This book addresses questions about the major impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on human communication and the ways in which the communication discipline has been impacted by and has responded to the conditions of the pandemic. Contributors examine both the personal and the university administrative level to discuss how the pandemic and its lockdowns and transition to online learning, among other consequences, impacted specific areas of scholarship within the communication discipline. Contributors represent a number of sub-disciplines and focus on important elements they have witnessed being influenced by pandemic responses, bringing to light the unique insights about the pandemic and its effect on human communication their sub-discipline affords them. They go on to explore how the pandemic has impacted, or will impact, the teaching of their subject area and provide future suggestions for research in that area. Sub-disciplines represented include interpersonal communication, family communication, nonverbal communication, health communication, military learners, communication administrators, and instructional communication concerns.

The love of books in the Jewish tradition extends back over many centuries, and the ways of interpreting those books are as myriad as the traditions themselves. Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers the first full survey of Jewish illuminated manuscripts, ranging from their origins in the Middle Ages to the present day. Featuring some of the most beautiful examples of Jewish art of all time--including hand-illustrated versions of the Bible, the Haggadah, the prayer book, marriage documents, and other beloved Jewish texts--the book introduces readers to the history of these manuscripts and their interpretation. Edited by Marc Michael Epstein with contributions from leading experts, this sumptuous volume features a lively and informative text, showing how Jewish aesthetic tastes and iconography overlapped with and diverged from those of Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Featured manuscripts were commissioned by Jews and produced by Jews and non-Jews over many centuries, and represent Eastern and Western perspectives and the views of both pietistic and liberal communities across the Diaspora, including Europe, Israel, the Middle East, and Africa. Magnificently illustrated with pages from hundreds of manuscripts, many previously unpublished or rarely seen, Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers surprising new perspectives on Jewish life, presenting the books of the People of the Book as never before.

An Illumination Of Blessings is a collection of thirty-six illustrated blessings with hand calligraphy drawn from the Jewish tradition with commentary by the author, Ilene Winn-Lederer and introduction by Marc Michael Epstein.

The book is a full-color perfect-bound trade paperback.

Mike Epstein originally intended to provide some historical background of his family for his daughter and grandchildren, but as he progressed in putting his thoughts down on paper, or rather in the computer, his story morphed into recollections of his youth, his friends and some of the incidents during his early years. Of particular note was his realization that he passed through much of his life almost oblivious to the meaning of things, the life of people around him and the significance of events.