Signs of Hope: In Praise of Ordinary Heroes: Selections from Hope Magazine - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1888889209 ISBN 13: 9781888889208

Publisher: Pushcart Press, 2000

Synopsis

A collection of stories by and about uncelebrated people who make a positive difference in their communities and the world.

Several years ago, Jon Wilson, editor of acclaimed WoodenBoat magazine, decided he'd had enough of the constant barrage of violence and misery in the media. His answer was the magazine Hope, dedicated to stories by and about uncelebrated people who make a positive difference in their communities and the world.

Signs of Hope gathers the best of that journal, and restores our faith in the power of individual acts. For instance: a widow writes about the death of her husband and her struggle to endure; a counselor describes the transformative power of summer camp for children with a fatal blood disease; a psychologist discovers the vital human beings behind his patients' diagnoses; a father reveals what his newborn daughter taught him about men, women, and family. This is a collection to remind us of our common humanity and our capacity to give and to love. The magazine Hope is the winner of Utne Reader's 9th Annual Alternative Press Award and was named one of the "10 Best Magazines" by Library Journal.

About this title

About the Author

Jon Wilson grew up under the heady influence of the ocean's forces and fragrances on the Rhode Island and Connecticut shores. Taking more naturally to New England's saltwater traditions than its academic ones, he became a carpenter and builder of wooden boats before launching WoodenBoat magazine from a cabin in Maine in 1974. In the wake of that magazine's international success and influence, Wilson sensed an opportunity to create a new magazine that could further thinking and dialog on the deeply human and personal aspects of challenging individual and social issues. He began working on ideas for Hope magazine in 1994, and launched the magazine in early 1996. He is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Hope.

Kimberly Ridley has been with Hope from its first issue. A science journalist by training, she writes primarily about "solution seekers"―people who tackle society's problems by working to create positive and viable alternatives. Her articles on public health, nature, sustainability, and other topics, most of which have focused on "what works," have appeared in a number of publications including the Boston Globe. After a decade in the Boston area, she moved back to Maine, her home state, where she is Editor of Hope magazine. She sustains her own sense of hope by seeking wonder in the wild places around her home.

From Publishers Weekly

Locked away in the fortresses of what we believe to be our unique experiences, we've made way for a ruinous denial of "our deep and common humanity," according to Wilson, publisher of the Brooklyn-based magazine Wooden Boat. Seeking to address this "sense of separateness," he launched Hope magazine in 1996 and began publishing stories by and about people who have worked to "make the world a better place." Culled from the journal, these 34 selections add up to a various, somewhat incoherent sampler of reflections on saving the world. One writer contemplates the erratic path of grieving that she carved out after the death of her husband; another tells of the abusive marriage that she lived in for years, taking a hard look at the peculiar brand of "faith" that kept her there. Mixed among these weighty and sorrowful tales, there is also a rousing speech about the problems inherent in the education system, a jaunty musing on the current state of lawyering and a paean to the restorative powers of "Nick at Nite"Astep one in the off-kilter 12-step program that piloted a writer through depression. One of the strongest pieces comes from Wilson himself, recording the healing process that, through a victim-offender mediation program, brought a mother to broker peace with the man who murdered her son. Wilson is unswerving in depicting the anger, pain and guilt that, by way of this unlikely connection, gave way to glints of healing, forgiveness and, yes, of hope. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pushcart Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1888889209
• ISBN 13: 9781888889208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 253
• Editor: Jon Wilson, Kimberly Ridley