In France, potatoes are called ""pommes de terre,"" literally translated as apples of the earth. ""Poems de Terre"" is a short collection of poems which celebrate nature, love and mysticism. All of these poems arise from life experience, revealing the hidden treasures uncovered by David Menefee and Rachel Anderson. ""Climbing Vine"" Your words Put forth a climbing vine That wraps my spine With joy. - D. Menefee This collection is divided into two sections. The first section, written by David Menefee, celebrates spirit, love and nature. Each of these poems captures the essence of a moment. The second section contains poems celebrating nature's beauty and mystery. These were written by Rachel Anderson, who has also composed music and lyrics on similar themes.

In France, potatoes are called "pommes de terre," literally translated as apples of the earth. "Poems de Terre" is a short collection of poems which celebrate nature, love and mysticism. All of these poems arise from life experience, revealing the hidden treasures uncovered by David Menefee and Rachel Anderson.

Climbing Vine Your words Put forth a climbing vine That wraps my spine With joy. - D. Menefee

This collection is divided into two sections. The first section, written by David Menefee, celebrates spirit, love and nature. Each of these poems captures the essence of a moment. The second section contains poems celebrating nature's beauty and mystery. These were written by Rachel Anderson, who has also composed music and lyrics on similar themes.

This is the softcover version. William Thomas, the man known as "Buckwheat," one of the most beloved characters in the history of the Our Gang and Little Rascals films, rose from obscurity to become an American icon. Billy's heritage grew to be more than the ninety-three comedies in which he appeared as Buckwheat. He was a husband, father, and soldier. Several generations have come to know Buckwheat as if he was a real person, but few knew Billy, the man behind the myth. In "Otay " The Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas Story, William Thomas, Jr., Billy's son, joins with acclaimed author David W. Menefee to brush back the sands of time and unearth the facts beneath the fable. For the first time, the true story is told how producer Hal Roach, Sr. plucked three-year-old Billy from hundreds of children and raised him on a pedestal before an adoring public. For a decade, Billy was the most prominent Black American in motion pictures, but World War Two brought an end to the famous comedy series and a halt to his film career. Billy went on to live a private, nearly normal life, married, fathered an adorable child, and then answered the call to arms and enlisted in the US Army during the Korean War. Years later, imposters attempted to steal his limelight, but Billy forgave the offense with his characteristic, childlike good humor. In an era when most Black American actors were struggling to gain a foothold in Hollywood, Billy achieved a lasting legacy. Enjoy the timeless tale of a baby superstar, who once shown brightly on movie screens during Hollywood's "Golden Years" and still fascinates audiences today.

Drawing on a four-year study of the last 40 years of education reform in Los Angeles, Learning from L.A. captures the sweeping change in American education. It puts forth a provocative argument: while school reformers and education historians have tended to focus on the success or failure of individual initiatives, they have overlooked the fact that, over the past several decades, the institution of public education itself has been transformed. Colorful characters, dramatic encounters, and political skirmishes enliven this rich account of the wrenching transformations that took place in the Los Angeles Unified School District from the 1960s onward. The book focuses particularly on four key ideas that emerged through a succession of reforms beginning in the 1990s-decentralization, standards, school choice, and grassroots participation. Though the particular plans that gave rise to these ideas may have faded, the ideas themselves have taken root and developed in ways that those who inaugurated or participated in these reforms never anticipated.

Incisive and readable, this excellent volume offers an overview of contemporary campaigns and elections and the role parties play in them. Anyone looking to better understand and identify important features of current campaigns and elections, and to place these features in a historical context, will find the book invaluable. Drawing on extensive interviewing and archival research, David Menefee-Libey argues that campaign-centered politics is now the dominant force in American elections with serious implications for representative democracy. Data on campaign activities and finance from the 1998 election is included.

"This work offers a great deal of rich, detailed narrative on the pressures on and responses by party organizations caught up in a vortex of contextual change over the past generations. David Menefee-Libey analyzes the structured interactions among political elites, discussing campaign-dominated politics in the modern era and providing a wealth of compelling detail", according to Walter Dean Burnham of the University of Texas at Austin. "A well-written and well-developed study of national party organizations, political party in government, and the new party paradigm", writes Charles D. Hadley of the University of New Orleans. "It brings together two very important themes of contemporary American politics: the scholarship on critical elections and party decline and that on 'responsible parties' to form the 'new party paradigm' of 'campaign-centered politics.'"