This Is How It Is is a ""refreshing, poignant and wide-ranging"" (Helen Moffett) collection of real life experiences: 52 stories, prose, and poetry. Some of the writers are grieving the loss of a child or struggling with addiction, abuse, or betrayal. Most of these writers have never been published before. They wrote these stories primarily to bear witness to their lives and the troubled times in which we live. Our world is in trouble; we are not paying attention to what is right in front of us. When the facts don't stir us to reconsider, story can. This anthology encourages us to climb down from the ladder of hierarchy and competition and to join the circle of relationship and humanity by becoming vulnerable enough to share and listen to each other's half-hidden stories.