In this first-of-its kind memoir, a gay man explores the emotional risks and rewards of mentoring a troubled young Latino boy. In the process, he learns more about himself than he ever imagined. 
 
As an award-winning mentor in the Big Brother/Big Sister program, former journalist and documentary filmmaker, Aaron Kirk Douglas illuminates the emotional turmoil inherent in mentoring an at-risk youth. He relates how it pushed him to become more than just a weekend-toss-the-ball-around kind of mentor. In his relationship with Rico, a fatherless foster child he meets through Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Douglas must face the memories─and pain─of growing up gay in rural Oregon without the love and acceptance he so desperately craved from his own father. His journey leads him to forge a new kind of family—the kind you create for yourself. 

A collection of poems by author, Vanessa Nix Anthony, that explore a single dramatic year in her life. Filled with aching, richly-rendered poems, In Less than a Year is a sequence steeped in conflict, loss, guilt, confusion, isolation, love and ultimately – triumph. These poems vibrate with a raw intensity, palpable on every page.