![]() ![]() Her relationship with Rilke lasted until 1900, in which she brought about much of his éducation sentimentale and acted almost as a mother to him. ![]() Salomé was in a celibate and open marriage, and was a remarkable woman: widely-traveled, highly intelligent, and fiercely independent, she had refused proposals from men ranging from intellectual Paul Rée to philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. ![]() It was studying in Munich in 1897 that Rilke met and fell in love with the 36-year-old woman of letters Lou Andreas-Salomé, who proved to be extremely influential on Rilke’s life. None of these early books has much in the way of the keen observation that was to mark his later works. He was already certain he would start a literary career: by 1895 he had published, at his own expense, one volume of love poetry in the style of poet Heinrich Heine, called Life and Songs (Leben und Lieder), and would publish two more shortly thereafter. From 1892 to 1895, he was tutored for the university entrance exam, which he passed, and spent a year studying literature, art history, and philosophy at Charles University in Prague. With the help of his uncle, who recognized the boy’s gifts, Rilke managed to secure a place at a German preparatory school, which he attended for only a year until he was expelled. The poetic and sensitive boy spent five unhappy years there, and he left in 1891 due to illness. In an effort to ensure the social standing his father had failed to achieve, the young Rilke was sent to a rigorous military academy in 1886, at the age of 10. ![]()
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![]() ![]() When these conditions are met, it is possible to experience the flow that comes from optimal interaction. When approached without too many cultural prejudices and with a determination to make it personally meaningful, even the most mundane job can produce flow.Ī successful interaction involves finding some compatibility between our goals and those of the other person or persons, and becoming willing to invest attention in the other person's goals. Turning a dull jot into one that satisfies our need for novelty and achievement involves paying close attention to each step involved, and then asking: Is this step necessary? Can it be done better, faster, more efficiently? What additional steps could make my contribution more valuable? If, instead of spending a lot of effort trying to cut corners, one spent the same amount of attention trying to find ways to accomplish more on the job, one would enjoy working-more and probably be more successful. A supermarket clerk who pays genuine attention to customers, a physician concerned about the total well-being of patients, or a news reporter who considers truth at least as important as sensational interest when writing a story, can transform a routine job into one that makes a difference. Short of making such a dramatic switch, there are many ways to make one's job produce flow. ![]() ![]() When he assumed the throne he issued numerous reforms favouring the less privileged, while the status of Christians remained unchanged: they were legally punishable and were subject to persecution. ![]() His correspondence with his Latin teacher Fronto provides many insights into his emerging character and his growing interest in philosophy. * Singled out by Hadrian as a future emperor Marcus was educated by some of the greatest scholars of his day. We may thrill to the exploits of Alexander the Great, Hannibal or Julius Caesar but the only voice from the Greco-Roman world that still seems to have contemporary relevance is that of the man who ruled the Roman Empire from 161 to 180 AD. Marcus Aurelius the last of Rome's five good emperors' is the one great figure of antiquity who still speaks to us today, more than 2,000 years after his death. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() That’s only one aspect of this dense biography. Whether Joan of Arc intentionally patterned her life after the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry, or her chroniclers structured it that way after her death, or it was all mere coincidence, her narrative mirrors that of Christ in a way most befitting of a Holy Maid. But as the pages went by, and the parallels continued to manifest, I began to agree with her observations. The first time Harrison brought it up, I thought she was stretching credulity. It’s an unexpected comparison, Joan of Arc and Christ of Nazareth. In this latest biography, Kathryn Harrison combines history, folklore, scripture, and scholarly interpretation of Joan’s deeds to create Joan so mythological in scope that her life can be compared to only one other: that of Jesus Christ himself. In each retelling, her legend is embellished and enlarged. Countless artists in paintings, books, and movies have explored her life, asking whether she was divinely inspired or schizophrenic, a naïve peasant or a calculating warrior. Few women have captured the public imagination like Joan of Arc. To the English, she was a witch communing with demons. To the French, she spoke to angels, leading their troops to victory over impossible odds. Fashion_piranha Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() At age 6, Johnson was one of Liang Chow's first students when he opened a gymnastics school in West Des Moines, and he would go on to coach Johnson for nearly two decades as a competitive gymnast. ![]() Her parents enrolled her in a gymnastics class at age 3 after they noticed her climbing cabinets and jumping off tables. Johnson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Doug and Teri Johnson. Johnson announced her retirement from gymnastics on June 3, 2012. In May 2009, Johnson was the winner of season eight of Dancing with the Stars, and in November 2012 she earned second place on the all-star edition. ![]() all-around Champion, winning once as a junior and twice as a senior. Champion on floor exercise and silver medalist on balance beam, Johnson is a three-time U.S. Champion on balance beam and floor exercise, the 2008 U.S. She is the 2007 individual all-around World Champion, 2007 World Champion on floor exercise, and a member of the 2007 gold medal-winning U.S. National Championships, and World Championships. Her rookie season included winning the all-around at the American Cup, Pan American Games, U.S. Johnson is also the 2007 all-around World Champion, and a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 20, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Shawn Johnson East (born Shawn Machel Johnson January 19, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. ![]() ![]() ![]() When being held captive by Dorian proves to be the only way to keep Farah safe from those who would see her dead, Dorian makes Farah a scandalous proposition: marry him for protection in exchange for using her secret to help him exact revenge on his enemies. She possesses a powerful secret-one that threatens her very life. ![]() The lovely, still innocent widow Farah Leigh Mackenzie is no exception-and soon Dorian whisks the beautiful lass away to his sanctuary in the wild Highlands…īut Farah is no one’s puppet. Scarred and hard-hearted, Dorian is one of London’s wealthiest, most influential men who will stop at nothing to wreak vengeance on those who’ve wronged him…and will fight to the death to seize what he wants. ![]() But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster…ĭorian Blackwell, the Blackheart of Ben More, is a ruthless villain. They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards-dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. ![]() ![]() I don't know for sure, but I'd certainly guess that Heinlein was himself an infantryman as this book reads very much like the real soldier's memoirs that I've read. However, once I managed to put aside the imagery of Paul Verhoeven's film, I finally began to get into Heinlein's original story.īasically this is a soldier's memoir, telling of his harsh training, his terrifying early encounters with combat and his subsequent rise to a position of military authority. ![]() To begin, and I know SF purists will crucify me for this, I was disappointed that this book wasn't more like the movie it spawned, lacking the action and romantic entanglements. ![]() ![]() ![]() In response to this loss, young Bambi needs to stand on his own feet and learns to count on determining friendships. Bambi is quickly confronted with hardships and danger, including the loss of his nurturing mother to human cruelty. ![]() The book offers a lot more psychological depth than Disney’s near-botched version, where entrenched violence, key characters, and scenes have been deliberately removed.Īs Salten’s most famous novel, Bambi, gives voice to animals inhabiting a rich forest, among which namesake Bambi, a curious and endearing roe deer fawn whose life we follow from birth to mature age. Disney’s Bambi is by large pale and simplistic compared with the original material. Published in 1923 in serialized form and translated into English in 1928, Salten’s Bambi sold over 500,000 copies by the time of Disney’s animated film premiere in 1942. ![]() ![]() ![]() Joshua McFadden, chef and owner of renowned trattoria Ava Gene’s in Portland, Oregon, is a vegetable whisperer. It's a cuisine that was developed in the homes of the elite and middle class that takes inspiration from around the globe that is a diverse, varied style of cooking that has created much of what we know of as American cuisine. What we find is a world of African-American cuisine-made by enslaved master chefs, free caterers, and black entrepreneurs and culinary stars-that goes far beyond soul food. Tipton-Martin builds on that research in Jubilee, adapting recipes from those historic texts for the modern kitchen. ![]() ![]() ![]() Toni Tipton-Martin, the first African-American food editor of a daily American newspaper, is the author of the James Beard Award-winning The Jemima Code, a history of African-American cooking found in-and between-the lines of three centuries' worth of African-American cookbooks. Adapted from historical texts and rare African-American cookbooks, the 125 recipes of Jubilee paint a rich, varied picture of the true history of African-American cooking: a cuisine far beyond soul food. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Why take the word of a black man, what does he know about such things, right? Easy has tried in the past to tell the police about this man, but police are anything but cooperative. All of the women in question are black and had the temerity to love white men - a crime in this murderer's eyes. This man has left a trail of dead women in his wake, all victims of his own anger and hatred against a mother who rejected him at a young age in favor of living as a white woman. ![]() Walter Mosley is great at evoking 1965 in the aftermath of the Watts Riots, and Ezekiel "Easy" Rollins' feelings and the mixture of fascination and fear Easy finds that there's a new way to see the world and his place in it.ĭrawn into a murder investigation by the top brass of the LAPD, Easy follows close on the trail of a mass murderer, someone he's come up against before. ![]() |