Blog Post
June 25th--Act of Grace: A Conversation with Karen Simpson and Robbie Ransom
by hamiltonb
On Saturday, June 25th authors Karen Simpson and Robbie Ransom will discuss their new book Act of Grace from 5:00 to 6:30 PM at the University of Michigan's North Quad, room 2435. Act of Grace explores the story of Grace Johnson, an African American from Michigan who saves the life of a Klan member named Jonathan Gilmore--and the controversy which follows. Simpson and Ransom are both Michigan residents and graduates of Eastern Michigan University well known for their work in gender and cultural studies. The discussion is free and open to the public, and is presented by the Author’s Forum, a collaboration between the U-M Institute for the Humanities, University Library, Great Lakes Literary Arts Center, and the Ann Arbor Book Festival. Don't miss the discussion on this amazing story of forgiveness!
For the official UM Library event posting, click here.
Blog Post
Triangle Waist Factory Fire of 1911
by muffy
Today (March 25) marks the 100-year anniversary of the deadly Triangle Waist Factory Fire in New York City which claimed 146 lives, mostly of young immigrant workers; and to this day, ranks as one of the worst disasters in labor history.
Located in the Asch Building, at northern corner of Washington Square,The Triangle Waist Company was in many ways a typical sweatshop - low wages, excessively long hours, and unsanitary and dangerous working conditions. Check out the story at the Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations archival and research resources that include eyewitness accounts, victim list, and photo images.
Over the years, the fire has been the subject for documentary filmmakers, historians and novelists. Best among them is award-winning author Katharine Weber's Triangle* * (2007).
Esther Gottesfeld is the last living survivor of the fire where 150 workers died in the sweatshop inferno. Even though she has told her story countless time, her death at the age of 106 leaves unanswered many questions about what happened that fateful day - the day she lost her sister and her fiance, the day her life changed forever.
Esther's granddaughter, Rebecca, and George, her partner, a prizewinning composer, seek to unravel the facts of the matter, while at the same time Ruth Zion, a zealous Triangle fire historian, bores in on them with her own mole-like agenda.
"As in a symphony, the true story of what happened at the Triangle factory is declared in the first notes - yet it is fully revealed only when we've heard it all the way through to its find chords."
* * = Starred reviews
Blog Post
Generations United?
by iralax
American society is getting older. As people live longer and families become smaller, relationships among the generations are going through big adjustments. In the depressed economy older people are working longer, which affects young people looking for jobs right out of college. Older adults, living longer healthier lives, want to do more with that precious bequest of time. UM Psychology Professor Toni Antonucci will help us understand these powerful processes at the Downtown Library on Wed., March 23 with her talk “Social Relations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” She may even mention social media along with the other recent agents of change.
Professor Toni Antonucci | Wednesday, March 23 | 7-8:30 pm | Downtown Library MPR
Blog Post
Nonprofits: NEW helping boards make a difference
by annevm
Check out five (5!) workshops being offered this winter and spring by Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW). On March 9, there is "Board Member Training: Serving on a Nonprofit Board," followed March 17 by "Your Board Members as Ambassadors and Fundraisers." Later in March will be "Nonprofit Training: Building Your Board" and "Spring Into Service: A Board Matching Event for Nonprofit Organizations." Finally in early April, a workshop is scheduled on "Starting Off Right: Board Member Orientation." Details are here. Don't forget AADL also has a collection of nonprofit resources on the second floor of the downtown library.
Blog Post
Author's Forum: The Protest Psychosis
by annevm
A conversation with Jonathan Metzl, Derek Griffith and Gregory Dalack -- all of the U-M faculty -- is coming up Wednesday Jan. 19 at 5:30 pm in Hatcher Graduate Library, Library Gallery. This Author's Forum is called "The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease." In his book The Protest Psychosis, author Metzl writes about how schizophrenia became the diagnostic term overwhelmingly applied to African American men at the Ionia State Hospital and how that mirrored national trends linking civil rights, blackness, and mental illness.
Blog Post
Untouchable
by breaking_glass
Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand is the story of a young man named Bakha, an “Untouchable”. As an Untouchable, Bakha is of the lowest caste in Indian society and works as a sweeper and latrine cleaner. But Bakha longs for a life free from the daily abuses inflicted by the higher classes. He must walk down the street announcing his presence because he cannot touch – by accident or no – a member of the higher classes, for they shall be “polluted.” He may not enter a temple or a school, for the building shall then be polluted as well. Bakha endures insults such as “pig” and “filth” day to day, and he and his family live in utter poverty. There seems to be no end in sight, but there is a glimmer of hope in one man might inspire change in India. A beautiful book.
Untouchable, a work of historical fiction, was first published in 1935, during the British Raj (reign) before the Indian Independence Act of 1947. Today, many Untouchables are now self-described as “Dalits”, and integrate less noticeably into urban areas, having more employment and education opportunities. Although the Indian Constitution outlaws caste discrimination, in rural areas, some discrimination still survives. The following are some non-fiction titles relating to India and the caste system in history:
Untouchables: One Family's Triumphant Journey Out Of The Caste System In Modern India
Blog Post
Incarceration: Helping Prisoners Survive
by annevm
Are we incarcerating too many people? How are we actually treating them? These are a few of the many tough questions surrounding American prisons. U-M faculty member Buzz Alexander has a new book, "Is William Martinez Not Our Brother?: Twenty Years of the Prison Creative Arts Project," in which he describes U-M's Prison Creative Arts Project. The project provides university courses, a nonprofit organization, and a national network for incarcerated youth and adults in Michigan juvenile facilities and prisons. Alexander will speak about his book Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in U-M Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, followed by a book sale and signing.
Blog Post
Good Listening: Speaking of Faith
by annevm
One of my favorite podcasts is Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett from American Public Media. Next month the show's name becomes "Krista Tippett on Being" -- and it sounds like Krista has more good shows planned. This summer, my favorite was her interview with Shane Claiborne, a 30-something social activist you can read about in Esquire magazine accessible in General Reference Center Gold.
Blog Post
Médecins Sans Frontières
by pkooger
What would you do if your child was on the edge of death and you had no way to contact a doctor? What would you do if a natural disaster or war had left you and your neighbors injured and homeless?
Médecins Sans Frontières (known in the U.S. as Doctors Without Borders) is an international medical humanitarian organization devoted to supporting and aiding people in lands crippled by poverty, violence or catastrophic events. They have brought medical aid and public health services to places such as Rwanda, Kosovo, the Congo region, and Haiti. MSF was created in 1971 and has been saving lives all around the world ever since.
Dr. James Orbinski is a well known humanitarian activist and a former President of MSF. He accepted the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on the organization’s behalf. His book, An Imperfect Offering, recounts his experiences in Somalia and Rwanda, while asking tough questions about one's responsibilities to the suffering. Triage is a documentary that follows Dr. Orbinski as he returns to Africa. This powerful film questions the ability of one individual to effect change in the face of political forces we cannot control. Triage “celebrates the best in the human spirit while staring unblinkingly at the worst.”
For several perspectives of what it is like to enter a crisis zone to save lives, see Writing On The Edge, a collection of essays from 14 different authors.
The Photographer is an award winning account of one man’s journey into Afghanistan with MSF during its war with the Soviet Union. This moving graphic novel uses photographs taken during the journey to help the reader understand the mental and emotional pressures felt by the author.
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders is a recently released Oscar-nominated documentary focusing not on the work of MSF, but on the lives of doctors and volunteers who have chosen to live in the most dangerous places on Earth and devote themselves to helping the needy. The film has not been released on DVD yet, but I look forward to seeing it in AADL’s collection soon.
Blog Post
To Kill a Mockingbird Celebrates 50 Years
by katieh
Tomorrow marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's renowned, poignant novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This novel, which Harper Lee once believed would have dismal sales (if any at all), was originally published on July 11, 1960 by J.B. Lippincott. Lee's story tackles issues of racism, flaws in the justice system, morality, and rape gracefully and became an instant success: on May 1, 1961, less than a year after it's publication, Lee was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. To Kill a Mockingbird has since made it's mark as an American classic, with 30 million books sold to date.
New to the library's collection is Scout, Atticus, and Boo : a Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird by Mary McDonagh Murphy. This book is filled with anecdotes and interviews of writers and celebrities, from Tom Brokaw to Oprah Winfrey, that explores their reactions and inspiration gained from the novel.
Interested in reading this classic for the first time? Want to revisit the book that you read way back in high school? Here at the library you can find a copy of the book, a sound recording, and a DVD of the 1962 film adaptation starring Gregory Peck.