Crisis Text Line

Need someplace to turn during a crisis? Looking for some support during a difficult time? Now you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting 741741. You'll be greeted by an automated message and then connected with a crisis counselor who will help you sort through the situation. The service is free but messaging rates apply if you do not have service though Verizon, Sprint, AT&T or T-Mobile. Interested in learning more about how the Crisis Text Line works? Take a look at the TED talk by Founder and CEO Nancy Lublin.

The Human Heart of Immigration

Lucky Boy

Ignacio is a boy with two mothers and two names. He is “Nacho,” to his birth mother, Soli, and “Iggy” to his foster mother, Kavya. In her touching and timely new novel, Lucky Boy, Shanthi Sekaran tells the story of Ignacio’s two mothers; one, an 18 year-old undocumented immigrant who arrives in this country only to discover she is pregnant, and the other, a young married woman of Indian-American descent, wanting very much, but struggling, to have a child of her own. These parallel plot lines underscore the strong desire that comes with wanting motherhood and the deep sadness that comes with losing it. Sekaran does an admirable job at presenting both viewpoints of this story without legitimizing one over the other. She tells her tale with humor and compassion and we know Ignacio is loved by many, but we are never told which mother is best for him. Ignacio is a “lucky boy” because of all this love, but also a boy in a complicated situation made more tangled by love.
The true-to-life and somewhat flawed characters keep us from aligning too closely with either mother and Sekaran does not try to mollify us by showing one side in a more favorable light. What she does highlight is the deep complexity of immigrant situations and the question of what it means to be an American and to enjoy the privileges that this country has to offer, or suffer from a lack of advantages.

Read-alikes: The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez or The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Participate in this year's Washtenaw Reads!

$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America is this year’s Washtenaw Reads book selection. Researched and written by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, the book details the lives of six different families who barely survive on less than $2.00 a day in various parts of the country. Eye-opening and alarming, the book also explains the laws behind the reasons that some people are forced to live on so little. The authors will speak at Rackham Auditorium on Tuesday, February 7 at 7:00p.m. The event includes time for questions and book signing.

The AADL is also hosting several more intimate discussions of the book. The first of these takes place on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Downtown Library multipurpose room. The second will occur on Sunday, February 12 at 3:00 p.m. at Westgate Branch in the Westside Room. All are welcome to attend these guided discussions, with no registration required. Participants may want to bring a copy of the book—available at all AADL locations—to reference during the discussion.

For more events surrounding this year’s Washtenaw Reads selection, follow the link here.

Looking for resources about $2.00 a Day, including interviews with the authors and related reading? Visit the link here.

R U OK?

Here's a disturbing statistic: One out of seven Washtenaw County middle and high school students have contemplated suicide. What can we do about it?

Through the collaboration of ONE Washtenaw, agencies, organizations and the faith community are working together to coordinate their efforts to prevent suicide, especially of our young citizens. One of their joint ventures is the 'R U OK?' Suicide Prevention Campaign. Community Mental Health, Ozone House and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline have created this awareness campaign. Additionally, training is available for anyone who would like to be a 'lifeguard'. By following the training components of R U OK community members & students can learn how to detect signs of depression & hopelessness, what to say and resources to share. Sometimes just ONE positive interaction can make all the difference for someone contemplating ending their life.

If you feel like you're not O.K. and need someone to talk to here are some important phone numbers: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, Washtenaw Community Mental Health Access: 734-544-3050 or 800-440-7548 and Ozone House: 734-662-2222.

Spread the word & find out: R U OK?

A Look Back, a Step Forward

How do you write about recent, disastrous history in a middle-grade book? And why? Jewell Parker Rhodes answers both of these questions in her new book, Towers Falling. This isn't the first book in which she has tackled hard, real life issues. Rhodes won The Coretta Scott King Award for her 2010 book, The Ninth Ward, the story of a girl braving Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In Towers Falling, Rhodes has again created a necessary and captivating book focusing, in part, on the events of September 11th. A class of fifth-graders in a Brooklyn school begins their school year by learning about the missing towers in the New York City landscape they see from their classroom window. As the year is 2016, none of these children were alive on September 11, 2001, and this towerless panorama is the only one they know. Their teacher, Ms. Garcia, uses this cityscape and its significance to begin a dialogue on interconnectedness, and the idea that history is alive. The students eventually come to realize that they are all connected to one another through this living history and therefore linked to the victims and witnesses of September 11.

At the heart of this story is fifth-grader Deja, who has recently moved into a homeless shelter, The Avalon, with her parents and two younger siblings. When asked to do a project about her home, Deja struggles, and then replicates her family instead of her physical dwelling. In so doing, she underscores Ms. Garcia’s message of affinity, the strength of relationships, and the nuanced meanings of family and home.

Deja and her two friends, Saleem and Ben, carry on this conversation and their learning outside of the classroom as they work on a homework assignment together. In creating a study of the “far past” and the “recent past” in America, these three arrive at an understanding of what it might mean to be an American, no matter where you’re from, or how or when you arrived. Deja is African-American, Saleem is Turkish and Ben has Mexican heritage. Their shared experiences make them realize that as part of the “American circle,” they are “different but still American.” “Some histories repeat; some events are unique. There is regional, statewide, and national history. We share all of it in common as Americans.”

Towers Falling is marketed towards 8 to 12 year-olds, and does, eventually provide some striking details from September 11, which are never easy to encounter. Still, this book is important for readers of all ages, teenagers and adults included, who will benefit from learning Deja's story, and grow because of the experience.

The Read has been Selected!

AA / YPSI READS

The votes are in, and a decision has been made! The official title for the 2017 Washtenaw Reads is $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer.

$2.00 a Day explores the deep poverty of families surviving on $2.00 or less per person per day—about 1.5 million households in America, including about 3 million children. Edin and Shaefer try to understand how and where these families live, and what happened to make them so desperately poor. You can learn more about the title on the Washtenaw Reads website.

Washtenaw Reads is a community initiative to promote reading and civic dialogue through the shared experience of reading and discussing a common book. A panel of community members from Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, Northfield Township, Saline, and Ypsilanti chose this book from two finalist titles.

The Read will take place in January and February 2017, and will include book discussions and related events. Both authors will appear at the Washtenaw Reads author event, to be scheduled for February 2017 in Ann Arbor.

Film & Discussion: How to Let Go of the World And Love All the Things Climate Can't Change

Concerned about climate change?

This special screening of the latest film by Oscar-nominated director Josh Fox ([Gasland) focuses on the impacts climate change is having around the world. In "How to Let Go of the World and Love All The Things Climate Can't Change," Fox contemplates our climate-impacted future, focusing on the human qualities that global warming can't destroy.

"It's a fascinating, heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring ride." — Andrew O. Hehir, Salon.com

The screening will be followed by a brief discussion on global warming. This 127-minute film is not rated.

This event is cosponsored by the Ann Arbor Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby and 350 SE Michigan.

Proving Innocence: Freeing the Wrongfully Convicted

The success of podcasts like Serial and documentaries like Making of a Murderer has drawn attention to the issue of wrongful convictions, and to flaws in the criminal justice system that allow these problems to persist.

In 2007, Bill Proctor, a journalist and reporter with WXYZ-TV Channel 7 in Detroit, founded the Proving Innocence Organization to investigate wrongful conviction claims and educate the public about the need for reforms. Bill will talk about the cases that inspired him to take action, and bring along guest speakers who have experienced wrongful conviction and exoneration to share their perspectives.

Proctor was an award-winning journalist, reporter, producer, and anchorperson whose career of nearly forty years spanned electronic media, radio, television, and documentaries. He concluded his career as senior staff reporter for WXYZ-TV in Southfield, MI. In May 2013, Bill retired and started Bill Proctor and Associates, a communications consulting firm.

In the mid-1990s, he produced a series of specials on the slaying of community-college student, Scott Macklem. Through his investigations, Bill became convinced that Frederick Freeman (Temujin Kensu), the man convicted of killing Macklem, was not guilty. His passion for redressing this injustice led Bill to found Proving Innocence.

Evicted offers an intimate view of poverty and inequality in America

Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond’s new book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City changes the way we look at poverty in our country. Desmond tells the stories of eight different families living in the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, all of whom have spent everything they have to try and keep roofs over their heads… and now they’ve fallen behind. These families are at the mercy of two landlords, one of whom owns inner city apartments, while the other runs one of Milwaukee’s worst trailer parks. Desmond paints a fascinating, complex picture of these two people in particular, and of the circumstances that lead them to evict their tenants. It’s amazing to hear the different situations that lead the families in Evicted to be kicked out of their homes. One man was a nurse who loved his job before he fell prey to a heroin addiction. Another man with no legs tries to work his way out of debt, but can’t physically do many jobs. A single mom has only $20 left a month with which to raise her two sons after she pays the rent on their decrepit apartment.

Evictions have historically been fairly rare in American cities, but they have been on the rise in the past decade, as poor families spend more than half of their already meager incomes on housing. Little is left for other necessities, especially when families are large. Desmond’s intimate, behind-the-scenes view into this issue (he spent months amongst the poor families of Milwaukee) presents readers head-on with the inequality that exists in America today.

You can read Desmond’s recent article from The New Yorker, which discusses the same issue as Evicted, here. Desmond is also the author of On the Fireline, an in depth exploration into the lives of wildfire firefighters.

Join the Ann Arbor Commission on Disability Issues

If you are an advocate for equal opportunity for people with physical, mental, and/or emotional disabilities you may want to serve as a commissioner on the Ann Arbor Commission on Disability Issues. Public meetings are held at City Hall on the third Wednesday of every month starting at 3:15pm. Meetings are open to the public and can also be viewed on Community Television Network (CTN)-Comcast Cable Channel 16. You can also view CTN videos On Demand by going to a2gov.org.

If you would like an application to apply for a seat on the Commission contact the Mayor’s Office 734-794-6161 or visit our Resource Page. If you desire more information about being a commissioner e-mail us at a2disabilityissues@gmail.com