Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home (World As Home, The)

Book Description

Seventeen years after leaving home "for good," self-sufficient single mother Janisse Ray leaves her comfortable life in Montana to revisit her cracker origins. Craving a life built on "land, history, and blood," she moves into the family's rundown 1920s farmhouse in Baxley, Georgia. There she rediscovers the nearly lost pleasures of country life - a Thanksgiving syrup boil, alligator trapping, and neighbors - as well as family skirmishes. Wild Card Quilt is the story of her return and the adventures that follow as she ponders whether she will stay in Baxley "and die where seven generations of grandmothers had died" before her.

Customer Reviews:

The importance of community.......2003-12-02

What a beautiful testament to the importance of community and place. Wendell Berry must have cheered when he read this book. From the story of working together to save the local school, to the inspiring beginning and growth of the Altamaha Riverkeepers, to the successful Nature Conservancy purchase of the Moody Forest Janisse Ray describes the power of ordinary people working together to save their community and it's gifts of nature.

In a description of a community that has been torn apart but still has people fighting for it, Berry writes, "Madie now lives not far down the road from the ghost town of Osierfield in the renovated schoolhouse. Milton is in the old depot. A marble column that held up the post office is part of another house nearby. It is as if the residents of the disappearing town are hanging onto pieces of it, because that's what you have left when a community falls apart, pieces, and between all the pieces, you have the ghosts who knew the place when it was less rudimentary and more whole, who are eternally present, inhabiting the town's hollows like wind and weeds. Each morning early Madie drives her old truck to the lone business left operating in Osierfield, Georgia, and opens her doors one more day."

May we all learn to treasure our small towns and communities.

Mediocre.......2003-09-28

If you are really interested in learning more about rural Southern Georgia, this book might be for you. The author tells individual stories about experiences with the school board, animals, family, and other things that are important to her. I enjoyed the first part of the book best because I could relate to the author's wonderings about what home really means. I think the author's views on community and nature are interesting, but not for everyone. More towards the end, the author complains about all the logging going on, but she doesn't give any advice for what average people can do about it. The author meant well I'm sure, but it was not the kind of book that I had trouble putting down.

Wild Card Woman.......2003-07-02

I read the book straight through after getting it. But did not read it in the same order of the chapters. It is written like a quilt allowing you to read what you want, randomly as you would look at a quilt's intricate details. Yet no matter how read, you end up with a larger perspective and pattern that gives you much greater meaning and understanding.

It is nice for Janisse to allow the reader the freedom of finding ones own perspective and interests when reading the book. It also makes sharing the experience of the book with friend and family easier.

My friend read the chapter of the writing group, right after coming from her own writing group. In a stone faced way she put the book down after reading the chapter, and burst out laughing. There was a part I read about Janisse's father and her in a big fight that made me cry at a moment in the interchange.

It would make good reading for someone contemplating going home to a rural community, or for someone who never dreamed of doing so. It is a poetic story of family and home and geography.

Janisse weaves very different personal yet universal experiences with family and friends, rural community, and natural and cultural landscapes into a geographic quilt, giving an emergent property of perspective, that is difficult to see without being layed out in full view like a picture - and with the benefit of context in time and space and emotion.

There are many reasons that a person goes back to their origins.

Janisse goes back much like a wild animal that has been expatriated from a geographic area. She comes back to rediscover the origins if birth, and fill to fill gaps left in her imagination and community.

What is nice is that she finds a niche with intelligence, and sensitivity to community and region. I can imagine native species like panther and wolves having a more difficult time rediscovering their original landscapes, even though they might play an equal or more important role. Reintroducing fire to the pineland landscpae is also difficult, but necessary.

Janisse comes back as quite as she can, and slowly finds a role. Not a dominant role but one which fills a gap. She is more like the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker than a panther or wolve or fire, being sensitive and fragile; and having an infinity for home and old growth and wild romote places. At the same time providing intelligence and energy that those in the rural communities and cities can benefit from.

Rural communities in the south need natives, especially those that can fill important roles. Too many rural areas export not only there natural resources, but also their most valuable human resources. They become vulnerable to exotics who completely transform and exploit the community without consideration of the integrity of local community or ecology and its needs. They come without understanding place. Much of what remains is remanents of a highly exploited cultural and ecological resources.

What is nice is that, like the coming home of an Ivory Billed Woodpecker Janisse helps facilitate the rediscovery of interest in rural community assets like schools and remenants of wild places, like pines and rivers that are critical assets of the geography.

Janisse uses her skills with those of the locals to reclaim geography and recreate the imgination of place. She comes not like a conquering hero, but like wild card pattern in quilt that catches your eye, without dominating your thought. She makes you think about important things. She offers an alternative future senaarios for geography that preserves and rediscover inherient values, while helping to create new values. This is in harsh contrast to to those that exploit rural landscapes without the imagination of cultural and ecological values that have existed, but have been largely surpressed.

Must read!.......2003-05-29

Beautifully written book that appeals to a wide range of people--so it would be a great gift for Father's Day or for anyone's birthday. I laughed out loud many times.

A powerful writer.......2003-05-10

Janisse Ray is passionate about the environment, most specifically that part of it in southeast Georgia. Her environment is mostly the natural world--the longleaf pine forest (the remnants thereof), the Altamaha River--but also the human world in the small town of Baxley, her family farmstead, her father's junkyard. She left these surroundings to go to college, first in north Georgia and then in Montana. She "took a chance on home" (the book's subtitle) when she returned to Baxley with her young son, determined to make a life for them both. She demonstrates that ability to observe, think, and then put into words those observations and thoughts is a far greater treasure than glitz and glamour.

Book Description

This scholary treatise is the first collection of studies on the molecular basis of staphylococcal biology.
It is detailed and comprehensive in its presentation of the staphylococci as a biogenetic entity.
Moreover it is highly up-to-date, reporting on the exciting new developments in laboraties worldwide where work on the staphylococci is being done.

Book Description

Over 20,000 entries in 86 countries including 725 US cities and over 1700 cities worldwide with everything you need to know about gay and lesbian travel worldwide, including accommodations, nightlife, restaurants, retail stores, tours & cruises. The clear, easy-to-read format is designed for pleasurable browsing through travel options like tours, cruises, and special events. A 35-page index lists every destination and activity offered by the over 350 tour operators listed. A Trip and Event calendar contains over 1000 entries. Throughout the city-by-city listings, feature articles and FYI sidebars highlight points of gay interest around the globe.

Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay & Lesbian Travel Options at Your Fingertips (Ferrari Guides' Gay Travel a to Z)

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Book Description
Author of the gay travel guide Rainbow Handbook Hawai`i

Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay & Lesbian Travel Options at Your Fingertips (Ferrari Guides' Gay Travel a to Z)
Ferrari International
Manufacturer: Ferrari Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Travel | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Reference | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0942586646

Customer Reviews:

Book Description.......1999-12-21

Ferrari's Gay Travel A to Z is an excellent guide to gay businesses, services, and community resources worldwide. The book is quite thorough in its coverage of gay commercial establishements in big cities and smaller towns alike, and it is very useful for locating gay and gay-friendly tour operators. Arranging a trip through a tour operator can make international travel a lot less confusing (and many operators can offer advice on clothing-optional travel opportunities). A to Z is also the best available resource for information about special-interest travel services, which run the gamut from all-gay mountain climbing trips to religious and spiritual events to leather conventions. Additionally, A to Z includes a calender of gay festivals, parties, and other events across the globe. This is one of the most comprehensive worldwide gay travel guides available, and it's an exceptional value.

Author of the gay travel guide Rainbow Handbook Hawai`i.......1999-03-19

I always like Ferrari's articles within their book, and have been a happy contributor of them. They add a lot of depth and scope to the areas covered.

Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay and Lesbian Travel Options at your Fingertips

Average customer rating:

Gay Travel A to Z: The World of Gay and Lesbian Travel Options at your Fingertips

Manufacturer: Ferrari International Publishing Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Travel | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Reference | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Book Description

Devon Brown won't eat in the school caf (a germ swamp). He covers his hands before opening doors, eats things in groups of four (his lucky number), and hangs up his shirts (with all their buttons buttoned) by color. Some kids say Devon's crazy, but he knows betterthese are the tricks that keep bad things from happening, and he can't imagine giving them up. Devon calls it "controlling things." His doctor calls it obsessive-compulsive disorder. When Devon starts at a new school, his compulsions start to get him in trouble, and before long he realizes that his only choice is to confront his behaviors and the events that trigger them. In a compelling story of growing up different, George Harrar introduces us to a boy who just might change the way we think about "crazy."

Customer Reviews:

Great book!.......2007-09-14

I am in 8th grade, and I read this for a free-read book report. It was a really good book. It is about a boy who has odd obsessions, and does everything oddly. He moves to a new city, and makes two new friends. One of them does something really bad at school, and he gets the blame! He gets 2 weeks of suspension at school and a TON of trouble with his parents. No one knows to believe him or not. He has to fix the problem, but he doesn't want to rat his friend out. What does he do!?!? Read the book to find out!

Good novel with a few minor flaws........2007-01-14

A very well written book, moves very quickly, and portrays OCD realistically and yet manages to be pretty funny in some parts. As a sufferer of OCD, I could really relate to alot of Devon's feelings. The therapist was a bit unrealistic, however and it took him awhile to catch on to an obvious OCD diagnosis. But overall a great book!

A New Definition For Crazy.......2006-11-15

I thought this was an excellent book, really getting inside the mind of a kid that's considered "different" at first glance. Devon became more real to me when I understood why he could or couldn't control what he was doing, rather than being just a kid with a OCD. This book changed my definition of crazy; being "crazy" has a lot more to it than we all think.

Funny and clever.......2005-10-27

I chuckled often reading this book. This book is very cleverly written; it manages to use a light, humourous tone without trivializing the serious and emotional issues that come up. It will help teenagers understand and deal with having a psychological disorder without scaring them off and making them feel horrible and doomed. A sense of humour is vital for healing!
This book also works well as an entertaining story that any teenager who feel like their life is getting out of control (and who doesn't at that age?) could enjoy and relate to.
A criticism is that the charactor of Tanya could have used more development to explain her interest in Devon. It also seemed odd to me that it would take Devon's psychologists so long to diagnose his disorder when he was clearly a textbook case.

Not as Crazy as I Seem.......2005-05-07

This book was truly amazing! It gives you a different view on the way people think. I started reading the book and just couldn't put it down. I recomend this book to people young and old.

Product Description

For beginners who want to try mushrooming, this book offers a unique approach that focuses on six of the most unmistakable, edible mushrooms in North America. Illustrations, natural history and photos are well organized, in an easy-to-use layout. Recipes are included.

Customer Reviews:

mushrooming made simple.......2001-08-04

This book offers the inexperienced mushroomer a foolproof method of identifying five different,edible mushrooms, (a mere pittance compared with what's out there.)If you are nervous about mushrooming this is the book for you.

Average customer rating:

Start Mushrooming
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