spiegelman

"Art Spiegelman... to the comics world is a Michelangelo and a Medici both, an influential artist who is also an impresario and an enabler of others." (The New York Times Magazine). Born February 15, 1948, Art Spiegelman is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus, based on his parents' survival of the Holocaust. If you have never read the Maus series, you should definitely add them to your "must read before I die" list. Spiegelman's hauntingly simple black and white drawings depict Jews as mice, Nazis as cats, Poles as pigs. If you think of graphic novels or comics as "fluff", Spiegelman's powerful work will change your mind.

Here at the AADL you can also find In the Shadow of No Towers, Spiegelman's account of life after the September 11th attacks (Spiegelman and his family bore witness to the attacks in their lower Manhattan neighborhood: his teenage daughter had started school directly below the towers days earlier, and they had lived in the area for years). We also have many other Spiegelman works like Breakdowns : Portrait of The Artist as a Young %@&*!, and the offbeat Little Lit : It Was a Dark and Silly Night for children, featuring comics by Lemony Snicket, William Joyce, and Neil Gaiman, to name just a few.

Today, February 12, marks the 200th birthday of two larger than life figures: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, grew up poor but went on to become a lawyer, congressman and 16th President of the U.S. A new biography by former Presidential candidate George McGovern part of the American Presidents Series, presents Lincoln as both politician, pragmatist and idealist.

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England and is best known for his revolutionary (for his day) theories of evolution. A new and very readable book about Darwin in our collection is titled Charles Darwin: The Concise Story of a Remarkable Man which includes brief chapters and many illustrations, some which are Darwin's own photographs.

A book that looks at both these men as visionaries and men encumbered with their own personal struggles is Adam Gopnick's Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln and Modern Life.

dingell

It's official, John Dingell is now the longest-serving representative in Congress. And to make it really official, Governor Granholm has issued a proclamation declaring today, February 11, 2009, John Dingell Day. Mr. Dingell has served over 53 years (19,420 days and counting) in Congress. (Only Senator Robert Byrd has served longer.) Dingell will be a special guest on NPR's Political Junkie today. PJ is part of Talk of the Nation at 2 p.m. on Michigan Radio.

Enjoy colorful creations by Judy Schmidt of Ann Arbor Storyteller’s Guild fame who incorporated the Monkey Wrench, Flying Geese, Bear Paw and other designs into her beautiful quilts. Stop by the glass case in the Downtown Youth Department to see books about the Underground Railroad and the much discussed Quilt Code and then check out Karen Simpson's lovely quilts on the far wall of the Youth Department. Maybe they will inspire you to color a quilt design of your own and hang it beside hers!

crunch

Craving a salty snack? Pick up a copy of Crunch!: A History of the Great American Potato Chip. Dirk Burhans (past publisher of Greasy Spoon magazine) takes readers on a journey from locally made treats to the multimillion dollar empire of today's snack food industry. Fans of pop culture and American trivia will enjoy the wealth of potato chip history found in this book. Being a midwesterner is also helpful, since Burhans' view is obviously influenced by his Ohio roots. Although the writing didn't always hold me glued to the book, I loved the illustrations - full color images of early advertising art, wacky historical photos (check out the 1952 National Potato Chip Institute Convention), and quirky potato chip paraphernalia. Please pass the dip.

Crow Warrior

On Feb. 1st, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian launches its digital showcase to give everyone the opportunity to look into its archives. Eventually, they hope to have their entire collection online.

Assembled at the turn of the twentieth century by wealthy New Yorker George Gustav Heye (1874–1957), the collections are distinguished by thousands of masterworks, including intricate wood and stone carvings and masks from the Northwest Coast of North America; elegantly painted and quilled hides, clothing, and feather bonnets from the North American Plains.

This museum also hosts frequent exhibitions in both New York and Washington, D.C. Perfect excuse for a spring vacation to these great destinations!

Remember all the hoopla surrounding Obama's supposed relationship with William Ayers who was involved in a bombing during a Vietnam protest by the Weather Underground in the 1960's? Ayers, currently a professor of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago, will be speaking and then reading from the re-publication of his 2001 book, Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist, at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery, Room 100. He will be joined by his wife, law professor Bernadine Dohrn. To read some of Ayer's recent thoughts on education and Obama's cabinet picks, check out his blog.

inauguration

Since George Washington's inauguration in 1789, the transfer of presidential power has become an American tradition. If the upcoming festivities have you curious about this time-honored ceremony, check out Presidential inaugurations for a light, yet concise, history of each president and their beginnings. (This book is great for fans of presidential trivia) The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president, will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln with the theme "A New Birth of Freedom". For related historical information check out Lincoln's greatest speech : the second inaugural from the AADL's collection. Visit Barack Obama's official inauguration website if you seek more information about Tuesday's upcoming events. If you find yourself wanting to relive history, Bartleby.com has the full text of ALL Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States from George Washington to George W. Bush. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

While reading the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads book Seeing in the dark : how amateur astronomers are discovering the wonders of the universe by Timothy Ferris, I ran into a familiar character, Quetzalcoatl, a god associated with Venus. I first learned of Quetzalcoatl in Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012 : the return of Quetzalcoatl and Legends of the plumed serpent : biography of a Mexican god by Neil Baldwin.

Quetzalcoatl is described as a plumed serpent god of the Toltecs and Aztecs who is supposed to return with the planet Venus in 2012. In the 1500's the Mayans watched the skies and noted a relationship between the orbits of Earth and Venus as Mr. Ferris sums up: "once in every 52 years these two cycles synchronize with each other, whereupon Venus appears in the same spot in the sky, on the same date, that it did 52 years earlier". (page 90)

God is a pretty heavy topic but on the lighter side Quetzalcoatl catches the imagination...a god in the form of a snake with feathers...how cool is that? No offense Quetzalcoatl fans but I think Quetzalcoatl would make a great graphic novel character.

If you are interested in this type of thing you might enjoy reading about the expected galactic alignment in 2012. Check out John Major Jenkins "Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions".

Youth interested in Quetzalcoatl may like:
Quetzal : sacred bird of the Cloud Forest by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent.

Che Part 1

A new movie in limited release, Che, about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara is slated for U.S. release this month. The award-winning Benicio del Toro portrays the revolutionary and he has already picked up a best acting award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role. The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh, best known for his Oscar award winning movie Traffic (which del Toro won best supporting actor in as well). The movie will be shown in 2 parts, Che Part 1 and Che Part 2, with an intermission since it runs just over 4 hours. It is mostly in Spanish with English subtitles. The first part starts with his meeting Fidel Castro and his eventual involvement with the Cuban revolution. The second part continues his life story ending with his tragic death. The movie (or movies) are based on two diaries by Guevara entitled The Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War; and the Bolivian Diary. Learn more about Che Guevara.