3 comments about No Ordinary Move: A Memoir.

1. I read this book months ago and simply could not put it down. It is inspiring from Bidabes account of her encounter with a dyslexic boy whom she automatically feels the instinct to rescue, to her childhood home catching on fire, straight to how she came to form MOVE and greived every time she lost a child. Linda Bidabe is not only a leader but has so much compassion for those less fortunate than she is and this is what lead her to help chidren with severe physical disabilities, the children who were dismissed and forgotten by a system. She wanted to give these children a chance. I believe the most profound thing she said in her memoir is near the end of her story." What Good is MOVE and all our efforts to help children with disabilities learn to sit,stand and walk, if we use it to push aside a childs dream, and in its stead, impose our on so-called discernment? Our business is to discover the dream in each child, and to believe in it until it becomes a reality" What more can be said? No ordinary move is no ordinary memoir. I highly recommend it to those who want to be moved by a book.



2. This is a very gratifying momoir of Linda Bidabe, an educator for children with severe disabilities and her corageous strive to implement a curriculum. She had me hooked at page one! Linda Bidabe was born a leader. She is a very determined individual and demonstrates this throughout her memoir. She has the strength to overcome obstacles during her life; obstacles I hope I never face.
   While reading this book, I developed a high level of respect and admiration for this woman. She not only gives credit for her accomplishments, but she does not hesistate to mention how she was not able to succeed with every student. She demonstrates skills of a servant leader as she willingly sets aside her aspirations to ensure that others fulfill their dreams. Linda finds great joy out of helping others reach their goals, a virtue which deserves applauding.
   I recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written autobiography and who is ready to be inspired.



3. This is a very gratifying momoir of Linda Bidabe, an educator for children with severe disabilities and her corageous strive to implement a curriculum. She had me hooked at page one! Linda Bidabe was born a leader. She is a very determined individual and demonstrates this throughout her memoir. She has the strength to overcome obstacles during her life; obstacles I hope I never face.
   While reading this book, I developed a high level of respect and admiration for this woman. She not only gives credit for her accomplishments, but she does not hesistate to mention how she was not able to succeed with every student. She demonstrates skills of a servant leader as she willingly sets aside her aspirations to ensure that others fulfill their dreams. Linda finds great joy out of helping others reach their goals, a virtue which deserves applauding.
   I recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written autobiography and who is ready to be inspired.

No comments about Journey With Children: The Autobiography of a Teacher.

5 comments about On a Wave.

1. This should give you a general idea of how good this book is: After reading the last page, I turned to page 1 and started reading it all over again.
   
   When was the last time you read a book twice?
   
   Ziolkowski's style is like a perfect wave--clean, gorgeous, and unique. It's not just about a surfer searching for perfection, but a boy searching for himself in post-Vietnam era of sunny Florida, where everyone is tan and bleachy-haired, Led Zeppelin is on every radio, and pot is as prevalent as palm trees.
   
   The story begins with the author at ten, still reeling from his parents' divorce and craving diversion like any normal kid. But it is surfing that becomes his ultimate grace, giving him confidence and the room to dream outside the troubles at home. When his family begins to unravel, his heartbreak at dreams realized and lost will strike a sympathetic chord in anyone who is connected to the sea, to family, and to one's true self. The author's search for his identity comes full circle--beginning, ending, and beginning again--on a wave.



2. I loved this story of a young boy's passion for the ocean easing his growing pains. Very well-written.



3. thanks for the prompt delivery! I will definitely look for you again when ordering



4. Thad hits the nail on the head! Having grown up in Melbourne Beach during the time period described I feel qualified to speak on the authenticity of the scene depicted: perfect, took me back in time! Anyone who grew up in the space coast area during the 70's will be able to identify some of the characters described. This is an execellent book for the non-surfer as well as the surfer. This book will remain on my annual reading list along with Caught Inside, Lighting out and West of Jesus. Thanks Thad for an execellent read!



5. Excellent.This book will stay with you long after you read it. As a 50ish surfer from the Texas gulf coast this book reminds me of why I consider myself lucky.

2 comments about An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World.

1. Here is a slender memoir of a Lebanese-American anthropologist's experiences plying his trade throughout the Levant and Middle East, studying power structures throughout the region. The reason behind the title as explained by Khuri is that whenever he explained what he did for a living, his friends and relatives back home in Lebanon would laugh uproariously at the thought of such an oddly named profession.
   
   Khuri, who received his PhD from the University of Oregon, is charmingly self-deprecating in the telling of his story, obscuring the fact that his work was groundbreaking (his book Emirs and Imans is essential for understanding the differences between the region's various Islamic sects, including how their theology informs their politics). Even in this book, there are little, almost throw-away insights that forced me to reconsider some of my notions about the Middle East.
   
   It's also apparent that Khouri was a decent and gentle soul, someone who saw worth of experience in everyone. Couldn't recommend this book more highly.



2. Very enjoyable. A collection of Mr. Khuri's writings, the title and cover image accurately reflect the content. And a Lebanese man I know laughed and agreed when he heard Khuri's description of "Lebanese:" "It is a profession, not a nationality."
   
   Also worthwhile for dispelling notions that there is no humor in the Middle East.
   
   After reading this book, I wish I'd known Faud Khuri, a generous and good man who had a life well lived.

No comments about Educating the Disfranchised and Disinherited: Samuel Chapman Armstrong and Hampton Institute, 1839-1893.

No comments about Reading Paulo Freire (S U N Y Series, Teacher Empowerment and School Reform).

No comments about On Austrian Soil: Teaching Those I Was Taught To Hate.

No comments about The Individual-Maker: A Master Teacher and his Transformational Curriculum.

4 comments about The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and Laura Bridgman, The Original Deaf-Blind Girl.

1. I have read quite a lot about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan over the years, and I have read a bit about Laura Bridgman. I have read enough to know that "rescue from darkness" comes at a cost and is often not done for the greatest good of the "victim". In Helen and Annie's case, Helen's world was infinitely enriched by Annie's total dedication to her pupil. In return, Annie created a family and garnered recognition for herself. Unfortunately, in Laura's situation, the trade-off was not as well balanced.
   
   Samuel Gridley Howe was a man on a mission to achieve recognition and status among the liberal Boston elite in the early 1800s. His goal was to find and educate an intelligent blind and deaf child and thereby establish himself as a distinguished philanthropist and expert in education and the social sciences. He believed that Laura was a means to that end.
   
   While educating a blind deaf girl may have sounded like an unselfish project in 1837, the horror of Laura's reality is clear today. Laura was often isolated from other children and adults to help make Howe's experiments in education "pure." When Howe felt that he had no more to gain from her, he left her with very limited companionship. So, unlike Helen, her education and socialization, and hence her maturation, stopped when Howe lost interest. As a result, she suffered great loneliness and depression.
   
   Gitter provides a great deal of information about Howe that seems to indicate that he had a narcissistic personality. Her revelations about Laura show that she had great potential for learning and growing that was left untapped as a result of her unnecessary and cruel seclusion from the world.
   
   This book is very well written and clearly reveals the historical and social context of the lives of Laura and Howe. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has even the slightest interest in the subject area.



2. Great read packed with info. I've always wanted to know more about her, not just the vague references made in books about Keller and Sullivan.



3. The long-forgotten story of Laura Bridgman is riveting: She was the first deaf, blind and mute American to learn English and she did so through the ingenious efforts of Samuel Howe. If author Elisabeth Gitter had done nothing more than reintroduce this story to the world, her book would have been worthwhile. But Gitter does much more. Both Bridgman and Howe were enormously complicated, infinitely fascinating characters and their relationship was unprecedented in human experience (quite a statement, but it's true!). It is incredible, and in many ways, heart-wrenching, to watch their storybook relationship develop and devolve. Gitter wisely tells the story without literary flourishes; it's so remarkable, it doesn't need any. The author is also scrupulously fair to her subjects (few characters in history go from appealling to detestable, and back again, more quickly than Howe) and provides just the right degree of historical background--enough to inform the reader, but not enough to slow down the narrative. A nearly perfect book!



4. Elisabeth Gitter has introduced the 21st Century reader to Laura Bridgman, "the original deaf-blind girl" in her well written and sensitive portrayal of "this pitiful little girl" who "became the most celebrated child in (19th Century) America." Along with her teacher and mentor, Samuel Howe, founder of the first school for the blind in America, Laura became an inspiration for the indominability of the human spirit. Yet, as Gitter wisely and perceptively shows, the multi-faceted character behind Laura's public persona was often overlooked by Howe in his zeal to show the world that, in his words, "obstacles are things to be overcome", and that Laura Bridgman was the prime example of the veracity of his statement. With her extraordinary knowledge of the Victorian era in which the story takes place, and her exceptional command of the written word, Gitter has brought Laura Bridgman the honor and dignity she was often denied her life.

1 comments about Nine Months Is a Year - At Baboquívari School (Southwest Chronicle).

1. Mrs. Bourne shows, in writing about a small one room schol house in rural southern Arizona, that the issues in education have not changed greatly. Lack of funding, quarrels over bi-lingual education, educating the whole child and not just a course of study have been with us. Her solutions give hope to those of us still teaching. Very motivating. A must-read for any pre-service teacher.