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        Fiction

        WHY I CAN'T WRITE

        How to survive in a world where you can’t pay rent, can’t afford to focus, be healthy or to remain principled. Dijana Matković tells a powerful story of searching for a room of her own in the late stages of capitalism.

        by DIJANA MATKOVIĆ

        It is a coming-of-age story for Generation Z. How to grow up or even live in a world where no steady jobs are available, you can’t pay your rent and can’t afford medical or living expenses. Moreover, it touches on how to be a socially engaged artist in such a world, and more so, a woman in a post-me too world? Dijana, a daughter of working-class immigrants, tells the story of her difficult childhood and adolescence, how should became a journalist and later a writer in a society full of prejudices, glass ceilings and obstacles. How she gradually became a stereotypical ‘success story’, even though she still struggles with writing, because she can’t afford a ‘room of her own’.   Dijana is a daughter of working-class immigrants, who came to Slovenia in the eighties in search of a better future. The family is building a house but is made redundant from the local factory when Yugoslavia is in the midst of an economic crisis. When her parents get divorced, Dijana, her older sister and mother struggle with basic needs. She is ashamed of their poverty, her classmates bully her because of her immigrant status, but mostly because of her being ‘white trash’. In the local school she meets teachers with prejudices against immigrants, but is helped by a librarian who spots her talent. When Dijana goes to secondary school, she moves in with her older sister who lives in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Her sister is into rave culture and Dijana starts to explore experimenting with drugs, music and dance. At the secondary school, she is again considered ‘the weird kid’, as she isn’t enough of a foreigner for other immigrant kids because she is from the country, yet she isn’t Slovenian enough for other native kids. She falls even deeper into drug addiction, fails the first year of school and has to move back to live with her mother. She takes on odd jobs to make ends meet. Whilst working as a waitress she encounters sexism and sexual violence from customers and abuse from the boss. She finishes night school and graduates. She meets many ‘lost’ people of her generation along the way, who tell her their stories about precarious, minimum wage jobs, lack of opportunities, expensive rent, etc. Dijana writes for numerous newspapers but loses or quits her job, because she isn’t allowed to write the stories she wants or because of the bad working conditions or the blatant sexual harassment. Due to the high rent in the capital, Dijana has to move to the countryside to live with her mother. She feels lonely there, struggles with anxiety and cannot write a second book, because she is constantly under pressure to make a living. She realises that she must persevere regardless of the obstacles, she must follow her inner truth and by writing about it, try to create a community of like-minded people, a community of people who support each other – all literature/art is social.

      • Sea of Dreams

        by Jok,Rodolfo Santullo

        An annual ice sculpture festival draws the attention of an extraterrestrial visitor, who learns how to create such art and decides to use local resources to sculpt a piece in a gesture of goodwill. All the water in the ocean is sent to the stratosphere, where the ice sculptor uses splendid techniques to create crystal dominoes scattered by a giant of the cosmos. In the world of the ice sculptor, art is the sole reason for civilization’s existence. After the ice sculptor creates the pinnacle of beauty, but also brings forth devastation and disaster, humanity decides during Earth’s last breaths to fight for their survival.

      • Fiction
        September 2018

        Una cala a la narrativa cubana (A taste of the Cuban narrative)

        by Rodolfo Alpízar

        In the Modern Age, the Caribbean was the hinge of an economic system that sustained the transatlantic economy of the West for at least three centuries; it was the crossroads of continents, a cultural gateway that brought together -as Antonio Garcia de Leon would say- an "Atlantis of mentalities". And that is precisely what is reflected in this selection made by Rodolfo Alpízar, where voices of all types, ages and genres converge, dialoguing with each other. Here we see once again why Cuba has always been a beacon for Latin America and the world. Una cala a la narrativa cubana de hoy is a slice, a cove, of that throbbing torrent that is Cuban literature.

      • The Roots of Latino Urban Agency

        by Edited by Sharon A. Navarro and Rodolfo Rosales

        The 2010 U.S. Census data showed that over the last decade the Latino population grew from 35.3 million to 50.5 million, accounting for more than half of the nation’s population growth. The editors of The Roots of Latino Urban Agency, Sharon Navarro and Rodolfo Rosales, have collected essays that examine this phenomenal growth. The greatest demographic expansion of communities of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans seeking political inclusion and access has been observed in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and San Antonio. Three premises guide this study. The first premise holds that in order to understand the Latino community in all its diversity, the analysis has to begin at the grassroots level. The second premise maintains that the political future of the Latino community in the United States in the twenty-first century will be largely determined by the various roles they have played in the major urban centers across the nation. The third premise argues that across the urban political landscape the Latino community has experienced different political formations, strategies and ultimately political outcomes in their various urban settings. These essays collectively suggest that political agency can encompass everything from voting, lobbying, networking, grassroots organizing, and mobilization, to dramatic protest. Latinos are in fact gaining access to the same political institutions that worked so hard to marginalize them.

      • Peace studies & conflict resolution
        October 2011

        Diversity, Unity, and Nation Building in South Sudan

        by Jok Madut Jok

        This report, part of a series of U.S. Institute of Peace reports on state building in South Sudan, focuses on how the new state will manage its cultural diversity with a view to bringing all its ethnic nationalities together, forming a national identity that can reduce the level of suspicion and ethnicity-based political rivalry. The information and analysis in this report have their roots in the author ’s academic research and interests, as well as his background as a civil servant in the government of South Sudan. Much of the information was generated through interviews and group discussions over a long period in the context of other studies and evaluations. Many of the opinions expressed here are a combination of newspaper editorials, news coverage in the local media, debates on Internet discussion forums, public lectures and debates, government policy briefs, and a host of other government documents pertaining to its vision, development plans, and programs aimed at addressing the myriad security challenges that confront South Sudan.

      • February 2022

        Sant’Onofrio e la contessa (Saint Onuphrius and the Countess)

        by Rosario Vitale

        “I think I’m on the right track. I’m in Italy, the homeland of music itself, right? I am in Naples, the city with the unsurpassed tradition. If this is not the place, then what must it be?”.Naples, summer 1737.Rodolfo Pimi Degli Esposti, a wealthy Paraguayan boy with a true passion for music, is finally fulfilling his lifelong dream of studying in the city with the greatest musical tradition in the world: Naples.The young man is indeed talented, and succeeds in proving it; his mind, however, is often with Natalia, a girl he had met on the same day of his arrival by sea. Extremely poor, Natalia makes a living by telling stories in exchange for something to eat and a handful of coins. Rodolfo is fascinated by the girl and often visits her at the city harbour, hoping to get to know her better.Rodolfo’s life unfolds between the conservatory, where he befriends Carmine (a cadet that is steadily against the prospect of a career in the army or in the Church), and the harbour, where he slowly manages to win Natalia’s trust.Their bond progresses until it turns into an actual relationship, which will eventually bloom on the evening of the inauguration of the San Carlo Theatre (where the young protagonists are the honour of being present).At the end of the soirée, wanting to pay their respects to maestro Domenico Sarro, Rodolfo, Natalia, and Carmine go and visit him in his dressing room. The composer immediately takes a liking to them and invites them to the reception organized by his sister, Anna. It will be a chance for them to meet other notable people, including Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero.Against the backdrop of a Naples in full splendour, everything seems to be going well for Rodolfo and Natalia – until fate decides otherwise.

      • Fiction
        November 2017

        La sublime embriaguez del poder (The sublime intoxication of power)

        by Rodolfo Alpízar

        La sublime embriaguez del poder narrates the life of Urgencio García y Alvarado, a colonel whose greatest virtue is to be in the "right" place. In an imaginary but convulsive Latin American country, the protagonist manages to navigate the waves of conspiracy and military paranoia only to constantly fall like a cat. The reason? the aforementioned virtue. And that's the way he spends his time, probably without knowing he's doing it, while the intoxication of power has that sublime and dizzying effect from which few can escape. The sum of factors that shape the path of those who come to power, and those who leave, probably depend more on circumstances than on merits. No one knows. This novel, written with a fine irony, delves into those circumstantial twists and turns.

      • Periodismo narrativo (3.ª edición)

        Cómo contar la realidad con las armas de la literatura

        by Roberto Herrscher

        Periodismo narrativo es a la vez un manual acerca de cómo escribir sobre hechos ciertos usando estructuras y estrategias narrativas propias de la literatura, y un ensayo sobre algunos de los principales autores del género, cuyos escritos se analizan para aportar definiciones, recomendaciones, lecciones y ejemplos de las herramientas que emplearon. Ahondando en la vida y la obra de una veintena de cronistas o periodistas narrativos, norteamericanos (Truman Capote, Joseph Mitchell, John Hersey), europeos (Oriana Fallaci, Josep Pla, Ryszard Kapuscinski) y latinoamericanos (Gabriel García Márquez, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Rodolfo Walsh), se extraen abundantes ejemplos y consejos prácticos. Así, el presente libro ofrece un mapa de los desafíos, los caminos y las posibilidades del periodismo narrativo, que servirá tanto a los periodistas y estudiantes de periodismo como a los lectores interesados en la literatura de no ficción para adentrarse en este apasionante género.

      • Fiction
        March 2020

        Night and ocean

        by Raquel Taranilla

        Winner of the 2020 Biblioteca Breve Prize.Bea Silva is shocked when she comes across an article in the newspaper that says someone has stolen the embalmed skull of the legendary silent film director F.W. Murnau. What’s most surprising is that Bea is convinced she knows who the thief is: Quirós, an underemployed filmmaker who one day showed up at her enormous ramshackle house.At almost thirty-two, Beatriz is a somewhat aloof college professor, weary of life and almost pathologically erudite. The arrival of Quirós brings out her lucid, hyperactive side and sets her up for a wildly unhinged fall.

      • Fiction
        June 2020

        Drawings of Hiroshima

        by Marcelo Simonetti

        “The sky was covered with grey clouds. The drizzle was lighter than normal, almost pious. The Japanese were advancing through the streets with short, fast steps. Satoru was ahead of them. He pedaled at a good pace. From his bicycle seat, the city revealed itself to his eyes as a sequence of frames. It was strange to be there, in his grandfather's city, and to ride through it as he had probably never done before: on two wheels. Even so, the possibility that the route he was taking would intersect with the routes that his grandfather had taken when he was a child, provoked an intimate emotion in him. Those landscapes were over eighty years old, including an atomic bomb, but it was the land where Ryu Nakata had learned to walk, to speak, to read”. The death of his grandfather, awakens in the young Yasuhiro Nakata the desire to know the family history, especially after finding a letter in which he discovers another side of the old man whose last words were: 'Hiroshima, Hiroshima', warning of the existence of a secret. As a result, Yasuhiro embarks on a journey that will take him from Valparaiso to Hiroshima, where his grandfather emigrated ten years before the atomic disaster. This is the beginning of Drawings of Hiroshima— a charming story that allows readers to follow the protagonist on a journey in which he not only reconnects with his Japanese origins, but also questions his present, his interpersonal relationships and his interest in writing, deepening the unconscious desire to understand the role that he plays in a story that is not his own but yet challenges him directly. With this new release, Marcelo Simonetti addresses issues such as migration and identity, connecting the historic Chilean port of Valparaiso with the memory of the tragedy occured in the Japanese city.

      • Business & management: study & revision guides

        Dynamic Scheduling® With Microsoft® Project 2013

        The Book By and For Professionals

        by Rodolfo Ambriz, PMP, PMI-SP, PMI-RMP, and Mario Landa, PMP

        Microsoft® Project 2013 is a powerful software tool, and like all tools it requires knowledge and skill to be used to its maximum potential. This fully revised new edition provides users with everything they will need to more easily and effectively manage projects to a successful conclusion. Designed for the busy, practicing project manager, Dynamic Scheduling® With Microsoft® Project 2013 will help you get up to speed quickly with the new and enhanced features of Project 2013 (including Project Pro for Office 365) and enable you to create effective schedules using best practices, tips & tricks, and step-by-step instruction. Through the use of helpful screenshots, hands-on exercises, illustrations, and review questions, this guide instructs you on how to build dynamic schedules that will allow you to explore what-if scenarios and dramatically decrease the time you spend making static schedule changes. “A must read, reread, and use daily for all project managers” is what PMI’s Project Management Journal had to say about previous editions. This updated version is even better! Key Features: Fully aligned with the PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition, The Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures – Second Edition, The Practice Standard for Scheduling – Second Edition and The Practice Standard for Earned Value Management – Second Edition by the Project Management Institute Validated training material for the new Microsoft Certification Exam 74-343: Managing Projects with Microsoft® Project 2013 Captures the best practices and insights that have been gained from thousands of real-life schedules and years of training project managers across all industries

      • Population & demography
        September 2000

        Beyond Six Billion

        Forecasting the World's Population

        by John Bongaarts and Rodolfo A. Bulatao, Editors; Panel on Population Projections, Committee on Population, National Research Council

        Is rapid world population growth actually coming to an end? As population growth and its consequences have become front-page issues, projections of slowing growth from such institutions as the United Nations and the World Bank have been called into question. Beyond Six Billion asks what such projections really say, why they say it, whether they can be trusted, and whether they can be improved. The book includes analysis of how well past U.N. and World Bank projections have panned out, what errors have occurred, and why they have happened. Focusing on fertility as one key to accurate projections, the committee examines the transition from high, constant fertility to low fertility levels and discusses whether developing countries will eventually attain the very low levels of births now observed in the industrialized world. Other keys to accurate projections, predictions of lengthening life span and of the impact of international migration on specific countries, are also explored in detail. How good are our methods of population forecasting? How can we cope with the inevitable uncertainty? What population trends can we anticipate? Beyond Six Billion illuminates not only the forces that shape population growth but also the accuracy of the methods we use to quantify these forces and the uncertainty surrounding projections. The Committee on Population was established by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 1983 to bring the knowledge and methods of the population sciences to bear on major issues of science and public policy. The committee's work includes both basic studies of fertility, health and mortality, and migration; and applied studies aimed at improving programs for the public health and welfare in the United States and in developing countries. The committee also fosters communication among researchers in different disciplines and countries and policy makers in government, international agencies, and private organizations. The work of the committee is made possible by funding from several government agencies and private foundations.

      • Social issues & processes
        September 2004

        Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

        A Research Agenda

        by Rodolfo A. Bulatao and Norman B. Anderson, Editors, Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life, National Research Council

        As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.

      • Children's & YA
        December 2019

        Imperfect knots

        by Mayra S. Mayor

        With the suggestive title 'Imperfect knots’, Mayra S. Mayor tells the parallel, but at the same time, crisscrossing stories of Lulu, Nana, kill and Sofia. In Rio de Janeiro youth destined to live deep and intimate experiences, the more independent they become, the more are hostages of their own personal conflicts. Vaporous dialogues, the most sweeping statements, draws attention in this work, the writer's ability to begin, develop and create links between the conflicts in the degree that explores the personalities of the four protagonists, weaving the actions of this with their transformations in the future.

      • Population & demography
        May 2003

        Offspring

        Human Fertility Behavior in Biodemographic Perspective

        by Panel for the Workshop on the Biodemography of Fertility and Family Behavior, Kenneth W. Wachter and Rodolfo A. Bulatao, Editors, National Research Council

        Despite recent advances in our understanding of the genetic basis of human behavior, little of this work has penetrated into formal demography. Very few demographers worry about how biological processes might affect voluntary behavior choices that have demographic consequences even though behavioral geneticists have documented genetics effects on variables such as parenting and divorce. Offspring: Human Fertility Behavior in Demographic Perspective brings together leading researchers from a wide variety of disciplines to review the state of research in this emerging field and to identify promising research directions for the future.

      • Children's & YA

        The Gnawed

        by Cadena, Agustín

        The putrid flesh beings and the black tar coming from open wounds, the ones that are not alive but are not dead either, those ones called the gnawed are the ones that are eating all the people at the town. That’s where Cristina, Esteban, and Arturo live, the ones who survived this pandemic after their parents died, since, due to some reason, it does not affect children nor teens. To make things worse, Natalia, Cristina’s sister, goes missing without a trace. Over time, the town’s isolation, the lack of food, and the increase of attacks from the gnawed force the three friends to make the difficult decision to either stay to resist at home or undertake the trip to “the island”, a place that is rumored could be a refuge to the survivors of the gnawing.

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