Taina

A uniquely dark, coming-of-age novel rife with urban magical realism, love, and redemption, from the author of Bodega Dreams When Julio, a teenager living in Spanish Harlem, hears that Taina, a pregnant fifteen-year-old from his high school claims to be a virgin, he decides to believe her. Julio has a history of strange visions and his blind and unrequited love for Taina will unleash a whirlpool of emotions that will bring him to question his hard-working Puerto Rican mother and his communist Ecuadorian father, his beliefs and even the building blocks of modern science (after seeing the conception of Taina’s baby as a revolution in nature). After meeting Taína's uncle, "El Vejigante", an ex-con with a dark past, he accepts his proposal to support her during her pregnancy and becomes entangled in a web of crime that, while taking him closer to Taína, ultimately reveals a family secret that will not leave him unscathed.

Release the Kingdom through Dance! You can experience God’s presence and healing power through dance. Encountering God Through Dance equips believers to worship Jesus in wholehearted devotion—to express love without fear or shame. What people are saying: Encountering God Through Dance is the wonderful journey of a radical lover of God…and a manual for instruction and inspiration. —Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor, Bethel Church This is by far the most refreshing book I have read in a long time. Saara Taina has given her life to a core area of life that is far too marginalized in many churches. —Marc A. Dupont, Mantle of Praise Ministries, Inc. Rarely do you see a book that offers passion, testimonies, and biblical expertise so that others can be fully equipped. —Theresa Dedmon, Director of Prophetic Arts, Bethel Church We have personally experienced the breakthrough power of the dance many, many times in Succat Hallel, our 24/7 worship room that overlooks Mount Zion in Jerusalem. —Rick and Patti Ridings, Succat Hallel The author’s personal journey of devotion through dance has taken her worldwide. She wraps her exciting travels with a solid biblical framework for the importance of dance in the Kingdom of God—on earth, today!

Facebook has fundamentally changed how the world connects. No other company has played a greater role in the history of social networking online. Yet Facebook is no longer simply a social networking site or social media platform. Facebook is Facebook. Taina Bucher shows how Facebook has become an idea of its own: something that cannot be fully described using broader categories. Facebook has become so commonplace that most people have a conception of what it is, yet it increasingly defies categorization. If we want to understand Facebook's power in contemporary society and culture, Bucher argues, we need to start by challenging our widespread conception of what Facebook is. Tracing the development and evolution of Facebook as a social networking site, platform, infrastructure and advertising company, she invites readers to consider Facebook anew. Contrary to the belief that nobody uses Facebook anymore, Facebook has never been more powerful. This timely book is important reading for students and scholars of media and communication, as well as anyone seeking to understand the Facebook phenomenon.

We live in a world in which Google's search algorithms determine how we access information, Facebook's News Feed algorithms shape how we socialize, and Netflix collaborative filtering algorithms choose the media products we consume. As such, we live algorithmic lives. Life, however, is not blindly controlled or determined by algorithms. Nor are we simply victims of an ever-expanding artificial intelligence. Rather than looking at how technologies shape or are shaped by political institutions, this book is concerned with the ways in which informational infrastructure may be considered political in its capacity to shape social and cultural life. It looks specifically at the conditions of algorithmic life -- how algorithms work, both materially and discursively, to create the conditions for sociality and connectivity. The book argues that the most important aspect of algorithms is not what they are in terms of their specific technical details but rather how they become part of social practices and how different people enlist them as powerful brokers of information, communication and society. If we truly want to engage with the promises of automation and predictive analytics entailed by the promises of "big data", we also need to understand the contours of algorithmic life that condition such practices. Setting out to explore both the specific uses of algorithms and the cultural forms they generate, this book offers a novel understanding of the power and politics of algorithmic life as grounded in case studies that explore the material-discursive dimensions of software.

About the Book In the foothills of The Adirondacks, a terrible evil is growing. Long buried in secrecy and The Mists of Time, a long dormant war between mortal enemies is sparked back to life when a girl unwittingly stumbles into it. When Taina Sierra leaves Manhattan for upstate New York, she had no idea that it would come with a steep price. Her only assets for survival: Silverado, Bullet and Gunn, her three, large German Shepherds—and they will do anything for her--- even die for her. The Girl Who Cried Wolf is a taut well-written tale of suspense. The setting of the story, the vivid characters, and the detailed dialogue make it a fun read thriller novel. As the characters develop and the plot thickens, the reader will be on the edge of their seat waiting to find out what happens. The author’s gory, gruesome details make it a can’t miss horror story!

What happens with something becomes someone? In the aftermath of an asteroid impact, Earth’s power grid is damaged nearly beyond recovery. The survival of our world may well depend on energy sources collected from an abandoned undersea settlement beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Earth-raised Colonel Carter Rhodes, in charge of Earth’s recovery efforts, calls upon Gwen Baré, a Venusian engineer, to regain control of the deserted moon outpost and collect fuel for Earth’s collapsing power grids. However, what Gwen discovers churning in Enceladus's subsurface waters brings her and Colonel Rhodes' straightforward plans to a crashing halt. Soon, Gwen finds herself in the middle of an interplanetary standoff. Win, and give the last humans on Earth a chance to survive. Lose, and risk the permanent dismantling of human society across the Solar System. Forced to take sides in this war for power, resources, and species survival, Gwen must make choices that not only affect her own life, but also force her to question what "life" itself might really mean. Will the promise of Enceladus energy be enough to salvage what is left of Earth‘s society? Are these humans worthy of salvation?.

Escape to the land of the Desert Kings with this boxed set containing books 4-6 in the series: Awakened by the Sheikh, Claimed by the Sheikh, and Wanted: A Baby by the Sheikh. You’ll find powerful sheikhs, strong women, and mystery and intrigue. Pour a glass of something long and cool and sit back and enjoy the heat and passion which await you in the land of the Desert Kings. Awakened by the Sheikh (Desert Kings #4) Cara Devlin’s sexy voice lands her the job as translator to the King of Ma’in with a salary that will ensure she can leave Ma’in, and the painful memories of a husband who used her, and start afresh. King Tariq is devoted to his children, his country and remaining single. He soon realizes Cara could prove useful in his business negotiations... but only providing she doesn’t know she’s being used. Claimed by the Sheikh (Desert Kings #5) With an arranged, love-free marriage looming, Prince Sahmir of Ma’in is enjoying his last night in Paris when Aurora runs by, fleeing for her life. All Rory wants is to regain the estates her father lost to the Russian mafia. She hadn't planned on being kidnapped by the Russian, or living with a sheikh and she certainly hadn’t planned on a baby. Wanted: A Baby by the Sheikh (Desert Kings #6) “You walked away from our wedding and kept on walking. And I hear nothing from you for a year, except a trail of credit card charges. Now you return saying you want our baby. What the hell is going on, Taina?” But Finnish heiress, Taina, can't answer Prince Daidan's question without destroying his world. So Daidan comes up with a proposal of his own... Desert Kings Wanted: A Wife for the Sheikh The Sheikh’s Bargain Bride The Sheikh's Lost Lover Awakened by the Sheikh Claimed by the Sheikh Wanted: A Baby by the Sheikh The Sheikhs of Havilah The Sheikh’s Secret Baby Bought by the Sheikh The Sheikh’s Forbidden Lover Surrender to the Sheikh Taken for the Sheikh's Harem Secrets of the Sheikhs The Sheikh’s Revenge by Seduction The Sheikh’s Secret Love Child The Sheikh’s Marriage Trap British Billionaires The Billionaire's Contract Marriage The Billionaire's Impossible CEO The Billionaire's Secret Baby

In this volume Professor Firth has brought together and commented upon a number of his papers on anthropological subjects published over the last thirty years. All these essays relate in different ways to his continuing interest in the study of social process, especially in the significance within a social context of individual choice and decision. Although some specialist studies are included, e.g. the group of papers dealing with the Polynesian island of Tikopia, the main themes of the book are broad ones and there are important general essays on such topics as social change; social structure and organization; modern society in relation to scientific and technological progress; and the study of values, mysticism, and religion by anthropologists. There is also a hitherto unpublished chapter on anthropology as a developing science.

“Guirgis, a lifelong New Yorker and a properly profane bard of the city, is a wizard at getting language to flow hot, funny, and fast…Guirgis’s rough-cut gem of a play is rich with revelation and barbed empathy.” —Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker Stephen Adly Guirgis brings his prodigious gifts for exploring the lives of social outcasts to new heights in this play about the inner workings of a women’s halfway house in New York City, where the unmoored residents struggle with addiction, abuse, and mental illness. Between daily therapy sessions, they clash with the staff and each other, form alliances, and fall in love. Harrowing, humorous, and heartbreaking, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven roaringly brings to life the experiences of women who society has tried to shuffle out of sight and out of mind.