I'll never forget that first time a saw a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian. I was driving home while the sun was setting and there was a flash of orange feathers. My heart jumped. I didn't take many photos that day, just three. Then, I handed my camera to some people with the Indians to take my picture with them. I was enamored from the start. Previous pictures I saw of the Indians focused on the suits blocking out the faces. With the incredible amount of work and art that went into these suits, I felt it was important to include the faces of these artists. It felt like it was no longer my art. It was an extension of what they were doing, and a way to honor what they had created. Their art is expensive and hard to do, and it isn't done for monetary gain. I admire that, and I relate. And over time we got to know each other very well. The Indians began asking me to come out with them to take pictures. The Black Feathers had me document the images of my monograph Let's Go Get Em' on St. Joseph's Night, when the Indians come out after sunset.

I started visiting New Orleans barbershops on Friday afternoons. Many of the subjects in my monograph "Ya Heard Me" were Gangsta' Rap artists. I began documenting their day-to-day lifestyles in the neighborhoods they were from. In the two years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, I shot thousands of photographs of these young people. I realized the moniker "soldiers" by which they refer to themselves was not an affectation. The average life expectancy in this demographic is 25 years. They speak, live and interact with an urgency that I would imagine exists on battlefields. I have personally witnessed over 50 shootings. One day, one of my subjects was shot through the chest. The bullet passed through his body, missing both his heart and spine by fractions of an inch. Apparently, the slug was so hot that it cauterized the wound on the way through and it didn't bleed. He went home to lie down for a few hours and was back on the street the next day.

The world of health care continues to change at a frantic pace. Every discipline across-the-board is struggling to keep up with the challenges that are constantly multiplying. More than any other industry, health care is setting a new pace for rapid redevelopment. Health care professionals, patients and politicians falter in the endless cycle of health care reform. Into this erratic scene of health care, come new forms of treatment that people are calling alternative therapies. Alternative therapies are low cost, and seemingly effective. Most are patient centered, outcome based, and require little training. Who will implement these new therapies? Registered Nurses have the most patient contact and greatest access. Who better to implement these new therapies? Little does anyone realize that these new therapies are based in spiritual practices contrary to Christianity? Christians beware Some of these therapies are ways of opening the door to the occult. This book covers today's two hottest topics- healthcare and the paranormal. Get this new and exciting, factually based book today Perfect for all Christians. Small group study included.