Although Dr. Susan Swetnnam is an award winning professor, public servant, researcher, humanitarian, athlete, baker and knitter, along with being a well published author, it is clear, after reading Home Mountains, she is most importantly a real woman. The collection of charming personal essays, recounts life experiences which can be read for simple entertainment, as a good read, or can be interpreted for a deeper, more individual meaning. It's easy to visulalize the characters in Swetnam's stories, fron the "heavy-set, tightly-permanented woman" taking entries at the County Fair, to the Beauty horse with "her short cocoa legs and stocky golden brown body extended in an exaggerated waking cat pull, black mane tossed out of her eyes." Her appreciation of her home mountains, located in the Caribou National Forest, will entice the reader to look again at their own home "mountains" and find deeper awareness of their physical surroundings. The lessons learned from Swetnam's life parallel meanings readers can identify with. Such as facing the fears that came from her childhood, including the fear of fire, and worse, the fear of living the mundane life of her parents. Along with using the fear of losing the love of her life, in order to keep her eyes open and alert to the life she has with him. In addition, the reader will rejoice with Swetnam as she transforms her humble, vulnerable, and often humorous experiences into insightful examples, learning, among other things, the importance of ordinary time and casual relationships, and letting go, and the pleasures of being alone and how it feels to be loved. The essays can be read individually in small doses to be thought about, or straight through with out being overwhelming. The articles stand alone, but blend together nicely. Take an afternoon and get lost in Swetnam's life, laugh at her characters, envision her mountains, and try not to fall in love with her husband.

Each chapter is written for women, about amazing Biblical women. It starts with a personal note from God, is followed by a very inspirational message, and then has a story about a Biblical woman that made me feal like I knew her! These stories were inspirational and encouraging.

This book is packed, without being written to intimidate. Sections are clearly headed, inviting use of the book as a reference.

As my understanding and interests in gestalt therapy evolve, so do different sections strike me differently.

Zinker is a coach, who leans over my shoulder as I consider my approach to helping others. The tone is unequivocal: encouraging and articulate.

Zinker has been been immersed in the field to such depths that his writing shows evidence of integration of his findings. He covers gestalt therapy; a difficult topic to write about. He spells out his findings about working with families and does so in an aesthetic, almost spiritual.

Yet, I also find the book written with an intellectual rigour that invites revisiting. It's written in a can-do, leading edge manner.

Beckian Friz Goldberg has quickly become my favorite contemporary poet and as a writer, I strive to become as effective and provocative in images and language as she. I hear she is coming out with a new collection. She feeds you language in a way you have never before tasted. I recommend her to EVERYONE.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has held special exhibitions of E Asian art for the last 30 years. In 2000 the exhibition was of INK PAINTINGS & ASHGLAZED CERAMICS: MEDIEVAL CALLIGRAPHY, PAINTING & CERAMICS FROM JAPAN & KOREA. The art was from the museum's George Gund collection of 13th-16th century known master painters and talented unknown artists.

Ink painting got into Japan, from China, as part of Tang dynasty painting. One of the earliest examples, Landscape on hemp cloth, must have been done in the late 8th century. At that time, waves were typically made bird wing-like. Also, coastal islands were typically made in just a few brushstrokes. It was definitely an ink painting, because of the modeling and the texture strokes lighting and shading the rocks.

Japanese ink painting peaked in the 14th century and in the second halves of the 15th and 18th centuries. Chinese paintings had been imported, as gifts, but also to be bought and sold at high prices. Supply didn't meet demand. So Japanese painters had to churn out good copies, in the styles of 13th-century Chinese masters Xia Gui, Muqi, and Ma Yuan.

But the Japanese tended not to let go of their painting traditions or views of nature in copying. For example, Chinese landscapes were orderly and realistic, Japanese helter skelter. The only known exception was the most famous ink painter, Sesshu Toyo, 1420-1506. While learning ink from Li Zai and color from Zhang Yousheng, he took on the Chinese view of nature. Because of his reputation, late 15th-century Japanese artists were more realistic than usual, in portraits and in screens showing artisans and Kyoto area scenes.

Sesshu was part of the golden age of Japanese ink painting, known as the Higashiyama period. Most of the exhibition's paintings are from that period and afterwards. They include works by two other famous ink painters, Bokkei Saiyo and Bunsei. They also have artworks by Ikkyu Sojun. The lives, let alone the identities, of many ink painters didn't make it through time. But Ikkyu was one of the few who has always been well known, because of his art and the stories about his life. In fact, Japanese television started up a children's cartoon program, with him as the main character.

Author Michael R Cunningham includes illustrations and write-ups for all 33 items. His book's well organized, with a good bibliography and helpful glossary. It's every bit as impressive as his earlier BUDDHIST TREASURES FROM NARA and his later UNFOLDING BEAUTY: JAPANESE SCREENS FROM THE CLEVELAND ART MUSEUM.

This very funny bookis about an American family lving in Japan and trying to accustom themselves to the differences in cultures. M's Cleveland uses black and white drawings to show the family, the Wests, in various situations.
One particularly funny one is Mr West goesto a geisha party. Mrs West's imagination runs overtime, imagining her husband enjoying himself more than she think he should. The reality of it is quite an eye opener. All the cartoons are funny but also educational.

I recommend this book highly for those of you how Japan appeared to Americans living there in the 1950s.

Junk Is Not a Four Letter Word is a wonderful story of how a young man who grew up in an orphanage became a success. The book provides riveting details that keep you reading on and on. I could not put it down.

The amount of work the author must have put into this book is astounding. Research is the key to writing books about actual periods of time and Knight obviously did his share.

If you're a football fan, this tale of a team that nearly stopped the hearts of all of Cleveland every week is a must read.

This book breaks down one of the finest seasons in modern Cleveland Browns history. The Kardiac Kids were a group like none other in Cleveland sports. Knight does a wonderful job of making you feel like your a part of the play-by-play of this great season. It also helps solidify why the Brownies are one of the most storied franchises in NFL history. It is a wonderful read if your a Browns' fan like myself or just a fan of the NFL.

This is a fantastic account of the 1980 Cleveland Browns. Despite the fact that Cincinnati is the best city in Ohio, this book is a great reminder that not everything from Cleveland is bad. This is definitely worth a read - check it out!!

Unless you marry into the British Royal family, it is virtually impossible to ever personally view all the paintings featured in this book (I believe Windsor Castle displays only one painting per year). This book is the next best thing. How else can one marvel at the equisite design, detail and color presented in these Mughal paintings? While the text is written in the usual art history academia mumbo jumbo (meaning dry dry dry), the pictures speak for themselves. One can easily find a sentence here or a paragraph there that will give added insight to the paintings. But the text isn't required to appreciate the magnificance of these art pieces from Shah Jahan's era.

I thought I knew all about man's inhumanity, but master writer Cleveland Amory's description of the lifelong crusade that was spurred by his own first experience with the shocking realities changed the way I viewed the theme forever. Thank you, Mr. Amory. We miss your incisive and untiring contributions to this almost hopeless cause.