Sally Thomas

In these nine stories, the human condition presents itself in dramas of loss, betrayal and breakage, the shortcomings and strangeness of love in a fallen world. In scenes that shift from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the West Tennessee countryside, from the otherworldliness of the Great Salt Lake to the mercurial waters of the Alabama Gulf Coast, families fray and fragment and whistle in the dark. Mothers mourn their lost children. Children flounder in the backwash of their parents' chaos and despair. Old lovers take stock of each other. While married couples offer each other thin comfort in grief, divorced couples circle each other warily, aware that despite their separation, their lives remain forever entangled. Psychologists take refuge in therapeutic language, even as that language fails to articulate the very truths the heart cries out to confront. Although houses figure as places of refuge and repositories of memory, they offer only fragile shelter. Stored-up memories lie in ambush. Characters bent by the weight of the past work out their tangled futures against the backdrop of a large, mysterious universe, shining with a presence which signals itself in storm, birdsong, mysterious footsteps, and the evocative smoke of distant wildfires, whose smell brings hidden things to light. "These are quiet, introspective, poetic fictions that have the intimacy of secrets. Sally Thomas's characters are familiar, faith-filled, likable, and unextreme, each exhibiting the minor heroism of doing the best they can."-Ron Hansen, author of the short story collection Nebraska, the novel Mariette in Ecstasy, and many more"Like Eudora Welty, Sally Thomas uses a small scale to great effect in The Blackbird and Other Stories, capturing the strange movements of the human heart with astonishing subtlety. It is one of the finest collections of short fiction in years, and Thomas is quietly establishing herself as one of our finest writers."-Micah Mattix, Poetry Editor at First Things and Professor of English at Regent University

Sally Thomas's Motherland keenly observes the ephemeral and the everlasting in the lens of time-the daily into seasonal transformations, the gifts and wonders of nature and people.

The summer of 2020 has shown us how much we all depend on one another. Whatever else they do, pandemics show us we are not alone. Covid-19 is proof that, yes, there is such a thing as society; the disease has spread precisely because we aren’t autonomous individuals disconnected from each other, but rather all belong to one great body of humanity. The pain inflicted by the pandemic is far from equally distributed. Yet it reveals ever more clearly how much we all depend on one another, and how urgently necessary it is for us to bear one another’s burdens. It’s a good time, then, to talk about solidarity. The more so because it’s a theme that’s also raised by this year’s other major development, the international protests for racial justice following George Floyd’s death. The protests, too, raised the question of solidarity in guilt, even guilt across generations. By taking up our common guilt with all humanity, we come into solidarity with the one who bears it and redeems it all. In Christ, sins are forgiven, guilt abolished, and a new way of living together becomes possible. This solidarity in forgiveness gives rise to a life of love. This issue of Plough explores what solidarity means, and what it looks like to live it out today, whether in Uganda, Bolivia, or South Korea, in an urban church, a Bruderhof, or a convent.

In Sally Thomas's Motherland, the poet keenly observes the ephemeral and the everlasting in the lens of time--the daily into seasonal transformations, the gifts and wonders of nature and people. Motherland by turns hails and interrogates in matters of flesh, of faith and spirituality--especially so in the "Richeldis of Walsingham" poem sequence. This finalist in the Able Muse Book Award is a collection abounding in insight, hope, grace, surprises, and yes, love. PRAISE FOR MOTHERLAND A core of spiritual knowledge resides in the poems of Sally Thomas's Motherland-- knowledge that might seem strange to the poet herself, in fact, though it definitely resides in her, and radiates throughout this collection. Motherland is the perfect title, since the poet, herself a mother, regards all her human occupations as native and yet mysterious, occurring in a place which is both foreign and familiar. The final sequence, on Richeldis of Walsingham, includes lines that describe the expression of that knowledge, as "the eloquence/ Of the small river moving always forward to the unseen/ Sea." Motherland is a book of the presence--radiant, benevolent, challenging--for which there is often no word, except as we find in poetry, like the poetry of Sally Thomas." --Mark Jarman, author of The Heronry The poems of Sally Thomas are poems in which the act of looking at the world in all its depth and complexity is just about as close as possible to being fully realized in the corresponding "world" of poetic language and form. And the verses are compelling because in every line something is at stake our very understanding of creation, the human condition, and the mystery of thought and its language that link us, however imperfectly, to what may be called the given world. As Thomas says in "Frost," "Tricky winter light and my own eye/ Bend the world, if not to beauty, then/ To strangeness." --David Middleton (from the foreword), author of The Fiddler of Driskill Hill In her most recent collection of poems, Motherland, Sally Thomas gives us a world we live in but, alas, too often don't seem to see. So much is lost, these poems tell us, even as they manage to reinstate and re-imagine these losses for us. All poetry is elegiac, even as it can, in the hands of a serious poet, celebrate the very world which for all of us keeps slipping away in the great wheel of time. Then too there is her mastery of poetic form--among these the sonnet, the villanelle, the couplet, and her unparalleled command of rhyme and slant rhyme. What a delight to discover a poet who has found a way to allow the sacred and the sacramental inform her poems in a surprising range of contemporary idioms. --Paul Mariani, author of Epitaphs for the Journey ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sally Thomas was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1964, and was educated at Vanderbilt University, the University of Memphis, and the University of Utah. She spent some years living in the American West and in Great Britain before settling in North Carolina, her current home. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Fallen Water (2015) and Richeldis of Walsingham (2016), both from Finishing Line Press. Over the last two decades, her poetry and fiction have appeared in Dappled Things, First Things, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, Southern Poetry Review, the New Yorker, the Rialto, and other journals in the United States and Great Britain.

No matter who wins the next election, Caesar will remain Caesar, doing some good and some bad. But Christians report to a different king. This issue starts with a provocation. In his opening letter, editor Peter Mommsen suggests Christians are too excited about the wrong politics: “Questions of public justice should matter deeply to Christians. We dare not be indifferent about securing healthcare for all and ending interventionist wars; we must seek to reduce abortions and strengthen families. When an election comes, we should pray and then, perhaps, lend our support to a candidate we judge may, on balance, advance social righteousness. But if the early Christians and the Anabaptists are right, this isn’t the politics that matters most. And so, as a matter of faithfulness, we should question how much it deserves of our passion and time. Our allegiance belongs elsewhere.” In contrast to an election campaign, this politics may feel grittier and less glamorous. This issue of Plough Quarterly explores what this alternate vision of faithful Christian witness in the political sphere might look like. You’ll find articles on: What two leading political theorists of left and right agree on What persecution taught Anabaptists about politics The Bruderhof’s interactions with the state Tolstoy’s case against making war more humane How some Christians read Romans 13 under fascism

What we want for schools reveals what we value as a society. “What’s the point of school?” Parents have a stock set of responses, but the question remains unsettled, even two centuries after the Prussians invented compulsory education. The Prussian idea of what a school is for – to mold the populace to serve the state – seems unacceptable today. In vogue, instead, are slogans like “acquiring marketable skills” and “realizing your full potential.” These ideas powerfully shape our culture. Ultimately, they boil down to pursuing one supreme value: individual success in a competitive world. Schools are a mirror of our society as a whole; what we want for schools makes plain what and whom we value in our common life. In the Christian tradition, the life of discipleship is also a school. In this educational community, under the instruction of our one Teacher, we learn not to seek empowerment, but to find strength in weakness; not to out-achieve others, but to serve them; not to pursue our passion, but to obey a call. Also in this issue: poetry by Christian Wiman; reviews of new books by Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris, Francisco Cantú, Leif Enger, Carol Anderson, Stephanie Land, and Susan Wise Bauer; and art by Margaret McWethy, Albrecht Dürer, Raphael, Gérard David, Jackie Morris, Gustaf Tenggren, Sergey Dushkin, Anja Percival, Dmitry Samofalov, Christoph Wetzel, Sherrie York, Cathleen Rehfield, Pawel Kuczynski, and Jason Landsel. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus’ message into practice and find common cause with others.

Aspen White, erfolgreiche Schriftstellerin und berzeugter Single, hasst die Menschen, vor allem die der Spezies Mann. Zur ckgezogen lebt sie in einem kleinen Dorf in Montana und ist mehr als gl cklich damit. Sie liebt das Alleinsein, doch das ndert sich schlagartig, als der brummelige John Gatlin in ihr Leben tritt. Der stets souver n wirkende Kerl wirbelt das Leben der leicht berdrehten Autorin ganz sch n durcheinander. Doch als sie sich in ihn verliebt, stellt sie fest, dass John ganz und gar nicht so stark ist, wie sie dachte. Vor allem dann nicht, wenn es darum geht, Gef hle zuzulassen. Aspen stellt sich dem Kampf und w chst ber sich selbst hinaus. Doch reicht das aus, um John aus seiner Vergangenheit zu befreien? MY WILDEST DREAM - Eine berdrehte Autorin, ein rauer Naturbursche. Und alles hoffnungslos romantisch LiebesromanAbgeschlossener Einzelband

"Wollte ich wirklich zur ckkehren in diesen verdammten Ort? Zur ck zu den Menschen, die mir mein Leben zur H lle gemacht hatten? Sieben lange Jahre war ich nicht mehr dort gewesen ..." An dem Tag, als Quinn West zur ckkehrt nach Cougar Lake, ist er von Rache getrieben und voller Wut gegen ber denen, die ihn f r eine Tat verantwortlich gemacht haben, die er nicht begangen hat. Er will die wahren Schuldigen finden, doch das ist gar nicht so leicht, denn auf ihn wartet sein ehemals bester Freund Jack, der ihm wegen genau dieser Tat ans Leder will. Alle Welt scheint gegen Quinn zu sein, doch dann bekommt er pl tzlich Hilfe von jemandem, mit dessen Unterst tzung er nicht gerechnet hat: Jacks Schwester Jezebel Weiterer rger ist vorprogrammiert ... Einzelband, in sich abgeschlossen

Molly Adams ist m de vom Leben. Mit dem Gef hl im Herzen, ihre Tr ume verloren zu haben, schleppt sie sich nur noch von einem Tag zum anderen. Entt uscht von den Menschen und gefangen in einer ungl cklichen Ehe, k mpft sie mit ihrer inneren Leere und den Stolpersteinen, die das Schicksal ihr immer wieder in den Weg legt. Doch es gibt ein Licht in ihrem Leben. Dorian ist Mollys gro e Liebe, aber ihr Pflichtgef hl gegen ber ihrem Mann, und ihre Angst davor, neue Wege zu gehen, halten sie davon ab, ihrer Sehnsucht nachzugeben, und endlich ihrem Herzen zu folgen. Sie wehrt sich gegen ihre wahren Gef hle, doch dann berschlagen sich die Ereignisse, und Molly findet sich pl tzlich auf dem schweren Pfad der Selbstfindung wieder. Catch my DreamsEs gibt nur eine wahre Liebe

"Ready? Hold on tight! Off we go…" Here is a guidebook to keep you company on the first, exciting part of a journey of exploration with the very youngest children. This book has been written to support and provide ideas for all adults caring for babies and very young children, whatever the setting they share. It is full of ideas for you to enjoy together in ways which ensure the growth of a 'feel good factor' for everyone. The activities in Familiar Things: · are enjoyable · use resources that are local and cheap, or free · have suggestions for encouraging older children to be involved in the activity · can be adapted or developed to support each child's particular interests or abilities and can be built on throughout the suggested age range and beyond · are fully illustrated · include 'snapshots' of how others have experienced the activity · include 'spotlights' to support adults in thinking about their approach to working with children in a play or childcare setting This book is part of the Can Do Series, an essential resource for all those who work with children from birth to 14 years in all settings. The books of this series for the younger age groups will be of particular interest to those working in · Day nurseries · Family centres · Their own, or their employer's home. · Childcare or drop in centres. · Toddler clubs and creches. · Children's wards and centres providing respite care. Wherever you work with babies and very young children you will find these books provide a rich source of ideas for rewarding play opportunities. Books for the older age range can also be used in after-school clubs, playschemes, playbuses and play centres.

Despite a positive policy climate, much current practice in neighbourhood regeneration lacks meaningful, sustainable community involvement. Too much power and control rests in the hands of local authorities, statutory agencies and professionals. This report suggests that to balance this unequal partnership, neighbourhood regeneration strategies need to focus much more directly on the less tangible outcomes of regeneration, particularly the empowerment of local communities through genuine capacity building. Without it, real and lasting benefits are unlikely to be achieved. Neighbourhood regeneration looks at how community capacity building is currently delivered within neighbourhood regeneration programmes, focusing on the key issue of resourcing. The authors frame this review within the context of the government's emerging national strategy for neighbourhood renewal, Bringing Britain together, and the Local Government Association's New Commitment to Regeneration initiative. The report aims to establish: what works and what does not; how existing funding might be improved; what additional resources may be needed to fill in the gaps in current provision; who should provide these additional resources; how resources might best be targeted; how resourcing community involvement can be linked to emerging proposals for neighbourhood management and joined-up action by regeneration agencies. It also suggests the formation of a Neighbourhood Empowerment Fund to help fill the strategic and financial gaps that exist in current regeneration initiatives. Based on structured interviews with a wide range of national organisations and a questionnaire survey of local agencies involved in area regeneration programmes, Neighbourhood regeneration provides a useful picture of current practice, highlighting a broad cross-section of views and opinions from those with extensive experience in the field. The report is essential reading for policy makers in community- and agency-led regeneration partnerships, local authorities and communities themselves, as well as anyone with an interest in neighbourhood regeneration strategies.