Open City consistently publishes great stories, poems, essays, and artwork. I look forward to each issue, because each one is so different, and because this magazine continues to be vital and relevant, esp. because many literary magazines are so staid and dull....

People gravitate towards rhetoric, forming their opinions based on snippets of information rather than after having a more exhaustive study of the issues. Luckily, Dr. Heribert Adam and Dr. Kogila Moodley don't fall under this category and offer us a well research perspective on the issues. The first three chapters "The Opening of the Apartheid Mind" sets the stage for what will be a more rational and composed examination of the issues in South Africa of the recent past. To be brutally honest, rhetoric is sexy. Rhetoric moves us and unfortunately that limits the scope of our examination and removes agency from the Other - the stereotyped. Leaving one's examination of South Africa on the level of biographies written by self serving individuals leaves one with a one sided view of the issues.

In conjunction with the issues I laid out above, I just want to reflect, for a moment on Nelson Mandela's rhetoric that what occurred in South Africa was a miracle. The common belief is that there is an ontological predisposition to violence in Africa in general and South Africa in particular - that is a very dangerous oversimplification. In as much as there is a propensity to violence anywhere, why should we privilege Africa as the hotbed of violence. Can we see things another way and formulate policies accordingly.

There was an interesting note made in the introduction that: "Reluctant reconciliation is taking shape in South Africa. The ambivalent alliance between the two major contenders for power, the National Party (NP) and the African national Congress (ANC), results from a balance of forces where neither side can defeat the other. It is their mutual weakness, rather than their equal strength, that makes both longtime adversaries embrace negotiations for power-sharing. Like a forced marriage, the working arrangement lacked love but nonetheless is consummated because any alternative course would lead to a worse fate for both sides."

Already this sets the tone that the myth of the South African miracle is false and that the rhetoric surrounding the violence as set up by Mandela is false. A deeper examination of the issues leads us to believe that is will be the realistic self assessments as opposed to slogans and threats of violence that will lead South Africa to a stable transition and to effect a sustained stability - to whatever extent that can be achieved. People, unfortunately, en masse, do not like to hear this, it detracts from the rhetoric that fills the empty chambers of their hearts - therein lies the problem. In this context, it is very difficult to make a distinction between what we can be done and what ought to be done.

It is also interesting to note that whites will be in control for along time to come. The "emancipation" rhetoric want to see the toppling of tyrannical regime and see black freedom. Unfortunately, it is this very type to drum beating that results in violence: "Though strong in symbolic support, the ANC is weak in bureaucratic resources, military capacity, and economic leverage. Real power will therefore remain in the hands of the present establishment; even if Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa, the economy, the civil service, and the army will have to rely on white skills, capital, and goodwill for along time to come."

Having outline this, it is clear that a more reasoned and negotiated approach would be prudent. A statement like this one certainly does not bode well for the activists or the communist. Both of their projects will not be eliminated by this realization. However, realpolitik is for the engineers, rhetoric is the fodder for the activist.

The problem of the unassailability was already laid out early in the book, what is now important to do is to deconstruct the notion of Nelson Mandela as messiah and that his political apparatus is beyond criticism. One of the possible cautions for doing so can be construed as paternalistic. An argument could be made that it might be well enough that the ANC has achieved what it has. In this light, it will be making baby steps and will need time to iron out its kinks and be allowed to make mistakes. However, more sinister is the notion that because of his charisma, Mandela and the ANC are beyond any form of criticism - as if to imply "you are either part of the problem or part of the solution."

This merely confirms empirically that a less than critical approach can lead to a less than accurate prediction. Dr. Adam and Dr. Moodley bring to light several angles that ignored by the press and public who wish to see South Africa in terms of black and white rather than shades of gray.

This is an excellent resource for the non-radiologist. It gives you an idea of what an acceptable film should look like. It organizes your thoughts on what your looking at and what you should be looking for in your films. The photos are crisp, and to clarify subtle findings, out to the side drawings help highlight the feature of interest (very helpful). I will get a copy for my office this year.

Somehow this wonderful little book got by me. It is a riveting story of two sisters and a brother who live in a small southern town where they grew up. It is about growing up, growing older and growing wiser in the process. It is at the same time sad and happy; and although it has a predictable ending, one pushes to actually reach it. P One wonders why a book of this calibre didn't top the best seller list. So many others not nearly so well written have made it.

First, a disclaimer. I wrote the third essay of this book. Yet even if I hadn't, I would still consider this to be an excellent book and the finest anthology of essays on the spiritual nature of same sex relationships and families. However, it is important to be clear about what it is and what it is not. It is a sampler, and not a systematic presentation of a single integrated "theory," or even a systematic presentation of multiple "theories." A number of different, and even conflicting, takes on our relationships are presented by the various authors. This is also not a scholarly treatise, but it is written to intellectually engage the general reader. It is not fluff. It is collection of thoughtful essays -- some are written from the first person, and all are expressions of the real experiences of a very diverse collection of writers. Some of the pieces may strike a postive chord, and others may offend, depending on the individual reader. Hopefully, all will make the reader think about something new.

I have been taking an intensive second year latin course, and we have used quite a few book during the class. This is by far the best for enabling you to learn to read latin that hasn't been made up specifically for students.

Each page contains 4-8 lines of latin, which are numbered every 5 lines. This takes about a third of the page. The rest of each page is left for extensive notes on the latin. The notes include unusual vocabulary, historical notes, translation of unusual phrases, and explainations of constructs used. For example it points out instances of chiasmus, which are arrangments of words in an ABBA pattern. This kind of thing is very useful because it allows you to get used to the unusual but regular word ordering that is found in latin poetry. One other thing I especially liked about the notes is that they always gave a full dictionary entry when saying what a word means (so you can then determine by the morphology what role the word is playing).

The book also has several other sections. First is a question and answers section which is a good place to check when anything is confusing you. It will point show what selected words and clauses are doing in a sentance, what they're modifying, disambiguate cases, etc. There are sections on different uses and terms related to meter, as well as figures of speech common in poetry. The final feature is one of the most useful....a dictionary with every single word used throughout the book. It is much faster to look a word up here rather than in a complete dictionary, and it provides the meaning that is most likely to be used in the context of the poems.

Overall, this is a great book.

The books put out by Bolchazy-Carducci are wonderful for students and teachers to use as they prepare for the AP tests. The book includes commentary and a glossary of terms that the author uses in the poems. A short biography is at the beginning.

The legends and folk lore embodied in the culture and values of Pacific island peoples are showcased in Pacific Island Legends, a single, easy to read volume that is beautifully illustrated with the woodcut images of Connie J. Adams. Educators Bo Flood, Beret Strong, and William Flood have successfully collaborated to present forty-four legends from all over the Pacific, serving to provide cultural access that will be appreciated by scholars and non-specialist general readers alike. Pacific Island Legends is a highly recommended addition to any personal, academic, or public library multicultural myth, legend and folklore reference collection.

For me it was easy as I am already fascinated by English history, architecture and the land. This book is wonderful! It has breathtaking color photographs of such variety it truly captures the rugged, changing and multiple landscapes of a gorgeous country. This would be a perfect book for your coffee table. The photographs are of high quality and clarity and the authors do a wonderful job of evoking all kinds of emotions from the lonely, dark feelings of northern Yorkshire to the jubilant colorful lifeforce of the coastal towns of southern England. The sheer chalk cliffs of the southeast of England are perfectly captured. Ample justice is made to capturing all that this wonderful country has to offer from the cold to the warm weather, the wet to the even more wet! Light and dark combine to produce a powerful visual image that makes this book one to keep for a rainy day to look at and fall into a dreamlike state. I loved every page!