Upon discussion of the comic, it is often decided that the form is to be considered lesser than, a genre for children or the regressed adult. Such names as Frank Miller, Alan Moore and R. Crumb are left out during study of both artistic and literary classics, although their works have been considered as such by a small but devoted audience.   The focus here is the connection between and of the visual arts and the printed word, with one which we are current. Instead of the turning of the page, we are clicking our way through our experiences of the two.   “Serious” conversation and analysis of comics is typically confined to the internet forums of retainer-hindered basement dwellers, bickering over the rendering of Wonder Women’s tits.    Images are received as stimuli; our unconscious mind first perceives the whole, eliciting the emotional response felt when viewing art.    It is after these reactions subside that we are able to begin an individual analysis of their parts, marking the beginning of consciousness.   These two reactions occur milliseconds apart, but they are distinct processes.   In an attempt to create space between the two, local enthusiasts have gathered monthly to facilitate a discussion of the graphic novel, creating an environment where the criticism of art and literature come together in the Nerdy Book Club, an event held by Ferndale’s Detroit Comics.

The small façade, sitting north of Marshall on the south side of Woodward holds monthly gatherings discussing titles chosen by the members of the group.  Greeted by Brian Kelly, co-owner of the shop with his wife Lori, we were directed to two folding tables centered between the Superman red walls and the continuous racks of titles neatly organized on black metal grids.  A cooler of beer sat adjacent and the table was stocked with cookies and other homemade edibles.   As we scanned the ink and print of hundreds of titles, recalling our affection we felt as strangers amongst friends and were quickly welcomed by the diverse crowd for a discussion of Kyle Baker and Robert Morales’ “Truth: Red White and Black”.  As the sharpie fumes from the nametags filled our sinuses, the December meeting of the Nerdy Book Club commenced, beginning with a round of introductions. Tonight’s moderator, a man going by “El Presidente”, his mouth full of celery and carrots, opened with criticism of the artwork which resembled the gait of a warming horse.

In the years leading up to World War 2 in Tuskegee, Alabama the U.S. Public Health Service conducted a series of experiments on the natural progression of untreated syphilis among impoverished black sharecroppers. These men were never told they had the disease nor treated despite the discovery of penicillin as an effective cure. The experiments raised serious ethical concerns which resulted in the informed consent and proper reporting of results which are uniform in any modern study. These events were the historical basis for “Truth”. Steve Rogers, Captain America, was a Superhero created from a military created super-serum, an advanced solider born during the struggle against the Nazis. However, this serum was not untested. A squadron of black soldiers was the first experimental subjects as the serum was perfected. All but one did not survive the process and only Isaiah Bradley was successfully enhanced thus becoming the first Captain America, a Truth.

The subject matter of the novel allowed for a candid discussion of race amongst the diverse room. The self proclaimed Nerds then began on topic which all had an opinion. One member of the group, Dr. Fritsch, fresh off the acceptance of his dissertation, expressed the difficulty in obtaining black participants in non-invasive surveys. Without the environment of the club, this sentiment may have never surfaced, a reflection of the public’s reluctance to confront cultural differences which elicited a response from all members of the group. Personal recounts of being discriminated against and the consequences of living in a racially homogenous culture were related as the audience learned from the differing experiences of their peers. We were on our second beer, the cookie tray had been nearly emptied and the atmosphere was light and friendly despite the seriousness of the subject. The idea of a paranoid culture in America was presented by one of the women in the group, explaining how due to decades of institutionalized racism, the black community, stories abound, had lost faith in the establishments of the State. This stood in contrast with another member who, by living in a rural community, had little experience outside his culture which created an ignorance of the tensions prevalent elsewhere. The topic was unreal to his world.

“What World are you living in?” was the response to this naivety. The room understood the quip and chuckled in understanding.

The allotted time had passed quickly and El Presidente signaled that now was the time for the final round robin of questions. This time, we were prompted to name our favorite black superhero and to state whether our opinion of the book had changed through discussion. Somewhat unfamiliar with superheroes in general, we both independently arrived at Lando Calrissian. For the record, Daniel has expressed a desire to change his answer to Geordi La Forge. The Detroit Comics Nerdy Book Club had succeeded in discussing the graphic novel as an important work of literature and art focused on an area often difficult to analyze. As we left, we felt lucky to have sat in on this club and its small subculture.

The next meeting is January 21st from 7-9pm to discuss Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea and on that date, Avengers Assemble!

Detroit Comics is located at 23333 Woodward Ave. Ferndale, MI. More information can be found at http://www.detroitcomics.com

Dan and John publish Le Jolie Rogue, a quarterly independent publication of artistic expression covering  literature, the visual arts or any other form of printed expression.

Naomi Long Madgett

Detroit’s Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett, Poets Hilda Vest and Marilynn Rashid will read. In addition, Melba Joyce Boyd will perform her poetry in concert with jazz bassist, Marion Hayden. The event is co-sponsored by the Arts League of Michigan and Wayne State University’s Department of Africana Studies. It is free and open to the public.

Naomi Long Madgett is Detroit’s second poet laureate and winner of several awards including the Governor of Michigan’s Artist Award. She is the author of nine books of poetry and the memoir, Pilgrim Journey. She is the founder and editor of Lotus Press, and editor of Adam of Ife: Poetry In Praise of Black Men.

Authors will be available for a book signing after the reading. For more information call: 313-965-8430 or 313-577-2321.

Virgil Carr Center
311 E. Grand River
Detroit, MI

Robin D. Stone, an independent journalist who has edited for the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Essence Magazine, will speak on her late husband’s book, “My Times In Black and White.” The author, Gerald M. Boyd, shattered the color barrier of the white establishment’s most exclusive media giant, the New York Times, and became its first black managing editor. Presented in partnership with the National Association of Black Journalists.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Brought to you by the generous support of Bank of America, DTE Energy, and Masco Corporation.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East Warren Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48201-1443
(313) 494-5800

http://www.CharlesHWrightMuseum.org

An evening of prose and poetry at ARTCITE
Features Live readings by:

Len Gasparini
Jim Christy
Edward A. Watson
Salvatore Ala

To lead off the new decade, Artcite will feature an evening of prose and poetry by Windsor (and Toronto area) authors: Len Gasparini will be launching his latest book; “When does a kiss become a bite?”.
Jim Christy will read excerpts from his last year’s music and poetry CD “God’s little Angle” and other works.
Edward A. Watson will read from his newest work “Where Hidden Love Lies” and his collected works.
Salvatore (Sal) Ala will feature new poems and excerpts from his latest book: “Straight Razor and Other Poems”

Light refreshments, Admission as always is free.
Confirmed Guests

ARTCITE is located at b
109 University Ave. West Windsor ON

Sunday, Dec. 20
12:00-4:00 PM
River’s Edge Gallery, Wyandotte

River’s Edge Gallery owner, Pat Slack, is presenting a showcase of self-starting local authors and illustrators who have put their own work into print rather than waiting for the elusive Yes from a publishing company.

On Sunday, December 20th, the gallery will present a signing event attended by the following local, self-published children’s book authors, organized by gallery director Jeremy Hansen.

Minnie and Melvira by William Ball

Denise Marshall, who wrote and illustrated The Adventures of Hip Hop and the Yellow Hat, the first book in a series of children’s books based on a bunny that Denise rescued, who in return inspired her.

Cheryl L. Zemke, the author and illustrator of Defenders of Naturion. This book takes you on an adventure with Lucas and his two friends, Charles and Torie, as they attempt to save the princess of Naturions.

Donald Henkel , who wrote the original story of Fred Claus, Santa’s brother, and now follows up with Painted Treasures, a story of tree gnomes. Both books were illustrated by Donald’s son, D.B. Henkel.

Pamela Frucci, who co-wrote a book with her granddaughter, Emily, who takes a trip through time to find out about her great great grandfather and his twin brother titled A Visit to My Great Grandpa, illustrated by Nancy Pitel.

William and Lisa Ball , who penned:
Minnie & Melvira, a children’s book by William Ball, in which Minnie learns that finding a good friend can be hard, but that she can always start by friending those that show kindness to her, and to others.

Booze House, a dramatic novella by Lisa Ball. The story of a young girl fighting to navigate a path to normalcy amidst the turmoil of a family held hostage to alcoholism, betrayal, autism, and pain.

The Worm & The Caterpillar, a children’s book by William Ball. This story draws a comparison between the worm & the caterpillar, both of whom begin life as crawling forms, but in the end wind up very different. The book affirms that the power of belief coupled with the will to try is an immeasurable force making any transformation possible.

Episodes of the Norm, an eclectic anthology of donated shorts, rants, slams, essays, and poems from various authors across the states. Fifty percent of the proceeds are donated to the Autism Society of America.

River’s Edge Gallery is located at 3024 Biddle in downtown Wyandotte.
For more information, contact 734-246-9880 or riversedgegallery@wyan.org.

Wednesday, December 16, 7:00 PM
The Scarab Club, 217 E. Farnsworth
FREE

Anita Schmaltz is an artist, writer, photographer, musician and teacher with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the College for Creative Studies and a Masters of Creative Writing degree from Wayne State University. She’s written hundreds of articles and reviews about the arts for the Metro Times. From 2000 – 2009, she served as a creative writing teacher through the InsideOut Literary Arts Project.

Mirinda Fleenary is 22 years old and currently resides in Detroit where she makes art. She is working on her fifth collection of poems. She received the Francis Barrett Creative Writing Award (08), The Larry Colter Poetry Prize, 2007 and 2008. Her work is forthcoming (invisibles) white print inc. ‘09.

Zachary Neil Jones studies theoretical linguistics at Oakland University. (invisibles) will be his first print publication. The Internet magazine whiteprintinc.com will also display his work. His first book is forthcoming: A.D. Standards.

www.springfed.org
www.scarabclub,org

Thursday, December 3, 2009
7pm Doors / 7.30pm Stories

Moth StorySLAMS have been rocking audiences in New York and Los Angeles since 2001. In October of this year, the Moth, a national organization based in New York, alighted in the midwest to launch StorySLAMs in Chicago and Detroit. The monthly StorySLAM is one of the many ways that The Moth achieves its mission of promoting the art of storytelling.

Here’s how it works (from www.themoth.org): the Moth StorySLAM provides a stage and a microphone, a theme to inspire and shape the evening, a lively and supportive audience, and a host to guide the festivities. Stories are limited to five minutes, and ten stories are heard. The stories are scored by three teams of audience-member judges, and a winner is announced at every SLAM. SLAM winners later face off in a Moth GrandSLAM.

Clockwise from left: Host Dan Kennedy, slam contestants
Dave (in hat) and Barry. Photo by Travis R. Wright
(Metro Times)

The Moth launched Detroit’s StorySLAM on the first Thursday of October with the fitting theme of Firsts. Blunders followed on November 5. Tomorrow’s storytellers will wax poetic, comic, and tragic on a theme familiar to all Detroiters: Cars.

Detroit StorySLAMs are held on the first Thursday of each month at:
Cliff Bell’s
2030 Park Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226
www.cliffbells.com
Tickets: $5 at the door.

You can tune in to The Moth Radio Hour on 101.9FM WDET, the media sponsor of the Detroit Moth StorySLAM, Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 4 p.m.
You can also check out www.themoth.org.

Weds, Dec. 9, 2009, 6:00 PM
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History presents Books and Beats, featuring Public Enemy’s Professor Griff, who will be discussing his book Analytixz.

Class is in session with your favorite Prof.

Also in the mix will be authors Jessica Care Moore to discuss her book God Is Not An American, and Ber-Henda Williams to discuss her book Memoirs of the Human Experience and Everything in Between Vol. 1.

Hosted by Omari “King Wise,” the event will feature live performances by 5 Ela, Supa Emcee, and Khary “WAE” Frazier. Sponsored by the Black History 101 Mobile Museum and Hip Hop Congress.

At the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East Warren Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 494-5800
www.CharlesHWrightMuseum.org

Thursday, December 10, 2009 – 6:00 PM
Arab American Museum

Reading and discussion with Syrian American civil rights lawyer Alia Malek, author of A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories, to be recorded by C-SPAN2’s Book TV program for later national broadcast.

Alia Malek, photo by Jonathan Becker

What does American history look and feel like in the experiences of Arab Americans? In A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories (Free Press; 2009; $25), Syrian American civil rights lawyer Alia Malek weaves the stories of the Arab American community into the story of America, using lively and moving narratives of real people, including several metro Detroit residents, who have lived history all around the country.

Among the book’s metro Detroit subjects are Ron Amen, recently appointed development director for the City of Dearborn Heights; Ahmad Chebbani, chairman of the Dearborn-based American Arab Chamber of Commerce; Amal Berry-Brown of Comerica Bank; and attorneys Michael Berry and Bill Swor.

Each chapter of the book corresponds to one historical event as it occurred in the life of one Arab American, allowing readers to live that moment in history in the skin of an individual Arab American. From the Birmingham, Alabama church bombing in 1963 to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Malek introduces an ensemble cast that represents the diversity within Arab America itself.

We meet Luba, the wife of a Palestinian refugee who yearns for her hometown of Ramallah as she tries to establish a new life for herself and her family in the outskirts of Baltimore . We endure Norma Odeh’s horror when her husband Alex, former director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, is murdered for his political stance. Meanwhile, Rabih, a homosexual Arab Muslim in the Midwest, is afraid to be gay in the Arab World and afraid to be Arab in America . And we squirm alongside Lance Corporal Abraham Al-Thaibani in Iraq , where, as the only Arabic-speaking soldier in his unit, he must explain to a young Iraqi mother why her two little girls were blown up on a bridge by U.S. soldiers. Civilians taunt, “You should be ashamed of yourself. You are Arab! You are coming to an Arab country to kill Arabs?”

Malek traces the Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinian Christians who made up the first Great Migration, which began in 1880 and consisted of largely unskilled laborers, who found work in the mines and opened grocery stores in Birmingham, Alabama . She examines the effect of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, when refugees from Jordan , Egypt , Iraq and Yemen sought asylum from the political upheaval in their own countries to settle in Detroit and work as employees of the Ford Motor Company. She looks at the politicalization of and discrimination against Arab Americans in the late 1960s and ‘70s, as the country reacts to the energy crisis, PLO terrorism and the Iranian revolution. And of course she explores how the devastation and fallout of 9/11 impacted Arab Americans across the nation.

There are Christians and Muslims; naturalized and native-born citizens; Southerners, Midwesterners, East Coasters, West Coasters and Texans; urban, suburban and rural residents; Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Yemenis; women and men; rich and poor; adults and children; lovers and fighters.

“The purpose is not to separate them out,” says Malek, “but to fold their experience into the mosaic of American history and deepen our understanding of who we Americans are.”

Alia Malek is an author and civil rights lawyer. Born in Baltimore to Syrian immigrant parents, she began her legal career as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. After working in the legal field in the U.S., Lebanon and the West Bank, Malek, who has degrees from Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities, earned her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Her reportage has appeared in Salon, The Columbia Journalism Review, and The New York Times. A Country Called Amreeka is her first book.

Alia Malek will appear at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 10, in the Library & Resource Center at the Arab American National Museum, 13624 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn. The event is free and open to the public. Malek will give a short presentation, read excerpts, take questions and sign copies of her book. A crew from C-SPAN2’s Book TV program will be on hand to record the event for later national broadcast.

The Arab American National Museum is a project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org and www.accesscommunity.org.

The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI, 48126 . Museum hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12; ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further information.