MSI Press Blog

Released this week. Seeking Balance in an Unbalanced Time by Rev. Steven Greenebaum. The notion of a worldwide pandemic has been ripped out of the realm of "someday" and dumped in our laps. We can feel lost. How do we cope? How do we find our way? How can we find and keep some kind of balance as we walk this pandemic tightrope? This short book helps us find that balance as well as offering an affirming path forward. It helps us understand that the crisis humanity is facing is a family crisis. It helps us to take care of ourselves, offering concrete, positive examples. It helps us to keep our balance by also giving concrete positive examples of how we can help each other. For posts about other books in the MSI Press pandemic series, click HERE . For more posts by and about Steven Greenebaum and his books, click HERE .

Dreamland Encouragement Last night’s dream has stayed with me since I woke up. It has hovered in my consciousness throughout the day, first at synagogue, where I intended to focus on loftier matters, then at lunch with friends when it kept popping into my head at odd moments, then at the video and drugstores where it seemed to affect my ability to make correct change, and finally sitting on my couch during the evening, trying unsuccessfully to distract myself with a movie. The dream lingers, and I’m wondering what it’s supposed to mean. The dream started at a wedding—my wedding. Guests lined up outside a modest wedding chapel waiting to enter. Most of them were dressed in t-shirts and casual weekend clothes, as if they were about to rake leaves instead of witness the beginning of a marriage. If anyone ever showed up at a wedding of mine dressed like that, I’d probably nurse my indignation and resentment well past a ten-year anniversary. So, I knew immediately that the dream wa...

excerpt --  Francesca Palazzolo, Researcher, Sydney The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the world we live in. Since city-after-city in country-after-country began to introduce strict social-distancing laws, including stay-at-home directives, most of us have been stuck at home whether we like it or not. One concern attached to this global pandemic is Internet pornography use. Already, prior to the pandemic, the prevalence of Internet porn use was incredibly high. Pornhub, one of the most famous tube sites boasted 42 billion hits in 2019 alone, up from 33.5 billion in 2018. And, in a stroke of publicity genius on March 24, 2020, Pornhub announced it would make its premium offering free for 30 days to help “flatten the curve” of the virus spread. Following this announcement, usage spiked across the world with Italy’s use increasing 61% after the announcement. However, prior to this broadcast, traffic was up anyhow, according to early research on the impact of the COVID-19 pa...

Released this week: https://msipress.com/book_titles/porn-and-the-pandemic-an-unseen-long-term-effect-of-covid-19/ Porn and the Pandemic: How Three Months in 2020 Changed Everything by Joshua Shea, author of https://msipress.com/book_titles/hes-a-porn-addict-now-what-an-expert-and-a-former-addict-answer-your-questions/ He's a Porn Addict...Now What? Read more posts by and about Joshua Shea and his works HERE .

FINDING OPPORTUNITY DURING THE PANDEMIC Making the Possible Possible We are older. We are vulnerable. We are taking our place as spectators of those younger and on the front lines of taking care of the ill and providing essential services. We are less able to see those who are working from home unless they appear in one of those boxes on the grid of people commenting on today’s news. We are missing being with some of our favorite people and doing some of our favorite things, but, for the moment, we’ve right sized our life during a pandemic to meet the needs of our unique selves and those for whom we care. No doubt we’ve had moments of what’s being called “quarantine fatigue.” A friendly grocery clerk likened it to the movie, Ground Hog Day , in which the same story repeats daily. Sometimes, we feel great progress is being made, and sometimes, we think it will never change. Depending upon the extent we’ve been directly exposed to the tragedy of COVID-19, we may be wonde...

Bertha D. Cooper’s 50-year career as a professional advocate for quality of life and health care of the elderly brings her advocacy and support to her contemporaries. Her book Old and On Hold came out in June. Her next book, Women, We're Only Old Once, will be out soon. Watch for it Read more posts by and about Bertha and her works HERE . 

Happy Fourth of July, 2020! In celebration of this day, we present an excerpt from Joanna Romer's popular book, Helping the Disabled Veteran . Excerpt: Holidays The holidays may be a poignant time for your veteran, perhaps more than you realize. If he or she lost a friend in battle, or simply during the course of military service, your veteran may be reminded of that friendship with sadness during the holidays. Even though you’ve never met this friend, you should respect your veteran’s grief—the friendship may have been very close. Your veteran may feel guilty if unable to do Christmas shopping. If they are confined to a wheelchair, for instance. You can offer to help—either by buying the items he/she picks out or by setting your veteran up on the computer to do some online shopping. It goes without saying that lending a little extra cash during this time would be welcome. On the day of the holiday itself, don’t be surprised if your veteran wants to stay in his/he...