Christmas just isn't Christmas without Christmas on TV. Whether it's the made-for-television specials of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," a "M*A*S*H*" Christmas in Korea, Kramer playing Santa on "Seinfeld," or the annual holiday disaster on "The Simpsons" or "South Park," television's many representations of this beloved holiday have become as essential a part of our holiday season as lights, gifts, or mistletoe. In this entertaining chronicle of television and the Christmas season, former Television Critics Association President Diane Werts weaves discussion of the many programs that have appeared during holiday seasons throughout the years with interviews with writers, producers, and stars. Not only are readers given a chance to re-live their favorite holiday moments on TV, but also to gain illuminating cultural insights into the increasingly strong bond that unites these two American traditions. Diane Werts's book is the first to cover the entire history of the depiction of Christmas on television, and includes a discussion of programs that celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the winter solstice. An introductory overview helps readers to understand the basis on which television's success with the holidays is based, and chronological chapters go on to consider the many different ways in which the season has been celebrated in variety shows, sitcoms, specials, and dramas of the past six decades.

How does a Vampire Cult differ from a Satanic Cult? How do seemingly "normal" or "ordinary" citizens suddenly find themselves committed to a group whose leader promotes criminal activities and isolation from families and friends? What should you do if a loved one becomes indoctrinated by a potentially dangerous cult? This book focuses on various cults and their often criminal belief systems. Most readers are shocked by stories of mass suicides and ritualized cult killings, but few understand how such crimes come to be committed. Snow, a seasoned police officer with experience working on cult crimes, examines those cults that commit offenses from murder and fraud to kidnapping and sexual assault. By providing specific accounts of dangerous cults and their destructive acts, Snow illustrates how seemingly innocent groups can turn pernicious when under the sway of a charismatic leader with an agenda, or when members take things too far. He offers advice on how to avoid falling victim to cult indoctrination, concluding with chapters on how to identify cults, how to protect yourself and your family, and what to do if a loved one is ensnared by such a group.

This work goes beyond the basics of classroom management to consider the path of both teacher and student toward authentic intellectual maturity and spiritual growth. It provides a framework for stripping away the external and personal pressures that bleed intellectual content out of classroom teaching so that teachers may, in fact, experience their vocation as sublime. Written in the novelistic first-person narrative, it is a seasoned teacher's story of his initiation from graduate student at the University of Chicago to ninth-grade teacher in a Catholic high school where he manned the battle lines in provincial, petty, sometime even violent world of American secondary school. It is also the story of how a certain Brother Blake, a 67-year-old practitioner of the pedagogy of the sublime, passed on his vision of classroom teaching as a sublime vocation. A major contribution to the field by the acclaimed author of The Ignorant Perfection of Ordinary People.

The mature consumer market is highly heterogeneous, and to reach it most effectively marketers must fit different marketing strategies to different market subsegments. Here is a marketing tool that can not only help segment the market, but target it successfully. Dr. Moschis's market segmentation model is based on state-of-the-art knowledge and methodology. It shows marketers how to develop industry-specific marketing strategy, and demonstrates why this approach works. That, plus the fact that Dr. Moschis's model can be integrated into other databases to enhance their value, makes his book especially useful to marketing professionals, and to students and teachers of marketing on the graduate level.

Gerontographics is a life-stage model developed to help marketers to better understand the heterogeneous older consumer market. Dr. Moschis points out that the model is unique, and different from other models of older consumer behavior in several ways. First, it is built on state-of-the-art knowledge drawn from various disciplines. Instead of relying on a single approach to or assumption about human behavior, it takes into account a wide range of factors and approaches. Second, the model was tested and validated using multiple methods. Not only is it the result of empirical methods, but it also reflects current thinking among consumer researchers on how to study behavior. Third, because the marketplace is dynamic, the life-stage model is flexible. It accommodates changes over time, to reflect changes in the environment and in people, and the emergence of new types of consumers. Finally, the model is directly linked to marketing strategies. It suggests specific courses of marketing action an organization should take to secure better results.

“The establishment of professional learning networks can be transformational for you personally and professionally. This book takes you step by step through the process of developing an effective Professional Learning Network (PLN) to create and realise a new status quo!� Catherine Carden, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK “The book impressively underscores the relevance and opportunities of Professional Learning Networks for innovation in school, while also addressing the challenges and pitfalls of successfully establishing, running and sustaining PLNs from the perspective of teachers.� Colin Cramer, University of Tuebingen, Germany “This book is a must read for practitioners, policy makers and researchers interested in Professional Learning Networks! [It] provides readers with concrete recipes with all the necessary ingredients, including leadership, trust and collaboration, to ensure PLN success.� Prof. Dr. Kim Schildkamp, University of Twente, the Netherlands The Teacher’s Guide to Successful Professional Learning Networks supports educators with practical guidelines developed from the authors’ practical and research-based experience in this area. Taking a step-by-step approach, the book guides readers through the different stages of inquiry and influencing factors involved with successfully running a PLN. The authors explore how teachers can participate in networks to achieve deep reflective inquiry and make positive changes in teaching and learning. The book: -Builds on international research into professional learning networks (PLNs) -Uses illustrative case studies from a range of contexts across the world -Provides step-by-step guidance to help readers establish sustainable PLNs  Drawing from a diverse range of international contexts and with content stretching from early years to secondary, this book is essential reading for any educator looking to create, expand or enhance their Professional Learning Network. Cindy Poortman is Associate professor at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Her research and teaching focus is teacher and school leader professional development in Professional Learning Networks (PLNs). She has co-founded and is coordinating the PLN network within the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Chris Brown is Professor and Director of Research at the University of Warwick’s Department of Education Studies. He has co-edited two books on Professional Learning Networks, is co-editor of the Emerald’s Professional Learning Networks Book Series; and is co-founder and co-convener of the ICSEI Professional Learning Networks research network.

This index identifies some 1,000 female characters who appear in novels, short stories, and plays about the American South. All of the major and some of the minor characters created by the most distinguished Southern writers are included. (Authors who wrote about the South but who were not born or raised there are excluded.) All characters are listed alphabetically, followed by a short description of their character traits and/or role. This is followed by the work(s) of literature in which the character appears and the author's name. Sweeney's introduction includes an explanation of the scope, organization, and rationale of the work. Also covered are the depictions of women by Southern writers, including stereotypical patterns, racial differences, regional diversity, and developmental progress or changes in portraiture. Following the index is an appendix listing fifteen categories of Southern female characters. The labels for these categories are drawn from the literature itself. Author and title indexes conclude the work.

This book investigates the impact of language learning and study abroad on the career options and choices of US-based alumni of all ages. It reports on the results of a mixed-methods study which used both an extensive nationwide survey and qualitative life history interviews with 54 participants systematically selected to represent a broad range of backgrounds and professions. International education experiences are shown to exert considerable influence on the aspirations and career paths of individuals in a wide variety of fields (e.g. education, healthcare, business, government service). The long-term benefits of language study are illustrated both in narratives from individuals whose work requires proficiency beyond English and from participant comments on improvement in their use of English for international communication. The book will be of relevance to a wide audience of international education professionals in addition to researchers and students in applied linguistics and language education.

This book exemplifies the high quality of thoughtful discussion and debate that is possible on the issue of same-sex marriage. Authors are paired to address and respond to a particular topic, one in favor of state recognition of same-sex relationships, and one in favor of limiting state recognition to those relationships that have been traditionally recognized as marriages.

Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage evoke strong response from those on both sides of the debate. Much has been written about the legal policy issues over the legal recognition of same-sex unions in the United States, yet there has been little dialogue and exchange between participants in the debate. This book attempts to open that dialogue, and to exemplify the high quality of thoughtful discussion and debate that is possible. Authors are paired to address and respond to a particular topic, one in favor of state recognition of same-sex relationships and one in favor of limiting state recognition to those relationships that have been traditionally recognized as marriages.

This ideal introduction is designed to lead the reader through the relevant issues, progressing from the general to the particular. Debates are contextualized, offering comparative, historical, and family-policy perspectives, asking fundamental questions such as what is the purpose of a family, and what interests, if any, that state has in promoting a particular type of family over others. Issues of jurisprudence and political philosophy are examined, addressing the public benefits of marriage and equal treatment before the law, among other items. The constitutionality of same-sex marriage or domestic partnership policies is explored. Finally, this book covers the broad implications when states--such as Vermont--legally recognize same-sex unions, and the impact of international recognition of same-sex marriage rights.

The nineteenth century has been referred to as the "Woman's Century," and it was a period of amazing change and progress for American women. There were great leaps forward in women's legal status, their entrance into higher education and the professions, and their roles in public life. In addition, approximately two million African American female slaves gained their freedom. Women's Roles in Nineteenth-Century America examines how economic, political, and social factors in the United States affected women's roles and how women themselves helped shape history. Each thematic chapter addresses ideas about women's proper roles as well as women's experiences of living in the nineteenth century. While the dominant ideas about appropriate gender roles originated from within the white Protestant and primarily middle-class culture, each chapter compares those ideas with the reality of different women's daily lives, integrating information on European American, African American, Native American, and immigrant women, and women of different socioeconomic and religious backgrounds and regions. Students and general readers will come away with a solid understanding of marriage and family life, the boundaries between home and public life, work, the intricacies of social and political reform, and new directions in religious and literary roles and the multicultural histories of the American West. Chapter 1, "Marriage and Family Life," looks at women's roles and relationships as daughters, wives, and mothers, as well as the roles of women who remained single, either by choice or circumstance. Slave marriages and interracial marriages are also discussed, as well as reformers' attacks on and attempts toprovide alternatives to traditional marriage. Chapter 2 on "Work" acknowledges women's unpaid work within the household economy as well as their entrance into the paid workforce beginning in the nineteenth century. Chapter 3, "Religion," explores women's roles in as churchgoers, reformers, missionaries, and preachers. Chapter 4 on "Education" examines a century that began with almost no women having access to formal education-and most black women denied any education all-and ended with women making up nearly half of all college graduates and in leading roles as teachers, college administrators, and even college presidents. Women had also made several "first" entrances into professions requiring advanced educations, such as medicine, the law, and the ministry. Chapter 5, "Politics and Reform," explains how women were consistently active in public life throughout the century. Chapter 6, "Slavery and Civil War," looks at the experience of enslaved women, their survival and resistance, as well as their first experiences of freedom during and after the Civil War. The chapter also explores the ways in which both black and white women participated in and were affected by the Civil War. Chapter 7 on "The West" discusses the process of relentless westward movement in the nineteenth century through the perspective of women, whether the thousands of pioneer women who traveled into and settled the west, or the native women who were confronted with and challenged by those settlements. Finally, Chapter 8, "Literature and the Arts," shows that while traditional studies of high culture have focused largely on a male canon of writers and artists, women in fact contributed to establishing an Americantradition of literature and the arts.

An entertaining and engrossing collection of British customs, superstitions and legends from past and present.

Did you know, in Cumbria it was believed a person lying on a pillow stuffed with pigeon s feathers could not die? Or that green is an unlucky colour for wedding dresses? In Scotland it was thought you could ward off fairies by hanging your trousers from the foot of the bed, and in Gloucestershire you could cure warts by cutting notches in the bark of an ash tree.

You ve heard about King Arthur and St George, but how about the Green Man, a vegetative deity who is seen to symbolise death and rebirth? Or Black Shuck, the giant ghostly dog who was reputed to roam East Anglia?

In this beautifully illustrated book, Dee Dee Chainey tells tales of mountains and rivers, pixies and fairy folk, and witches and alchemy. She explores how British culture has been shaped by the tales passed between generations, and by the land that we live on.

As well as looking at the history of this subject, this book lists the places you can go to see folklore alive and well today. The Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival in Cambridgeshire or the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Staffordshire for example, or wassailing cider orchards in Somerset.

Popular music may be viewed as primary documents of society, and "America's Musical Pulse" documents the American experience as recorded in popular sound. Whether jazz, blues, swing, country, or rock, the music, the impulse behind it, and the reaction to it reveal the attitudes of an era or generation. Always a major preoccupation of students, music is often ignored by teaching professionals, who might profitably channel this interest to further understandings of American social history and such diverse fields as sociology, political science, literature, communications, and business as well as music.

In this interdisciplinary collection, scholars, educators, and writers from a variety of fields and perspectives relate topics concerning twentieth-century popular music to issues of politics, class, economics, race, gender, and the social context. The focus throughout is to place music in societal perspective and encourage investigation of the complex issues behind the popular tunes, rhythms, and lyrics.

Culture and Customs of Korea is an excellent introduction to the Korean people and their religion, arts and literature, daily life, and customs. It presents the most important experiences that have shaped life in both North and South Korea today. These include the migration of the people from farms in the countryside to crowded city apartments, the effects of rapid industrialization, and the continuing trauma of the country's division. Accessible and highly authoritative, Culture and Customs of Korea will be the ultimate source for students and other interested readers to learn about an important Asian society and the homeland of the many Korean Americans. For centuries, although strongly influenced by the Chinese, Koreans have maintained a unique civilization with their own language, social organization, food, national costume, political institutions, and customs. The disruptions of the 20th century have included a long and difficult period of foreign rule and a devastating civil war. However, Koreans continue to prize their traditional culture, and the younger generations have embraced "Koreanness" with a determination to assert Korea's place in the world. Culture and Customs of Korea artfully depicts the past and present in North and South Korea with chapters on the story of the Korean people, thought and religion, arts and literature, performing arts, daily life and folkways, life in a Korean village, life in urban Korean, and gender, marriage, and the lives of Korean women. A chronology and glossary supplement the text.

This volume presents a rationale for a spiritually animated psychoanalysis. Classic world religious literature is analyzed in depth showing how Ecclesiastes, St. Augustine's Confessions, The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and others can enhance psychoanalysis. Marcus argues that psychoanalysis is a theory and profession in crisis, partly due to its alienation from the spiritual and moral philosophies contained in ancient religious wisdom. This volume presents the spiritual as a core dimension of the psyche, and the quest for self-transcendence--meeting the glory of the Infinite--as a quest inherent in the human condition.

Of special interest to those studying psychoanalysis, psychology, and religious studies, this volume may also intrigue those studying the philosophy of religion.

Fairy lore concerns beliefs about elves, dwarfs, gnomes, trolls, mermaids, brownies, pixies, leprechauns, and many other beings found in world folklore. While such beliefs stretch back to antiquity, they also appear throughout contemporary popular culture. Written for students and general readers and extensively illustrated, this book is an introduction to fairy lore from around the world. The first part of the handbook defines and classifies different types of fairies. It provides numerous examples of fairy lore along with excerpts from different traditions, then examines various approaches to the study of fairies. A final chapter looks at the presence of fairy lore in literature, art, film, and popular culture. The handbook closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources for student research.

This collection comprises selected essays from a conference held at Chawton House Library in March 2006. It focuses on women writers as translators who interpreted and mediated across cultural boundaries and between national contexts in the period 1700-1900. In this period, which saw women writers negotiating their right to central positions in the literary marketplace, attitudes to and enthusiasm for translations were never fixed. This volume contributes to our understanding of the waxing and waning of the importance of translation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Rejecting from the outset the notion of translations as 'defective females', each essay engages with the author it discusses as an innovator, and investigates to what extent she viewed her labours not as hack-work, nor as an interpretation of the original text, but rather as a creative original. Authors discussed are from Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey and North America and include figures now best known for their other publications, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Isabelle de Charriere, Therese Huber and Elizabeth Barrett Browning as well as lesser-known writers such as Fatma Aliye, Anna Jameson and Anne Gilchrist.

Organizations of all kinds struggle to understand, adapt, respond and manipulate changing conditions in their internal and external environments. Approaches based on the causal, linear logic of mechanistic sciences and engineering continue to play an important role, given people's ability to create order. But such approaches are valid only within carefully circumscribed boundaries. They become counterproductive when the same organizations display the highly reflexive, context-dependent, dynamic nature of systems in which agents learn and adapt and new patterns emerge. The rapidly expanding discussion about complex systems offers important contributions to the integration of diverse perspectives and ultimately new insights into organizational effectiveness. There is increasing interest in complexity in mainstream business education, as well as in specialist business disciplines such as knowledge management. Real world systems can't be completely designed, controlled, understood or predicted, even by the so-called sciences of complexity, but they can be more effective when understood as complex systems. While many scientific disciplines explore complexity through mathematical models and simulations, Emergence: Complexity & Organization explores the emerging understanding of human systems that is informed by this research. This 2004 Annual includes articles from Isabelle Stengers, Julie Klein, Sandra Mitchell, Glenda Eoyang, Bill McKelvey, William Sulis and many more, which explore a range of complexity-related topics from philosophical concerns through to the practical application of complexity ideas, concepts and frameworks in human organizations. Also included are a series of four reproductions of classical papers in the fields of complexity and systems: "Principles of Self-Organizing Systems" by Ross Ashby (originally published in 1962) "General Systems Theory: The Skeleton of Science" by Kenneth Boulding (originally published in 1956) "Science and Complexity" by Warren Weaver (originally published in 1948) "Emergence" by Stephen Pepper (originally published in 1926)

Public education can be one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of a government wanting to maintain power, as it is the realm in which children are taught the social values and norms that will sustain the culture when they become adults. In South Africa, education was kept separate, unequal, and decidedly undemocratic, and as Hlatshwayo explains, it was used specifically to preserve and perpetuate inequality. In a work designed for historians and education professionals alike, he examines the tumultuous and highly politicized history of South African education and evaluates the prospects for its hopefully nonracialized future. Hlatshwayo begins with a look at the socioeconomic and political structure (dating back as far as 1658) that allowed for South Africa's use of education as a tool of hegemony and follows this with a critical analysis of the educational system--its goals, objectives, organizational structure, and resistance thereto. Finally, drawing from the educational policy statements of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the African National Congress (ANC), he proposes a democratic educational system for South Africa--something that, as he makes clear in this provocative and challenging work, has been an anathema for centuries to a government that had as its primary goal the subjugation of the majority of its citizens. Using an array of sociological and economic models, Hlatshwayo reveals the ways in which a society's educational system and its struggle toward freedom are inextricable.

Dieses Buch möchte allen Lehramtsstudierenden mit dem Fach Evangelische oder Katholische Theologie/Religionspädagogik einen gelingenden Einstieg und Übergang in das Studium ermöglichen. In anschaulichen Beiträgen zu allen relevanten Fachdisziplinen der Theologie und Humanwissenschaften werden die jeweils grundlegenden Strukturen und ihr Zusammenhang mit dem gemeinsamen Horizont eines religionspädagogisch ausgerichteten Theologiestudiums erörtert. Die Neuauflage wurde in allen Teilen überarbeitet und um Aufsätze zur Bedeutung von Religion in der Gesellschaft erweitert, darunter ein Beitrag von Bundes-lnnenminister W. Schäuble. Das Literaturverzeichnis wurde umfangreicher angelegt und eröffnet einen ersten Überblick zu wichtigen Themen im Hinblick auf wissenschaftliche Hausarbeiten oder die Prüfungsvorbereitung. Dieses Buch aus der religionspädagogischen Reihe Übergänge ist ein zuverlässiger, orientierender Begleiter in akademisch-theologischen Studiengängen mit pädagogischer Orientierung.

Ten brief essays on how reading and meaningfully engaging with literature can help us live better, more purposeful lives From each of the ten essays emerges a simple, punchy maxim (‘Be the hero of your own life’; ‘Question authority’; ‘Change your mind’). Yet from these simple starting points wonderful, wise, and accessible essays unfold, taking the reader from Austen to Auden, Baudelaire to Brecht, to answer the question: what does literature teach us about what it means to be human? Ben Hutchinson extrapolates the universal truths that echo time and time again in literature, and offers a toolkit to his reader to reflect on and learn from the books they read and return to.

The alluring mermaids sighted by lonely mariners. The winged angels, by turns avenging and comforting, that abound in Christian art. The fearsome Minotaur of Greek mythology. Animal-headed deities, from the elephant-headed Ganesha in India to the falcon-headed Horus in ancient Egypt. An enigmatic cave painting representing a possibly shamanic figure with the hindparts of a man and the foreparts of a stag. As far back as we go in human history, we find therianthropes, or animal-human hybrids. In this thoughtful volume, Philip F. Palmedo surveys each of the major categories of therianthrope in turn — from animal-headed beings to merpeople to shape-shifters — with particular attention to their roles in religion, folklore, and the popular consciousness. With well-chosen colour illustrations, he demonstrates how artists of all eras have shaped our conception of these mythical beings. Palmedo closes the book by theorising about the ultimate origin and meaning of therianthropes, placing them at the nexus of our close ancestral relationship with the animal world. From Angels to Werewolves will fascinate anyone with an interest in myth, fantasy, or the human-animal bond.

John D’Emilio is one of the leading historians of his generation and a pioneering figure in the field of LGBTQ history. At times his life has been seemingly at odds with his upbringing. How does a boy from an Italian immigrant family in which everyone unfailingly went to confession and Sunday Mass become a lapsed Catholic? How does a family who worshipped Senator Joseph McCarthy and supported Richard Nixon produce an antiwar activist and pacifist? How does a family in which the word divorce was never spoken raise a son who comes to explore the hidden gay sexual underworld of New York City? Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood is D’Emilio’s coming-of-age story in which he takes readers from his working-class Bronx neighborhood to an elite Jesuit high school in Manhattan to Columbia University and the political and social upheavals of the late 1960s. He shares his personal experiences of growing up in a conservative, tight-knit, multigenerational family, how he went from considering entering the priesthood to losing his faith and coming to terms with his same-sex desires. Throughout, D’Emilio outlines his complicated relationship with his family while showing how his passion for activism influenced his decision to use research, writing, and teaching to build a strong LGBTQ movement. This is not just John D’Emilio’s personal story; it opens a window into how the conformist baby boom decade of the 1950s transformed into the tumultuous years of radical social movements and widespread protest during the 1960s. It is the story of what happens when different cultures and values collide and the tensions and possibilities for personal discovery and growth that emerge. Intimate and honest, D’Emilio’s story will resonate with anyone who has had to chart their own path in a world they did not expect to find.

Since achieving independence from Great Britain in 1962, the East African country of Uganda has been ravaged by political turmoil and the more recent crisis of the AIDS epidemic, but is now in the process of rebuilding and democratizing. Culture and Customs of Uganda is a fascinating overview of the current state of Ugandan society, where largely rural ethnic groups are experiencing the pull of urban centers, while the changes brought about by Western influences bear on practically every aspect of people's lives. Examples from the main ethnic groups are used to explain traditional culture and adaptations to modern life in religion, gender roles, courtship and marriage, work, education, family life, ceremonies, the arts, media, and more. This is the essential reference source to turn to for solid insight into Uganda. The wealth of detail in the coverage of the subjects above plus the land, people, history, literature, architecture/housing, cuisine, dress, gender roles, social customs and lifestyle, provides readers with broad sense of the country and its inhabitants. The sensitive narrative conveys the nuances between old and new, urban and rural, elite and poor for each topic. In addition, the evolution of Ugandan peoples is superbly demonstrated. Highlights include a discussion of the ways in which adherents of world religions such as Christianity and Islam mix these with traditional African religious belief in spirits, diviners, and rainmakers. The book also explores patriarchy and the social and inheritance system that has hindered women's education and prospects and exposed them to HIV/AIDS. Finally, there is a celebration of the various forms of artistic expression, such asdrumming, ceremonial dance, and handicrafts, particularly ceramic pottery, that have won accolades, as well as a look at artists who excel in writing poetry, producing hip-hop, and painting batiks for popular consumption.