Collage making offers everyone from small children to trained artists the ability to express themselves through images. In this new Common Threads collection, Jorge Lucero draws on the archive of the journal Visual Arts Research to present articles focused on the place of collage in fine art and education. Guided by the twinned concepts of mereness --collage's reputation as a trifle--and easiness --the technique's accessibility to all--the authors explore how subversive, debased, and effor...

If God were to write you a letter, in 200 words or less, what might it say? Would it be full of harshness, pointing out all your faults and wrong-doings? Would it be a laundry list of things you should have done, or should be doing, places to go, or people to see? In The Letters, my hope is that you will see the God of hope, grace and encouragement. He is not the ogre that we are sometimes led to believe he is.As you read these letters, you will discover a God who knows your name, He knows...

Elegant ideas deserve elegant expression. Sword dispels the myth that you can’t get published without writing wordy, impersonal prose. For scholars frustrated with disciplinary conventions or eager to write for a larger audience, here are imaginative, practical, witty pointers that show how to make articles and books enjoyable to read—and to write.

Why me, Lord? Why now?

Although the arts are often thought to be closer to the rim of education than to its core, they are, surprisingly, critically important means for developing complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Elliot Eisner in this engrossing book. In it he describes how various forms of thinking are evoked, developed, and refined through the arts. These forms of thinking, Eisner argues, are more helpful in dealing with the ambiguities and uncertainties of daily life than are the formally...

In today's world it can be difficult to feel safe and secure. That's why in Safe in the Shepard's Arms Max Lucado offers a reliable source of safety and security from the twenty-third Psalm. He describes this psalm as "written by a shepherd who became a king-because He wanted us to know about a King who became a shepherd." With Psalm twenty-three as our guide, we can release our burdens, throw off our fears, and rest safely in the Shepherd's arms.

Is Ebonics really a dialect or simply bad English? Do women and men speak differently? Will computers ever really learn human language? Does offensive language harm children? These are only a few of the issues surrounding language that crop up every day. Most of us have very definite opinions on these questions one way or another. Yet as linguists Donna Jo Napoli and Vera Lee-Schoenfeld point out in this short and thoroughly readable volume, many of our most deeply held ideas about the nat...

Do you long for something more in your relationship with God?The good news is that “something more” does not mean “doing more.” God is not waiting for you to get your spiritual life “right.” He wants to be with you right where you are.The real question is not “What does God want from you?” but “What does God want for you?”Sharon Jaynes understands what it’s like to have a “glory ache”—a longing to experience God’s ...

Stormie Omartian's bestselling The Power of a Praying® series (more than 28 million copies sold) is rereleased with fresh new covers and new material to reach a still-growing market of readers eager to discover the power of prayer for their lives.This warmly written prayer and study guide will help you apply the life-changing, marriage-enriching principles of Stormie's bestselling The Power of a Praying® Wife to your own life.In this companion resource, you will fi...

Eric Hayot teaches graduate students and faculty in literary and cultural studies how to think and write like a professional scholar. From granular concerns, such as sentence structure and grammar, to big-picture issues, such as adhering to genre patterns for successful research and publishing and developing productive and rewarding writing habits, Hayot helps ambitious students, newly minted Ph.D.'s, and established professors shape their work and develop their voices.Hayot does m...

Doesn't every day deserve a chance to be a good day? An opportunity? A shot? A tryout? An audition? A swing at the plate? After all: "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." But what of those days when traffic snarls, airports close, friends forget, and spouses complain? Or divorce days, final exam days, surgery days, tax days, or even days when the cemetery dirt is still fresh?"Yes, every day," says best-selling author Max Lucado. In Every Day De...

Learn to speak to God through prayer, offer him praise and thanksgiving, and listen for an answer.How important is prayer in the life of a Christian? Doesn't God know what we need already? Do you look forward to praying, or do you dread it?It is never a mistake to pray, but we need to understand fully what prayer is and its role in our lives. Learning to Pray, by Christian leader and pastor Billy Graham, looks at the incredible pri...