Böcker av Barbara Allen

Written by Australia's first animal hospital chaplain, this book shares cultural expressions of pet loss, spiritual beliefs on the afterlife for animals, and rituals of memorialization. With tools for self-care as well as emotional and spiritual comfort, this book is the perfect companion for those grieving after a pet dies.

There was a bank of eucalyptus trees, twenty of them between Frank's hospital and Jake's rehab. They were on a street I knew that was quiet and a little hidden. They were across from the park where Jake played soccer as a kid, before drugs. Sometimes I would get out and walk and stop and cry at every fifth tree. But once I found myself smiling, "I have gone from soccer mom to a rehab mom." -- from Joy FallsIn Joy Falls, a traumatized family has an elusive desire for normalcy that is found in lyrical moments and humorous problem-solving. The novel is filled with characters who have the stamina for the chaotic present even as their personal histories invade. Joy Falls helps us, not in a self-help way, but in the way fiction helps through storytelling, interesting characters, and laughter. It is about the profoundness of children, the importance of humor, and what happens when we show up for our own lives.Crooked Hearts Press publishes forgotten, overlooked, and thus disappeared women writers over the age of fifty-five, alongside veteran writers we recognize for their excellence.

Some individuals are convinced that God does not exist.  However, throughout my life I have felt the hand of God consistently directing, comforting, and loving me. I have also discovered that there are many other individuals who have experienced the Divine Connection of God in their lives; those links, relationships or circumstances that remind us that God is in control and He knows the plans for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11).It is our expectation that Divine Connections will ignite the reader's spirit and give hope and confidence in knowing that with God, all things are possible. We believe every reader will walk away encouraged by staying in faith, never giving up, and knowing that God is with them through His Divine Connections.These stories were written with sincere passion and transparency. Each story will grip your heart as if you were there fighting for each author's success over their many obstacles. As you take this journey, reflect on the divine connections that have occurred in your life and their tremendous impact.

This book represents the first systematic effort to examine (1) the factual accuracy of the claims made in an entire political advertising campaign, (2) the visuals and sound cues used in that advertising and their relationship with the tone and accuracy of ads, and (3) the impact of the accuracy of claims on what people know and how they vote in a real campaign. The research is based on several years of labor-intensive coding of the factual accuracy of every claim made in the presidential ads in the 2008 election as well as the ads for the races for the US Congress in Minnesota. We show how the accuracy of political ad claims, the visuals and sound of ads, and ad tone (particularly negativity) are related to voting behavior. We argue that understanding how the accuracy of political ad claims affects voters is now more important than ever.This research has steered clear of the normative question of what such putative gains in knowledge represent, however. Does the content of negative advertising enhance voter capacities, such as the ability to locate candidates' issue positions accurately or state reasons to like or dislike candidates based on accurate information about the candidates' traits or issue stands? Does the accuracy of the information in political advertising matterto voting behavior or vote choicewhether turnout goes up or down? Would voting more, while knowing less that is true be sufficient in a democracy? In studying the effects of advertising tone, such questions about advertising tone have not been asked. Our book redresses this lacuna. We show that negative advertising is more likely to make inaccurate claims. We show that ads making inaccurate claims also use a larger number of visual and sound distortions, perhaps tying up more cognitive capacities while pressing their untruthful arguments. We show links between inaccurate advertising and aggregate turnout, individual turnout, and individual political knowledge. The news is not good in an age of post-factual democracies.