Through fifty-two heartwarming letters to her son, Bila shares a roadmap she hopes he will revisit often, one he can turn to for strength and guidance throughout his life. Connecting her love for her child with her hopes and dreams for the next generation, Bila’s letters reveal an exciting path forward. Jam-packed with quick wit and authentic, unpredictable insights, Bila welcomes us into her personal journey of mistakes made and lessons learned. Dear Hartley presents a chance for us to find common ground and unite in our wish for a better, brighter world, especially for the children in our lives.
An independent thinker, Bila has always been an outspoken proponent of common sense and the truth, even when she found herself in situations where it wasn’t always welcome. Here, in these pages, she has an open platform to tell it like it is, and she does. Readers are invited to travel beside her with an open mind and an open heart as she explores the themes that touch us all.
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“Jedediah’s background of hard work as a teacher and waitress in New York City, before finding her true passion, really hits home with me. Jedediah shares so many great lessons, from following your dreams, to trusting your gut, to navigating life’s challenges with belief in yourself. Dear Hartley is a must-read!”
— Barbara Corcoran, Shark on Shark Tank & founder of The Corcoran Group
#DoNotDisturb: How I Ghosted My Cell Phone to Take Back My Life
In this timely, entertaining and inspiring book, Jedediah Bila chronicles her chaotic, confusing, and all-consuming love-hate relationship with - her cell phone. Stepping back from the whirlwind of texting, social media, and an endless sea of apps, Bila questions how our relationships, character, and sanity have suffered from our deep dive into the digital abyss. Exploring the toll that tech addiction took on her life, Bila reveals her missteps and mistakes, including several upending, life-altering months swirling in an ex-boyfriend’s cell-phone-enabled double life, and how a low-tech millennial later stole her heart.
Travel with Jedediah through the embarrassing and catastrophic consequences of Ménage-a-Tech relationships, social media's Perception Deception, and the One-Potato-Chip-Problem of trying to resist Silicon Valley's hypnotic, slot-machine software designed to lure you in. Through warm anecdotes and cold, hard truths, Bila reveals how she pulled her way out of the tech fog to keep her eyes focused on the life right in front of her. And how you can too.
Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative
Complete with unforgettable encounters, musings, and personal stories, Outnumbered exposes the collectivism that pervaded New York City and academia circa 2008. As a high school teacher and dean in a private New York City school, Jedediah was on the front lines of observing groupthink and political bias in classrooms that led to consequences for those who didn't toe the acceptable line. Get ready for an unconventional journey that reminds us of the truths one can discover through everyday life.
