Brian D. Miller

Is our work merely a way to put food on the table, or does it have inherent value? Should our work define us? Does it play too large a role in our lives? Does it make us feel more human, or less so? This issue explores the realities of work for people with various jobs, but also probes the reasons people work and what they hope to gain from their labor. From warehouse workers to poets, food delivery specialists to cloistered nuns, farmers to police officers, this issue considers personal, spiritual, and social aspects of one of the most basic human activities. On this theme: James Rebanks prepares to pass on the farm to his children. Benoit Gautier rides a shuttlebus with dislocated French warehouse workers. Shira Telushkin asks why young women today are becoming cloistered nuns. Ben Wray talks to food-delivery riders in three countries about their attempts to organize. John Clair, a police chief, wants policing to be about relationships, not statistics. Norann Voll tells how her father taught her to embrace her blue-collar roots. Maureen Swinger honors the unpaid and unheralded work of caring for an aging loved one. Alastair Roberts recommends the divine rhythm of work and Sabbath rest God established in Genesis. Also in this issue: Adam Nicolson finds a different sort of freedom sailing a sixteen-foot wooden boat. Alister McGrath explores the connection between detective fiction and the spiritual quest. Tish Harrison Warren introduces Stanley Hauerwas to new audiences. Christian Wiman shares a new poem about a glass-eyed monk. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

Brian Miller's Kayaking with Lambs is about the idyllic farm life of your imagination--fresh fruits and vegetables, livestock large and small, endless gatherings of kith and kin around a table of homegrown food and handmade drink. It is also about pain, blood, deaths, mud, storms, droughts, and failures. The author, who owns a small East Tennessee farm, lives an ""antiquated life,"" that is, a life often out of sync with modernity and closely in sync with the natural world. His book is structured as a breviary broken into the eight monastic offices of the day. Written as a series of meditative notes, it follows his efforts to live with purpose and stewardship. Kayaking with Lambs is about learning to dwell alongside neighbors, nature, and even the planet as if it mattered. In language that is poetic and writing that is honest, insightful, poignant, wry, and self-deprecating, Miller ponders everything from the cycles of life to his family heritage to what Wes Jackson refers to as ""becoming native to this place."" And, of course, he shares the many times along his journey that he's found himself in situations totally unforeseen when he began . . . like kayaking with lambs.

Brian Miller's Kayaking with Lambs is about the idyllic farm life of your imagination--fresh fruits and vegetables, livestock large and small, endless gatherings of kith and kin around a table of homegrown food and handmade drink. It is also about pain, blood, deaths, mud, storms, droughts, and failures. The author, who owns a small East Tennessee farm, lives an "antiquated life," that is, a life often out of sync with modernity and closely in sync with the natural world. His book is structured as a breviary broken into the eight monastic offices of the day. Written as a series of meditative notes, it follows his efforts to live with purpose and stewardship. Kayaking with Lambs is about learning to dwell alongside neighbors, nature, and even the planet as if it mattered. In language that is poetic and writing that is honest, insightful, poignant, wry, and self-deprecating, Miller ponders everything from the cycles of life to his family heritage to what Wes Jackson refers to as "becoming native to this place." And, of course, he shares the many times along his journey that he's found himself in situations totally unforeseen when he began . . . like kayaking with lambs.

Learn everything there is to know, from project planning through marketing and analytics, about Web design!Principles of Web Design is a book about the fundamentals of clear graphic communication within the context of Web design. Author Brian D. Miller is a sought-after expert in developing product and digital branding strategies for emerging startups and Fortune 500 organizations. In Principles of Web Design, he will teach the reader the tricks of the trade and everything one should know about web design through easy, step-by-step guides and with full-color illustrations. The book has three sections, which follow the cycle of a typical Web project: PLAN: This section focuses on the predesign phase of a Web project. Everything from project planning and brief writing to information architecture and responsive grid creation will be covered.DESIGN: The second section of Priciples of Web Design explores the enduring principles of design and the nuances that are specific to the field of Web design. OPTIMIZE: Finally, we close the loop and discover ways to enable your client to maximize the investment they’ve made in their Web site with marketing and analytics.

Above the Fold is a book about the fundamentals of clear graphic communication within the context of Web design. The book has three sections, which follow the cycle of a typical Web project: PLAN Section I focuses on the predesign phase of a Web project. From project planning and brief writing to information architecture and responsive grid creation.DESIGN The second section of Above the Fold explores the enduring principles of design and the nuances that are specific to the field of Web design.OPTIMIZE Finally, we close the loop and discover ways to enable your client to maximize the investment they've made in their Web site with marketing and analytics.