Shopping for Pleasure

The lived experience of homeless youth: A narrative approach.

“…Rather, consistent with the interpretive philosophy underpinning narrative theory (Bruner, 1990), narrative represents a tool through which individuals make meaning of adversity (Cohler, 1982(Cohler, , 1991. Future research might focus further on the active agency of youth experiencing homelessness and their use of narrative as a liberatory resource (Rappaport, 2000).…”

Tyrant’s End: Did Joseph Stalin Die From Warfarin Poisoning?

“…A visiting Yugoslavian communist in 1948 described Stalin’s unnaturally pale face with “ruddy cheeks,” a distinctive appearance so common amidst the higher-ups of the Party that it was dubbed the “Kremlin complexion” [ 8 ]. Even his famed mustache was thinning [ 11 ].…”

“…Although his exile into Siberia by the Tsarist government as a young man forced him to learn hunting out of necessity, he abandoned the activity as soon as he was able [ 2 ]. He consistently displayed “no interest in sports or any physical activity more strenuous than billiards” [ 11 ], chain-smoked until he reluctantly quit in 1952 [ 7 ], ate an excess of rich foods “with an emphasis on meat dishes,” and overworked [ 2 ]. Stalin’s insomniac habit of total dedication to work was expected of all Party members, so much so that a 1947 government report found many of the upper echelons of the USSR’s administration suffered from “diseases of the heart and the circulatory and nervous systems sufficiently serious to impact their ability to work… one cause of (this) is stressful work not only during the day, but also during the night, and often even on holidays” [ 2 ].…”

“…The first rebuttal to this theory can be observed in Stalin himself. As his paranoia grew, he became “obsessive about the possibility of being poisoned” [ 11 ]. He made his personal chef a general, and had his food “grown and processed at special farms and food factories” [ 8 ].…”

“…He made his personal chef a general, and had his food “grown and processed at special farms and food factories” [ 8 ]. By the end of his life, his paranoia had grown to the point that he regularly “insisted on having his food lab-tested on a retinue of labs and mice that went everywhere with him” [ 11 ]. Although there is no reference to this menagerie being present at the dacha the night of 28 February to 1 March, Stalin had a long habit of forcing his guests to drink to excess while he stayed relatively sober [ 2 ], and by one account, had only light drinks that night [ 6 ].…”