Kirjahaku

A memoir about an estranged mother and adult son traveling through Europe, discovering adventure, pleasure, and each other. Coincident with American bombing of Libya, the duo become immersed in the aftermath--hiding in a bunker, espying OPEC ministers debating the next action, becoming unwitting targets of terrorists, strolling in the radiation-laden air of Chernobyl. The outcome is surprising -- opening the doors to a second family. learning about a secret genetic heritage, coming to terms with and respecting life choices for each.

The author met 'his philosopher' fifty-four yars ago--a man who teaches by the Socratic method, who stays in touch with his students for their whole career, and who values non-conformity in the best sense of the word. Most faculty deeply learn their field, plumb its depths zealously, and relish the fruits of their labor. Some continue the quest--for knowledge, for the frontier, for the important 'next questions'--which means giving up the accolades and perquisites of the learned for the unknown field yet unplowed. Fewer still imbue their students with these same qualities, which was the gift of Carver Mead for the author. This monograph pinpoints the lessons that Mead provided--and the sometimes unexpected results--with the thought that such ideas may inspire others to assert their maverick, independent ways...cheerfully abandoning the cloak of success for the next great quest to help advance knowledge, products, and services for a world sorely in need of contribution on many fronts.

The life of painter and poet Henry Faulkner, from his childhood in rural Kentucky to a flamboyant bohemian existence in New York, Los Angeles, Key West, and Sicily. The author sheds light on the tragic tensions experienced by the artist in contemporary America.

"Being of these hills," James Still writes in his poem, Heritage, "being one with the fox ...I cannot pass beyond." A thread that winds through the essays in this book is this notion of being able to take the boy out of the hills but not the hills out of the boy. The essays are not only about eastern Kentucky. They are about seeing and experiencing things through an eastern Kentucky filter no matter how far and wide the author has travelled.

Portland, Oregon is a gardener's mecca. Visitors throng the world-famous International Rose Garden, the Peninsula Park Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden, and the Crystal Springs Rhododendron garden year-round. But the excitement for many lies in the city's myriad local neighborhoods, planted by homeowners for more than a century, unheralded by outsiders but revered by locals. Mid-February begins a cornucopia of color bookmarked by daffodils that lasts until the end of March--none of Portland's features noted above (roses, Japanese flora, and rhododendrons, let alone azaleas) are yet obvious.