Keepin It Hushed

Examines the barbershop as a rhetorical site in African American culture across genres, including fiction, film, poetry, and theater.

Examines the barbershop as a rhetorical site in African American culture across genres, including fiction, film, poetry, and theater. In Keepin’ It Hushed: The Barbershop and African American Hush Harbor Rhetoric, Vorris L. Nunley investigates the role of the hush harbor (a safe place for free expression among African American speakers) as a productive space of rhetorical tradition and knowledge generation. Nunley identifies the barbershop as an important hush harbor for black males in particular and traces the powerful cultural trope and its hidden tradition of African American knowledge through multiple texts. From Dunbar’s "We Wear the Mask" to the recent Barbershop movies and the provocative rhetoric of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Nunley’s study touches on a range of time periods and genres. Nunley’s introduction connects African American Hush Harbor Rhetoric (AAHHR) to everyday considerations of what may or may not be spoken in public and how African American speakers manage numerous hidden transcripts. In the first three chapters, Nunley charts different iterations of hush harbors and their function in the context of residual and emergent rhetorical traditions. He investigates public sphere theory and its application (and misapplication) to black civil society and hush harbors and connects AAHHR to nommo, the power of the word. In chapters 4 and 5, Nunley examines the ubiquity of the hush harbor trope in African American culture and considers barbershops as pedagogical sites, using literature, poetry, philosophy, and film to make his case. In chapter 6, he analyzes the Barbershop movie in detail, arguing that the movie’s commodified, neoliberal version of AAHHR did not represent a hush harbor, although that was ostensibly the aim. Keepin’ It Hushed concludes with a presentation of a hush harbor pedagogy in chapter 7 and a distinctive analysis of hush harbor oriented speeches by then-Senator Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Rhetoricians and readers interested in African American life and culture will appreciate the cogent analysis in Nunley’s volume.

Inside the closed community of Borough Park, where most Chassidim live, the rules of life are very clear, determined by an ancient script written thousands of years before down to the last detail-and abuse has never been a part of it. But when thirteen-year-old Gittel learns of the abuse her best friend has suffered at the hands of her own family member, the adults in her community try to persuade Gittel, and themselves, that nothing happened. Forced to remain silent, Gittel begins to question everything she was raised to believe. A richly detailed and nuanced book, one of both humor and depth, understanding and horror, this story explains a complex world that remains an echo of its past, and illuminates the conflict between yesterday's traditions and today's reality.

Hush isn't just another book of sleep tips - it's more a book of sleep transformation. Based on an integration of sleep science and spirituality, Hush was written to complement medical approaches with more traditional sacred views of sleep and dreams. Its "one hundred prescriptions" were carefully crafted to speak to both the mind as well as the heart. They are not so much intended to provoke deep analysis, but rather to invoke deep sleep.

Graceling meets Red Queen in this exciting debut novel by an electrifying new voice "Hush has all the trappings of a great fantasy: a curse, a labyrinthine castle, many secrets, and powerful magic. At the center of it all, a girl unwilling to allow her world to be twisted by lies when she knows the truth. A truly gripping read." - Emily A. Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints They use magic to silence the world. Who will break the hush? Seventeen-year-old Shae has led a seemingly quiet life, joking with her best friend Fiona, and chatting with Mads, the neighborhood boy who always knows how to make her smile, all while secretly keeping her fears at bay... Of the disease that took her brother’s life. Of how her dreams seem to bleed into reality around her. Of a group of justice seekers called the Bards who claim to use the magic of Telling to keep her community safe. When her mother is murdered, she can no longer pretend. Not knowing who to trust, Shae journeys to unlock the truth, instead finding a new enemy keen to destroy her, a brooding boy with dark secrets, and an untold power she never thought possible. From Dylan Farrow comes Hush, a powerful fantasy where one girl is determined to remake the world.

Angela Sayers is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Convinced by her controlling brother to stop taking her medication, Angelas world unravels just a little more when she discovers she can communicate with the dead. Its not a welcome revelation. Her dead mother was driven mad by this gift. Eager to capitalize on their mothers fame as a medium, her brother forces Angela to publically become the unwilling heir apparent. Soon, Sayers Medium Services is shamelessly exploiting the fears of the most vulnerablethe elderly, the feeble-minded, the grievingfor obscene profit. Uncertain if her increasingly fragile state of mind is caused by lack of medication, sleep deprivation, or guilt, Angela endures a plague of sleepless nights. If shes going to have any semblance of a future, she knows she must find a way to confront her own demonsincluding the fear that its all in her head. When they are hired to cleanse an old orphanage that is genuinely haunted, its up to Angela to get everyone out alive. But with reality slipping away, can she escape the prison of her mind long enough to save them?

"A new novel from John Hart"--

Sixteen-year old Nora finds forbidden love with a fallen angel, the New York Times Bestseller, now in paperback!

* "Mott’s deft prose and well-written characters will keep readers engaged from start to frightening finish. This is the perfect read for people who love the chill of terror running down their backs." —School Library Journal (starred review) A delightfully creepy story perfect for the middle school set! Hush-a-Bye is an old, broken doll found by Lucy and her sister in the woods. It seems to possess extraordinary powers, but will it use them for good or evil? Like most kids with younger siblings, Lucy loves her sister Antonia, but is all too frequently annoyed with her as well. The two spend most of their time together since their mother works so hard, but without friends Lucy can't help but feel lonely anyway. She's always tried to ignore the bullying and teasing at school about her family being poor--it's always best to keep her head down and do nothing. When the girls find an old, muddy doll head in the river, Antonia claims it as her newest treasure. At night Lucy hears her talking to Hush-a-Bye--and does she hear the doll talking back? Soon, Hush-a-Bye seems to be protecting Antonia by making bad things happen to others, and it isn't long before Lucy asks for its help against her tormentors, too. Slowly Hush-a-Bye's influence forms a wedge between the sisters, and Antonia's dependence on it becomes frightening. The doll has a mind of its own, and soon it will have Antonia's as well. Can Lucy solve the mystery of Hush-a-Bye to stop its evil plans?

An art therapist in Oregon becomes suspicious of weird drawings by a pupil. So begins the story of a serial killer who marries single mothers in order to abuse their children.