MSI Press Blog

  Today's book excerpt comes from  Blest Atheist  by Elizabeth Mahlou. Defiance, part 2 My childhood contained two compartments: home and not-home. Not-home was a special place that I kept carefully separated to prevent the excesses of home from tainting it. Not-home was the place where I received validation, especially from teachers who encouraged me in many ways. Several of my elementary school teachers used me as a reading group teacher. Others encouraged my propensity for writing poetry and mysteries. Still others brought me whole libraries of books from their homes which I would inhale the way I had inhaled all the books in our small school library. My French teacher in high school encouraged me to write French poetry for our bilingual school journal. As even more validation, I won awards for public speaking, drama competitions, spelling bees, and other competitions that my teachers encouraged me to try.  I also won the city’s history-writing award. Years earlier, someo

  Excerpt from Mommy Poisoned Our House Guest (CB Leaver) - The Man in Our Dumpster When I was growing up, Daddy, Mommy, and all of us kids (sometimes we were four, sometimes we were six or seven) lived in a big house with 13 rooms in Salinas, California. When we finished growing up, Daddy got a hankering for the forest and Mommy got a hankering to give up cleaning 13 rooms all the time. So, they decided to buy an RV, travel when they could, and park it in the riverside woods of Arroyo Seco at other times where they lived comfortably and Mommy enjoyed a daily dip in the river. Moving out of 13 rooms was big business. Daddy and Mommy had quite a list of things to do: cleaning, giving away or selling stuff that would not fit in the RV, packing things to take with them, throwing away trash, and lots of other things (like changing addresses with businesses and the post office). One day when Daddy was out doing the lots of other things, Mommy held a yard sale. One of the people who c

  Excerpt from Life, Liberty, and Covid-19 by Dennis Ortman - FORGIVENESS PROCESS Forgiveness requires baby steps. It is a process that unfolds over time, with many twists and turns. Here are some marks of authentic forgiveness: A whole person response Forgiveness does not mean just saying the words, “I forgive you.” It is the response to an offense that involves the whole person, requiring a change of heart toward the offender. It engages the will, emotions, and mind. Mercy begins with a decision to commit ourselves to a process of giving up our anger and replacing it with kindness toward the offender. That decision is made again and again. We acknowledge the pain of loss caused by those we believe acted in a way to destroy our lives. Finally, through forgiveness, we seek to understand ourselves and those who harmed us in a new light so we can heal. Make a decision Forgiveness does not just happen. Time alone does not heal all wounds. To be merciful is a conscious decision, a free ac

  Excerpt from Understanding the People around You (Filatova) THE LEADER: Sensing-Feeling Extravert (S F E) General Appearance   The most distin ctiv e fea t ure of L eaders (SFE s ) is   t heir proud gaze. T he y look around as if they wan t t o e x amine a poten t ia l ba ttl efie l d before making a v i t a l decision. O ften, L eaders have round faces w i th shor t or «ha w k» noses. Leaders are g rea t optimists. T he y l i v e w i th gusto ; the y are v er y in v igora ti ng, se l f-asser tiv e, and so m eti m e s e v en i m pertinent . L eaders frequen tly w ear st yl ish and impressi v e cl o t hes. W omen prefer bright and vi bran t col ors, red is one of th e i r fa v or ite s.   Characterization According to Strong Channel Functions I.   P ersonali ty P r og ram Ch annel ( e — volitional pressure, drive, influence…) T he mo st important thing for Leaders is