Who is Richard Stands and Why Do Our Children Pledge Their Allegiance to Him?

I remember my first day of school first as a student and then as a teacher. I was even more nervous as a teacher. I knew the material. I understood what I was supposed to teach. But I felt unprepared. When I walked into that classroom, I had no idea how to get my kids to buy what I was selling. After two years of uncertainty and self-doubt, I decided to stop trying to be something I wasn’t. I started being me. No more referring to my class as students. They were now “my kids.” A wise, veteran teacher once told me, “Get your kids to love you and they will do whatever you ask.” That’s exactly what we did. We started building real connections with the kids and their parents. The kids bought in. A lot of the parents did too. This family environment created daily rewards for all of us. These daily rewards were the reason we all wanted to be there.

Open the book. Read the first chapter. Then maybe the chapter on daily rewards. Relate it to your own experiences. See how we created a ‘Triangle of Trust.’ See how we created a family each year for eighteen years. A classroom filled with kindness, compassion, and a lot of laughter and joy. A classroom where good learning flourishes. It works. It’s fun. It’s a real family. Your family. I hope you enjoy it. I still miss opening the door each morning and turning on the light.

Holy Water in my Scotch

If you are looking for hope in the midst of life on life's terms today, this is the book for you. You will identify…no matter your gender, age, culture or stage of life, as Suzanne deals with her life with grace and gratitude. You will enjoy her treasured love story… Sue and Jim, and their mission together. You will be inspired by the hardships she describes overcoming and the faith that led her through these ordeals. You will laugh and cry as she faces every crisis armed with her mother's magical gift--her faith in the power of blessed holy water--does it work??? Please read and decide for yourself. Either way, be prepared to find HOPE!

Melissa and Kasho

Melissa, a shy teenage girl, feels lost in a transnational high society world that drives her to the depths of despair. But her attraction to the very human Kasho, who has snippets of philosophy to impart, eventually enables her to develop her own strengths. But Kasho doesn't dwell physically on Earth. Melissa's realistic story traverses class, gender, and power dynamics. She is expected to walk, or is bullied into walking, a certain path required of her class, including marrying a certain man. It's only when she connects with Kasho, a native man whose values are in-line with hers, that she finds a kindred spirit who truly sees her. In an age of bullying and teen suicide, the resonating lesson throughout the story is "There is always a way of making your life better." But how will she and her best friend, Daisy, find it?

Nauvoo: A City Set on a Hill

Brigham Young was the American Moses who led pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Colonizing vast tracks of the arid West, they made the deserts bloom. Few know of the beginnings and the crucibles forced upon early Mormons. And what of the drivings in the east and Missouri? What of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and new revelations from God, spreading across two continents, energizing thousands to leave their homes to build Zion, gathering to Nauvoo for the end of times? 1842 was an axial year. In England, Queen Victoria oversaw the industrial revolution that enriched some but unemployed millions. In America, people wrestled with slavery, Manifest Destiny, relocation of Native Americans, and religious awakening. Principled men and women rose to proclaim their vision, sacrificing reputations, lives, and wealth on the altar of convenience. Milena Stuart and her brother Diomedes were captured in the net of dreams, choosing to immigrate for opposing reasons, witnessing for themselves the turbulence erupting on the broad frontier. Would God allow this Camp of Israel to be driven from the States or would divine protection be manifest? Would that providence come in a timely fashion or in the form of isolating rag-tag refugees from the growing inferno that would soon consume the nation in the Civil War? Nauvoo is a victorious tale of joy and hope, fear and despair, sinners and saints. And the story goes on.

The Raindrop and the Bubble

A raindrop and a bubble decide to switch places, thinking they would enjoy themselves more by being able to do all the things the other could do. At first, it’s exciting and new, but after a while, it wasn’t the same. Through their journey, they both learn a valuable lesson in self-discovery: “Be the best you that you can best be!” With its positive message, it’s Aesop meets Dr. Seuss: A cross between a classic fable and an illustrated nursery rhyme with delightful characters that jump off the page thanks to the colorful artwork.

The Secret of the Bubble Bees

Hello,

My sweet little friend!

This tiny book has a wonderful and mysterious story to tell you...

Perhaps we could even call it a little miracle of nature.

A miracle that only a few chosen ones have witnessed.

The Secret of the Bubble Bees is more than just a simple book and a fairy tale. It is a concept which has been designed to inspire imagination, creativity, and mindset development in children, in a value-based growth environment.

A Comedy of Pretzels

When tradition twists with popular culture and lands on “people’s oral humor,” idealistic Reuben Lamberth finds himself in a mess. He is a young, progressive, inspired scholar teaching at a prestigious northeastern university, but his other unique self has another foot planted secretly in the world of standup comedy as Josh Sandburg. His stage name is a composite of ‘joshing’ and the renowned American poet Carl Sandburg. Neither his fully tenured professor wife Byrra who is enmeshed in a cabal of women’s faculty; his tough minor gangster-hood father Solly; his staid sociology chairperson and conventional colleagues; nor his tyrannical University President Jeremiah Brittle have any idea that he performs in comedy clubs as Josh Sandburg. Should he be outed, there is considerable doubt that he will be upgraded to the coveted position of tenure, and his marriage may suffer as well. Reuben wonders, Is it worth giving up academia and taking a flyer in the world of comedy culture? The finale in this novel reveals tantalizing internecine connections that land squarely the realm of people’s oral humor.

Bloodlines - Harsh Fate

Bloodlines – Harsh Fate is a fantasy, set on the continent of Mataan, a land originally inhabited by humans, elves and dwarves, for the most part. A many-decade long war, with a race of people known as Krakons, from across the ocean, has defeated the original races and taken over the lands of Mataan. The human race has been assimilated into Krakon society as a slave class, a few scattered to wild lands in the northwest, now called the Outlaw Kingdom. But there has been a foretelling of a Ravenlock, the old rulers of the dark Wars era, that would rise up once more, unite the races, and renew the war with the Krakons. A Renewing of the first formal Joining, the true sign of this prophecy. This is the story of one of Raklor Ravenlock’s scion, hundreds of years after the Dark Wars, found deep in the mountains of the Outlaw Kingdom – a short and somewhat concise telling of the events, occurrences, and happenings of his formative years. His journey to this fabled renewing.

Redemption in the Majella Mountains

Ken’s grandfather always inspired him, as a child, to respect and love the outdoors and to find in nature the introspection and refuge to allow every person to solve any of life’s vicissitudes. Recalling his grandfather’s philosophy, the author carries the reader through the mesmerizing beauty of the Majella mountains in the Abruzzi region of Central Italy. There Ken has the protagonist first find refuge, and ultimately, find redemption from the helter-skelter corporate life he left behind. These two existences, ambition and introspection, clash and confront each other so that the reader sees the unforgiving life of ambition lived by a grizzled corporate veteran pit itself against the newly-found introspective existence of a young man whose soul is forced to reawaken and leave behind the societal ladder to success in favor of the more simple, but much more satisfying, life of ethics and morality.

What is That Glowing Screen?