Crazy Wisdom Book and Performance Event — Come join the co-authors Greg Jobin-Leeds, Dey Hernández, Jorge Diaz and movement leaders for a multi-media hour of art, theatre and lively conversation. Longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte-a collective of innovative artists and organizers-to capture the stories, philosophies, tactics, and art of six of today’s most pressing movements: immigrant rights, the LGBTQ movement, the fight for quality public education, the prison justice movement, the struggle for economic power, and the environmental movement.
Recently published by The New Press, WHEN WE FIGHT was highly praised by Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman and Thom Hartmann.
Literati is pleased to host Megan Tompkins-Stange in support of her book Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence.
Policy Patrons offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current philanthropic efforts on education. Over a period of several years, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange gained the trust of key players and outside observers of these four organizations. Through a series of confidential interviews, she began to explore the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform these foundations’ strategies and practices. The picture that emerges reveals important differences in the strategies and values of the more established foundations vis-à-vis the newer, more activist foundations—differences that have a significant impact on education policy and practice, and have important implications for democratic decision making. In recent years, the philanthropic sector has played an increasing role in championing and financing education reform. Policy Patrons makes an original and invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions about the appropriate role of foundations in public policy and the future direction of education reform.
“Policy Patrons takes us deep inside traditional and venture philanthropies to learn, in the unfiltered words of decision makers, about profound shifts affecting public education and the practice of democracy. Tompkins-Stange has delivered an eye-opening portrait of this fast-changing field.” — Dale Russakoff, author of The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?
Megan E. Tompkins-Stange is an assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
June 16-18. The first of 3 book crawls (see 17 Friday & 18 Saturday kicks off at Cardamom restaurant (1739 Plymouth, Courtyard Shops) with a reading by local poetDawn Richberg. 7 p.m. (Bookbound, Courtyard Shops): Readings by local poetsShutta Crum and Scott Beal. 8 p.m. (location TBA): Readings by local poet and storyteller Charlotte Young Bowens and Michigan writer Monica Rico. The festival also includes a street fair on Saturday.
6-9 p.m., various locations. Free. info@aabookfestival.org.
The 2nd of 3 book crawls (see June 16 & 18) begins at the Ypsilanti District Library (229 W. Michigan Ave.) with storytelling by LaRon Williams (3 p.m.), a talk on ethnic and gender diversity in superheroes by comic ebook creator Jazmin Truesdale(4 p.m.), kids activities, a bookmobile, and more. 5 p.m. (Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center, 214 W. Michigan Ave.): Reading by local novelist Tiya Miles. 6 p.m. (Beezy’s Café, 20 N. Washington, Ypsilanti): Readings TBA. 7 p.m. (Chin-Azzaro Gallery, 9 S. Washington): Readings by Tennessee- and Michigan-based memoirist Deedra Climer and local novelist Heather Neff. 8 p.m. (Ypsi Alehouse, 124 Pearl St.):Readings by local memoirist R.J. Fox and Virginia-based mystery writer Tj O’Connor.
3-9 p.m., various Ypsilanti locations. Free admission. info@aabookfestival.org.
Jonathan Rudinger, RN LMT has been instrumental in developing the field of canine massage for people at home and PetMassageTM at the professional level since the mid-1990’s. PetMassage workshops draw students from all over the worlds. Jonathan has authored several books and DVD’s and taught over 300 professional level canine massage workshops.
Jonathan is often called upon for interviews in national media, invited to lecture about canine massage, and is recognized as a lobbyist supporting the rights for animal massage practitioners to practice legally. Recognized as an authority on massage for dogs, he has been featured in Whole Dog Journal, Dog Fancy Magazine, Natural Dog, Cosmopolitan, AARP, Glamour, Massage Magazine, Animal Wellness Magazine, Massage Today, Massage Therapy Journal, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Jonathan has given live demonstrations at human massage, dog training, and veterinary conferences, at the Westminster Dog Show in New York and Crufts in the United Kingdom.
This Chicago crime writer and documentary filmmaker discusses Brighton, his new thriller about 2 lifelong friends in a rapidly changing Boston who must face the sins of their youth in the midst of a series of brutal murders. In conjunction with the Ann Arbor Book Festival.
Literati is pleased to welcome Benjamin Landry as part of the Ann Arbor Book Festival‘s book crawl! Ben will read from his most recent collection, Burn Lyrics.
Benjamin Landry is a poet currently residing in Ohio with his wife, the fiction writer Sara Schaff. A graduate of the University of Michigan (MFA, 2013), Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English (MA, 2006) and Brown University (BA with teaching certification, 2000), he has taught English and creative writing for over a decade, at secondary and college levels, in the United States, Colombia and China. He is the author of An Ocean Away, Particle and Wave, and Burn Lyrics.
Literati is pleased to welcome Andrew J. Hoffman in support of his most recent title, Finding Purpose: Environmental Stewardship as a Personal Calling.
Both thoughtful and thought-provoking, Finding Purpose aims to challenge our understanding of how humanity interacts with planet Earth, and our role within this. This book is an invitation: would you like to participate in one of the most important projects of imagination, perhaps the greatest ever, in human history? Distilling and refining over 20 pieces from a lifetime of work in academia and trade, across speeches, blogs, editorials and essays, Hoffman invites us to look beyond material growth and explore the role of the individual and business in discovering a wider purpose to bring about a balanced and sustainable society.
The reader is encouraged to consider humanity’s relationship with the environment through different lenses: business, academia, faith-based and cultural. By bringing them together, Hoffman encourages us to understand our relationship with the planet in a far more holistic sense.
Drawing on ideas from philosophy, literature, natural sciences and politics, Hoffman ensures that the ideas he explores are wholly accessible and applicable. Fully substantiated through various research and examples, the issues described are consistently made relevant to the reader.
Finding Purpose is the perfect book for anyone – from student to CEO – thinking about their place in the world, and how making changes in our own lives and societies can impact on the world around us.
Andrew J. Hoffman is the Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. His research focuses on institutional theory; institutional and cultural change; organization theory; and corporate environmental strategies. He has published over a dozen books, which have been translated into five languages. Among his list of honors, he has been awarded the Maggie Award (2013), JMIBreaking the Frame Award (2012), Connecticut Book Award (2011), the Aldo Leopold Fellowship (2011), the Aspen Environmental Fellowship (2011 and 2009), the Manos Page Prize (2009), the Faculty Pioneer Award (2003), the Rachel Carson Book Prize (2001) and the Klegerman Award (1995). His work has been covered in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Scientific American, Time, The Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio.
Reading by Joshua Davis, a widely published poet from Athens (OH). The program begins with open mike readings.
Monthly open mike storytelling competition sponsored by The Moth, the NYC-based nonprofit storytelling organization that also produces a weekly public radio show. Each month 10 storytellers are selected at random from among those who sign up to tell a 3-5 minute story on the monthly theme. The 3 judges are recruited from the audience. Monthly winners compete in a semiannual Grand Slam. Space limited, so it’s smart to arrive early.
7:30-9 p.m. (doors open and sign-up begins at 6 p.m.), The Circus, 210 S. First. $10. 764-5118.
