""We live in a shallow “junk” pleasure-seeking culture, searching for connection in the wrong places, keeping our restlessness and anxiety at bay with unfulfilling distractions. The results of our junk pleasure culture are obvious: hundreds of articles have been published about the rise of loneliness and its detrimental effects on our mental, emotional, and physical health. Even those of us who have succeeded in the ways that society encourages—getting married, making money, and acquiring status—often feel unanchored, disengaged, and empty. What we want is to live a life of true pleasure—a life infused with meaning, marked by genuine relationship, and aligned with what matters most to us. How do we create a life of true pleasure, one that is worth living? Untangled is a welcoming guidebook to finding expansive ease and joy through what is traditionally called the eightfold path, one of Buddhisms foundational teachings. Psychotherapist and Zen teacher Koshin Paley Ellison walks readers through this time-tested map for transformation and lasting happiness. Following the eight roads creates profound change inside and out, from everyday interactions to our most intimate relationships (especially the one with ourselves). With his signature mix of storytelling and unexpected humor, Koshin uses anecdotes from his own life as a young gay kid dealing with abuse and discrimination as well as tales and teachings from Eastern and Western wisdom traditions to introduce mainstream readers to the eight roads for the first time and rejuvenate it for those already familiar. It is an ancient cure thats up to the challenge of addressing the dysfunction of our times.”“
Seattle teacher and part-time blogger Hayden McCall wakes up sporting one hell of a shiner, with the police knocking at his door. It seems that his new crush, dancer Camilo Rodriguez, has gone missing, and they suspect foul play. What happened the night before? And where is Camilo? Determined to find answers, pint-sized, good-hearted Hayden seeks out two of Camilo’s friends—Hollister and Burley—both lesbians and both fiercely devoted to their friend. From them, Hayden learns that Camilo is a “Dreamer” whose parents had been deported years earlier and whose sister is presumed to have returned to Venezuela with them. Convinced that the cops won’t take a brown boy’s disappearance seriously, the girls join Hayden’s hunt for Camilo. The first clues turn up at Barkingham Palace, a pet store where Camilo had taken a part-time job. The store’s owner, Della Rupert, claims ignorance, but Hayden knows something is up. And then there’s Camilo’s ex-boyfriend, Ryan, who’s suddenly grown inexplicably wealthy. When Hayden and Hollister follow Ryan to a secure airport warehouse, they make a shocking connection between him and Della—and uncover the twisted scheme that’s made both of them rich. The trail of clues leads them to the grounds of a magnificent estate on an island in Puget Sound, where they’ll finally learn the truth about Camilo’s disappearance—and the fate of his family.
