What Happened: Recapping Hillary Clinton's appearance at Hill

Thu, 10/26/2017 - 12:30pm by christopherporter

Hillary Clinton evokes feelings.

I hadn’t fully understood the extent of this until I poked around online to get myself in the mood to attend her Oct. 25 talk at Hill Auditorium about her newest book, What Happened. I made the mistake of searching #hillaryclinton on Twitter. I almost injured my jaw as my mouth hung open while I glanced at the results.

Yeah, Hillary Clinton makes people feel things.

The day before the event, I received a voicemail message from Ticketmaster letting me know that I should plan to be very early to the event. However, that voicemail message didn’t say “large” cameras were prohibited. So, when I got to the door of Hill Auditorium, I was turned away and had to skulk back to my car and stash my camera. Returning, approaching the auditorium again, I heard the song “God Bless America” in the distance. Briefly, I wondered if the UM Glee Club was providing entertainment nearby. I quickened my pace across the Diag to find that the sound was coming from an audaciously decorated pro-Trump truck and trailer that slowly drove around Hill Auditorium. As I ran to snap a photo of it, I looked directly into the face of another man who drove slowly with his window down. He aimed his camera at Hill Auditorium while yelling that no one was there, the auditorium was empty and that no one wanted to hear what Clinton had to say, all while staring directly into my face.

That was a few uncomfortable seconds of piercing eye contact.

I jogged toward the Hill Auditorium stairs.

The gentleman was incorrect.

Inside, there were plenty of people eager to hear former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Exactly as I had expected, I saw mostly middle-aged to Hillary Clinton-aged white women in the crowd. I scanned this collection of baby boomers in sweaters mesmerized by their smartphones. The auditorium smelled exactly as I expected it would, too. It smelled like those moments when you go into a shopping mall thinking, “I’m almost 40, is it time for me to start dressing more professionally? At what age do you have to start shopping at Talbots?” You slow down as you pass the stores that have the more professional clothes, and a perfumery scent comes toward you. This is the smell. This, with a touch of peppermint candy.

I decided to relax in my Old Navy jeans and vest. I decided to ignore my soaking wet Chuck Taylors and was glad that I had brought my AADL library-branded sweatshirt. I had decided not to focus on feeling a little out of place as I watched the woman in front of me squirt something into her eye.

I had read that Clinton’s book points the finger at many when discussing her unsuccessful bid for the presidency. But very early in the book, on page xii, she says, “I couldn’t get the job done, and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.” Trained in history, I was taught never to skip the prologue as it gives you an idea where a book is going, what arguments it will make. It tells you about the tone.

Earlier in the afternoon, I picked my son up from school, reminding him that I was going to listen to Hillary Clinton speak that evening. He made a joke about her emails. I repeat: He made a joke about her emails. It hadn’t occurred to me that this was something that the email issue had so thoroughly penetrated the culture that middle school kids made quick jokes about it.

University of Michigan’s Anne Curzan, an English professor with appointments in the Department of Linguistics and the School of Education, moderated the talk. As she introduced the speaker, I wondered how people decide whether to introduce her as “Hillary Clinton” or “Hillary Rodham Clinton.” What kind of choice is this? Is it personal? Is it for accuracy? Is it a political choice?

Secretary Clinton walked slowly onstage, wearing a boot that broadcast an injury. The crowd erupted into applause. Curzan skipped a long introduction, anticipating the crowd’s restlessness for Clinton.

Hillary Clinton talked about Michigan, the special moments that she had had there throughout her campaign. She also told the audience that President Obama had told her that he had had an amazing campaign stop in Ann Arbor. She also gave a “special shout out” to the Ann Arbor branch of the Hillary Clinton fan club, which started in the early '90s; at one point, the local chapter was the largest nationwide.

(Inside thought: I will never stop being amused when I hear middle-aged to old white people say “shout out.” It makes me giggle every time. I enjoy it. I will not be ashamed. It also reminds me that language and culture have permeable borders. This seems important.)

Onstage, as Clinton warmed up the audience, she said that everyone gets knocked down. Then, she joked about her injury, citing a combination of walking in heels, carrying a coffee, holding a conversation, and descending stairs. The meme about everyone having the same 24 hours as Beyoncé pops into my head. I wondered if anyone ever says that about Hillary Clinton.

I also wondered how much we project onto Hillary Clinton. I wonder if this hydrant spray of projection contributes to her divisiveness, what makes her the flint for so many fires. I’ve seen many people online talk about what they hope Clinton does next. She is 70 years old. I hope she has a sumptuous pair of sweatpants that is just as soft and warm as she desires. I hope she is enjoying her favorite wine by the goblet while she simultaneously watches a favorite show and eating popcorn. I want for anyone her age who has worked so hard for her goals for so long to enjoy herself. Perhaps all this is something I'm projecting on her. Feelings.

Secretary Clinton said she has been enjoying herself in part by reading mystery novels, books where everything is wrapped up neatly and the ending is positive. She’s been watching HGTV, hanging out with her dogs, and doing yoga. She’s even experimented with alternate nostril breathing yoga. These are very human things. I wondered if whether she wants to share that information with us, or whether this is another act of service. Is she answering her fans’ plaintive questions? What do you do for self-care? How do you move on? How are you going to continue to inspire? You will continue to inspire, won’t you?

Clinton spoke on the role of sexism in American politics. Again, the audience erupted into applause. I noticed a particularly firm and slow clap to my left. Clinton made reference to studies that show likability and success go hand-in-hand in men's minds. The more successful a man is, she states, the more likable he becomes. But the inverse is true for women: “Maybe some of you in this room have an inkling about what I’m discussing.” This is a woman who knows just how to speak to the night’s audience.

“There is no such thing as an alternative fact.” --Hillary Clinton

Clinton spent a considerable portion of the evening talking about Russian interference in the 2016 election and suggested that part of the reason that their “disinformation campaign” was so effective was that the public has become somewhat desensitized from hearing things that aren’t true, such as when "leaders deny things that we can see with our own eyes ... like the size of a crowd at an inauguration." She says that it is essential to stand up for facts, to demand truth. Then, she continued, describing Russian interference in the election, “This is a new kind of Cold War and it’s just getting started.”

“Watergate, for those who can remember it was a physical burglary.” --Hillary Clinton

“I don’t want to insult John Podesta, but his emails were very boring.” --Hillary Clinton

Sharing the stage with a linguist, Clinton asked us to think about language. For example, she suggested calling something “hacking” minimizes that something was stolen, pointing out that the Watergate burglary of materials from the Democratic National Convention in order to influence a presidential election was met with outrage. But the Podesta emails, stolen from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman and leaked in order to influence the outcome of a presidential election, was not met with the same sort of outrage.

When asked about developing the tough skin required for public life and what advice she offered women interested in politics, Clinton asserted there is a price to pay for this lifestyle and that she makes it a priority to point this out to young women. She says there just aren’t enough women in politics, continuing, “We will know we have equality when a mediocre woman gets a job just like a mediocre man." (This immediately made me think of the dentist joke that Chris Rock told in Kill the Messenger.)

She also warned women, “Not everyone will like your hair.” She encouraged them to keep their sense of humor and to develop the confidence to stand up for themselves, to take criticism seriously, but not personally.

She talked about the embedded pictures that we have about what presidents look like. This statement struck me particularly hard. I am intensely interested in the presidents of the United States. Back in 2008 and again in 2012, I joked with family and friends that I didn’t know what a female president would do to my obsession. Clinton made me think about this. Is this evidence of internalized misogyny? Or is it an aversion to potentially being asked to pick apart another woman? Neither? Both? I'm interested in the presidents of the United States as human beings, but I may be less interested in bearing witness to what happens to a powerful, public-serving woman human being.

Hillary Clinton also pulled back the curtain a bit on what it is like to be a candidate, how one is handled as a candidate “You think you know who you are and what you stand for,” she said, then comes the advice on how to package yourself in order to meet your goals. “We already edit ourselves!” The modern campaign forces more editing upon you. “Then, of course, there’s the makeover issue,” Clinton said. They strip you down and rebuild you.

Question: What would you tell your 22-year-old self?
Clinton: You have no idea what’s going to happen to you. Personally. Professionally. Hang on for the ride.

Moving forward, Clinton thinks that people must focus on improving parts of the electoral system that will have the most impact, and that voter suppression and gerrymandering are major problems that threaten our democracy. On a more individual level, she thinks people should focus on voter registration, voter turnout, and protecting the vote.

The night ended with another future-facing question when she was asked about her grandchildren: “Being a grandparent is the only experience in life that isn’t overrated.”

There are those feelings again.

Sherlonya Turner is the manager of the Youth & Adult: Services & Collections Department at the Ann Arbor District Library. She can be found diving headfirst into all sorts of projects over at sherlonya.net.

Cognitive Overload: NY Times' Charles Blow talked truth & Trump at Rackham

Sun, 10/22/2017 - 7:30am by christopherporter

Reading a long list of sponsors doesn’t usually prompt a standing ovation; but because celebrated New York Times op-ed columnist Charles M. Blow couldn’t hear, while backstage at Rackham Auditorium on Friday evening, what was being said while waiting to make his entrance, he gamely emerged before his official introduction had even gotten underway.

Not that the adoring, full-capacity crowd minded the miscue in the least. Presenting the keynote speech of a Humility in the Age of Self-Promotion Colloquium at U-M, Blow spoke for 40 minutes on the topic of Trump, arrogance, and democracy, and answered audience questions for an additional half hour.

Mythological Duty: "Welcome to Night Vale" creators visit Ann Arbor

Fri, 10/20/2017 - 6:00am by christopherporter

One article about the popular, fiercely beloved Welcome to Night Vale podcast begins with the line, “Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of” the show.

But until I’d received a copy of the novel It Devours! written by the podcast's creators, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, and researched Night Vale in preparation for a recent phone interview with Cranor, I’d been one such under-the-rock dweller.

Yet because the podcast could be described as the David Lynch version of A Prairie Home Companion -- focusing on a fictional desert town in the American Southwest, where all conspiracy theories are true -- I asked Cranor if any of Night Vale’s residents also live under rocks.

“No, but one of the characters is a rock -- the dean of the Night Vale Community College, Sarah Sultan,” said Cranor without missing a beat, referring to a character who communicates via telepathy.

Well, then. At least I might have some company.

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor will be with artist and illustrator Jessica Hayworth at U-M's Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre on October 23 at 7 pm, courtesy of Literati Bookstore. The three will be interviewed by Detroit writer, actor, comedienne, and The Moth Storyslam Ann Arbor host Satori Shakoor, followed by an audience Q&A and signing.

Cranor answered questions for Pulp about Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours!.

Q: This is the second Night Vale-based novel you and Joseph have collaborated on. Is it challenging to write for both longtime podcast fans and those who might be “visiting” Night Vale for the first time?
A: It’s always a top consideration for us. When we write the novels, we don’t want you to have to listen to one hundred podcasts first and read the first novel to enjoy it. But we’ve been doing the podcasts for so long that we have a deep understanding of this universe. The town itself is the main character. So with a novel, it’s just a matter of resetting that idea for those brand new to us, and for those already familiar with Night Vale, it’s more like, look, here’s a new story, a new adventure, a new mystery to solve.

Q: How did you guys come up with the town’s name?
A: It was Joseph who came up with the name, piecing together the word “night” with “vale,” the latter being a semi-common word that you’ll see in towns’ names across the country. But we wanted a town name that doesn’t exist in the real world. So the opposite of, say, Springfield in The Simpsons, which, there are Springfields everywhere, we did a bunch of Google searches to make sure there was no Night Vale anywhere.

Q: Have you always been drawn to stories that have elements of magical realism, or otherworldly qualities?
A: Yeah, definitely. The first book I read over and over again was Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I loved the dream logic of it -- spoiler alert! It’s a dream! -- and I was always really taken by that as a kid. It was always a scary adventure to read that book, because what was happening didn’t match up with what should be happening. That’s what makes horror truly horrifying -- when we can’t understand something. ... I’ve always been interested in the strange, and why we’re so afraid of or tickled by it.

Q: You’ve been doing the podcast since 2012, and its popularity exploded in 2013. Between constantly writing new material for the podcast, live shows, and novels, do you get burned out?
A: No. I really love writing, and it’s really fun to do it with somebody like Joseph. But it’s like someone who writes sketch comedy, or writes novels for a living, or like being a journalist. It’s a job, and you have deadlines to make, but it’s really nice to have a job where you get to write full-time. ... That’s not to say I don’t have days where it’s like, “I’m not feeling it right now,” and obviously, there’s always a lot going on. Keeping up is always the thing, so we have to be careful with time management. But it really is fun, and it’s made easier by the fact that I get to work with Joseph, who can help take the load off when I need a break, and I do the same for him.

Q: Co-writing a novel seems like it would be a very different process than co-writing a podcast script. How do you tackle that as a writing team?
A: When we write podcast scripts, which are about 2,500 words each, it’s easy to say, “I’ll do this one, and you can do the next one,” and then edit each other’s work. You can’t do that with a novel -- say, like, “I’ll write the first 40,000 words!” -- because the word count is so much higher. So we’ll have a few meetings to talk through an outline, say, here’s our four or five act structure, do an abstract for each chapter -- where it begins and ends -- and we’ll work from there. One of us will say, “I’ll write chapters three through nine, you do chapters 10 through 14, and I’ll grab the ones after that.” Then when we have a full novel, it’s just a matter of editing for things like continuity.

Q: You guys began the podcast on your own, with total creative freedom, while publishing a novel involves working with editors who may have different priorities and goals for your novel. Was that a challenging shift?
A: Generally, it’s been enormously helpful to have extra people reading it with a critical eye. The only thing, and it’s not a big thing, comes up when copyeditors aren’t familiar with Night Vale’s absurd sense of humor. Like, in our first novel, there’s a moment when we include a fake Eleanor Roosevelt quote that goes, “One day we will destroy the moon with our indifference!” And the copyeditors came back to us saying, “We can’t source this,” and we had to say, “That’s fine.”

Q: How do you carve out time to take on novels when you’re already always under the gun for new podcast scripts?
A: We have to plan it out far in advance. We’ve already started working on a third novel, without having committed to it being printed yet. But we want to stay on top of it, because it takes months and months to edit it, finalize it -- it takes about a year to get from a final edit to seeing it in a store, so we try to start as early as we can.

Q: It Devours! tells the story of Night Vale scientist Nilanjana, who seeks help from The Church of the Smiling God member Darryl to figure out the cause of violent rumblings and sinkholes. Was your starting point for the novel a desire to explore where science and religion intersect and clash?
A: It started the way a lot of our podcasts start, which is, we get a phrase in our head, and with the novel, the phrase was, “The Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God.” ... And (Night Vale scientist Nilanjana Sikdar) was just briefly mentioned in the first novel, so we thought, let’s take a character we haven’t developed before and go on her journey. And that crossover, where religion and science are at odds, is something (Joseph and I) are both really interested in. It’s a pretty major struggle across human history. ... So it seemed a fun thing to play with.

Q: Those familiar with Night Vale’s mythology won’t be surprised to learn that you both make as much fun of the scientists as you do the people in this cultish church.
A: A lot of (our stories) just make fun of humanity in general, and how we’re all so fallible. As a scientist, you may feel empowered by factual righteousness, whereas if you’re religious, you may feel empowered by spiritual righteousness. ... But when you really think of all of the limitations of the human mind and body, it all just seems so rife with struggle and comedy and drama.

Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, along with illustrator Jessica Hayworth, visit U-M's Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 N. University Ave., on October 23 at 7 pm, courtesy of Literati Bookstore, to discuss their podcast, "Welcome to Night Vale," and their new book, "It Devours!" General admission tickets are $25.12, which is the cost of the novel with tax and a service fee; books are to be picked up at the venue the night of the event. Visit literatibookstore.com for more information and tickets.

A Wilde Afterlife: Laura Lee, "Oscar’s Ghost" at AADL

Fri, 10/13/2017 - 8:30am by christopherporter

Oscar Wilde said the truth is rarely pure and never simple. These words apply to many facets of his life, including the feud between Wilde’s lovers Lord Alfred Douglas and Robert Ross. Laura Lee set out to find the truth of what happened between these men after Wilde’s death in her new book, Oscar’s Ghost: The Battle for Oscar Wilde’s Legacy, which she'll discuss at AADL's downtown branch on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Douglas and Ross each blamed the other for Wilde's downfall and early death as well the way the latter handled Wilde’s prison manuscript, De Profundis. Their feud escalated to include stalking, blackmail, witness tampering, prison, and lawsuits.

“When I first got a Kindle, I downloaded and read (Wilde’s) De Profundis," Lee says. "I discovered that this was actually an edited version of the book and that a longer version existed.”

Written while Wilde was in prison for “gross indecency,” De Profundis was intended as a letter to Douglas. After Wilde’s death, Lee says, his literary executor and former lover, Ross, edited portions of the book to take out personal parts: “There were pointed recriminations against Douglas, and I wondered what had happened between these men and why Ross wanted to remove parts of the book.”

Lee dove deep into research about both men: “I read biographies about Douglas and Ross and found that most of what was written was very partisan, with existing books taking the side of one or the other. I wanted to tell the story more evenly and figure out the truth.” This led to the six-year journey that resulted in Oscar Wilde’s Ghost.

To understand the rivalry, one must understand the passion between Wilde and his lovers, which the book explores. Ultimately, both men wanted to be the ones to frame Wilde's legacy after his death.

During research, Lee uncovered another player in the complicated relationships of Oscar Wilde: a man named Maurice Schwabe. Schwabe and Lord Arthur Douglas were lovers and the two wrote passionate letters to each other. These missives somehow ended up in the hands of an Australian police officer who donated them to the library. Lee’s research into Schwabe indicated that he was involved in an international circle of men who would travel on ships, meet aristocrats, and con them at games of cards and in other ways. Lee, the author of 20 books, is now trying to sell a book about Schwabe and his influence on the life and trial of Oscar Wilde.

While Wilde is certainly known in America, he is a “huge figure in England” and this led Lee to work with the U.K.’s Amberely Publishing for Oscar Wilde’s Ghost. “I was writing in ‘British English,’" Lee laughs, "which added a layer of complexity to the process.”

Ultimately, Oscar Wilde’s Ghost can be enjoyed by fans of Wilde and newcomers to his life and work. “Originally, I tried to write the book for someone who knew nothing about Wilde,” Lee says. “But it came out about 100,000 words longer than the publisher was expecting, so I had to focus in a bit more and assume some prior knowledge. ... There is still background information in the introduction for people who may not know much about Wilde.” And for longtime fans and Wilde experts? Lee says, “I hope I dug up some things that they didn’t know.”

Lee adds, “The mythology of Wilde was created in part of Wilde himself and in part by this feud between Ross and Douglas who were left behind, each dealing with their own grief and guilt and the desire to control not only his story but their own life stories. In the process, they created a lot of what we know about Oscar Wilde today.”

As the man himself said: The truth is rarely pure and, as Oscar Wilde’s Ghost points out, never simple.

Patti F. Smith is a special education teacher and writer who lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and cat.

Laura Lee discusses and signs "Oscar’s Ghost: The Battle for Oscar Wilde’s Legacy" at AADL's downtown branch, 345 S. Fifth Ave., on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 pm.

To Not Be Me All the Time: Jeffrey Eugenides at the Michigan Union

Wed, 10/11/2017 - 6:00am by christopherporter

Michigan native Jeffrey Eugenides told the crowd at the Michigan Union's Rogel Ballroom on Sunday that he never set out to be a regionalist. His three novels, The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and The Marriage Plot, all revolve around characters from Detroit in their youth. Eugenides said that his time growing up in Detroit still makes up some of his most vivid memories, and that writing about something so innate to himself just “makes my job easier.”

Eugenides was joined by Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus, to discuss his recently published first book of short stories, Fresh Complaint. The collection contains 10 stories, including two that relate to his previous novels. One is an outtake from Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex and another, “Airmail,” is made up of letters written by Mitchell, the main character in The Marriage Plot.

Watkins and Eugenides both mused about the differences between short stories and novels. Like many, Eugenides said he started his creative writing education by learning to compose short stories. Fresh Complaint collects work from Eugenides entire career, and he joked it feels like a posthumous collection. The oldest story was written while Eugenides was still in grad school and the newest was completed just this past year.

Short stories are tasked with keeping readers hooked even as they know that they won’t be spending an extended period of time with the characters. Eugenides compared trying to fit a breadth of information into a short story to a little puzzle, constantly reworking sentences to make every word count. This challenge can lead to perpetual editing, and Eugenides said he has spent an inordinate amount of time on just one small story in the past. But he also looked to the form as a break from writing his novels, and a few of the stories were written concurrently with his books. The stories became a bit of a relief from the characters he was spending so much time with, or they were used as a writing exercise when stuck with where to go next with the plot.

Eugenides novels all revolve around protagonists in their adolescence or young adulthood and the growing pains they endure. When asked about his focus on teenage protagonists, Eugenides described it as coming from his own dramatic youth, saying, “I’ve never really gotten over being a teenager.” Apart from personal experience, Eugenides also described that age as providing fruitful material for fiction because it follows people as they are in the midst of changing themselves, of finding out who they want to become.

Middlesex follows Cal as he discovers he is intersex and begins to explore his gender identity. Published 15 years ago, Middlesex was groundbreaking. Few works of fiction that made it to the mainstream detailed characters who were questioning their gender identity. Eugenides said that he didn’t set out to write something topical, and he’s not sure he could do it again. Instead, he said anytime he has consciously tried to write about current events he always ends up behind.

Toward the end of the night, Eugenides spoke about why he chose to pursue fiction writing. For Eugenides, fiction is a way to escape, “to not be me all the time.” But it also is a way to explore his past and to write about someone he could have been. Both explanations are perfect reasons to read his work as well.

Katrina Shafer is a desk clerk with the Ann Arbor District Library.

"The Virgin Suicides," "Middlesex," "The Marriage Plot," and "Fresh Complaint" are available from the Ann Arbor District Library.

Survival in the Straits: Tiya Miles, "The Dawn of Detroit" at Literati

Sun, 10/08/2017 - 4:00pm by christopherporter

On Monday, Oct. 7, author and University of Michigan professor Tiya Miles visited Literati Bookstore to discuss her new book, The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits. This book is an examination of Detroit’s early days and seeks to discuss an element of the city’s history that isn’t often discussed. Miles’ work aims to locate people of color in Detroit’s history, adding them to a narrative that is often told chiefly as the stories of European settlers.

Miles began working on her book six to seven years ago as a public history project aiming to increase discussions about Detroit. During a classroom field trip in Washtenaw County, Laura Swift Haviland, a white Quaker from Adrian, caught Professor Miles’ attention. She had planned to write a book on Haviland and dove into the relevant historical resources. However, in Haviland’s autobiography, Miles noticed the way that Haviland spoke about Michigan’s slavery laws, which begat questions for Miles about the role of slavery in the state.

Eventually, this question led Miles to study the history of slavery in Detroit. Professor Miles and a team of students spent multiple semesters researching the history of slavery in Detroit, and have mapped locations that were significant to the topic. They mapped where enslaved people lived and other significant places to their lives, or the Detroit slave trade more broadly.

Miles says that the group’s experience with this research, and an eventual tour of related sites, was an emotional experience as much as an intellectual one. Together, they stood among the buildings imagining the lives and experiences of the previously unacknowledged people who made Detroit possible. Here, Miles contemplated the physical intimacy of space. She was also stricken by the river, the only real remaining entity from this era of Detroit’s past.

“Somehow the river felt magical to us, the only witness to the lives of the people we were uncovering.” --Tiya Miles

Miles painted a panoramic picture of what slavery had been in Detroit. Native Americans were enslaved first. African-Americans were enslaved more over time. Detroit’s formal slaveholding period was roughly from 1733 to 1837, when Michigan became a state. There were never very large numbers of enslaved people. But 60-300 enslaved people in a population of 1,300-2,200 is significant.

These enslaved people performed labor that was fundamental in building Detroit. The fur trade was an important industry then and it was the enslaved who possessed the knowledge to properly prepare and transport the furs. These people also carried messages and products across vast distances and performed the domestic labor that kept everyone alive such as growing food, sewing, and cleaning. While there are no explicit primary sources that explicitly point to it, it's also likely that these people maintained the built environment.

The Dawn of Detroit is a work about the perseverance of enslaved indigenous and African people, and also about the conflicts and alliances between these groups and others, notably working class whites. During this project, several relevant primary documents were transcribed and formed the basis of their research. In fact, Miles argues that it is the issue of slavery that helped forge an American identity among Detroiters. Here whites in the area challenged British settlers around the issue of slavery.

Many of the enslaved people in Detroit were Native American women. Miles paused here, and then followed the meaningful silence by verbally acknowledging the reality that these women were often forced into sexual labor in addition to the domestic tasks. Slaveholding men sought these women specifically, and numerous children were born into slavery, the records recording their fathers as “unknown.” With this in mind, Miles implores anyone who is considering the variety of costume sometimes marketed as a sexy Pocahontas costume for Halloween to reconsider.

Though this is a book that talks about slavery in Detroit, Miles is careful to ensure that her audience knows that this is a story about survival and fighting back. There are stories of these individuals stealing from slave owners and running away in order to take control of their own lives. There are also stories of Native American communities that bordered the Detroit area providing refuge for those who those seeking to determine the direction of their lives. Here, Miles properly treats them as people, human beings with full lives, stories, and desires, rather than the footnotes treatment applied by too many history books.

Sherlonya Turner is the manager of the Youth & Adult: Services & Collections Department at the Ann Arbor District Library. She can be found diving headfirst into all sorts of projects over at sherlonya.net.

Protect Your Neck: Author, throat puncher Jen Mann hosts a moms' night out at AADL

Thu, 10/05/2017 - 10:00am by christopherporter

When you put the wrong date in your calendar for an interview with Jen Mann, the blogger/author behind People I Want to Punch in the Throat, you kind of fear that you’ll be added to the list.

But Mann -- who will be coming to the downtown library for a moms’ night out event on Wednesday, October 11 at 7 pm, as part of a book tour to promote her latest humorous essay collection, Working with People I Want to Punch in the Throat -- couldn’t have been more understanding, despite her famously feisty, tell-it-like-it-is persona.

Mann first appeared on most readers’ radars back in 2011 when her caustic blog post about failing to keep up with other Elf on the Shelf mommies went viral. The response took Mann (a realtor at the time) by surprise, but she also knew that she needed to act fast if she wanted to keep her new readers engaged.

“I had a lot of emotions,” said Mann. “On the one hand, I was terrified. I’d never had a million people read something I’d written. And while most responses were positive, there were also five percent of them that were people who were threatening my children and things like that. ... I decided then and there what to do. I wouldn’t post photos of them or use their real names on my blog. But I’d also wanted to be a writer since I was five, and I had 17,000 fans by the end of that first night, so I had to figure out how to keep them fed.”

Some major media outlets also came calling at that time, but because she didn’t want her identity revealed at that time, nor did she want reporters or camera crews to come to her Kansas home, Mann decided to work around them by instead focusing on developing and growing her blog.

“I thought, ‘I’ll just have to do it on my own,’” said Mann. “But I knew I had to take the opportunity I had and do my best to catapult it into something bigger while still respecting my family’s privacy. That was the balance I was looking for.”

Of course, none of us exist in a vacuum, so writing about personal experiences inevitably means writing about those we come into contact with or love -- a tricky paradox for bloggers wanting to write their truth while also respecting others’ privacy. According to Mann, she always honors friends’/family members’ requests to speak “off the record,” and keeps some people out of her writing altogether.

“You do figure out quickly who your real friends are,” said Mann. “There are a few people I’m no longer friends with. ... But this is by far the best job I’ve ever had, and I feel like, if you can’t support my dream, then I can’t be friends with you. ... But then some people treat me like I don’t have a job. When I worked in real estate, people asked me about my work all the time. Now, we’ll be at a party or something, and people don’t even ask. Like they don’t want to know.”

But on the other side are readers who only know her through her posts, which veer toward self-deprecating snark. The blog launched in spring 2011 after Mann’s husband encouraged her to start it -- not only as a creative outlet, but also as a daily means of getting enraging or frustrating things off her chest. (He even convinced her to give the blog its distinctive name, based on how often she used the phrase when complaining about various incidents.)

“To me, my brand is me, and my blog is me, and whatever I’m feeling that day, that’s what I’m writing,” said Mann. “There have been times when I’ve said, ‘If you’re looking for funny, today’s not the day.’ ... My blog and my brand are about being honest, pulling the veil back, and showing how we’re not all perfect. Social media’s always showing us what’s good in other people’s lives, not so much what’s hard, and what bothers us. I think that’s why Elf on the Shelf went viral. ... But there have been tons of times when publishers and agents have told me, ‘It would help if you’d tone down your rhetoric.’”

As you might expect, Mann’s response to this suggestion involved unprintable expletives (she’s been called “Erma Bombeck with F-bombs”).

Instead, she’s stayed true to her voice, maintained a fan base of 3 million on social media, and published numerous books: anthologies (with work by fellow mom bloggers she admires); essay collections; and earlier this year, a well-received young adult novel called My Lame Life.

“I wrote it because my kids asked me to write something they could read,” said Mann. “They never read the Punch in the Throat stuff -- it’s not appropriate, and it doesn’t appeal to them. It’s not for kids. ... But My Lame Life is done in the same vein as Punch in the Throat. It’s about a young girl using her voice for those who don’t have a voice. It’s a love letter to my daughter, really. I want her to be strong and speak up for herself and others. She’s in fifth grade now, and will be in middle school next year, and we all know how much middle school sucks. But I felt like, if someone had told me the things I say in this book when I was that age, it wouldn’t have sucked as much.”

Mann is currently working on a follow-up to My Lame Life, and then plans to pursue a women’s novel in the spirit of Bridget Jones’ Diary or Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

If you’re thinking this leaves less time in her life for blogging, you’re right, but Mann feels that her book projects are a better use of her time. She now only blogs a few times a month -- down from every weekday, following her first viral success -- and is generally more likely to split her work days between writing and keeping up with social media.

But Mann seems to be enjoying her current book tour, particularly events that bill themselves as a moms’ night out.

“Nothing against the guys, but when women get together and laugh at themselves, there’s nothing more fun,” said Mann.

Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.

Jen Mann hosts a moms' night out at the Ann Arbor District Library's downtown branch on Wednesday, October 11 at 7 pm. Free.

Hot Fight, Hot World: Environmentalist Bill McKibben at U-M

Tue, 10/03/2017 - 12:00am by christopherporter

Bill McKibben has long been sounding the alarm about our changing climate.

The renowned environmentalist and author (including the landmark The End of Nature) founded 350.org, a worldwide organization dedicated to climate-change issues. He will speak at Hill Auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 5, on the topic “Down to the Wire: A Hot Fight in a Hot World.”

If it seems like the fight has gotten more difficult lately, given the current federal administration’s refusal to even acknowledge the problem, McKibben isn’t about to give up. He says it’s still possible to take significant action.

“In the absence of working on the national and international level -- which obviously has the most leverage -- everything helps on a local basis,” he said via email. “The most useful thing is for localities to commit to 100% renewable energy; cities and towns across the country and doing it, and the more that join in, the stronger this ‘sub-national’ attack on climate change will be.”

McKibben believes that climate scientists at universities like Michigan can play an important role in educating the general public. “It's important for scientists to speak simply, clearly, and often on climate issues,” he said. And the nation’s universities and other scientific institutions should be taking direct action as well, he added: “People will pay more attention to them if they take the step that so many have taken around the world and divest from fossil fuels.”

Some experts argue that nuclear power will continue to play a significant part in a sustainable future, but McKibben isn’t so sure. “My guess is, its expense above all will limit its role in the future -- it's a really pricey way of generating electricity, above and beyond the other complications,” he said. “Every day it gets easier to see a sun/wind/water future, as the price of solar and wind power keeps plummeting. That's my best guess about where we're going.”
One aspect of the climate-change debate is the continuing controversies over new pipeline projects such as the Keystone XL. McKibben has been active here as well, including the continuing concerns over the condition of the Enbridge pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac. And he believes the Great Lakes in general deserve and need better environmental stewardship.

“I got to speak at the first big protest at the Mackinac Bridge in 2013 -- it was an amazing day,” he said. “This is where we live. ... Let's continue the patient work that's been underway for decades on the Great Lakes.”

McKibben argues that pipelines are not even needed as the country continues to transition away from fossil fuels. “The best way to move oil is not to run it in corroding pipes under some of the purest water on the planet. The best way is to use way, way less of it -- something that's now possible, since the electric car revolution should speed up remarkably the transition off oil.”

And while climate change remains McKibben’s primary focus, he’s well aware of the critical nature of other environmental concerns. “One of the problems with climate change is that it's so overpowering an issue -- if we don't solve it, all else is moot -- that we tend to triage lots of other issues. I know I do,” he said. “But what we can't triage is justice. Flint is a constant reminder of just how monumentally screwed up we've managed to get on this issue.”

Bob Needham is a freelance writer; the former arts & entertainment editor of The Ann Arbor News and AnnArbor.com.

Bill McKibben will deliver a talk titled “Down to the Wire: A Hot Fight in a Hot World” as the 2017 Wege Lecture from 5-6:30 pm on Thursday, Oct. 5, at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium. Register for free tickets here.

America's librarian, Nancy Pearl, penned her own novel for the stacks

Mon, 10/02/2017 - 6:00am by christopherporter

Nancy Pearl -- coming to Nicola’s Books on Wednesday, October 4 at 7 pm to talk about her new novel, George & Lizzie -- may be the only person in America who could be referred to as a “celebrity librarian.”

For she’s regularly featured on NPR, where she recommends and discusses books; and she was the model for a librarian action figure that boasts “amazing shushing action!”

But locals who’ve heard Pearl on the radio may not realize that she has deep local roots. Though she now calls Seattle home, Pearl grew up in Detroit and studied library science at the University of Michigan.

“I remember being addicted to Judy Collins and Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell -- that was the soundtrack for my time in Ann Arbor,” Pearl said during a recent phone interview. “The other thing about being in Ann Arbor at that time, of course, was the bookstores. That was when Borders was still this little bookstore. And I lived in the co-op system while I was at Michigan. I have a lot of fondness for those times.”

Regarding Pearl’s chosen profession, the die was cast early on.

“I grew up in Detroit, in a lower-middle-class family, and home was not a place where I felt welcome or loved,” said Pearl. “So I’d go to the library all the time. I’d go every day after school, and on Saturdays, I’d ride my bike there in the morning. Those librarians -- particularly Francis Whitehead -- I felt loved by them and welcomed by them. I think they recognized early on that I was a reader, and they helped me discover these wonderful, wonderful books to read that gave me a way of looking at the world in a way that wasn’t how I was seeing it. They gave me kindness and the gift of reading. And when I was 10, I was a do-gooder, and so I felt like I wanted to be a children’s librarian and help other kids like she helped me.”

As an outgrowth of her work as “America’s librarian,” Pearl has previously published books packed with suggestions for what to read when in certain moods or situations (“Book Lust,” “More Book Lust,” “Book Lust to Go,” “Book Crush”). But her latest release, George & Lizzie, marks Pearl’s first foray into novels -- though writing a work of fiction wasn't a longtime desire.

“It was a great surprise in a way when it did happen," said Pearl. "I had written a lot of poetry in high school, in Detroit, and in college, and a few years after that, until I was probably in my 30s. There were always these lines that came to me where I thought, ‘That’s clearly poetry.’ But at a certain point, these things stopped coming out as lines of poetry, and I recognized that they were instead prose.”

The genesis of George & Lizzie, though, involved the characters simply appearing in Pearl’s mind. “These two characters just came into my head, and I loved thinking about them,” said Pearl. “For several years, I didn’t consider writing anything down. I just told myself stories about them before falling asleep each night.”

Eventually, during a time when Pearl felt an “inchoate longing for the perfect thing to read” -- a feeling all book addicts can likely relate to -- she thought, “Well, I have these two characters in my head, and by that time, I knew everything there was to know about them. What if I put those stories, those episodes and vignettes, down on paper? ... I was really just writing it for me. ... It would be impossible for me to write something where I was worried about whether my agent would like it, or could sell it. You just have to do it for you. And I was lucky because I already knew what I liked in books. I’d analyzed my own reading enough to write a book just for me. It wasn’t until I reached the end that I thought, maybe this is a book, and maybe I should get in touch with my agent.”

George & Lizzie has elements of both a romantic comedy and a domestic drama. The titular married couple first meet as students in Ann Arbor (locals will note that in the opening scene, the two are bowling in an alley on Washtenaw), but they come from vastly different situations. George grew up in a generally happy, loving home, while Lizzie believed herself to be little more than a lab rat for her famous psychologist parents. Her intense desire for love and attention led her to hatch a foolhardy plan: to sleep with each starter on her high school’s football team. And because the “Great Game” continues to haunt Lizzie well into adulthood -- in the form of making her obsess over a college boyfriend who broke up with her upon learning of her past -- George and Lizzie’s marriage eventually arrives at a crossroads.

How did Pearl come up with the racy secret that shadows Lizzie’s life? “The simple answer is, it’s just the way it happened,” said Pearl. “I know this sounds bizarre and very woo-woo -- I don’t have a woo-woo bone in my body -- but that’s just what I learned about Lizzie. This is what she did.”

Of course, being on the other end of book reviews can be tricky for a librarian whose recommendations get a national audience; yet because Pearl has long made a point of only highlighting books that excite her -- rather than critiquing those that don’t -- she’s taking the feedback in stride.

“Everyone brings to a book their own life, their own experiences,” said Pearl. “The majority of reviews and feedback has been positive and wonderful, but the few that have been negative have indicated to me that this is simply not the kind of book this particular reader wanted.”

Other noteworthy things about Pearl include: her master’s degree in history; her oft-quoted Rule of 50, wherein you read 50 pages of a book, and if it doesn’t engage you, you stop reading (“The rule only works well if you know you can always go back to a book. It’s not like not reading it is the death knell for that book forever,” said Pearl); and her insights about the role parents play in their children’s reading life.

“One of the best ways to spend quality time with a child is to read to her or him, and to not stop reading to them when they’ve learned to read,” said Pearl. “Too often, parents stop reading aloud to their children after first or second grade, thinking, well, they can read to themselves now, they don’t need me. But there’s something so special about sharing those books together. I think that needs to be emphasized more.”

Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.

Nancy Pearl visits Nicola’s Books, 2513 Jackson Ave., on Wednesday, October 4 at 7 pm to talk about and sign copies of "George & Lizzie." Visit nicolasbooks.com for more information.

Author Events: October 2017

Sat, 09/30/2017 - 3:00pm by christopherporter

What does having an amazing university, a plethora of fantastic local independent bookstores, and a pretty slam-bang public library system (if we do say so ourselves) bring to a town?

Authors. Lots and lots of authors.

In fact, so many authors pass through the area that sometimes it can be hard to keep track of who is speaking and when and where. To help guide you, Pulp curated a highlights list of October 2017 author events.

Nancy Pearl
➥ Wednesday, October 4, 7 pm at Nicola’s Books
“America’s librarian,” Nancy Pearl, who has long been an NPR books commentator, recently penned her first novel, George and Lizzie. At the center of the novel is an unlikely marriage between two people who have very different views of what love and marriage should be. Now at a crossroads, George and Lizzie must make tough decisions about what the future holds for the two of them -- together and separately.

Angelique Chengelis
➥ Thursday, October 5, 7 pm at Nicola’s Books
Longtime chronicler of the Michigan Wolverines for The Detroit News, Angelique Chengelis explores the story of Jim Harbaugh’s return to Michigan to coach the football team (after playing here while he was in college) in her book Michigan Man.

Lucy Ives
➥ Friday, October 6, 7 pm at Literati
Lucy Ives has written several books of poetry and short prose and will be reading from her newest novel, Impossible Views of the World, at this event. At the center of the novel is Stella, a curator at a Manhattan art museum, whose personal life is in freefall. When a strange map appears at the museum, she sets out on a research mission to find a mysterious 19th-century utopian settlement.

NoViolet Bulawayo and Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende
➥ Friday, October 6, 7 pm at Nicola’s Books
Bulawayo is the author of We Need New Names, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Mhangami-Ruwende is the founder and director of the Africa Research Foundation for the Safety of Women.

Jeffrey Eugenides
➥ Sunday, October 8, 7 pm at the Michigan Union's Rogel Ballroom
Literati welcomes Jeffrey Eugenides to Ann Arbor in celebration of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s first short story collection, Fresh Complaint. After reading from the collection, Eugenides will be joined by award-winning author Claire Vaye Watkins for a Q&A. This is a ticketed event.

Tiya Miles
➥ Monday, October 9, 7 pm at Literati
Tiya Miles will discuss her new book, Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Bondage and Freedom in the City of the Saints. Historian Miles explores the roles of slavery in Detroit and the limits of freedom in early America.

Mom’s Night Out with author Jen Mann
➥ Wednesday, October 11, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Jenn Mann is the author of the bestselling People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges, which contains stories based on her popular blog. She’ll read aloud from her collection at the event and books will be available for sale and signing.

Drew Philp
➥ Monday, October 16, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Drew Philp is the author of A $500 House: Rebuilding an Abandoned House and an American City, which chronicles his experience buying a house in Detroit for $500 in the midst of the Recession. The book is described as “a transparent look into the struggle, pain, joy, and hope of what Detroit, and by extension the American city of the twenty-first century, is going to become.” Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.

Douglas Trevor
➥ Tuesday, October 17, 7 pm at Literati
Douglas Trevor, director of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the U-M, will share his new collection of short stories with attendees, The Book of Wonders.

Van Jones in conversation with Zoe Clark
➥ Tuesday, October 17, 7:30 pm at the Michigan Union's Rogel Ballroom
Nicola’s Books hosts CNN’s Van Jones in conversation with WUOM’s Zoe Clark. Jones has just penned Beyond the Messy Truth, which exposes hypocrisy on both sides of the political divide and offers suggestions for how we can bridge the gaps currently tearing America apart.

Laura Lee
➥ Tuesday, October 17, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Author Lee explores the fascinating story of the battle over Oscar Wilde’s legacy in her new book Oscar’s Ghost. Years after his death two of his closest friends, Lord Alfred Douglas and Robert Ross, engaged in a bitter battle over who was to blame over Wilde’s downfall and early death and over who should get the rights to handle Wilde’s prison manuscript, De Profundis. This event includes a book signing and books will be for sale.

Residential College’s 50th Anniversary
➥ Thursday, October 19, 7 pm at Literati
Literati will host a reading commemorating the U-M Residential College’s 50th anniversary. The reading will feature past and present faculty including Lolita Hernandez, Laura Kasischke, Christopher Matthews, Sarah Messer, Ken Mikolowski, and Laura Hulthen Thomas.

An Evening of Mystery Authors: Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookstore Celebrates 25 Years
➥ Thursday, October 19, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Bookstore will celebrate their 25th anniversary at this special event featuring mystery authors William Kent Krueger and Julia Keller. Both authors will discuss their newest books and the mystery genre. This event includes a book signing and books will be for sale.

Charles M. Blow
➥ Friday, October 20, 5:30 pm at Rackham Auditorium
New York Times op-ed columnist Charles M. Blow will visit Ann Arbor for a special keynote presentation. The lecture is organized by the Humility in the Age of Self-Promotion Colloquium at the UM, and Blow will talk about how arrogance and pride relate to American democracy and politics today.

Nick Riggle
➥ Friday, October 20, 7 pm at Literati
Nick Riggle will discuss his new book On Being Awesome, an exploration of “the competing phenomena of being awesome and sucking, and why we need awesomeness now more than ever.” A former pro skater who holds a PhD in philosophy, Riggle’s academic work focuses on the role of aesthetics in human life.

Joanne Nesbit
➥ Sunday, October 22, 2 pm at the Westgate branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Nesbit will discuss her new book, Legendary Locals of Ann Arbor, Michigan, which celebrates the citizens of Ann Arbor. She’ll share some of the great stories that she and her co-author discovered while putting the book together and how they chose which “legends” to feature. The event includes a book signing and books will be on sale.

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
➥ Monday, October 23, 7 pm at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Fink and Cranor, creators of the internationally popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale, will discuss their new book, It Devours! Set in the Night Vale universe, the book uses the growing relationship between two young people to explore the intersections of faith and science. This is a ticketed event.

Doug Stanton
➥ Wednesday, October 25, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Stanton’s new book, The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 TET Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War, offers a “breathtaking portrait of war, homecoming and a search for peace.” This event is a partnership with Nicola’s books and includes a book signing and book sales.

Julia Turshen
➥ Friday, October 27, 7 pm at the downtown branch of Ann Arbor District Library
Turshen’s new book, Feed the Resistance is a practical and inspiring handbook for political activism -- with recipes. Described as a “must have handbook for anyone hoping to make a difference,” Feed the Resistance contains lists, resources, and essays from activists in the worlds of food, politics and social causes. This event is a partnership with the University of Michigan Library and Literati Bookstore and will include a book signing. Books will be for sale at the event.

Raymond M. Kethledge
➥ Monday, October 30, 7 pm at Literati
Kethledge will discuss his new book, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, “a powerful and invaluable guide to productive time spent alone.”

Elizabeth Pearce is a Library Technician at the Ann Arbor District Library.