When the Hudson's Bay Company decided to establish its new Pacific coast headquarters at Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island in 1843, the Island was a pristine paradise—or an isolated wilderness, depending on one's point of view—that had sustained its First Nations inhabitants for millennia. It was one of the last places to be discovered and settled by Europeans in North America.It was Scots who came to the Island to manage the Company's business in Fort Victoria, engaging in the fur...

Any community that has ever been labelled a “mill town” carries both the promise of prosperity and the constant threat of collapse, its fortune hinging on a single industry whose performance is as much related to the whims of a global economy as it is to the abundance of a key natural resource. The people of Port Alberni, located deep in Vancouver Island’s Alberni Valley, know all too well the highs and lows that come with such a label.Jan Peterson, who lived in Port Alberni for tw...

An insightful look at the first mayor of Nanaimo, BC, drawing heavily on his prolific and insightful written observations.Mark Bate, elected Nanaimo’s first mayor in 1875, was a renaissance man. He loved music, writing, literature, the outdoors, community affairs, and of course politics. Bate served as mayor for sixteen terms—most by acclamation. He retired three times, returning to office after being persuaded to serve again.Historian Jan Peterson skillfully weave...

Adrian Williams is fighting to keep a local theater from taking its final bow. Formerly a professional stage actress, she has now turned her expertise from promoting herself to promoting the aspirations and dreams of a community of larger-than-life characters. The old, 1914 structure that houses the makeshift theater sits on the shores of the beautiful Puget Sound in a small, blue-collar town in the Pacific Northwest.Starring on Bay Street follows the lives of Adrian, her amateur th...

In this book, leading American Lutheran theologians, inspired by the Scandinavian emphasis on theology as embodied practice, ask how Christian communities might be mobilized for resistance against systemic injustices. They argue that the challenges we confront today as citizens of the United States, as a species in relation to all the other species on the planet, and as members of the body of Christ require an imaginative reconceptualization of the inherited tradition. The driving force of...

Jan bor hos sin plejefamilie, familien Eriksson i Kyrkhult, hvor han er meget glad. Men en dag får han at vide, at hans mor er kommet nogenlunde på fode igen, og at hun vil have ham tilbage. Da familien Eriksson ikke har adopteret Jan, har hans biologiske mor loven på sin side.Men så tager Jan selv en beslutning - han stikker af. Todelt serie om drengen Jan, der bor hos sin plejefamilie, familien Eriksson, i Kyrkhult - lige indtil den dag hans mor beslutter at hun gerne vil have ham...

The world is poised on the threshold of economic changes that will reduce the income gap between the rich and poor on a global scale while reshaping patterns of consumption. Rapid economic growth in emerging-market economies is projected to enable consumers worldwide to spend proportionately less on food and more on transportation, goods, and services, which will in turn strain the global infrastructure and accelerate climate change. The largest gains will be made in poorer parts of the wo...

Transform Your Quiet TimeToday's world is all about now—a fast-moving, high-speed, on-demand lifestyle. But has this pace changed how we study the Bible?Our relationship with God is a journey, a walk where we grow closer to him each day. So it makes sense that reading and understanding scripture is a continual experience, not just a moment.This innovative devotional is designed to change how you interact with God's Word. The Message: Solo re...