MSI Press Blog

  Nellie is a neighborhood cat. Yes, she has a home, but she prefers to wander the neighborhood and hunt little critters on the hill behind our houses. Nellie does not lack for food. Whether it is captured critters or neighbors' handouts, Nellie eats well and has the solid weight (though not obesity) to prove it. Nellie is an outdoors cat. She spends her days outside, and when her owner calls her in, she is as likely as not to turn a deaf ear. When night descends and cold surrounds (fortunately, in California, it never gets to the point of perilous cold), Nellie should be home with her owner, but often she is not. We hear the owner calling, and we are pretty sure that Nellie hears, too. But Nellie does not respond with much alacrity. Sometimes she scampers seemingly deliberately in the opposite direction. That is when she becomes a true neighborhood cat. Any neighbor will open a door to Nellie on a cold night. Our catio has a covered box with a warm, fleece pillow that Nellie loves

  (Princess Muna in white, middle; Me in black, far right; Dr. Alexa, NYIT/NY, in blue, far right; others - members of the American Psychological Association) I knew who she was. She knew who I was. But I had never personally met Princess Muna until the American Psychological Association came to Jordan on the quest of setting up a degree in psychology at one of the universities there. Until then, psychology was not a topic of study at any of the several universities in the country. At the time, I was working as the chief academic officer at New York Institute of Technology in Amman, Jordan. We also had a very small branch, computer science studies only, in Irbid, Jordan on the campus of the Jordan University of Science and Technology, which oversaw the in-country activities of NYIT. Princess Muna (nee Tony Gardner) was/is the mother of King Abdullah. A Brit by origin, she wed King Abdullah's father, King Hussein, a much-beloved (for obvious reasons, it seemed to me) royal, one whos

  In a recent blog post, Franki Bagdade, author of I Love My Kids, But I Don't Always Like Them , asks readers to help her reach 100 book reviews. She has 75 and hopes to breach the gap to 100. Please do help and, well, read her blog post about what she is hoping to do. Like what you see? Follow Franki's blog here . BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD, OUTSTANDING PARENTING BOOK INDEPENDENT AUTHORS NETWORK LITERARY TITAN GOLD AWARD See more posts about Franki and her book here . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .  

  Excerpt from Parenting in a Pandemic by Dr. Liz Bayardelle Chapter 2: Personal Trainer Exercise is important for everyone, but it’s even more important for kids. Kids who get at least some activity on a regular basis are less likely to be overweight, have lower risk for degenerative diseases, have more confidence, do better in school, and are more successful when they finally become adults. [1] Who doesn’t want this for their kids? That’s why we usually make sure they participate in PE class, put them in sports, ensure they have time to play at the park, let them run around with their friends, and do fun family activities like go to a trampoline park or some other playplace. But wait, due to the rampaging virus we can do exactly none of those things. Great. Even when all you want to do is hand your kid an iPad and get about your quarantine day, it’s important that we still ensure our kids are getting at least a baseline amount of exercise. Before I go into how to do that, let me in

  Ever seen those planes in airplane magazines -- learn languages like a diplomat? The implication is that a course being sold teaches you like diplomats are taught. Misleading. I taught diplomats for six years. While the "courses" are generally ripped off, older, public-domain courses that very likely were used at the Foreign Service Institute at some point in time, they actually do not represent how diplomats are taught since diplomats learn language from interactions with skilled teachers, working in highly individualized environments and very small classes. Very little of what they do in their intensive day-long classes can be represented in a textbook, which generally is just a jumping-off point for work on language development.  That said, a few MSI Press books are written or edited by teachers who did teach or supervise teaching programs for diplomats. They wrap the theory in content meant for non-diplomats, self-learners, or specific kinds of language classes in ways

  It's okay to be yourself, says Julie Gent https://www.juliegtheyogi.com/post/its-ok-to-be-myself ile, MSI Press Author, in this week's blog entry. Isn't that great news -- and quite stress-relieving.  Read Julie's post  on the topic to get away from self-doubt!  Julie Gentile, author of  108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas  and  How to Stay Calm in Chaos , writes a very interesting blog on self-care. You can follow it when you click on the blog post above. For more posts about Julie and her books, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .  

  Excerpt from Overcoming the Odds , edited by Carl Leaver . Introduction  If you have picked up this book, you are likely somewhere waiting. Perhaps you are in a waiting room (aptly named). Perhaps you are in a hospital room somewhere. Perhaps you are at a library or even happily ensconced on a plane, train, bus—or in your living room, having picked up this book at a library sale or some other charitable event.  We are sorry that you are “stuck” somewhere. We hope that the stories in this little book will help you pass your time enjoyable. (And, if you are in a waiting room, please leave it where you found it so that others may be entertained after you.)   If you would like to read more stories from the books from which these excerpts have been taken, they are easily obtained. You can order them from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or any other online bookstore. Your local bookstore may also have it, but if not, the manager can certainly order it for you. Or, send us a note of