Chicago is a bona fide theater town, bursting with an explosive, innovative vitality that’s fed every sector of the entertainment industry—from Hollywood to Broadway to Studio 8H—for as long as it’s delighted adoring local fans. Ensemble is an in-depth, first-of-its-kind history of Chicago’s internationally celebrated theater scene, spanning 65 years and told through first-person accounts from the people who made it happen.Among many other topics, this book explores the early days of the fabled Compass Players and the legendary Second City in the ’50s and ’60s; the rise of internationally acclaimed ensembles like Steppenwolf in the ’70s; the explosion of storefront and neighborhood companies that began in earnest in the ’80s; and the enduring global influence of the city as the center of improv training and performance. Drawing from more than 300 interviews, author Mark Larson has woven a narrative that expresses the spirit of Chicago’s ensemble ethos: the voices of celebrities such as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Asner, George Wendt, Michael Shannon, and Tracy Letts comingle with stories from designers, composers, and others who have played a crucial role in making Chicago theater so powerful, influential, and unique.
From nurses and teachers to wildland firefighters and funeral directors—an intimate, honest, and illuminating collection of interviews that reveal what it’s like to work in America at this historic and volatile moment in time. Author Mark Larson sits down with more than one hundred workers from across the socioeconomic spectrum as they share their experiences with work and what it has meant in their lives—the good, the bad, the mundane, and the profound. Doulas, firefighters, chefs, hairstylists, executives, actors, stay-at-home parents, and so many more talk about what they do all day and how it aligns (or doesn't) with what they want to be doing with their lives. The pandemic, the ensuing “Great Resignation,” and the current reckonings with racial justice are among the forces that are now upending and reshaping our longstanding relationships with work. Larson’s interviews display how these forces collide in the lives of average Americans as they tell their own stories with passion, heartbreak, and, ultimately, hope.Working in the 21st Century asks why we show up—or don’t—to the jobs we’ve chosen, and how the upheaval of the past few years has changed how we perceive the work we do. It will be released to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Studs Terkel's 1974 classic Working.
From nurses and teachers to wildland firefighters and funeral directors—an intimate, honest, and illuminating collection of interviews that reveal what it’s like to work in America at this historic and volatile moment in time. Author Mark Larson sits down with more than one hundred workers from across the socioeconomic spectrum as they share their experiences with work and what it has meant in their lives—the good, the bad, the mundane, and the profound. Doulas, firefighters, chefs, hairstylists, executives, actors, stay-at-home parents, and so many more talk about what they do all day and how it aligns (or doesn't) with what they want to be doing with their lives. The pandemic, the ensuing “Great Resignation,” and the current reckonings with racial justice are among the forces that are now upending and reshaping our longstanding relationships with work. Larson’s interviews display how these forces collide in the lives of average Americans as they tell their own stories with passion, heartbreak, and, ultimately, hope.Working in the 21st Century asks why we show up—or don’t—to the jobs we’ve chosen, and how the upheaval of the past few years has changed how we perceive the work we do. It will be released to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Studs Terkel's 1974 classic Working.
Critical Thinking in Slovakia after Socialism interrogates the putative relationship between critical thought and society through an ethnographic study of civic discourse in post-1989 Slovakia. Critical thinking is the civic virtue of a liberal democracy. Citizens who think for themselves, cooperate, and can agree to disagree are the hallmark of a self-governing society. People from undemocratic societies, however, are often believed to lack this virtue, because authoritarian regimes smother critical discourse through fear and dull critical thought through the control of information and propaganda. After the end of Communist rule in 1989, Westernagents of democratization and educational development chided the residents of the former Czechoslovakia for this deficiency, claiming that the Slovaks' inability to think critically was the reason the nation struggled to integrate with Western Europe. Critical Thinking in Slovakia after Socialism examines this putative relationship between critical thought and society through an ethnographic study of post-1989 Slovakia. Drawing on original fieldwork and anthropological theories of language and culture, Jonathan Larson uncovers patterns of social analysis and criticism in Slovak political discourse. He exposes ways in which these discursive practices have been misinterpreted and explains their underlying dynamics in Slovak society. This important volume, bringing together scholarship on East Central Europe, liberalism, education, and the public sphere, gives students of modern history, politics,and culture a fresh perspective on a skill essential to civil society. JONATHAN L. LARSON is Assistant Professor of Education at Grinnell College, IA.
(W/A) Erik Larsen The Dragon goes berserk as the villainous Horde controls his mind and forces him to go on a rampage! Savage Dragon #12-16 (and most of WildC.A.T.s #14) is collected for the first time in this handsome volume. Superbly crafted tales with amazing art!
Kids love mysteries, and you will love promoting learning and literacy with this guide to the mystery genre! This book presents an introduction and a guide to using the various types of mysteries, including true crime, detective stories, ghosts and gothics, suspense, and many, many more! Engage learners and teach concepts within all subject areas! Content is ideal for public librarians as well as school librarians.
A convincing explanation of why interactive or movable books should be included in the library collection that documents their value as motivational instructional tools—in all areas of the school curriculum, across many grade levels.Pop-up books possess universal appeal. Everyone from preschoolers to adults loves to see and tactilely experience the beautiful three-dimensional work of Robert Sabuda, David A. Carter, and other pop-up book creators. Sabuda himself was inspired to become a pop-up book artist after experiencing the 1972 classic pop-up The Adventures of Super Pickle. The effect of these movable books on young minds is uniquely powerful. Besides riveting children's attention, pop-up books can also help build motor skills, teach cause and effect, and develop spatial understanding of objects.Based on their direct experience and many presentations to teachers and librarians, the authors have provided template lesson plans with curriculum and standards links for using the best pop-up books currently available in the instructional program of the school. The book also includes profiles of the most notable authors, a history of the format, definitions of terms such as "flap book" and "paper engineer," and information on how to create movable books. Librarians will find the section regarding collection development with the format—how and where to acquire them, proper storage methods—and the annotated listing of the authors' 50 favorite pop-ups extremely helpful.
Big Money, Less Risk: Trade Options will put the income boosting power of strategies like writing covered calls, selling naked put options, and placing vertical spread trades or iron condors in your hands. Mark Larson has become one of the most sought after trading educators because of his ability to make once elusive investment approaches accessible to every trader. Success in the stock market is determined by consistently making money every month, not closing your eyes and hoping you can afford to retire. With this book, Larson divulges the secrets to making your money work for you instead of having to work for your money. Ever dream about making 30% in one month? Big Money, Less Risk: Trade Options will put the income boosting power of strategies like writing covered calls, selling naked put options, and placing vertical spread trades or iron condors in your hands. Mark Larson has become one of the most sought after trading educators because of his ability to make once elusive investment approaches accessible to every trader. Success in the stock market is determined by consistently making money every month, not closing your eyes and hoping you can afford to retire. With this book, Larson divulges the secrets to making your money work for you instead of having to work for your money. Inside you'll learn: How to repeatedly make money when the market goes up or down.Investment strategies that allow for huge returns with the use of very little money.How to purchase good stocks at discount prices.How to make significant returns even if you are wrong on the trade. Larson will alo cover the importance of option pricing, implied volatility, the Greeks such as delta, theta, and gamma, and the probability of your option expiring profitable. Most important, you will get, in plain English, some of his favorite technical indicators and the key to how they will form the basis of your options trading success.
This highly practical book presents a complete anger and aggression management training program for middle and high school students. The volume incorporates a revised version of the author's proven "Think First" manual, which includes step-by-step skills training guidelines and 20 reproducible handouts and forms. Also provided are a clear rationale for the program and thorough instructions for screening and assessing those students who could benefit most from participation. Showing how to integrate small-group cognitive-behavioral skills training into an effective schoolwide disciplinary framework, the book offers vital tools for promoting prosocial behavior and decreasing violence risks among all students. It is an essential resource for professionals who seek both a better understanding of adolescent aggression and nuts-and-bolts strategies for dealing with it.
Erik Larson, author of #1 bestseller In the Garden of Beasts, intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their deaths. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.
This invaluable guide presents all of the information and clinical tools needed to implement the Anger Coping Program, an empirically supported intervention for students in grades 3–6. Practitioners are taken step by step through setting up treatment groups, teaching vital skills for reducing aggression and disruptive behavior, and building strong partnerships with teachers and parents. Many practical suggestions are provided for adapting the program to different settings and optimizing student outcomes. In a large-size formatto facilitate photocopying, the book includes reproducible handouts, forms, and parent letters (in English and Spanish). New to this Edition * Redesigned to be even more practitioner friendly. * Chapters on integrating the Anger Coping Program with schoolwide response to intervention (RTI) and positive behavioral supports, intervening with girls and with culturally diverse students, and working with individuals instead of groups. * Several new reproducible tools, including a classroom progress monitoring report.
Fuel for Sport is a nutrition text designed to help readers understand and apply basic sports nutrition information. It emphasizes the unique needs and challenges of meeting those needs in adolescent athletes. Readers can expect to learn and understand theories related to nutrition and human performance, such as energy content of food and how this energy is transferred to the body; how ATP relates to energy and force production; the concepts of energy balance and fuel storage within the body and their effects on power output and endurance; the important roles of each of the macronutrients and micronutrients; and how fluids before, during, and after exercise facilitate thermoregulation, nutrient transport, and maintenance of stroke volume.In addition to important information related to exercise physiology and nutrient metabolism, readers are presented with real-world applications of these principles. The author often relates theories and principles to dietary recommendations and athletic scenarios. Understanding of each topic is also enhanced through liberal use of summaries, lists, and tables.Fuel for Sport presents up-to-date, sport-specific dietary and fluid recommendations and adopts a foods-first approach to meeting macro- and micronutrient needs; included are ample examples of convenient sources of the discussed nutrients as well as dietary strategies and ideas to implement recommendations.
Improving the Odds: Raising the Class is a book aimed at legislators, school administrators, home school advocates, and college and university professors which examines the education system and provides a paradigm for improvement. The aim of this book is to find simple ways to approach improving the school system in America based on a belief that we need to build a system that has improvement built into the process of training and educating both teacher and students. Despite an extensive management structure that exists for K-12 education, most restructuring efforts do not result in better delivery of information at the classroom level. Teachers and site administrators receive little help from the current management structure in improving the product delivered to kids at the classroom level. This book calls for a restructuring of education systems in order to remove redundant and unnecessary functions and to take advantage of economies of scale.
Exploration and analysis of the innovative screenplays and novels by an award-winning playwright. Understanding Suzan-Lori Parks is a critical study of a playwright and screenwriter who was the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Suzan-Lori Parks is also the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award, a Whiting Writers Award, a CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts, two Obie Awards, and a Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts. In this book Jennifer Larson examines how Parks, through the innovative language and narratives of her extensive body of work, investigates and invigorates literary and cultural history.Larson discusses all of Parks's genres—play, screenplay, essay, and novel—closely reading key texts from Parks's more experimental earlier pieces as well as her more linear later narratives. Larson's study begins with a survey of Parks's earliest and most difficult texts including Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom and The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World. Larson then analyses Venus, In the Blood, and the Lincoln Plays: The America Play and the Pulitzer Prize–winning TopDog/Underdog.Larson also discusses two of Parks's most important screenplays, Girl 6 and Their Eyes Were Watching God. In interpreting these screenplays, Larson examines film's role in the popularisation and representation of African American culture and history. These essays suggest an approach to all genres of literature and blend creativity, form, culture, and history into a revisionary aesthetic that allows for no identity or history to remain fixed, with Parks arguing that in order to be relevant they must all be dynamic and democratic.
Walter Mosley is perhaps best known for his first published mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress, which became the basis for the 1995 movie of the same name featuring Denzel Washington. Mosley has since written more than forty books across an impressive expanse of genres including, but not limited to, nonfiction, science fiction, drama, and even young adult fiction, garnering him many honors including an O’Henry Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy Award, a Pen Center Lifetime Achievement Award, and two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction. In Understanding Walter Mosley, Jennifer Larson considers Mosley’s corpus as a whole to help readers more fully understand the evolution of his literary agenda.All Mosley’s texts feature his trademark accessibility as well as his penchant for creating narratives that both entertain and instruct. Larson examines how Mosley’s writing interrogates, complicates, and contextualizes recurring moral, social, and even personal questions. She also considers the possible roots of Mosley’s enduring popularity with a diverse group of readers. Larson then traces key themes and claims throughout the Easy Rawlins series to show how Mosley’s beloved hero offers unique perspectives on race, class, and masculinity in the mid– to late twentieth century; explores the ways in which Fearless Jones, Mosley’s second detective, both builds on and diverges from his predecessor’s character; and looks at how the works featuring Leonid McGill, Mosley’s junior detective, center on understanding the complex relationship between present-day social dilemmas and the personal as well as the communal past.Regarding Mosley’s other genres, Larson argues that the science fiction works together portray a future in which race, class, and gender are completely reimagined, yet still subject to an oppressive power dynamic, while his erotica asks readers to reconsider the dynamics of power and control but in a more personal, even intimate, context. Similarly, in Mosley’s nongenre fiction, stories are revived through a reconnection with the past, a reclaiming of cultural heritage and lineage, and a rejection of classist visions of power. Finally, Mosley’s nonfiction, which persuades his audience to act through writing, humanitarian efforts, or social uprising, offers a mix of lessons aimed at guiding readers through the same questions that inform his fiction writing.
