Most Popular Books by Robert Townsend

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Spirit Falls/Ledokhod, a dual-language Russian-English publication, is the first novel in "The Long War", a five-novel series played out against the backdrop of the Cold War. On the coldest night of that winter the gypsy-like refugee Marina unexpectedly joins Ricky Belisle and Marie Jeanne, "M.J.", Charbonneau at curtain call on the night of their school's Christmas program. Her arrival looses a cascade of events that ultimately finds Ricky carrying M.J. in his arms across the Great Bogus Swamp into the teeth of a 100-year Lake Superior storm. If she survives he vows an ultimate sacrifice.In 1947, the Soviet security services named the United States as 'the main enemy.' The Cold War was joined. Four teens, born half-worlds apart, children of their nations' greatest generation, come of age in the 1950s, each in their small-town Eden, cast out to encounter one another on the front lines in a war to control the imagination.The series follows the lives of four young people seeking truth using what tools they had: language, stories, and history. None is a poet studied in the nuance of the word though one is a singer-songwriter, another a linguist, the third a soldier, and the fourth a Soviet intelligence deception specialist. None wishes to lie but lie they must.The four main characters: Two Russians; Danton Larionov and Ekaterina Soroka, an American; Richard Belisle, and a Canadian; Marie Jeanne Charbonneau, cross paths, destinies, and swords as they stalk, deceive and love across the world. They trust and double-cross, are fast friends and bitter enemies, give faith and deceive while striving to live within moral codes in an amoral world.The Long War is a novel series addressing deception, war and peace in the 20th century world of both contrived and actual moral ambiguity.

The need to support and retain beginning teachers is vital. This study sought to determine if the mentoring programs in Indiana are effectively supporting and retaining new teachers. The study has national ramifications in that it also seeks to determine if withdrawing an annual stipend for mentors to work with new teachers negatively impacts the effectiveness of statewide mentor programs and teacher longevity in education. Can teachers receive the support they so desperately need from mentors whose financial support from the state has been eliminated? This study examined surveys from 1,539 new teachers to assess the effectiveness of their mentor experiences. The data was also compared to similar data from new teachers whose mentors did receive financial support from the state. The study found that new teachers were meeting significantly less often with their mentors than they did before 2005. The research also concluded that lack of financial support for mentors adversely impacted perceived teacher longevity in education and new teacher effectiveness. How often mentors met with teachers positively correlated to (a) how new teachers responded to the question, did having a mentor impact how long you would stay in education, (b) how new teachers responded to did having a mentor make you a better teacher, and (c) how new teachers responded to did having a mentor affect your students' learning. According to the 1,539 new teachers with valid surveys, effective mentoring had a significant impact on their teaching and their perceived longevity in education. Therefore, the decision to cease financial support for mentors has adversely impacted the effectiveness of Indiana's new teacher. (Contains 12 tables.).

Screenplay, identified as "Blue Revision".

We develop a heterogeneous-agent model with local spatial markets to study the relationships among bank expansion, growth, and inequality. In the model, households choose their occupations, consumption, and holdings of loans and portfolio assets that vary by liquidity. Banks choose the locations of new branches, which affect the financial frictions facing households across regions. We calibrate the model using a geographic information system to evaluate the rapid bank expansion in Thailand between 1986-1996. The model quantifies the sources of growth and inequality over time and across space and the potential role of digital banking in substantially reducing regional heterogeneity.

Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals is impossible without addressing fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), especially as two thirds of the extreme poor are projected to live in such situations by 2030. Conflicts as well as climatic and natural hazards displace millions of people each year. Strengthening food systems can be an essential lever of change that contributes to ending poverty while maintaining and restoring peace. This paper focuses on how stabilizing and improving food systems can have a positive impact in FCVs settings, not just by preventing hunger, but by creating employment and increasing shared prosperity, which may contribute to greater peace. It reflects the four pillars of the World Bank Group Strategy for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence 2020-2025 - promote prevention, remain engaged in crisis situations and conflict, help countries transition out of fragility, and mitigate spillover impacts. To strengthen food systems across the spectrum of FCV settings, the paper highlights four key areas of focus for practitioners: (i) strengthening governance and institutional capacity by supporting food programs such as those that focus on the welfare of the entire population, rather than just a fraction of it; (ii) preventing and responding to food crises to avoid not only hunger, but also people sliding deeper into poverty; (iii) growing the private sector through agribusiness development, inclusive jobs in agricultural value chains, particularly for women and youth, and rural livelihoods to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty common in FCV settings; and (iv) reducing conflict risk and environmental fragility through resilient and sustainable resource management in ways that help build government legitimacy. This paper is rich in practical and tested examples across FCV settings from around the world and makes a strong case for providing development support and assistance in these challenging environments. By setting food systems up for success, governments can invest in the essential foundations of peace and prosperity.

February 1990

LOVE WILL LIVE is a collection of poems in chronological order by the two periods in the author's life: BEGINNING, ages 14-24 & FLOWERING, ages 50-73. They arouse a sense of beauty for nature - the sea, magnificent floral arrangements, wild violets in a dense forest, verbenas stretched across dunes & columbines planted on a star. R.T.R., born & raised in So. Carolina & migrating to California at 18, writes in both free verse & stanzaic form; some poems patterned after Millay & Robinson Jeffers (his mentors) have also the spirit & fight of Rimbaud. Rogers' first lines are stimulating, calming, seductive & will stir the reader's imagination; some are an explosive launching of both a smooth & raucous ride the short distance down the page; they accent life, sacred beliefs in NATURE & a dislike for stereotyping humanity. These poems exemplify his love for beauty in all weeds & flowers, which attributed to his success as a florist. R.T.R.'s remission from lung cancer for 12 yrs. & recovery from alcoholism for 19 yrs. was his strength, & poetry his therapy. The people he touched daily & through his writings know his formula for conquering adversities ..."all you have to have is just a thimble full of willingness to be willing." Rogers died from complications of a stroke in 1994. MITRAM BOOKS, P.O. Box 236, Monterey, CA 91754. Voice & FAX 213-664-8146.

Rainfall index insurance provides a payout based on measured local rainfall during key phases of the agricultural season, and in principle can help rural households diversify a key source of idiosyncratic risk. This paper describes basic features of rainfall insurance contracts offered in India since 2003, and documents stylized facts about market demand and the distribution of payouts. The authors summarize the results of previous research on this market, which provides evidence that price, liquidity constraints, and trust all present significant barriers to increased take-up. They also discuss potential future prospects for rainfall insurance and other index insurance products.