by John Carlisle
The theme of the book is that Detroiters, good, bad or otherwise are survivors and hustlers. When I write hustler I mean that in the best sense of the word though there are a few legally or morally dubious people detailed. This book shows Detroiters as people who may never quite reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but they certainly won't stop working to get there. Hard work pays. Most of the people in this book are hard workers. They make the best out of what they have to work with, which in most cases ranges from nothing at all to not very much. But they keep punching and fighting no matter what. That is the Detroit way.
Although the stories in this book were written and published before the recent events around the emergency manager and pension funds, the book definitely captures the sense of general decline that would lead to those occurrences. But the stories, though often gritty are nonetheless often optimistic. There's a lot of good news in this book. I wouldn't term it poverty porn. Carlisle is obviously interested in seeing the city and its people do well.
Some of the more interesting stories in this book are
- A Second Chance: This is about a father and son run vacuum cleaner repair shop. The father can't charge very much for his services or compete with Sears or Walmart but tries to help out the community and leave a business for his son, who is the only one of his children who didn't go to college.
- The Last Song: This details the closing of Pearl's Record Shop. This was a locally owned Mom-n-Pop music store and live club operation that was an East side oasis of music of both old school blues and jazz and new R&B/rap stars. Beyonce visited when she was with Destiny's Child. People like Toni Braxton and Usher stopped by. This store had such a strong connection with the neighborhood that the local hoodlums guaranteed its safety. Pearl's had no iron bars or bulletproof glass. The ONLY time it was ever robbed the money and goods were returned two days later with a note apologizing for the robbery.
- It's a Man's World: Greek-American barber and former Green Beret Pete Kithas runs his downtown barbershop with a mixture of tough guy bravado and Old World grace. He has a gaggle of stories but few of them are suitable for women or children.
- Rites of Spring: The Debutante Cotillion Ball, which had died out in 1996, started up again as an attempt to bring meaning back to celebrations which formally welcome young people, in this case girls, into adulthood. And if it has the side impact of bringing back social grace, and elegance and recognizing the importance of femininity and masculinity then so much the better. Debutantes and their escorts are trained in etiquette, table manners, waltzes. The debutantes also attend various outings like chamber music performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts, afternoon teas, in addition to doing volunteer work in Detroit.
- Custom Revival: East Side Riders is a bicycle club. That's right, a bicycle club. Although it was started by two brothers who certainly have the mass and girth stereotypically associated with outlaw motorcycle clubs, East Side Riders is a bicycle club for all ages and both genders. The members make customized bicycles out of junk bikes that they find and repair on the street. They also provide some male role models and traditionally masculine skills for those kids who lack them as well as doing good work in the community.
Frank Frazetta: Icon
Edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner
His work was intensely physical. Both men are women are presented in idealized, yet non-caricatured visions of male and female grace and beauty. Although some people have wrongly imo called his work sexist, I don't think anything could be further from the truth. What was true was that Frazetta was unambiguously and unapologetically male. He liked women. He often drew women. Sometimes he drew them with few or no clothes on. His women, clothed or not, are rarely submissive. Indeed his wife was a model for many of his fantasies. Frazetta had an eye for all forms but especially the feminine.
Most of his artwork, particularly the later works, gives off the feeling of action. It's very rare that you look at one of his pieces and experience it as a static set. Something is always going on.
Frazetta worked in a variety of media, including oil, pencil, and watercolor. He once did artwork for Lil' Abner and Playboy magazine. Icon is also a partial Frazetta biography as much as it is a retrospective. It details his early identification by family members as a talented artist, his work to make himself better, his skills as a minor league baseball player, his tough guy Brooklyn days, his wooing and winning of his wife Ellie, his lifelong battles against ripoffs and for artists' rights, and his stunning depictions of characters from the Robert E. Howard, Karl Wagner, or Edgar Rice Burroughs universes. Ok. Enough. It's difficult to write about what can only be viewed so check out some of these representative pieces below. If you like them, pick up Icon for your library. It's the first in a three book series. It's 206 pages of art. Much like Frazetta's life, this book is oversized.
Great Feuds In History
Ten Struggles That Shaped The World
By Colin Evans
Some feuds came about from simple, even petty misunderstandings. What was needed was someone who could knock heads together, arrange a sitdown and enforce a peace. When that was lacking things went from bad to worse quickly. Other feuds arose from fundamental political, philosophical and profoundly personal differences. Have you ever met someone you just disliked immediately. Let's say the feeling was mutual. What if there are only so many goodies to go around and it comes down to between you and this person. Even if you are conflict-averse and prefer to keep the peace, it's quite possible that a nastier side of your personality could emerge. You might surprise yourself.
Some of the famous feuds detailed include
- Joseph Stalin vs. Leon Trotsky: Trotsky considered Stalin his intellectual and oratorical inferior and was shocked, angered and outraged by Stalin's post-Lenin power grab. Stalin considered Trotsky a bigmouth dilettante who lacked political realism. They also had completely different ideas about the need to have worldwide socialist revolution (Trotsky) or consolidate socialist gains in Russia (Stalin). Once Stalin had gained complete power he exiled the loquacious Trotsky, a move he soon regretted as Trotsky became even more of a pain in the fundament. Stalin had his people chase Trotsky all over the globe. In 1940, one of Stalin's hitters caught up with Trotsky and delivered Stalin's rebuttal to Trotsky's constant denunciations. Stalin's rebuttal was an icepick. There was no counterargument.
- Elizabeth I vs. Mary, Queen of Scots: The two cousins were of different religions. Arguably Mary had a better claim to the English throne than did Elizabeth as King Henry's divorce was not recognized by the Catholic Church and thus any children born from subsequent unions (i.e. Elizabeth I) were thus the product of bigamy and quite illegitimate in the eyes of the Papacy and more importantly, France and Spain. When Mary, via marriage, became Queen not only of Scotland but also of France and rather pointedly refused to renounce all claims to the English throne, family or not, the conflict was on.
- Hatfields vs. McCoys: This is probably the most famous feud in American history. It was fought between the mostly West Virginia based Hatfields and mostly Kentucky based McCoys. There had been bad blood for years,especially since the recent murder of a McCoy man, an ex-Union soldier by the generally pro-Confederate Hatfields. But it was when a McCoy pig went missing and somehow wound up on a Hatfield farm and was NOT returned, that tempers flared and blood began to flow. Not even an abortive common-law marriage between the two families could stop what was to come.
