MuseFlashes

Compiled by BONNIE WELLS

Published on September 05, 2008

Poetry for teens and a civil rights tale for young readers

Local author and gallery owner Richard Michelson has added to his long list of books for adults and children with two new books for young readers.

"Animals Anonymous," billed as a hip, street smart, offbeat and funny collection of poetry for teenagers, contains observations about life, school, fitting in, self-acceptance, body image, inner peace and other matters geared toward the 14-and-up crowd. They're delivered by a rowdy bunch of characters including the Alligator Procrastinator, the Bear Thugs, the Laughless Giraffe, the Hip Hippo, and the Unthinking Mink, among others.

The book is illustrated by Scott M. Fischer and published by Simon & Schuster, Children's Publishing Division. Michelson, who owns R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, lives in Amherst. Fischer is a resident of Belchertown.

Also just out, published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, and illustrated by Raul Colon, is Michelson's "As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March toward Freedom." The book tells the story of two iconic civil rights figures, their parallel experiences with discrimination and the friendship that they forged.

Written for children ages 6 to 10, the book shows how two people with very different backgrounds came together to espouse similar values of equality, justice and social change. King, a Baptist preacher, and Heschel, a rabbi who had grown up in Poland, prayed and then marched together in Selma, Ala.

- SUZANNE WILSON

Jones Library to host book-discussion series

The Jones Library in Amherst hosts a five-part book discussion series titled "A Mind of Her Own: Fathers and Daughters in Jewish Literature," led by Rachel Rubenstein, professor of Jewish American studies at Hampshire College. The book series will be held on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m., beginning Sept. 9 with a discussion of "Tevye the Dairyman." The discussions are free and open to the public on the following schedule:

Sept. 23 - "Bread Givers"

Oct. 7 - "O My America"

Oct. 28 - "American Pastoral"

Nov. 4 - "Bee Season"

For more information call the library at (413) 259-3168 or email girshmanb@joneslibrary.org. To register call (413) 259-3096 or visit the reference desk at the library at 43 Amity St.

Documentary fetes activist Tillie Olsen

San Francisco author and activist Tillie Olsen - perhaps best known for her 1961 novella "Tell Me a Riddle," in which she immortalized the lives of ordinary women - was still out there lifting her voice in protest at an anti-war demonstration at age 90. We know that because filmmaker Ann Hershey captured the moment in her 2008 documentary "Tillie Olsen: A Heart in Action."

Hershey was already six years into the project when Olsen died in January of 2007 at age 94, and she includes in the film extended interviews with Olsen, as well as footage from her readings, lectures and book signings. The film that begins with the sound and image of Olsen's beating heart also features comments from such notable feminists as Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker.

The National Yiddish Book Center presents the 66-minute documentary Sunday at 2 p.m. at 1021 West St. in Amherst on the campus of Hampshire College. Tickets are $6. For more information, call the center at (413) 256-4900 or visit the Web site www.yiddishbookcenter.com

Yiddish Book Center hosts book discussions

The National Yiddish Book Center plans a community reading and discussion series to explore works by contemporary Jewish writers. The events, led by local scholars, are free and open to the public at the center at 1021 West St. in Amherst on the Hampshire College campus.

First up, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning author and University of Massachusetts professor Madeleine Blais leads a discussion of "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit" by Lucette Lagnado.

Winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and hailed by the New York Times Book Review as a "brilliant, crushing book," The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit recounts the exile of the author's Jewish Egyptian family from Cairo in 1963 and her father's heroic and tragic struggle to survive his "riches to rags" trajectory.

The series continues as follows:

Oct. 16, 7 p.m. - "The Ministry of Special Cases," a novel by Nathan Englander. Discussion led by Rachel Rubinstein of Hampshire College.

Nov. 6, 7 p.m. - "The Promised Land" by Mary Antin. Discussion led by Evelyn Salz, editor of "Selected Letters of Mary Antin.

Dec. 4, 7 p.m. - "Call it Sleep" by Henry Roth. Discussion led by Ilan Stavans of Amherst College.

Books are available at the center at a 20-percent discount. For information call (413) 256-4900, ext. 24. or visit the Web site www.yiddishbookcenter.org.

Jewish chorus invites new choral singers

Interested choral singers are invited to attend an open rehearsal of Mak'hela: The Jewish Chorus of Western Massachusetts as the group begins a new season Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Lander-Grinspoon Academy, 257 Prospect St. in Northampton.

The group performs music representing the diversity of Jewish heritage, including classical, sacred and secular music, folk and world music in synagogues and concert halls throughout the Pioneer Valley.

For more information contact Bonnie Mikesh at (413) 567-3927 or by email at bpmikesh@comcast.net. Information is also available on the group's Web site, www.makhela.org.

Late nights at the Mead Art Museum

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College aims to make it easier for people to enjoy its fine art treasures, from masterpieces by Monet and Rubens to reliefs from ancient Assyria to Mexican lacquered gourds.

Every gallery now offers wireless internet access and electrical outlets for laptops, and the new club chairs make it a comfortable spot to hunker down for study and inspiration.

And with new hours, the hunkering can go until midnight on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights. The museum is closed on Mondays, but opens at 9 a.m. every other day of the week. The museum, which is free, open to the public and fully accessible, closes at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

For more information, visit the Web site www.amherst.edu/museums/mead or call (413) 542-2335.