SARA NILES. Author and Social Media Influencer. Books, Essays, Social Awareness The lives we live determine our passions, and our passions impact the lives we live, in a dynamic, reciprocal pattern. My Life inspired me to write Memoirs: TORN From the Inside Out, The Journey, Out of the Maelstrom, Essays, Opinion Editorials, and social narratives that shed light during dark times.
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TORN From the Inside Out & THE JOURNEY
MEMOIRS In 1973, a young woman, barely sixteen years old, and a zealous member of a cultist religious group, married a twenty-three year-o...
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
The Great Minimum Wage Hike of 2014 By Sara Niles
The Great Depression was the greatest economic disaster in
America. It began with the crash of the stock market on ‘Black Tuesday’ in
1929, and by the early 1930’s, it was in full swing. The Grapes of Wrath, written
by Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck, painted a fictional story of
lives that were all too real for people who lived the tale that Steinbeck recreated
through the Joad family’s desperate attempt to survive. The ‘grapes’ of
prosperity, that is the work and prosperity the family hoped to find when they
reached the grape orchards in California, became the ‘Grapes of Wrath’, by the
time they reached their destination. Economic strife, hardship and the societal
turmoil of a frustrated generation, paved the way for a New Day, when
Eisenhower moved to enact ‘New Deal’ legislation that provided economic stability
for the banks, and welfare programs for the poor, social security for the aged and
sick, and a brand new minimum wage:Franklin D. Roosevelt's post depression Programs
The first minimum wage started out at a whopping $.25 an
hour in 1938, was $1.60 per hour in 1968 (I remember those years), and finally,
reached $5.15 an hour in 1997. The wage increases came in minute increments,
while the runaway economy raced out of control; with inflation consuming the
wages of families, to the point of totally eliminating what was once called ‘disposable
income’. Every penny and dollar of the working poor was going to basic minimum,
and often substandard survival.
Until now, when a substantial increase of the minimum wage
is on our doorsteps.
The U.S. minimum wage due to be increased in 13 states on
January 1st. 2014:
The U.S. minimum wage history:
U.S. Department of Labor: Minimum Wage history chart
How will this affect the economy? One can only wait to see.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
The Many Faces of Religion: excerpt from The Journey by Sara Niles
The Journey is a narrative memoir of the life of Sara Niles and her children after having fled abuse. Niles includes the context of world events and social issues within the narrative of their lives from 1987-2011; the following is an excerpt that demonstrates the power and influence of religion in individual lives:
Excerpt
Chapter 8
The Many Faces
of Religion
Throughout history, every nation and village system in the
world, has used religious gatherings to form social circles and networks among
neighbors. I grew up in the southern United States, deep in the Bible Belt
where country churches were the bulwarks of the communities. It did not matter
what the local issue of the day was, church was where the meetings took place
and the people gathered.
It takes a wise person to be able
to judge situations from all sides, and to see them multi-dimensionally, and to be able to do this
perpetually: in fact perhaps it takes special genius to do so. At that time in our
lives, I did not possess the genius necessary to judge where the boundaries
that limited my children’s freedoms should be. I lacked the balance needed to
use religion wisely. Religion was a
vital and powerful force, which can be as useful as it can be dangerous, if not
used in a balanced way. Karl Marx once said, “Religion is the sigh of the
oppressed creature… It is the opium of the people”, and though this
famous saying has angered many a religious soul, it is a true statement
nevertheless. Too much religion can indeed be like a drug of escape, for those
who are trying to avoid the realities of a ‘dangerous’ world. Just as I found
my way into religion as I perceived it at the time, I would find my way again.
My children were simply my followers until they developed stronger wills of
their own, and would then be free to chart their own paths in life.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
SARA NILES: Books, Writing, and Social Issues: Children Dying from Abuse by Sara Niles
SARA NILES: Books, Writing, and Social Issues: Children Dying from Abuse by Sara Niles: Over Four Children a Day Die from Abuse In U.S. Hundreds of Thousands suffer from emotional abuse and neglect Books Written by former Chi...
Children Dying from Abuse by Sara Niles
Over Four Children a Day Die from Abuse In U.S.
Hundreds of Thousands suffer from emotional abuse and neglect
Books Written by former Child Abuse Victims top the charts
Damaged by Cathy Glass
A Child Called It by David Pelzer
Betty's Child by Donald Dempsey
Betty's Child by Donald Dempsey
Breaking Night from "Homeless to Harvard" author, Liz Murray
Hundreds of Thousands suffer from emotional abuse and neglect
Books Written by former Child Abuse Victims top the charts
Damaged by Cathy Glass
A Child Called It by David Pelzer
Betty's Child by Donald Dempsey
Betty's Child by Donald Dempsey
Breaking Night from "Homeless to Harvard" author, Liz Murray
Sunday, December 15, 2013
The Torn Trilogy By Sara Niles
Quote from Torn From the Inside Out
“For
the next half decade, I lived on the ‘flower bed of Eden’, as Cousin Andrew
called it. The days were never long
enough; perhaps that is why I hated to sleep.
Seasons came and went in a panorama of delight. The record ice storm of the early 1960’s was
a great memory to me as a small child, as I watched the storm through steam
fogged windows, warm and snug, as the loud popping of snapping pine trees
screamed with the howling winds. Nothing caused me to fear those years, because
I felt perfectly safe, as I expected I always would”
From:
The Journey
“When
the dark night ended, a new day dawned for us when my children were still
small, and the new day was a long as the long night had been, and in some ways,
just as frightening”
“Love
is one of the greatest human emotions and a powerful force in its own right,
but even love cannot prevent some things from happening”
“Sometimes when you become so
accustomed to loss, a new loss is only part of your usual ‘normal’”
“Our flight to freedom and safety was filled with a calm suppressed terror in the children and I, the type terror you have when you are used to living with danger
“He was dead, alright. The sight of death is
an ugly and fearsome thing, I thought, as I absorbed the tragic sight in front
of me. It was a man, ‘The man’ , was
lying in the road with blackish- red blood pooled around his head, and as he
lay face down with his feet in his own yard, while his head and shoulders were
planted in the street, he gave the appearance of a killed animal felled in its tracks by a hunter.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
"Love is one
of the greatest human emotions and a powerful force in its own right, but even
love cannot prevent some things from happening”
“Sometimes when you become so accustomed to loss, a new
loss is only part of your usual ‘normal’”
“Our flight to freedom and safety
was filled with a calm suppressed terror in the children and I, the type terror
you have when you are used to living with danger”
“Emotional breakings are delicate
to repair and even harder to decipher. I was not smart enough, nor did I have
the wisdom needed for such a job at that time”
“Ariel was the perfect emotional adapter when things went
wrong, but she was not amenable to life when things went right. It seemed her
coping mechanism was geared towards trouble”
Torn From the Inside Out Sara Niles
“In every life there is a timeless and unforgettable minute or day that will be forever etched into our mind’s memory. I have unforgettable memories that are so vivid that I see them in Technicolor, and I hear them in surround sound”
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Pinterest: A World of Beauty
Pinterest allows you to collect the beauty of the earth in one place:
Human Art and Nature ArtHuman Art and Nature Art
Human Art and Nature ArtHuman Art and Nature Art
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
The Age of Mega-Authors: over one hundred million book sales by Sara Niles
There are best sellers in books, and there are epic,
mega-bestsellers: books that have sold over one hundred million copies. The authors who have had the distinction of
being included among this very elite group, as mega-authors, are few.
The book by author
Agatha Christie that was published in 1939,
And Then There Were None reportedly sold over one hundred million copies
worldwide; which is no small feat
considering the fact the prolific Christie has reportedly sold over four
billion books worldwide, making Agatha Christie one of the most prolific authors of all time.
Books that have sold over one hundred million copies include
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien and A Tale of Two Cites by Charles
Dickens; both English authors whose long
running sales dated back to the
nineteenth century, which of course, gave them both a good head start
Since the dawn of the second millennium, there have been
noteworthy authors who may eventually eclipse the former prolific champions for
the prize of mega-authors; to name a few:
Barbara Cartland (1 billion), Danielle Steele (800,000,000),
and JK Rowling (450,000,000)
Followed by Dean Koontz, Stephen King (350,000,000), and
Louis L’Amour (330,000,000), with a pretty long list of authors who have sold
over one hundred million books per volumes of work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors;
however, there remain two distinct authors who are set far apart from the
crowd: Suzanne Collins and E.L. James.
E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey and Suzanne Collins’s
Hunger Games topped the list in 2012 of book sales: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
AS of 2012 the Hunger Games reportedly outsold JK Rowling’s
Harry Potter series with over fifty million copies sold worldwide. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
Wow! Now that is a lot of book sales…but wait, Fifty Shades
of Grey by Suzanne Collins has sold over seventy million copies, according to
the Wall Street Journal in its March 26, 2013 issue: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323466204578384743129294104
The latter two authors, American author Suzanne Collins and
English author E.L. James, are epic mega-authors whose names will live long in
the annals of literature.
The Age of Mega-Authors: over one hundred million book sales by Sara Niles
There are best sellers in books, and there are epic,
mega-bestsellers: books that have sold over one hundred million copies. The authors who have had the distinction of
being included among this very elite group, as mega-authors, are few.
The book by author
Agatha Christie that was published in 1939,
And Then There Were None reportedly sold over one hundred million copies
worldwide; which is no small feat
considering the fact the prolific Christie has reportedly sold over four
billion books worldwide, making Agatha Christie one of the most prolific authors of all time.
Books that have sold over one hundred million copies include
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien and A Tale of Two Cites by Charles
Dickens; both English authors whose long
running sales dated back to the
nineteenth century, which of course, gave them both a good head start.
Since the dawn of the second millennium, there have been
noteworthy authors who may eventually eclipse the former prolific champions for
the prize of mega-authors; to name a few:
Barbara Cartland (1 billion), Danielle Steele (800,000,000),
and JK Rowling (450,000,000)
Followed by Dean Koontz, Stephen King (350,000,000), and
Louis L’Amour (330,000,000), with a pretty long list of authors who have sold
over one hundred million books per volumes of work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors;
however, there remain two distinct authors who are set far apart from the
crowd: Suzanne Collins and E.L. James.
E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey and Suzanne Collins’s
Hunger Games topped the list in 2012 of book sales: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
AS of 2012 the Hunger Games reportedly outsold JK Rowling’s
Harry Potter series with over fifty million copies sold worldwide. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
Wow! Now that is a lot of book sales…but wait, Fifty Shades
of Grey by Suzanne Collins has sold over seventy million copies, according to
the Wall Street Journal in its March 26, 2013 issue: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323466204578384743129294104
The latter two authors, American author Suzanne Collins and
English author E.L. James, are epic mega-authors whose names will live long in
the annals of literature.
The Age of Mega-Authors: over one hundred million book sales By Sara Niles
Sara Niles
There are best sellers in books, and there are epic,
mega-bestsellers: books that have sold over one hundred million copies. The authors who have had the distinction of
being included among this very elite group, as mega-authors, are few.
The book by author
Agatha Christie that was published in 1939,
And Then There Were None reportedly sold over one hundred million copies
worldwide; which is no small feat
considering the fact the prolific Christie has reportedly sold over four
billion books worldwide, making Agatha Christie one of the most prolific authors of all time.
Books that have sold over one hundred million copies include
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien and A Tale of Two Cites by Charles
Dickens; both English authors whose long
running sales dated back to the
nineteenth century, which of course, gave them both a good head start
Since the dawn of the second millennium, there have been
noteworthy authors who may eventually eclipse the former prolific champions for
the prize of mega-authors; to name a few:
Barbara Cartland (1 billion), Danielle Steele (800,000,000),
and JK Rowling (450,000,000)
Followed by Dean Koontz, Stephen King (350,000,000), and
Louis L’Amour (330,000,000), with a pretty long list of authors who have sold
over one hundred million books per volumes of work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_fiction_authors;
however, there remain two distinct authors who are set far apart from the
crowd: Suzanne Collins and E.L. Grey.
E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey and Suzanne Collins’s
Hunger Games topped the list in 2012 of book sales: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
AS of 2012 the Hunger Games reportedly outsold JK Rowling’s
Harry Potter series with over fifty million copies sold worldwide. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55383-the-bestselling-books-of-2012.html
Wow! Now that is a lot of book sales…but wait, Fifty Shades
of Grey by Suzanne Collins has sold over seventy million copies, according to
the Wall Street Journal in its March 26, 2013 issue: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323466204578384743129294104
The latter two authors, American author Suzanne Collins and English
author E.L. James, are epic mega-authors whose names will live long in the
annals of literature.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Nelson Mandela: When Greatness Walked Among Us
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought
against black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society
in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society
in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Nelson Mandela spoke these words from the dock at the Rivonia Treason Trial on April
20, 1964. Through his words and actions ever since, Mandela has
been
embraced worldwide as a symbol of courage, hope, and
reconciliation.
reconciliation.
When Greatness Walked Among Us: Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013
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