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Is it possible to be a judge and have a sense of humor too? Judge Vanessa Gilmore shows us that the answer is a resounding yes! In this humorous, autobiographical collection of short stories, Judge Gilmore reveals a glimpse of life on and off the bench. A master storyteller, and a lover of all things funny, Judge Gilmore would often regale her friends at parties with tales of her life. When she related a story about a criminal defendant who was flirting with her as she took his plea, and another who dressed as king during his trial, her friends insisted that these stories could not be true. This book shows us that life really is stranger and funnier than fiction. From hilarious tales of flirting criminals and fighting lawyers, to heart warming stories of time spent mentoring young girls, we see it all through the eyes of a judge. Vanessa found humor when a man in a restaurant insisted that she should stop saying she was a federal judge because it just sounded too far fetched and vindication when her young son asked if boys could be judges too. This book will leave you laughing and asking if life as a judge can really be this much fun.

No Description Available.

No Description Available.

Is it possible to be a judge and have a sense of humor too? Judge Vanessa Gilmore shows us that the answer is a resounding yes! In this humorous, autobiographical collection of short stories, Judge Gilmore reveals a glimpse of life on and off the bench. A master storyteller, and a lover of all things funny, Judge Gilmore would often regale her friends at parties with tales of her life. When she related a story about a criminal defendant who was flirting with her as she took his plea, and another who dressed as king during his trial, her friends insisted that these stories could not be true. This book shows us that life really is stranger and funnier than fiction. From hilarious tales of flirting criminals and fighting lawyers, to heart warming stories of time spent mentoring young girls, we see it all through the eyes of a judge. Vanessa found humor when a man in a restaurant insisted that she should stop saying she was a federal judge because it just sounded too far fetched and vindication when her young son asked if boys could be judges too. This book will leave you laughing and asking if life as a judge can really be this much fun.

Is it possible to be a judge and have a sense of humor too? Judge Vanessa Gilmore shows us that the answer is a resounding yes! In this humorous, autobiographical collection of short stories, Judge Gilmore reveals a glimpse of life on and off the bench. A master storyteller, and a lover of all things funny, Judge Gilmore would often regale her friends at parties with tales of her life. When she related a story about a criminal defendant who was flirting with her as she took his plea, and another who dressed as king during his trial, her friends insisted that these stories could not be true. This book shows us that life really is stranger and funnier than fiction. From hilarious tales of flirting criminals and fighting lawyers, to heart warming stories of time spent mentoring young girls, we see it all through the eyes of a judge. Vanessa found humor when a man in a restaurant insisted that she should stop saying she was a federal judge because it just sounded too far fetched and vindication when her young son asked if boys could be judges too. This book will leave you laughing and asking if life as a judge can really be this much fun.

"Wishbones and Miracles" is a fast-paced 168 page Author-illustrated book describing the writer’s attempt to discover how she creates her own reality in everyday life. In a dialogue with her Soul, it is humorous, sometimes serious, and has many answers that could apply to everyone.

Excerpt from "My Brain", Pg.41

"This stuff must be true." said June, my friend-editor. "Nobody could lie this good."

“Here, read this, instead of one of those rag newspapers. What do you think?”

On one occasion, she cried over a piece of rhyme, some others, agreed with my thinking, and, upon reading the silly stuff, she laughed. Sometimes, she laughed until she cried.

So, for several months, she would read and correct while never saying a word about my sanity.

"I want to finish this, so I can give my kids a bound edition for Christmas. That way, when I’m dead and gone, they’ll still have a piece of my brain."

She laughed and said "Did you ever stop to think...they might not WANT a piece of your brain???"

“Wishbones and Miracles” by Bobbee Cera , Copyrights 2007/2008

"Wishbones and Miracles" is a fast-paced 168 page Author-illustrated book describing the writer’s attempt to discover how she creates her own reality in everyday life. In a dialogue with her Soul, it is humorous, sometimes serious, and has many answers that could apply to everyone.

Excerpt from "My Brain", Pg.41

"This stuff must be true." said June, my friend-editor. "Nobody could lie this good."

“Here, read this, instead of one of those rag newspapers. What do you think?”

On one occasion, she cried over a piece of rhyme, some others, agreed with my thinking, and, upon reading the silly stuff, she laughed. Sometimes, she laughed until she cried.

So, for several months, she would read and correct while never saying a word about my sanity.

"I want to finish this, so I can give my kids a bound edition for Christmas. That way, when I’m dead and gone, they’ll still have a piece of my brain."

She laughed and said "Did you ever stop to think...they might not WANT a piece of your brain???"

“Wishbones and Miracles” by Bobbee Cera , Copyrights 2007/2008

The stories and the anecdotes in this book illustrate two kinds of journalism over a period of more than half a century.

During a span of almost 30 years as a journalist for major media, I was convinced that there was no life after journalism. Even losing my job as a reporter three times did not change my mind.

What did alter my outlook was the discovery of international and non-governmental environmental and public health organizations in and around the United Nations in Geneva that were doing good things.

Writing about their activities and seeing them reported not in one newspaper or magazine but in hundreds of publications and on radio and television stations around the world, was a satisfying experience. It was journalistic writing, and, sometimes, the press releases and feature stories really did make things move. Two examples.

A simple World Health Organization press release on arsenic in the drinking water in Bangladesh led to an investigation on the spot by a reporter of a major American newspaper. His syndicated story caught the attention of a Nordic government which agreed to finance efforts to try to rid the wells of the arsenic.

Another story—for UNICEF this time—concerned premature or underweight babies in Colombia in a region where hospitals had no incubators. The mother carried her baby close to her body beneath her sweater or dress rather like a kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. It saved their lives. They came to be known as “kangaroo babies.” A respected, large-circulation British newspaper read the feature, sent a team with a doctor, a nurse, a reporter, and a photographer to Colombia, and published a big cover story on the technique in their Sunday magazine. Articles about “kangaroo babies” keep popping up here and there, and the kangaroo system has spread.

BOOK REVIEW

From The Guardian
(British Mass-Circulation Daily)

by Simon Hoggart
Saturday December 23, 2006

You would think, with 200,000 books published in this country every year (of which around half are real books, the kind you might find in bookshops, as opposed to academic theses, instruction manuals etc), there would be no call for any more. Yet writing a book is something people feel an urgent need to do, like having children, which also costs a lot of money. Now, thanks to computers, what was once called the vanity press is inexpensive and booming. An author who's prepared to tour bookshops, give readings, get articles in the local press and so on, can sell quite a few copies - hundreds or even thousands. Some are lethally dull. Others are full of intriguing gems. You could compile a wonderful book just from the anecdotes about the famous. Take the American journalist Paul Ress who has been based in France almost all his working life and has produced Shaggy Dog Tales, jammed with stories about Miro, Picasso, Graham Greene, the Duke of Windsor and Le Corbusier.

At a lunch in Paris the playwright Eugene Ionesco told him the true story of the Unknown Romanian Soldier. The Romanians were the only country without their own. So late in the first world war they assembled the corpses of 10 freshly killed, unidentified men. The youngest in a troop of scouts was asked to choose one to be the Unknown Soldier. After he made his selection the press asked him why. "Because it was my father," the boy said. Ionesco added: "Later a Bucharest paper had a headline: Son of Unknown Soldier dies in Danube canoeing accident." It's a nice, gentle, funny book. You could find it through www.Xlibris.com.

The stories and the anecdotes in this book illustrate two kinds of journalism over a period of more than half a century.

During a span of almost 30 years as a journalist for major media, I was convinced that there was no life after journalism. Even losing my job as a reporter three times did not change my mind.

What did alter my outlook was the discovery of international and non-governmental environmental and public health organizations in and around the United Nations in Geneva that were doing good things.

Writing about their activities and seeing them reported not in one newspaper or magazine but in hundreds of publications and on radio and television stations around the world, was a satisfying experience. It was journalistic writing, and, sometimes, the press releases and feature stories really did make things move. Two examples.

A simple World Health Organization press release on arsenic in the drinking water in Bangladesh led to an investigation on the spot by a reporter of a major American newspaper. His syndicated story caught the attention of a Nordic government which agreed to finance efforts to try to rid the wells of the arsenic.

Another story—for UNICEF this time—concerned premature or underweight babies in Colombia in a region where hospitals had no incubators. The mother carried her baby close to her body beneath her sweater or dress rather like a kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. It saved their lives. They came to be known as “kangaroo babies.” A respected, large-circulation British newspaper read the feature, sent a team with a doctor, a nurse, a reporter, and a photographer to Colombia, and published a big cover story on the technique in their Sunday magazine. Articles about “kangaroo babies” keep popping up here and there, and the kangaroo system has spread.

BOOK REVIEW

From The Guardian
(British Mass-Circulation Daily)

by Simon Hoggart
Saturday December 23, 2006

You would think, with 200,000 books published in this country every year (of which around half are real books, the kind you might find in bookshops, as opposed to academic theses, instruction manuals etc), there would be no call for any more. Yet writing a book is something people feel an urgent need to do, like having children, which also costs a lot of money. Now, thanks to computers, what was once called the vanity press is inexpensive and booming. An author who's prepared to tour bookshops, give readings, get articles in the local press and so on, can sell quite a few copies - hundreds or even thousands. Some are lethally dull. Others are full of intriguing gems. You could compile a wonderful book just from the anecdotes about the famous. Take the American journalist Paul Ress who has been based in France almost all his working life and has produced Shaggy Dog Tales, jammed with stories about Miro, Picasso, Graham Greene, the Duke of Windsor and Le Corbusier.

At a lunch in Paris the playwright Eugene Ionesco told him the true story of the Unknown Romanian Soldier. The Romanians were the only country without their own. So late in the first world war they assembled the corpses of 10 freshly killed, unidentified men. The youngest in a troop of scouts was asked to choose one to be the Unknown Soldier. After he made his selection the press asked him why. "Because it was my father," the boy said. Ionesco added: "Later a Bucharest paper had a headline: Son of Unknown Soldier dies in Danube canoeing accident." It's a nice, gentle, funny book. You could find it through www.Xlibris.com.

The stories and the anecdotes in this book illustrate two kinds of journalism over a period of more than half a century.

During a span of almost 30 years as a journalist for major media, I was convinced that there was no life after journalism. Even losing my job as a reporter three times did not change my mind.

What did alter my outlook was the discovery of international and non-governmental environmental and public health organizations in and around the United Nations in Geneva that were doing good things.

Writing about their activities and seeing them reported not in one newspaper or magazine but in hundreds of publications and on radio and television stations around the world, was a satisfying experience. It was journalistic writing, and, sometimes, the press releases and feature stories really did make things move. Two examples.

A simple World Health Organization press release on arsenic in the drinking water in Bangladesh led to an investigation on the spot by a reporter of a major American newspaper. His syndicated story caught the attention of a Nordic government which agreed to finance efforts to try to rid the wells of the arsenic.

Another story—for UNICEF this time—concerned premature or underweight babies in Colombia in a region where hospitals had no incubators. The mother carried her baby close to her body beneath her sweater or dress rather like a kangaroo with a baby in her pouch. It saved their lives. They came to be known as “kangaroo babies.” A respected, large-circulation British newspaper read the feature, sent a team with a doctor, a nurse, a reporter, and a photographer to Colombia, and published a big cover story on the technique in their Sunday magazine. Articles about “kangaroo babies” keep popping up here and there, and the kangaroo system has spread.

BOOK REVIEW

From The Guardian
(British Mass-Circulation Daily)

by Simon Hoggart
Saturday December 23, 2006

You would think, with 200,000 books published in this country every year (of which around half are real books, the kind you might find in bookshops, as opposed to academic theses, instruction manuals etc), there would be no call for any more. Yet writing a book is something people feel an urgent need to do, like having children, which also costs a lot of money. Now, thanks to computers, what was once called the vanity press is inexpensive and booming. An author who's prepared to tour bookshops, give readings, get articles in the local press and so on, can sell quite a few copies - hundreds or even thousands. Some are lethally dull. Others are full of intriguing gems. You could compile a wonderful book just from the anecdotes about the famous. Take the American journalist Paul Ress who has been based in France almost all his working life and has produced Shaggy Dog Tales, jammed with stories about Miro, Picasso, Graham Greene, the Duke of Windsor and Le Corbusier.

At a lunch in Paris the playwright Eugene Ionesco told him the true story of the Unknown Romanian Soldier. The Romanians were the only country without their own. So late in the first world war they assembled the corpses of 10 freshly killed, unidentified men. The youngest in a troop of scouts was asked to choose one to be the Unknown Soldier. After he made his selection the press asked him why. "Because it was my father," the boy said. Ionesco added: "Later a Bucharest paper had a headline: Son of Unknown Soldier dies in Danube canoeing accident." It's a nice, gentle, funny book. You could find it through www.Xlibris.com.

Leaving Adversity Plaza is a collection of inspiring stories about life’s challenges. From “Daddy’s Tree” to “Big Fat Italian Funeral,” from “Irish Blessing” to “Life Lessons from the Velveteen Rabbit,” these heartfelt, often humorous vignettes offer a unique slant on handling life’s ups and downs without becoming a victim of them.

LeAnn Thieman, co-author of New York Times best seller, Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, states: “Kathy Baker shares her heart and much wisdom in Leaving Adversity Plaza. Her poignant personal essays teach us that by embracing positive—not negative—attitudes, we can leave any adversity behind.”

No stranger to adversity herself, Baker’s book describes a life overshadowed by her husband’s incurable illness (multiple myeloma), beset by financial worries, challenged by “multi-generational” motherhood (her kids are 33, 30, 27 and 11), and enriched by the insights of midlife. Her struggle to free herself from a deeply ingrained victim mentality will resonate with many readers.

Ready for a journey to a place you’ll never forget? Stroll through the Plaza with Baker as your guide, and learn how to put adversity in the rear-view mirror of your life!

In this new collection of his characteristically irreverent and wistful essays, Richard Harsham probes the depths of the American psyche and presides over the incongruous American Conscience wherein the tug-and-pull of conflicting interests turns many a striver into a flagrant hypocrite who says and counsels one thing for everyone else while turning around and darn well doing another thing for themself alone. Increasingly in these pent-up times, those who "mouth off" without first waiting to be "called upon" pay a steep price for blurting out. And Harsham reminds us all that America patriot among patriots--Tom Paine--raised his voice to the rafters so that Providence might both heed and nourish the American aspiration: the reign of freedom...whether by thought or deed. The memoir pieces contained in this new collection of Richard Harsham's essays are a delectable icing on the cake.

In this new collection of his characteristically irreverent and wistful essays, Richard Harsham probes the depths of the American psyche and presides over the incongruous American Conscience wherein the tug-and-pull of conflicting interests turns many a striver into a flagrant hypocrite who says and counsels one thing for everyone else while turning around and darn well doing another thing for themself alone. Increasingly in these pent-up times, those who "mouth off" without first waiting to be "called upon" pay a steep price for blurting out. And Harsham reminds us all that America patriot among patriots--Tom Paine--raised his voice to the rafters so that Providence might both heed and nourish the American aspiration: the reign of freedom...whether by thought or deed. The memoir pieces contained in this new collection of Richard Harsham's essays are a delectable icing on the cake.