Survival Songs

""Say girl now and we see ourselves in kitchens. See ourselves in graves. But still we read our horoscopes."" Survival Songs is a rerelease of Meggie Royer's first collection of poems, which was a finalist in the GoodReads Choice Awards for the Best Poetry Book of 2013. This edition includes new work, including Royer's most popular poem, ""The Morning After I Killed Myself.""

How can a song help the hungry and persecuted to survive? Stephanie Sieburth’s Survival Songs explores how a genre of Spanish popular music, the copla, as sung by legendary performer Conchita Piquer, helped Republican sympathizers to survive the Franco regime’s dehumanizing treatment following the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Piquer’s coplas were sad, bitter stories of fallen women, but they offered a way for the defeated to cope with chronic terror, grief, and trauma in the years known as the “time of silence.” Drawing on the observations of clinical psychotherapy, Sieburth explores the way in which listening to Piquer’s coplas enabled persecuted, ostracized citizens to subconsciously use music, role-play, ritual, and narrative to mourn safely and without fear of repercussion from the repressive state. An interdisciplinary study that includes close readings of six of Piquer’s most famous coplas, Survival Songs will be of interest to specialists in modern Spanish studies and to clinical psychologists, musicologists, and those with an interest in issues of trauma, memory, and human rights.

First published in the US in 1995. This is an account of the author's three years imprisonment in a Japanese camp on Sumatra during WWII, her childhood before the war on the island of Tarakan and her escape from Tarakan with her fathers and sisters. It tells of the uplifting influence of a singing group in the camp comprised of Dutch Australian and English women prisoners. A television documentary entitled 'Song of Survival' was based on events recorded in this book. Includes an index.

Gila Flam offers a penetrating insider's look at a musical culture previously unexplored---the song repertoire created and performed in the Lodz ghetto of Poland. Drawing on interviews with survivors and on library and archival materials, the author illustrates the general themes of the Lodz repertoire and explores the nature of Holocaust song. Most of the songs are presented here for the first time. "An extremely accurate and valuable work. There is nothing like it in either the extensive holocaust literature or the ethnomusicology literature." -- Mark Slobin, author of Chosen Voices: The Story of the American Cantorate

A propulsive and chillingly prescient novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker award–winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts. “Absolutely riveting.” — Stephen King In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering. Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child. Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink. Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.

“Reveals the strange and wondrous adaptations birds rely on to get by.” —National Audubon Society When we see a bird flying from branch to branch happily chirping, it is easy to imagine they lead a simple life of freedom, flight, and feathers. What we don’t see is the arduous, life-threatening challenges they face at every moment. Beaks, Bones, and Bird Songs guides the reader through the myriad, and often almost miraculous, things that birds do every day to merely stay alive. Like the goldfinch, which manages extreme weather changes by doubling the density of its plumage in winter. Or urban birds, which navigate traffic through a keen understanding of posted speed limits. In engaging and accessible prose, Roger Lederer shares how and why birds use their sensory abilities to see ultraviolet, find food without seeing it, fly thousands of miles without stopping, change their songs in noisy cities, navigate by smell, and much more.

BOUNCE BACK FROM WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT YOU Stressful situations are a fact of life. Job insecurity, financial burden, relationship doubt are all too familiar. Some people approach them with confidence and poise, facing change and challenges head on. Others back away slowly into a corner and become quivering wrecks at the mere thought of them. So what is it that makes some people cope with these adverse situations so well? It’s not about what is happening to you, but how you react to it. It’s about your resilience. Happiness guru Liggy Webb is here to help us all find positivity and inner strength to cope with stressful situations. Arming you with a personal toolkit to handle day to day challenges, and providing strategies for thriving in uncertain times Liggy shows you how to increase your ‘bouncibility’ and bounce back from whatever negative things life throws at you. • Timely topic with governments across the world promoting happiness on the one hand and dealing with vast economic uncertainty and austerity on the other • Easy to digest, anecdotal and practical guide with lots of common sense advice • Contains timely examples and tips tailored for coping with difficult times

From the acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space—an authoritative and accessible guide to the most alluring and challenging phenomena of contemporary science. "[Levin will] take you on a safe black hole trip, an exciting travel story enjoyed from your chair’s event horizon.” —Boston Globe Through her writing, astrophysicist Janna Levin has focused on making the science she studies not just comprehensible but also, and perhaps more important, intriguing to the nonscientist. In this book, she helps us to understand and find delight in the black hole—perhaps the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined by physicists—illustrated with original artwork by American painter and photographer Lia Halloran. Levin takes us on an evocative exploration of black holes, provoking us to imagine the visceral experience of a black hole encounter. She reveals the influence of black holes as they populate the universe, sculpt galaxies, and even infuse the whole expanse of reality that we inhabit. Lively, engaging, and utterly unique, Black Hole Survival Guide is not just informative—it is, as well, a wonderful read from first to last.

Musician's Record It takes many years to excel at recording (whether at home or in a commercial facility), and if you desire to become a professional recordist then that's what's required. But if you're a musician who wants to garner a reaction to your song, then you don't have time for that. You need to make a Killer Record right now. But how? First, stop thinking like a recordist. If you're a musician, and you record, this book will prove an invaluable resource (I encourage you to read the reviews. People love this book). I explain all the things that I've learned as a high-level professional recordist, mixer, and producer over the course of decades, but as they relate to you as a musician, your songs, and the long view of your recording career. The Goal The stated goal of this book is to convert recording decisions into musical ones, and technical decisions into practical ones. Not only do I explain the musical strategies for making a Killer Record, I also break the technical information down to its core so that you can strategize based on your recording reality. So long as you have what you need to make a record, I can help you make it a Killer Record. This is the only additional gear you'll require to greatly improve the quality of your records. Who am I? I'm Mixerman, a gold and multi-platinum award winning producer, mixer, and recordist. I was in precisely your position at the early stages of my career. I was a musician, frustrated that I could write a good song, only to feel the record itself fell short of it's potential. Over the course of my decades recording, I noticed that the performance and arrangement had a far greater impact on the sound than anything I did on the engineering side. The more musical my decisions, the better my results. What You Can Expect This Studio Field Manual is chock full of recording, mixing, and producing strategies designed to keep recording a fun and focused process. You will return to this manual time and time again to help you overcome any impediment--technical or musical--that might prevent you from achieving the results you seek, regardless of your recording environment, regardless of what equipment you're using, and regardless of your current skillset. You can make a Killer Record under nearly any circumstance. It just requires the right mindset.