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  Integrity in Actions - The...

  Esther Jameson

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  Integrity is often regarded as one of the most essential virtues, yet its true meaning is far more complex than many assume. At its core, integrity is the alignment of one's actions with their values, beliefs, and principles. It is the foundation of trust, and without it, relationships—both personal and professional—are built on fragile ground. Integrity goes beyond just telling the truth; it involves living authentically and consistently, regardless of external pressures or consequences. It is about doing what is right, even when no one is watching, and staying true to one's principles, even when the path seems difficult. 
  To truly understand integrity, it’s important to distinguish it from honesty. While honesty is certainly a component of integrity, the latter involves a deeper commitment to ethical living. Honesty refers to the act of telling the truth, whereas integrity encompasses the broader commitment to act in a way that reflects personal moral values and societal expectations. Someone with integrity not only speaks the truth but also lives truthfully. This practice manifests in how a person carries themselves through their decisions, actions, and behaviors, and is a constant process of self-checking to ensure they remain in alignment with their ethical principles. 
  The importance of integrity in daily life cannot be overstated. In a world full of distractions and temptations, staying grounded in integrity can be a challenge. Yet, it is through consistent, small acts of integrity that we build our character. These small decisions may seem insignificant at the time but accumulate over a lifetime to define who we are and how others perceive us. Integrity impacts not just personal satisfaction but also how we are seen in the eyes of others. People are drawn to those who exhibit strong moral character, and trust grows in environments where integrity is consistently practiced.

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  Dear Mendl Dear Reyzl - Yiddish...

  Alice Nakhimovsky, Robert Newman

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  “Explore[s] the Jewish past via letters that reflect connections and collisions between old and new worlds.” —Jewish Book Council   At the turn of the 20th century, Jewish families scattered by migration could stay in touch only through letters. Jews in the Russian Empire and America wrote business letters, romantic letters, and emotionally intense family letters. But for many Jews who were unaccustomed to communicating their public and private thoughts in writing, correspondence was a challenge. How could they make sure their spelling was correct and they were organizing their thoughts properly? A popular solution was to consult brivnshtelers, Yiddish-language books of model letters. Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl translates selections from these model-letter books and includes essays and annotations that illuminate their role as guides to a past culture.   “Covers a neglected aspect of Jewish popular culture and deserves a wide readership. For all serious readers of Yiddish and immigrant Jewish culture and customs.” —Library Journal   “Delivers more than one would expect because it goes beyond a linguistic study of letter-writing manuals and explicates their genre and social function.” —Slavic Review   “Reproductions of brivnshtelers form the core of the book and comprise the majority of the text, providing a ground-level window into a largely obscured past.” —Publishers Weekly   “The real delight of the book is in reading the letters themselves . . . Highly recommended.” —AJL Reviews

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  The Two-Parent Privilege - How...

  Melissa S. Kearney

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  In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation, Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Kearney examines the underlying causes of the marriage decline in the US and draws lessons for how this trend can be reversed. 
   
   
   
  Kearney's research shows that a household that includes two married parents functions as an economic vehicle that advantages some children over others. For many, the two-parent home may be an old-fashioned symbol of the American dream. But this book makes it clear that marriage may be our best path to a more equitable future. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children's futures, Kearney offers a critical assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society—and what we must do to change course.

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  Near the Exit - Travels with the...

  Lori Erickson

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  After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards. Erickson reflects on mortality and how life is made more precious by accepting it. Through her personal journey and her travels, Erickson maintains that one of the most life-affirming things we can do is to invite death alone for the ride.

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  Naked at Lunch - A Reluctant...

  Mark Haskell Smith

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  “A delightful and informative look at nudism throughout history and around the world.” —The Seattle Times   People have been getting naked in public for reasons other than sex for centuries. But as Mark Haskell Smith reveals, being a nudist is more complicated than simply dropping trou. “Nonsexual social nudism,” as it’s called, rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century. Intellectuals, outcasts, and health nuts from Victorian England and colonial India to Belle Époque France and Gilded Age Manhattan disrobed and wrote manifestos about the joys of going clothing-free. From stories of ancient Greek athletes slathered in olive oil to the millions of Germans who fled the cities for a naked frolic during the Weimar Republic to American soldiers given “naturist” magazines by the Pentagon in the interest of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, this book uncovers nudism’s amusing and provocative past.   Coated in multiple layers of high SPF sunblock, Haskell Smith publicly disrobes for the first time in Palm Springs; observes the culture of family nudism in a clothing-free Spanish town; and travels to the largest nudist resort in the world, a hedonist’s paradise in the south of France. He reports on San Francisco’s controversial ban on public nudity, participates in a week of naked hiking in the Austrian Alps, and caps off his adventures with a week on a Caribbean cruise known as the Big Nude Boat.   Equal parts cultural history and gonzo participatory journalism, Naked at Lunch is “an absolute hoot” (Los Angeles Magazine) and “a total joy” (Meghan Daum).   “Smith puts on his reporter’s hat and takes off everything else as he explores the history and sociology of nudism.” —Los Angeles Times

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  Teaching on Days After -...

  Alyssa Hadley Dunn

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  What should teachers do on the days after major events, tragedies, and traumas, especially when injustice is involved? This beautifully written book features teacher narratives and youth-authored student spotlights that reveal what classrooms do and can look like in the wake of these critical moments. Dunn incisively argues for the importance of equitable commitments, humanizing dialogue, sociopolitical awareness, and a rejection of so-called pedagogical neutrality across all grade levels and content areas. Teaching on Days After can be used to support current classroom teachers and to better structure teacher education to help preservice teachers think ahead to their future classrooms. 
   
   
   
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  ● Narratives from teachers and students that represent a diverse range of identities, locations, grade levels, and content areas. 
   
   
   
  ● Examples of days after that teachers remember, including 9/11, elections, natural disasters, gun violence, police brutality, social uprisings, Supreme Court decisions, immigration policies, and more. 
   
   
   
  ● Examples of days after that K–12 and college-aged students remember, including what their teachers did and didn't do.

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