title: Aunting: Cultural Practices That Sustain Family and Community Life
author:  Laura L. Ellingson 
description: <P>This place of kinship is a major role in the lives of many young people as they grow, and Laura Ellingson and Patricia J. Sotirin provide an expert analysis of this dynamic and its importance. <I>Aunting</I> is a fascinating twist on familial life, and makes for a very highly recommended read.</P> (<i>Midwest Book Review</i>)
zlib_text: FOREWORD It has been said that nearly every community contains a cross section
  of Americans within its confines, thereby maintaining an image unique in this
  country today. Every town has its doctors and lawyers, its coaches and
  teachers, and its clerks and carpenters, and each individual has in turn been
  touched to some extent by emotions common to all men-peed, lust, envy, and
  distress. This ii a story of everyday, responsible people whose lives are
  wrought with common frailties; people who seek pleasure, profit, expediency;
  people not unlike those who may live in your town or your neighborhood.
  Respectable citizens-yes, but not without the foibles and weaknesses seen
  every day in nearly every city. THEFAMILY'S ORAL TRADITION provides a unique
  insight into those emotions with which we all must live, a look at America at
  the grassroots level. -The Publisher THE FAMILY'S ORAL TRADITION by David
  Crane CHAPTER ONE "Thanks a lot, Sis!" Laura was sitting on the front porch as
  her older brot