging. The cost of rebalancing a portfolio means I should only perform this activity once or twice a year.
That will do for now, I guess I will see if anyone is interested in further discussion on some or all of these points.
*Obviously the above is not personal investment advice.
Wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking.
|Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:12 am


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I'm Christopher Pike, author of more than fifty teen thrillers, including the Thirst, Remember Me, and Chain Letter series. Needless to say, I've been writing for a long time. I wrote REMEMBER ME twenty-eight years ago but it remains one of my most popular books and I'm excited to be sharing it with new young readers here on Wattpad. I'll be posting chapters every Tuesday and Friday so please visit frequently and let me know what you think!
My next book is called STRANGE GIRL and I think it may be one of my best. It's about a girl with mysterious abilities...abilities that come with a high cost. I'll be posting chapters from STRANGE GIRL here as well to give you a sneak peek.
Also: since I've been getting a lot of comments and questions from aspiring writers on Wattpad, I've decided to start sharing some advice. If you're interested, take a look at CHRISTOPHER PIKE'S WRITING ADVICE-I'll be adding a chapter every day for the next three weeks, right up until STRANGE GIRL comes out.
Visit me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherPikeBooks
STRANGE GIRL is on sale now! Find out more or order it today:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/148145059X?tag=simonsayscom
BARNES & NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strange-girl-christopher-pike/1121190938?ean=9781481450591
INDIEBOUND: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781481450591
KINDLE: http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Girl-Christopher-Pike-ebook/dp/B00TBKUVNQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1444679832&sr=1-2&keywords=strange+girl
APPLE IBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/strange-girl/id965588016?mt=11
- Santa Barbara, CA
- JoinedOctober 12, 2015
RealChristopherPike Dec 03, 2015 09:09AM
Two weeks ago my new book, STRANGE GIRL, went on sale. Since then I have received a ton of mail from people who already bought it and read it. I mention this because the mail -- mostly emails -- ha...View all Conversations
Stories by Christopher Pike
- 3 Published Stories
Strange Girl
From the moment Fred meets Aja, he knows she's different. She's pretty, soft-spoken, shy—yet she seems to rad...
+1 more
Remember Me
She won't let them forget… Shari Cooper wakes up dead. The last thing she can remember is falling from a balc...
+4 more
Christopher Pike's Writing Advice
In 1984, Christopher Pike published a young adult thriller called SLUMBER PARTY. Neither he nor the publishi...


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There are several special places on the planet that I love to revisit as part of a sort of soul renewal effort. Stonehenge is one of my favorite "wonderment" locations. I've seen it in three different seasons now, and in various decades: spring, summer, and fall. When I first visited it many years ago, you parked near a fence, and could access the Stones area through a small tunnel. Now, you are taken to the site from a Visitor's Center in small busses labeled "To The Stones." I hope to visit it again some day, in winter.
Even in a cold November morning surrounded by folks jammed around their selfie wands to capture the Stones in the background, Stonehenge filled me with a wordless wonder. It is now-and-forever breathtaking.
As I walked the path around the Stone Circle, I read each instructive panel, including one about another numinous place I love: Newgrange, in Ireland. Although quite different in construction, both Neolithic sites mark seasonal solstices, with Newgrange known for its winter solstice charting. It is unforgettable to be inside the dark Newgrange entombment and see a recreation of how the winter solstice light breaks through the special shafts to bring illumination, and a hope in darkness. This is, for me, the meaning of the winter solstice: the coming light, a new hope. (Note: In North America, the winter solstice officially occurs early on Wednesday, December 21, 2016.)
These are just two examples of places I find "awesome." Nature is a major source of awe for most of us; creativity inspires awe through the arts. Scientific discoveries induce awe. I recently saw a museum exhibit that gave me goosebumps. The list of "awesome" sources goes on and on, depending on the individual, although there is often a collective aspect to experiencing "awe."
Why do humans need awe? I know that "awe" brings balance into my own life: it allows me to focus on important things far greater than just "me." Whenever I go to Stonehenge, I first notice its stunning beauty. Then I think about how hard it must have been to shape and transport the Stones, and how many thousands of years ancient people used that site (and environs) for important rituals (including charting the heavens), and what their beliefs were. In Newgrange, since it's a tomb, I found myself contemplating the meaning of life, and what being alive meant to those who built it—yes, their quotidian existence–but also imagining their hopes and dreams.
The sacrality of wonder—or the holy aspects of the numen—motivated theologian Rudolph Otto to coin the word "numinous" in 1923 (a term later used by C.G. Jung in his work). The Latin word numen, upon which the word is based, signified the will of the gods or divine majesty.
In their 2015 study "Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior," Paul Piff, Dacher Keltner, and others, found that "awe arouses altruism…" Piff and Keltner propose that awe shakes our narcissism away, and humbles us; they suggest that we are as a culture less connected to each other due to changes in society and are collectively "awe-deprived." We need more wonder in our lives, not less.
Granted, not everyone has a chance to travel to Stonehenge and Newgrange for a dose of wonder. But Piff, Keltner, et al, found that simply taking the time to appreciate a local tree for a brief period of time was enough "awe" to make participants react with more generosity towards others.
If we consciously seek opportunities to foster our "awe," it will help us better relate to our planet and to others. Happy Holidays!


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Google is targeting Siri with a major update to its iOS search application that will see voice search understand the user's intension, not just keywords.
As part of several new updates to its search services, the app - which is already available for Android devices - will soon be available on iPhone and iPad as a rival to Apple's Siri personal assistant.
Understanding the intent of the user means that the app can provide - and say out loud - results for statements like "I need a mechanic" and "What films are on this weekend?" In each case, the app will return results local to you, with links to appropriate services.
With a user interface that is similar to Siri, the user presses a microphone icon, says their request, and if the phone can offer an answer it will say it outloud, while providing links, maps or whatever extra information it thinks you will need.
Google's vice president of search, Amit Singhal, said on the company blog: "Often the most natural way to ask a question is by asking aloud. So we've combined our speech recognition expertise, understanding of language and the Knowledge Graph so that Voice Search can better interpret your questions and sometimes speak the answers back as full sentences."
As with Siri, the user can ask questions in the same way we speak to humans, so questions like "What's the weather going to be like in London?" will be answered by a brief weather forecast, both with text and images as well as spoken out loud by the app.
Google will have no doubt seen Siri as a threat to its search business, as results can be found and displayed without the user needing to visit Google at all - it will be interesting to see if iOS users will opt for Google search over Siri when the update arrives.
The update shows that, despite dominating the search market, Google is not willing to rest on its laurels and is keen to develop new features, such as integrating Gmail with search.
Looking forward, but admitting that developing new features takes time, Singhal said: "These are baby steps, but important ones on our way to building the search engine of the future-one that is much more intelligent and useful than it was just a few years ago. It's a very exciting time to be working in this field."
Apple is working on improving its voice search, with major updates coming to Siri with the iOS 6 operating system due out in the autumn.


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Scotland 7s will join the top seeds for day two of the Adelaide Sevens in Australia after wins over Argentina and Portugal today.
After their second victory of the day, a 19-5 win over Portugal, Scotland 7s head coach Stephen Gemmell said: "The boys stepped up to the plate and delivered today.
"We set ourselves a target of competing in the top eight and we now have to focus our sights on being competitive against our quarter-final opponents tomorrow."
Scotland's results in the opening day of the Adelaide Sevens in Australia:
Scotland 7s 10, Samoa 7s 26
Scotland 7s found themselves trailing by 26 points to nil at the half way point of their opening game against Samoa.
However, they rallied in the second half to put Glasgow Warriors winger Max Evans over twice to finish 26-10.
Scotland 7s 24, Argentina 7s 19
Scotland found themselves 19-17 down with 50 seconds left on the clock in their vital second outing in the Adelaide Sevens this morning, and as Max Evans was shown yellow and sent to the sin bin, things didn't look good for the Scots.
But head coach Stephen Gemmell rallied the troops and Scotland soared to an astounding 24-19 win with Ben Addison clinching the winner.
Scott Forrest and Ross Rennie both crossed the whitewash for a try a piece with Addison crossing for a second. Mike Adamson converted twice.
Scotland 7s 19, Portugal 7s 5
The final game of day one for Scotland saw them take on familiar opposition.
Both Max Evans and Jamie Hunter crossed in the first half with Roddy Grant following suit in the second period. Mike Adamson converted one attempt.


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Contact the CDC
(864) 288-7674
(864) 864-288-3250
Mailing Address
1108B Pelham Rd.
Greenville, SC 29615
Pelham Road Baptist Church | Greenville, SC
Children are the focus of the CDC through nurturing routine care, education, safety, cleanliness, nutrition, and love. We maintain low staff to child ratios which allows for individualized attention and helps foster strong bonds between teachers and children. DHEC regulations are followed for sickness and exclusion. We use redirection and teach problem solving skills so that the children can learn to solve their own problems.
The CDC is a licensed facility (#23353) for 120 children ages 6 week through the year before Kindergarten. We are open Monday through Friday from 7AM-6PM, twelve months of the year. Our school year runs August to August. The Creative Curriculum is used by all the children to develop and grow through hands-on learning.
Children go to chapel every other week led by the Associate Pastor. Teachers provide weekly Bible stories and activities along with daily prayer. Enrichment programs are offered at the center for children age 2.5 and older.
All children are given the opportunity to nap from noon until 2:00 PM each day. There is a formalized emergency plan located in the parent handbook. We provide a hot lunch two days per week and two snacks every day. We have a four week rotating menu so that the children are exposed a wide variety of foods.
Every child is evaluated twice a year using the ASQ screening tool. The teachers share the results of the screening with parents at bi-annual parent conferences along with samples of the child's class work and art.
Susan Kear, Director
Rachel Cernogorsky, Assistant Director
The rest of our teaching staff has been with us for an average of 4 years and they have all received background screening, fingerprint checks, TB tests, and health assessments. Teachers' education ranges from high school diplomas and completion of the SC Early Childhood certification; to over 18 years of experience; to an AA or BA in early childhood or elementary education. All teachers are required to have 20 hours of continuing education in early childhood education each year.


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It looks better, and seems more appropriate, to have cuffs on a pair of pants made of heavier fabric (flannel, tweed, herringbone, heavy wool, etc.) and worn in the winter. Not only does it add the likeness of wearing an extra 'layer' which is best suited for colder months, but it also adds weight to the bottom of your wool trousers causing them to drape better as they fall. To add a more stylish element, make your cuffs a little wider than your average Joe. Go with 1 3/4" or 2", a look that is popular among fashionistos rights now.
On the other hand, the warmer and more nonchalant months of summer call for a regular hem, a little shorter to show a hint of ankle. Summer clothing, besides being more casual in general, can be simpler and have less details. Therefore, light-weight wools, linens and definitely cottons should not be cuffed.
Hope this helps.
Yours in style, Style Blogger.


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WASHINGTON // Steroids experts say federal prosecutors missed an opportunity to learn more about what slugger Barry Bonds did and didn't do - and perhaps strike a memorable blow against steroid use - by failing to proceed with a trial in the case of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.
Now, the experts suggest, Bonds might as well wear a question mark on his back instead of No. 25.
"The whole BALCO thing leaves us in a very unsatisfied situation," said Gary Wadler, a New York University medical professor and an expert on drugs in sports.
Four defendants reached plea agreements this summer after an investigation of BALCO, a California company suspected of selling banned, performance-boosting drugs. The agreements mean there will be no BALCO trial - a trial, experts said, that could have forced witnesses to disclose details about distributing steroids to star baseball players and other athletes.
Bonds - who goes on the road for the first time this season when his San Francisco Giants play the Nationals tonight - was not charged in the BALCO case, but his personal trainer was. The trainer, Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty on July 15 to conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, and to money laundering. BALCO president Victor Conte pleaded guilty to the same charges.
Steroids experts had hoped a trial would reveal more about Bonds and further educate the public about how widespread steroid use might be in sports.
"We were all looking for the exclamation mark on this whole sordid affair, and we're still left with conjecture," Wadler said.
Wadler said a trial could have gotten closer to the truth about what substances Bonds did or did not take. Even without a trial, Bonds' legacy will always include discussions - and whispers - about possible steroid use, the physician said.
"People have asked whether he should have a syringe or a pill or an asterisk next to his name," Wadler said. "That's a moot point. The public already has strong opinions about Barry Bonds and his performance."
Even without a trial, prosecutors said the BALCO investigation served an important public purpose.
'This investigation has helped reveal how the use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs can be surprisingly dangerous and harmful," U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan said in a prepared statement.
Federal sentencing guidelines - which some prosecutors and experts have called too weak - did not appear to give Ryan much leverage. None of the four BALCO defendants is expected to receive more than a year in prison. Prosecutors have recommended that Conte - who had once said he was "willing to reveal everything" he knows - receive four months in prison and four months home detention as part of his plea. His sentencing is Oct. 18.
The BALCO case began with so much promise but is ending without delivering the goods, said Penn State University steroid expert Charles Yesalis, who, like Wadler, has testified before Congress about steroids.
"I was tremendously disappointed in the closure of the BALCO situation," Yesalis said.
Yesalis said the public apparently needs to be shocked into believing, as he does, that steroid use is more widespread than has been revealed so far.
"Some major stars need to go down embarrassed in a court of law so sycophant moms and dads who live in Disney World have to face reality and realize how widespread this is," Yesalis said.
"You cannot take difficult action against a major societal problem unless there is unequivocal agreement that there is a serious problem."
Bonds appeared before the BALCO-investigating grand jury in late 2003. He told the grand jury that he had never knowingly used steroids but that his trainer gave him what he thought was flaxseed oil, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bonds was given a pass in March when a congressional committee decided not to subpoena him along with other players for a hearing on steroids in sports. The committee's staff said they worried Bonds' presence would create a media circus and that they didn't know if the player would have anything illuminating to say.


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Posts Tagged 'Halloween'
Barn-Haunting Party
Posted by: Rebecca on: July 15, 2010
THEME: Halloween, harvest time
INVITATIONS: One idea is to make lollipop ghosts to carry the message. Use spherical suckers like Tootsie Pops or Dum Dums. Write the invitation on one side of a piece of white tissue, paper or fabric (or use a white handkerchief). Place it message-side down over the lollipop and tie a string around the "neck" of the ghost. When the guest uncovers the sucker to eat it, he will see the message.
Another idea is to use "ghostwriting." Write the message on a plain piece of heavy white paper or an index card with an invisible ink, such as diluted lemon juice, ordinary cow's milk, sugar water (about 1 teaspoon to a glass of water), orange juice, grapefruit juice, onion juice, honey water (about 1 teaspoon to a glass of water), or vinegar. Use a toothpick or fine paintbrush to write the message in the secret ink. Below the invisible message, write in regular ink something like:
"Ghostly writing you cannot see,
But on this page a message be.
To work the magic, have no fear;
Warm the page; see words appear.
A hot iron or stove will work just fine;
Use care, and you'll soon read each line."
The inks are affected by heat quicker than paper, and thus the compounds in the inks break down to form carbon before the paper does. The writing will usually appear brown.
In the message, ask the guests to dress in Halloween costumes which do not restrict vision and movement. Tell them to meet at a certain place, which is where the hayride will begin. They may also be asked to bring food items, if you so desire. This party works well for teens or young adults.
MATERIALS FOR ACTIVITIES: Truck or wagon filled with bales of hay; old barn; materials to make a short "spook alley," such as cardboard, fabric, crepe paper, black lights and florescent paint, dummies, sound effects, etc.; prizes for costumes (Scariest, Most Original, etc.), such as oranges with jack-o-lantern faces painted on them, packets of roasted pumpkin seeds, or more ghost suckers; square-dance caller and/or music and stereo.
FOOD: The way you serve the food can add as much to the party as the kind of food you serve. Suggested beverages are homemade root beer or apple cider. Mix the root beer in a big black cauldron and add dry ice. Try serving the cider in a well-cleaned, chilled pumpkin with a face painted on it.* (If you like sparkling cider, you could put dry ice in your apple cider, too!) For food, serve fresh doughnuts, popcorn balls and apples, and maybe a Halloween Pumpkin Cake (two bundt cakes put together to form a pumpkin).
DECORATIONS: Decorate the spook alley area of the farmhouse or barn to be as scary as possible. Use your imagination to create ghostly scenes, jack-o-lanterns, coffins, cobwebs, spiders, skeletons, witches, monsters. You can make floating ghosts by covering large balloons with white plastic garbage bags, tied at the "neck," decorated with eyes and mouth and hung from the ceiling with thread to match the background. Or, you can dip cheesecloth in a stiffening compound, such as sugar-water or thinned glue, and drape it to dry in the shape of a ghost. In the dark parts of the spook alley, make the most of different textures, sounds and smells. A piece of cardboard shaken back and forth sounds like thunder, and raw rice dropped on a pie plate imitates rain. A few flashes of a strobe light and you have a full-fledged "dark and stormy night." Haunted houses are most successful if they provide lots of surprises, sudden jolts when things appear out of nowhere or very loud noises sound without warning. Before planning it all out, stop and think about what really frightens you!
Decorate the barn dance area more in a harvest-time style. You can arrange scarecrows, cornstalks, pumpkins, squash and Indian corn at the entrance and in the corners of the room. Some black and orange streamers might be desired, or you could hang a giant spiderweb (complete with giant spider) in a corner. Place bales of hay around the room for seating, and you might use lanterns for some of the lighting. Keep the middle of the room clear for dancing.
BLOW-BY-BLOW: When the guests arrive at the appointed place, take them by hayride to the place of the spook alley. On the way there, you (the host) lead them in singing or tell scary stories. Helpers may sound creepy noises from the woods.
At the farmhouse (or separate section of the barn), all is dark. A silent, cloaked figure leads the guests through the "haunted barn." He may break the silence to offer information or stories to make it all the more eerie.
The guests exit the darkened spook alley into a well-lit barn. You or some parents then judge the costumes and award prizes for Scariest, Most Creative, etc.
With the costume-judging done, the square-dance caller begins teaching simple dances, and everyone joins in. He takes a break for refreshments and ends with more square-dancing.
Variations and Comments: If you feel the costumes might be too much of a hindrance in the dancing, you can omit the costume-judging and ask the guests to come dressed Western, country-style or in Halloween colors.
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[*]Dian Thomas, Today's Tips for Easy Living, Holladay UT: The Dian Thomas Company, 1982, p. 73.


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"Inexpensive home decor" is, to many, an oxymoron. In fact, it is true that finding classy home decor that pleases you and your wallet can be very tricky, but it is definitely not impossible. You will find below 8 ways to make your home look luxurious, without breaking the bank! Click on the image to view the full DIY process.
1. Faux marble tarble top
Marble has been a huge trend this past year, and we feel like it's here to stay. Its classy and minimalistic look can turn any living space into something more luxurious. If you find real marble too expensive to your liking, know that there are some cheap alternatives, such as painting it yourself!
2. Geometric air planters
Indoor plants are a great way to add character to a room. If you are low on space, hanging plants are a great way to incorporate that hint of nature in your house!
3. Gold sculptural spheres
Gold is a timeless color that can make any space look more luxurious. Of course, too much of anything isn't good! But by adding a few simple and minimalist gold items in your home, you can make the area look like it cost you a ton, when in reality, you bought all you needed at your local craft store!
4. Pebble table mats
River rocks are another timeless decoration item that give a room (or an area) a natural and simple aesthetic, and they are easier to make than you think!
5. DIY tufted ottoman
Quilted headboards are incredibly sleek and classy, because of the simple and minimal look it gives off. A tufted ottoman to match that headboard? Why not? You can replicate this DIY with any fabric or color you want, to ensure that your piece of furniture matches your tastes.
6. Popsicle stick hexagon shelf
One of the best ways to maximize space without having a cluttered room is by using your walls to your advantage. If you are going for a rustic charm feel, and don't want to spend hundreds, this is a great DIY to replicate the vintage aesthetic that you like.
7. Accent wall
An accent wall is probably the most inexpensive way to achieve a flawless revamping. Instead of painting a wall one color only, why not try an eye-catching pattern? You can buy throw pillows or accessories accordingly, and it will give the room an altogether cleaner feel.
8. Chalkboard file cabinet
Using chalkboard paint is a great way to not only personalize your furniture, but also create a charm to it. If you are not a fan of metal file cabinets, you can easily use chalkboard paint to make it more worthy of a fashionista!


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Welcome to Alde Press room
Latest press release:
Alde Smart Control for caravans and motorhomes
A new app that remotely controls the camper's heating
Connect a GSM-compatible device to the Alde heating system and now it can be controlled remotely by Alde's new smartphone app. Using Alde Smart Control, the heating can be switched on-off, electric and gas heating, and desired temperature can also be set.
Alde Smart Control makes life easier for the owners of motorhomes or caravans with the Alde heating system. This newly developed smartphone app is SMS-based, and even allows the user to receive status updates from the GSM-compatible device, from anywhere in
the world with mobile phone reception.
The app is easily installed and setup on a smartphone, and is just as easy to use. GSM-compatible devices connect to the Alde system through one, plug-in adaptor lead.
"Alde Smart Control liberates you by allowing you to operate your heating while you're out and about, enjoying your holiday. When you get back to your vehicle, it can be nice and warm already, with a hot shower waiting." –Leigh Marsden, Development Director at Alde International Ltd.
Alde manufactures heating systems for motorhomes and caravans. The man behind Alde is the Swedish inventor and entrepreneur, Alde Rask. Back in the late-1940s, he and his family felt the lack of warmth in their new caravan. In the 1960s Alde launched the first boiler for recreational vehicles and its effectiveness quickly attracted attention. Today, the company's head office and factory are still located in Färlöv, Sweden, and Alde is the world leader in its field with strong presence in many markets.
Alde Smart Control works on later Alde 3010 boilers and all 3020 boilers.
Alde Smart Control is free and can be downloaded for IOS and Android from app stores this April.
For queries and further information, please contact:
Leigh Marsden, Development Director Alde International Ltd, + 44 1933 677765, email@example.com
Håkan Streimer, Sales & Marketing Manager Alde, +46 4471270, email@example.com
Popular downloads
» Alde Smart Control (JPEG 2017kB)
Press Contact
|Håkan Streimer
Sales & Marketing
Manager Alde,
+46 4471270


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The Submission is Entertainment Weekly's #1 Novel for the Year
The Submission is one of NPR's Top Ten Novels for 2011:
Amy Waldman's debut novel, The Submission, is that rare animal: a political novel that's also elegantly written. It imagines the angry fallout when a jury chooses an anonymous design for a Sept. 11 memorial at ground zero, and the architect turns out to be Muslim American. Although that premise may sound suspiciously "high concept," The Submission ventures far beyond the contrived and, through an ensemble cast of characters, tackles issues like identity politics, the rights of undocumented workers and the stress fractures of democracy. Maybe the most audacious question that's posed by Waldman's novel is the implicit one that lingers long after a reader has finished it: Namely, could it be that a decade after the attacks, America finally has the Sept. 11 novel — one that does justice, artistically and historically, to the aftershocks of that day?–MAUREEN CORRIGAN
The Submission is Esquire's Book of the Year
The Book of the Year: The Submission
I have no idea how Amy Waldman came to write her first novel, The Submission (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26), which is about the contested aftermath of an epoch-defining attack on New York City by Muslim terrorists. I imagine that the title must have come to Waldman before the novel did, or rather, that when the title came to Waldman — the former co-chief of The New York Times South Asia bureau — she knew she had her novel, from beginning to end. It is rare that a title can be said to contain a novel, especially when the novel in question can be said to contain a world and a time. But if you want to know why you should read The Submission, and why it is not only the best of the many excellent "9/11 novels" but also the most straightforwardly enjoyable, you have to start with the title, because it easily bears the weight of at least four meanings, because in being lightly ironic yet endlessly suggestive, it provides the model for Waldman's prose, and because it is only the first of the many promises that The Submission manages to keep.
The Submission, you see, is about a submission — an entry in a competition — and it is also about submission, in just about every sense of the word. The plot is simple and, in terms of today's headlines, plausible enough: There is a competition to determine who will design the memorial for the mass-murdered in Manhattan, and the winning submission is from an American architect born into a faith whose name also means "submission." As a nonbeliever, he calls himself "Mo," but his given name is Mohammad, and before the novel ends he will submit in the subtlest way possible to its dictates, for The Submission is a novel in which every character submits to something: to heroism, to cowardice, to self-interest, to self-promotion, to class, to grief, to innocence, to prejudice, to pride, to art, to religion, and especially to what the beleaguered Mo thinks of as "the bellicose, lachrymose religion that the attack had birthed," that is, the new religion of 9/11.
The Submission is not a religious novel but rather a secular one that takes religion very seriously. It is not a political novel but rather a novel about the ongoing redefinition of the place where politics starts. It is a novel of large public concern, and yet what it suggests is that over the last decade "the public" in America has just become an excuse for "the private" to hold sway — for people to submit to impulses they didn't know they had. It is a portrait of a country almost terrifyingly free and at the same time endlessly involved in the task its title describes: either trying to get up off its knees or fall down to them. —TOM JUNOD
The Submission is a Barnes and Noble Best Book of 2011
The Submission was on the shortlist for the Guardian's First Book Award
The Submission is on Kirkus Reviews' Top 25 Best of Fiction 2011
The Submission is on Amazon's Top Ten Debut Fiction and Top 100 Books for 2011
Slate Audio Book Club on The Submission with Emily Bazelon, Kishwar Rizvi and Hanna Rosin
PBS Newshour Interview on The Submission
Maureen Corrigan, "Fresh Air," NPR
The Submission is a gorgeously written novel of ideas about America in the wake of Sept. 11. It tackles subjects like identity politics, undocumented immigrants and the stress fractures of democracy. Maybe the most audacious question that's posed by Amy Waldman's debut novel, however, is the implicit one that lingers long after a reader finishes it: Namely, could it be that a decade after the attacks, America finally has the Sept. 11 novel — one that does justice, artistically and historically, to the aftershocks of that day?
Of course, there have been other serious fiction contenders that have ruminated on Sept. 11; among them, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland; Deborah Eisenberg's short story collection, Twilight of the Superheroes; Don DeLillo's Falling Man; and Ken Kalfus' dark tour de force, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country. But The Submission distinguishes itself by its panoramic scope and, also, by the ease with which it pulls off the literary magic trick of being at once poetic and polemical. Arguments about America are hashed out relentlessly on the pages of this novel, yet Waldman never stints on character development, plot or the pleasures of her inventive language. Ever the English teacher, I even found myself making lists of all the startling verbs and metaphors Waldman comes up with: For instance, describing a tough woman laughing, meanly, at another's expense, Waldman writes: "Her laugh burst forth, breaking up her face like jackhammered cement." This is an assured, ambitious novel that appeals to both a reader's senses and intelligence.
The central situation here will sound more contrived in my summary than it is in Waldman's execution. Here goes: Two years after the attacks, a jury of artists, academics and one noncredentialed civilian — a Sept. 11 widow — has been convened to sift through some 5,000 blind design entries for a memorial at the site of ground zero. In the opening chapter, a winner is chosen and then the dumbfounded jury learns that its pick is an American Muslim architect named Mohammed Khan. The chief champion of Khan's design was the Sept. 11 widow, Claire Burwell.
Waldman succinctly characterizes Claire's grief for her late husband this way: "It had been two years. He appeared in her dreams but vanished on waking, and she spoke of him in qualities — positive, ebullient, smart, principled — that had no texture." Claire initially loves the design for a rectangular walled garden as a memorial — especially, the fact that it would be composed of both life-affirming greenery as well as steel trees made out of salvaged scraps from The World Trade Center. But, as soon as Khan's name is leaked to the public, controversy rages about the identity of the architect and his garden design: It seems Islamic to some critics. In fact, Lou Sarge, a Rush Limbaugh-like radio personality, charges that the garden is Mohammed Khan's sly strategy to construct an Islamic martyr's paradise on ground zero. Claire finds herself pressured to rethink her support for the garden. At a raucous public hearing in New York, one bereaved father poignantly states his objections: "We, who have carried the weight of loss, are now being asked to carry the weight of proving America's tolerance …"
Khan himself is an aloof guy who doesn't play well to the media: He's outraged that, as an American, he should even be called upon to justify his patriotism. As more and more voices pile into the national debate, the arguments become more complicated. A scholar opines that the World Trade Center Towers themselves contained Islamic architectural features; another Sept. 11 widow speaks out to ask if there will even be a place for her husband's name on whatever memorial will be built given that he was one of the many undocumented immigrants who worked at the towers, cleaning bathrooms and hallways.
The Submission is sure to generate a lot of discussion in book clubs across the land about the promises of democracy. In so doing, Waldman's novel itself serves a powerful memorial to Sept. 11 and the struggles of America in its aftermath.
Amy Waldman's debut novel is the most successful yet at making sense of 9/11
By Michael Prodger, The Financial Times
It is a quirk of human nature that some events are of such epic proportions that it seems only fiction can make sense of them. The only rationale for this belief is our faith that fiction can humanise the incomprehensible and uncover the deeper truths that mere reportage cannot. And so, almost before the dust had settled, there was an expectation that it would be novelists who would best make sense of September 11 2001.
Writing the "9/11" novel has, at times, seemed like a test (and a race), a cunningly thought-out exercise to try the mettle of some of the brightest and best in the class. Novelists were quick to take up the challenge: Don DeLillo's Falling Man, Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children, Paul Auster's Man in the Dark, John Updike's Terrorist, Martin Amis's "The Last Days of Muhammad Atta", Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close … and more.
There are some decent books here (and some woefully meretricious ones) but, overall, they are not a very successful bunch, the subject being dealt with too obliquely or with a delicacy that stayed the writer's hand. It is perhaps simply too soon to have grasped the enormity of what happened or indeed, as some have wondered, whether it was quite as enormous as it seemed at the time and if the fall of the twin towers did, in fact, shift the world on its axis. After all, it took decades before America's other recent national trauma, Vietnam, was properly addressed in fiction by the likes of Tobias Wolff, Denis Johnson and Karl Marlantes.
Ten years on and a greater sense of perspective as to the meaning of those two aeroplanes in a sunny New York sky is now possible, so the appearance of the best 9/11 novel to date shouldn't come as a surprise. What is a surprise, though, is that The Submission is a debut novel. In it Amy Waldman deals not with the attack itself but with the knots in which the US has tied itself in the aftermath.
This is a counter-factual fiction that starts with the competition to design a memorial to sit at Ground Zero, a site that is "a memorial only to America's diminished greatness". The carefully selected jury argues its way through the anonymous submissions to a winner. It settles on a design for a geometrical garden, with steel trees and a wall inscribed with the names of the dead – something calming, imperishable, regenerative. The jurors' relief at negotiating the high profile and fractious process is judderingly cut short when the chairman opens the envelope containing the name of the designer: Mohammad Khan. Or, as one juror spouts, "Jesus fucking Christ! It's a goddamn Muslim!"
That the winner of this most sensitive of all commissions could be a co-religionist of the attackers seems at first a trick of malign fate and then sends the jury into a tailspin. Should they abide by their decision and present it as an example of US democracy, inclusiveness and forgiveness or choose another design to assuage the outrage of not just the bereaved families but of the millions of Americans who would see a Muslim winner as an insult to the dead and a symbol of their country's ultimate humiliation? When the decision is leaked to the press such niceties hardly matter and the fact that Khan is both an American by birth and an agnostic is irrelevant.
From this coup de théâtre Waldman skilfully spins out an ever-widening cast list as the waves of the decision wash over redneck victim support groups, a vociferous Muslim rights group, the waspish jury chairman who loses control, the governor who manipulates the crisis to help her political ambitions, a scruple-free journalist ravenous for scoops, an illegal immigrant Bangladeshi whose husband, a cleaner, died in the attack: all of US society has a stake.
At the heart of the storm stand Mohammad Khan and Claire Burwell, a 9/11 widow and the representative of the bereaved on the jury. With great adroitness Waldman portrays her vacillations as she grapples with the ramification of the decision as those of liberal America itself. Just how far can democracy and the dictates of conscience go when faced with the visceral tug of loss and shock? Mo meanwhile finds himself pushed into intransigence by the furore because he believes that were he white he would never have been asked either to explain or change his design. What Claire and Mo need from each other is a recognition of what they are suffering, of the purity of their motives. Neither can give it.
As the consequences of the memorial decision accelerate towards tragedy the participants have to square the cost of multicultural compromises against the ideal of the US's self-appointed role as the city upon a hill. It is a struggle Waldman depicts with both intelligence and wit, in accomplished prose. This is a deeply thoughtful and moving account of the myriad ways in which, when the towers came down, the US psyche became a casualty too.
Amy Waldman's exceptional debut novel looks at a changing America
By Kamila Shamsie, The Guardian
Perhaps the representatives of fiction writing and non-fiction writing in America didn't gather in a smoke-filled room at the end of 2001 and divide territory. Perhaps the fiction writers didn't claim for themselves the individual tales of trauma around the day itself (signatories include Jonathan Safron Foer, Don DeLillo, Claire Messud) while the non-fiction writers held on to History and Politics leading up to and on from 9/11 (Lawrence Wright, Jane Meyer, Rajiv Chandrasekaran). If it did happen, then Amy Waldman – former bureau chief for the New York Times – simply decided to tear up the contract.
While there is no shortage of American writers who bemoan all that has been done to their nation, by their nation, in the name of 9/11, there has been, until now, a dearth of American novels exploring that particular trajectory (there is a dearth of American novelists exploring what has been done to other nations by their nation, too, but that's another matter). There are, of course, various ideas about why this is so. One of them is this: how do you take the trauma and grief of 9/11 as the starting point of a novel and move on to a tale of suspended civil liberties and prejudice without the former entirely overshadowing the latter? Waldman takes hold of this potential stumbling block and turns it into the bedrock of her novel. The grief surrounding 9/11 – the forms it takes, the claims it makes, the claims made in its name by third parties, the hierarchy which surrounds it (not all griefs are equal), the guilt and anger which are born from it, the gulf between the silence of private grief and the clamour of public grief – is central to this exceptional debut about a changing America.
The novel starts in New York in 2003 during a tense jury meeting. The judges must decide which anonymously submitted design will become the September 11 memorial, built on the site of the World Trade Center. Backing a design known as "The Void" is the influential artist Ariana Montagu; in favour of "The Garden" is the beautiful widow Claire Burwell, who represents the families of those who died on September 11. Only when a decision is reached does the chair of the jury open the envelope containing the name of the architect.
The astute reader might not be surprised, having read the novel's title, at discovering the name of the architect. The word "Muslim", after all, means "one who submits". The jury lurches into chaos: what should be done? What are the consequences – to the nation, to the jury, to the memorial – of choosing a Muslim architect to commemorate 9/11? Isn't it important to at least find out what kind of Muslim he is before announcing the winner? Claire Burwell is steadfast in her support of the design – her late husband, killed in the attacks, would have been appalled at the idea of such discrimination. Before the chair of the jury can decide how to proceed, someone (who?) leaks the story to a tabloid newspaper.
Enter the architect Mohammad Khan, wholly secular, ferociously ambitious. An American-born-and-bred child of migrants, he can't begin to understand why his father starts going to the mosque after 9/11. This isn't to say he's unaware of what it means to be identified as an American Muslim after the attacks – following a trip to Afghanistan, where he submits a design to build the new American embassy in Kabul, he grows a beard to test the responses of his fellow citizens.
The uproar that surrounds the newspaper reports that the winning architect is Muslim is only exacerbated when the design becomes public. "A Lovely Garden – and an Islamic One?" reads the Times's headline the following day; the question in the headline is quickly taken up as fact by a group called Save America from Islam, which declares that Khan has designed "an Islamic garden, this martyr's paradise … a code to jihadis". Asked to answer questions about influences and intentions, Khan refuses. If he weren't Muslim, he says, no one would ask the question. Claire Burwell, his greatest champion, is not the only one to be bewildered by his refusal.
How are we to read Mohammad Khan? Is he standing up for his rights, or merely assuming an arrogant position that places him outside history? Should he step off his high horse and try to understand the confusion of those who lost loved ones in the attack and have been surrounded for two years with rhetoric which equates the attacks with Islam itself? Should he see the questions as opportunities to build a bridge, or is he right to believe that once you start apologising for the actions of terrorists you implicitly accept that they represent all Muslims? Is he naive, or brave, or does he have something to hide?
These questions are given texture and complexity by the characters who surround Khan and Burwell, all with their competing griefs and/or agendas. There's Asma Anwar, the Bangladeshi woman whose husband was killed in the attacks, yet who doesn't quite belong in the official pantheon of Grieving Family Members because she is, as her husband was, an illegal alien. There's Sean Gallagher, unofficial leader of the Angry Family Members, whose brother was killed in the attacks and who finds himself allied with Save America from Islam, which is not wholly to his liking; Alyssa Spier, the newspaper columnist who ignites and feeds the fire around the winning design; Laila Fathi, the Iranian-American lawyer with whom Khan begins an affair; Lou Sarge, the rightwing radio "shockjock"; the Muslim American Coordinating Council, which agrees by a 12-8 vote to support Khan, but only on its own terms; the governor with an eye on re-election; the chair of the jury with a reputation to maintain.
The characters surrounding Khan whose agendas don't issue from genuine grief are easy enough to reach judgments about. But the novel centres on Khan and the three family members – Asma Anwar, Sean Gallagher and Claire Burwell. Through their stories and interactions Waldman builds a tale of complexity and tension. A gunshot always seems a more likely outcome than a group hug, but it is equally possible that the violent outcome won't involve bloodshed but the death of already-damaged ideals.
Waldman's prose is almost always pitch-perfect, whether describing a Bangladeshi woman's relationship with her landlady or the political manoeuvring within a jury. The characters are wholly realised and believable as individuals, but they also stand in for stories and conflicts that go beyond their own lives. Particularly adept is the mirroring of Khan's growing self-righteousness with Burwell's crumbling liberal attitudes. If either of them had been less flawed both would have come out of it better. There is, of course, a lesson there – but it never feels like a lesson.
The Submission would have been a remarkable response to last year's Cordoba House/Park 51 debacle in America, with its Qur'an burnings, its editorials about the difference between what is legal and what is acceptable, its reminder that not all post-9/11 conflicts were taking place outside America. In fact the novel was conceived – and its first draft written – before the explosive arguments around the proposals for a Muslim cultural centre near Ground Zero. Those oft-repeated claims about the novelist's need to take "the long view" and wait years after an event to write convincingly about it overlook the fact that novels can also anticipate what is yet to come – even if "what is yet to come" overtakes the publication of the novel. (It's worth mentioning here Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the first draft of which was finished before 9/11.)
The final section of the novel takes place 20 years after the main events, and more than a decade into our future. Waldman's imagined America of the future has "self-corrected" away from its mood of paranoia, the suspicion between its Muslim and non-Muslim citizens a thing of the past. From another writer this might sound like unwarranted optimism, but Waldman has been so sure-footed until now that it would be churlish not to hope that she is right about this, too.
A new novel about the media circus surrounding a 9/11 memorial is political fiction at its most powerful
By Laura Miller, Salon
The premise of Amy Waldman's powerful first novel, "The Submission," can be distilled readily enough: Two years after New York City is struck by a catastrophic terrorist attack (essentially identical to 9/11, although never identified as such in the book), a jury selects a design for the memorial in an anonymous competition. Then they discover that the architect of their choice is a Muslim American.
A high concept, indeed, yet it's all too easy to imagine how film studio executives might pick apart "The Submission" if it were, say, a screenplay. "Whose story is this?" they'd ask. "Who are we supposed to identify with?" Is the main character the juror chosen to represent "the families," Claire Burwell, a cool, rich blonde whose husband died in the towers and who champions Mohammed "Mo" Khan's design from the start? Or is it Mo himself, an elegant secular Muslim who refuses to address the predictable controversy that soon billows around the jury's decision? Or is it Asma Anwar, the widow of a Bengali janitor also killed in the attack, but, as an illegal immigrant, shut out of the rituals of public mourning? Or could it be one of the dark horses in the story — jury chairman Paul Rubin, in charge of the whole project, or family-member activist Sean Gallagher, a one-time working-class screw-up who in a single day lost a brother and gained a cause? Could it even be Alyssa Spier, the tabloid reporter who parlays the news of Mo's selection into a columnist gig at the New York Post?
"The Submission" clicks through the points of view of each of these characters like a carousel slide projector, each time offering a different perspective tinted by a different fall of light. Furthermore, the characters' own thoughts and feelings about the memorial — should Mo and the jury insist on pushing his design through? Should the public be allowed to override them? Should Mo withdraw in the interests of national "healing"? — are constantly shifting. Whoever gets charged with turning this book into a movie (that is, if it ends up being as successful as it deserves to be) cannot be envied. As a popular entertainment, "The Submission" lacks heroic focus and a decisive notion of who's right and who's wrong.
These are also the qualities that make "The Submission" so satisfying as a novel. Waldman does what only a novelist can do: provide her readers with access to the protean inner lives of a half-dozen conflicted individuals, each with his or her own peculiar history and partial perspective on the world. In direct, uncluttered prose (there's no time to be vague or allusive with so much psychic territory to cover), Waldman charts the evolution of the memorial controversy, a media circus in which each participant's position is simultaneously understandable and untenable.
In the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani favorably compared "The Submission" to the ostentatiously "social" novels of Tom Wolfe. That's reasonable, but a more fitting bookend would be last year's "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen; Waldman, unlike Wolfe, is no polemicist, and her theme and title are the shadows of Franzen's freedom. The submission is both Mo's entry in the design competition — a geometrical garden that his critics interpret as a "martyr's paradise" — and the derivation of the word "Islam," which signifies surrender to the will of God.
Each of the novel's characters must decide what he or she will submit to. Sparring with a snooty jury member who initially rejects the garden as "too soft … Designed to please the same Americans who love Impressionism," Claire doesn't hesitate to call upon the emotional authority of her own loss. But, having done so, how can she then disregard the objections of family members like Sean's father, who tells the New York Times that he objects to Mo's design because "They killed my son. Is that reason enough for you? And I don't want one of their names over his grave." Should she serve the constituency she supposedly represents on the jury, or the memory of her husband, who she believes would want the garden? For his part, Mo is compelled to choose between the dictates of his ambition and his own bristly pride — "Why should I be responsible for assuaging fears I didn't create?" he demands of Claire. And as for the jury, they'll have to decide between commitment to the process and bowing to public opinion.
Ambivalence about democracy lies at the heart of Waldman's novel. For New York's politicking governor (determined to ride this thing to the White House), that's not a problem. Initially vetoing a jury consisting entirely of family members ("We don't want a bunch of firefighters deciding to put a giant helmet in Manhattan"), she smoothly switches to demagoguery when it suits her ends. Alyssa, likewise, never wavers from her shabby sense of vocation: "A tabby all the way — that's what she was. She had no ideology, believed only in information, which she obtained, traded, peddled, packaged and published." (Waldman, a former New York Times reporter who covered 9/11, can be hard on her former colleagues.)
But if Waldman's pragmatic characters are often contemptible, the impassioned ones are worse. Waldman has a magpie tendency to tuck scraps from real news stories into her fiction. One of her most absurd characters is manifestly based on the garish anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller. Sean soon has cause to regret linking his group with hers, a brigade of dementedly energetic, slogan-chanting women who carry around copies of the Quran with the inflammatory passages marked out with orange highlighter. More unnerving is the transformation of Sean's mother from grieving parent to implacable matriarch as she prosecutes the campaign against Mo's design as if it were a blood feud.
Sean's scenes are among the novel's best. If Franzen is the more accomplished stylist, Waldman is a keener social observer, and this is nowhere more evident than in her handling of the class friction that underlies Sean's interactions with Claire and Paul. The four pages in which Paul, finally consenting to meet in a power-broker hangout, succeeds in making Sean feel comprehensively impotent, "a no-name worthy of addressing but not worthy of knowing … An audience, not a player," are an acute précis of 21st-century America's political resentments. Blundering into bad company and booby-trapped political stances, Sean never entirely falls out of the reader's sympathy. He means well enough: That's his tragedy.
"Sometimes," Mo tells his father, "America has to be pushed — it has to be reminded of what it is." Waldman's novel doesn't push — what novel can, these days? But it does explore, shrewdly, persistently and compassionately without resorting to easy answers or cheap heroics. And that makes it the best reminder of all.
The Right Architect With The Wrong Name
By Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"A decade after 9/11, Amy Waldman's nervy and absorbing new novel, "The Submission," tackles the aftermath of such a terrorist attack head-on. The result reads as if the author had embraced Tom Wolfe's famous call for a new social realism — for fiction writers to use their reporting skills to depict "this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, Hog-stomping baroque country of ours" — and in doing so, has come up with a story that has more verisimilitude, more political resonance and way more heart than Mr. Wolfe's own 1987 best seller, "The Bonfire of the Vanities."
In "The Submission" Ms. Waldman, a former reporter for The New York Times, imagines what would happen if a jury in charge of selecting a ground zero-like memorial were to choose, from among the many anonymous submissions, a design that turns out to have been created by a Muslim-American architect.
Though this may sound, in summary, like a contrived, high-concept premise, Ms. Waldman not only captures the political furor and media storm that ensue, but also gives us an intimate, immediate sense of the fallout that these events have on the individuals involved….
Writing in limber, detailed prose, Ms. Waldman has created a choral novel with a big historical backdrop and pointillist emotional detail, a novel that gives the reader a visceral understanding of how New York City and the country at large reacted to 9/11, and how that terrible day affected some Americans' attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants….
Ms. Waldman does an affecting job of showing how people who have lost relatives in the terrorist attack are trying to grapple with their own confusion and conflicting emotions, even as they find themselves caught up in a political conflagration. Indeed, it is Ms. Waldman's ability to depict their grief and anger — as well as Mo's dream of creating a beautiful memorial, and his subsequent disillusion — that lends this novel its extraordinary emotional ballast, and that reminds us how inextricably linked the personal and the political, the private and the public have become in our post-9/11 world."
By Chris Cleave, The Washington Post
In 1981, Maya Lin, a 21-year-old architecture student at Yale, won the competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The starkness of her design, as well as her ethnicity as an Asian American, fueled controversy over her victory. Politicians, art critics and veterans excoriated her, and she was forced to defend her work before Congress. A little more than two decades later, when a jury convened in New York City to decide which of more than 5,000 submissions would become the winning design for the 9/11 Memorial, Lin's presence on the panel served as a reminder of the difficulties of aligning public art, private grief and main street opinion in the wake of a national tragedy. Joining Lin on the jury was a single representative of the victims' families, along with notable public servants, academics, architects and artists — all charged with the contentious task of memorializing the dead in the void left after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In January 2004, the jury announced its winner: a design called "Reflecting Absence," by Israeli American architect Michael Arad. Like Lin's victory, Arad's was challenged, and several compromises had to be made before his winning design was accepted. Construction began in 2006, and the memorial is scheduled to open on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Now, perfectly timed, comes Amy Waldman's provocative first novel, an alternative history of the memorialization of the 9/11 victims.
In "The Submission," Waldman conforms to the allohistorical convention by mutating just one chromosome of history's DNA and then dissecting the resulting species. Rather than picking Arad's design, the jury in this novel anoints a project called "The Garden." When they open the blinded submission dossier, the jurors are disturbed to discover that the winning architect is Mohammad Khan, an American Muslim. Disquiet turns to dismay when the tabloids amp up the result into a national controversy.
The public debate moves from the design's attributes to its attribution, and thus Waldman unleashes a storm designed to call to mind the ongoing real-life furor over the construction of Park51, the planned Muslim community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
The ensuing drama changes the lives of every member of the novel's ensemble cast. The rich investor's WASP-ish widow, the dead janitor's illegal immigrant wife, the demagogic politician, the desperate tabloid hack, the beleaguered chairman of the competition jury, the dead FDNY hero's low-life brother, the radio shock jock, the Muslim community organizer, the white trash incendiary blogger and, of course, the besieged winning architect are all represented here. It is a mark of Waldman's skill that she marshals these disparate forces in the service of a coherent, timely and fascinating examination of a grieving America's relationship with itself.…
—Chris Cleave, The Washington Post
"Amy Waldman has performed a rare and dangerous feat, writing an airtight, highly readable post-9/11 novel. When a Muslim wins a blind competition to design a Ground Zero Memorial, a city of 11 million takes notice. The result is honest, compelling, and breathtaking." –Amazon Best Books of August; Top Ten Editors' Pick for Fall
"Masterful . . . [A] scathing, dazzlingly crafted indictment of the messes people make when they mistake ideology for morality and bigotry for patriotism . . . Waldman, an ex-New York Times bureau chief, unspools her story with the truth-bound grit of a seasoned journalist and the elegance of a born novelist." —Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
"In her magnetizing first novel, replete with searing insights and exquisite metaphors, Waldman…maps shadowy psychological terrain and a vast social minefield as conflicted men and women confront life-and-death moral quandaries within the glare and din of a media carnival. Waldman brilliantly delineates the legacy of 9/11; the confluence of art, religion, and politics; the plexus between the individual and the group; and the glory of transcendent empathy in The Bonfire of the Vanities for our time." —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
"Waldman fluidly blends her reporter's skill . . . at rapid-fire storytelling with a novelist's gift for nuanced characterization. She dares readers to confront their own complicated prejudices steeped in faith, culture, and class. This is an insightful, courageous, heartbreaking work that should be read, discussed, then read again." —Sally Bissell, Library Journal (starred review)
"Addictively readable . . . Not unlike The Wire's David Simon, Waldman… has an eye for the less sound bite–worthy but crucial ways in which ideology and influence make their imprint on the world . . . as well as the ability to dramatize how the abstract choices made by elites in a conference room have unfathomable repercussions for others with narrower options….A frank exposé of American bigotry—and a nuanced examination of the way in which a national tragedy brings out the best and worst in its citizens." —Megan O'Grady, Vogue
"[A] gripping, deeply intelligent novel . . . Panoramic in scope but thrillingly light on its feet . . . Waldman does a masterful job of getting into the heads of New Yorkers . . . [A] dazzling tapestry of a grieving city." —Kimberly Cutter, Marie Claire
"A quietly brilliant story . . .The genius of Waldman's novel is that it captures the manner in which a member of a group that has become part of an ideological tussle will often come to be stripped of his humanity and viewed as a symbol . . . A searing personal saga." —Rayyan Al-Shawaf, New York Press
"[A] poised and commanding debut novel . . . A remarkably assured portrait of how a populace grows maddened and confused when ideology trumps empathy. A stellar debut. Waldman's book reflects a much-needed understanding of American paranoia in the post-9/11 world." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Fiction about 9/11 often reeks of exploitation, but there's not a whiff of it in this dynamic, emotionally evocative novel about a contest to design a New York City memorial….Empathetic about grief yet astute about opportunism, former reporter Waldman's first novel is a sure-footed, sensitive triumph." —Caryn James, MORE
"Frighteningly plausible and tightly wound . . . Waldman addresses with a refreshing frankness thorny moral questions and ethical ironies without resorting to breathless hyperbole." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Amy Waldman's The Submission is a wrenching panoramic novel about the politics of grief in the wake of 9/11. From the aeries of municipal government and social power, to the wolf-pack cynicism of the press, to the everyday lives of the most invisible of illegal immigrants and all the families that were left behind, Waldman captures a wildly diverse city wrestling with itself in the face of a shared trauma like no other in its history." —Richard Price, author of Freedomland and Lush Life
"Amy Waldman writes like a possessed angel. She also has the emotional smarts to write a story about Islam in America that fearlessly lasers through all our hallucinatory politics with elegant concision. This is no dull and worthy saga; it's a literary breakthrough that reads fast and breaks your heart." —Lorraine Adams, author of Harbor and The Room and the Chair


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Ambrose Skinner
Pvt, Co. E, 36 USCT [United States Colored Troops]
1846 -- 1922
Forest Lawn Section, Block 39, Tier 1, Space 1
Contributed on 11/18/13 by donnatreez
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Record #: 90107
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Submitted: 11/18/13 • Approved: 11/18/13 • Last Updated: 3/24/18 • R90107-G0-S3


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