Mike Waters

Wishes aren't born on birthday cakes or on lost eyelashes. They're not found at the bottom of a well or in a fountain collecting old coins. They don't fall from shooting stars, and they don't dance with the dandelions blowing in the wind. But wishes, oh yes, wishes most certainly do come true. Just ask Elliot Church. For the past 40 years, Elliot has battled the sorrow and regret of a terrible mistake he made many years ago. Now, with his health ailing, he takes a train across the Alaskan wilderness on a journey to make amends. Along the way, he meets an inquisitive, little girl and recounts the magical tales of his childhood spent with his best friend, Wisher, the rambunctious, wide-eyed dreamer next door. Wisher has an incredible gift... he can wish things true. He has the magical ability to close his eyes and bring the unimaginable to life, turning one magnificent adventure after the next into their wildest dreams come true. But with such a gift comes a devastating secret. A secret that's been living and breathing deep inside Wisher's heart. Will Elliot uncover the secret, or will it stay buried with Wisher forever? Will he ever find it in his heart to forgive his best friend? Can he find the courage to forgive his mother and father for their past? And more importantly, will one last wish be enough to save him? Because after all, a wish in itself isn't magical, but rather the heart that chases after it.

This unique book has been written to save schools and their leaders from going belly-up. While no book can anticipate every possible horror situation, Mike Waters' book provides anyone who wants their school to steer clear of shocking events the guidance to do just that. But since such things can happen anyway, it is also about preparing and responding to them if they do occur. Think a school-harming won't happen to you or your school? They are happening more and more and often to the best schools and school leaders. Think your crisis management procedures will see you through? Don't bank on it. Many of the events that rock schools don't start off as obvious crises. They may start off as something seemingly minor and containable - a routine parental complaint, perhaps, or a stupid action by a member. Then things spiral out of control. That's the world that many school leaders find themselves in today. And if you want painful, first-hand evidence for this, you have only to read the school leaders' own accounts of their harrowing experiences provided in the book.Because Dr Waters' book draws directly on his experiences of working with schools rocked by crises they never saw coming, it is filled with practical wisdom. But it is also blessedly short. It's a book for busy people who want to save themselves stress and turmoil. If that's you, then read it before it's too late.

A list of legends is significant not only for who makes the list, but who gets left off of it. If there are no obvious omissions, then the list of candidates was probably less than legendary in the first place. Not so in the case of the Syracuse University Orangemen. Calling roll on Syracuse’s all-time basketball greats can take up the greater part of a day. The school produced its first All-American, Lewis Castle, in 1912. More recently, Carmelo Anthony, one of the best freshmen to ever play college basketball, led the 2003 Orangemen to the school’s first NCAA championship. In between there were legends such as the incomparable Dave Bing, Roosevelt Bouie, and Louis Orr, who together formed the Louie and Bouie Show, along with names like Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Lawrence Moten, and John Wallace. Legends of Syracuse Basketball, now newly revised, features twenty-four players, one coach, and one special team. Of the players mentioned, seventeen played in the NBA. Within the book’s pages are stories straight from the legends’ teammates, their coaches, and the legends themselves.