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| Hot Read of the Month The Kid by Sapphire From the author of "Push" comes a powerful, disturbing tale of adolescent angst and the importance of relationships titled, "The Kid," Sapphire's latest novel that tells the story of Abdul Jones, the son of the book's main protagonist. The book is as blunt and unforgiving as its title shamelessly weaving  threads of disease, abuse, illiteracy and poor living conditions into a tapestry of upheaval and despair. "The Kid" opens at the death of Abdul's mother Precious. The reader follows as Abdul is placed in foster care, is moved rapidly to an all-boys school, ends up with a relative at age 14, and eventually moves on from the only family he has left. The author paints a truthful and sometimes distressing portrait of the trials displaced children face as they attempt to make lives for themselves while keeping a tenuous hold on their identity. "The Kid" chronicles Abdul's struggle for freedom while examining the influence of the environment on children's development. Abdul often thinks of his mother, who taught him to be polite and honest and wanted a future for him. Left to the mercy of the system, he becomes hardened, in spite of his mother's memory. While perhaps accurately portraying the language and customs of some of those in Abdul's circumstances, the 374 pages of Abdul's thoughts are disturbing at times and certainly not for the faint of heart. Sapphire fearlessly examines issues of AIDS, drugs, sexual abuse and homosexuality, all through the eyes and ears of her foul-mouthed protagonist. |
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DPL Friends Foundation Executive Director Patrice Merritt accepting State History Award |
The Detroit Public Library Wins Honors at State History Awards The Burton Historical Collection is honored at the 137th Annual meeting of the Historical Society of Michigan The Historical Soci ety of Michigan presented its 2011 State History Awards at the 137th Annual Meeting and State History Conference in Traverse City last month and presented the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection with honors.
The Collection was presented the 2011 State History Award in the Restoration/Preservation
category. The Burton ranks as one of America's premier cultural resources. Founded in 1915, the collection includes thousands of original archival collections that document the history of New France, the Great Lakes region, the Old Northwest, and Michigan. Beginning in 2008, the Detroit Public Library began a project to develop an online public access catalog to help researches around the world access the Burton Collection. Staff members of the Burton and students from Wayne State University have cataloged 4,000 archival collections to be added to WorldCat and MeLCat to allow searchable access to the catalog citations. The project has resulted in a 56 percent increase in the number of researchers using the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection between 2007-2010. |
| | | NOW ON DISPLAY!!! Freedom Riders Exhibition October 5 - November 2  | Image Credit: Freedom Riders outside the burning bus copyright Corbis
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The Detroit Public Library is hosting the national traveling exhibition "Freedom Riders," which takes a dramatic look at six months in 1961 when more than 400 courageous Americans - old and young, black and white, men and women, Northern and Southern - risked their lives to challenge segregated facilities in the South. The exhibition, now on display at the Detroit Public Library until November 2, is a companion to the May 2011 PBS broadcast of the American Experience film Freedom Riders, directed by Stanley Nelson. The exhibit combines powerful photography and news coverage of the 1961 Freedom Rides and examines the movement from many perspectives - that of the riders, the Kennedy administration, and the international community. To enhance the experience, visitors to the exhibit will be able to use their cell phones to access powerful first-hand audio accounts of this dangerous experiment in the fight for civil rights. For more information, visit us at www.detroitpubliclibrary.org or call 313-481-1339.
Freedom Riders is a traveling exhibition developed by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in partnership with AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Major funding for the traveling exhibition provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Exclusive corporate funding for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is provided by Liberty Mutual. Major funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Additional funding provided by Lynn Bay Dayton, Rodger & Dawn Nordblom, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.
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"How Do Black Women Relate to the Land?"
The Black Land Project
Mistinguette Smith of the Black/Land Project will spend the month of October at the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women (CEW). While in residence as the 2011 Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist, Smith will interview black women in Michigan -- a leading state in dealing with post-industrial land issues -- about their relationship to the land. Smith will participate in two public events on the UM-Ann Arbor campus as well as one at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. These events will feature a preview of Smith's new documentary short, Black/Land: Women's Voices, and a workshop that uses race and gender as lenses for understanding new connections between people, land, policy and place. All events are free and open to the public; additional information and registration can be found at http://www.cew.umich.edu Thurs., Oct. 20th, 5:30 - 7:00 pm UM Ford School of Public Policy,
Betty Ford classroom, Ann Arbor
Mon., Oct. 24th, 5:00 - 6:30 pm UM College of Architecture & Urban Planning Auditorium, Ann Arbor
Tues. Oct. 25th, 6:00 - 7:30 pm Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Please note that this FREE event is open to all community, faculty, staff and student audiences, but we strongly encourage you to register here so that we can have enough food available. Event co-sponsors include: The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit; Detroit Public Library; Semester in Detroit Program, University of Michigan; University of Michigan Detroit Center; and the following University of Michigan-Ann Arbor units: Arts of Citizenship, Center for the Education of Women, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Department of Women's Studies, Ford School of Public Policy, Ginsberg Center, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, School of Social Work, and Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
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Have you heard? Treasury Department soon will pay all federal benefits electronically.
Beat the deadline today!
 The U.S. Department of the Treasury soon will pay all federal benefit and nontax payments electronically. If you're applying for federal benefits, like Social Security or Veterans Affairs benefits, you must choose an electronic payment method at the time you apply for your benefit. If you are currently receiving federal benefit checks, you must switch to electronic payments by March 1, 2013. - Have a bank or credit union account? Sign up for direct deposit to have your benefit payments go straight into your checking or savings account. You can count on your money being there on time, every time.
- Prefer a prepaid debit card? The Direct Express® Debit MasterCard® card provides another safe, low-cost alternative to paper checks for federal benefit payments. Funds on the Direct Express® card are FDIC-insured (up to the legal limit).Cardholders can make retail purchases, pay bills and get cash back. No bank account or credit check is required. There are no sign-up fees, monthly fees or overdraft charges. Some fees for optional services may apply.
If you do not choose an electronic payment option by March 1, 2013, or at the time you apply for federal benefits, you will receive your payments via the Direct Express®card so you will not experience any interruption in payment. |
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