Contrary to what one may assume about the inhabitants of West Michigan, Grand Rapidians are not a homogenous mass of folk bearing names straight from the Old Country.
Though some who have populated this side of the state may share a similar background, others come from different traditions just as rich. In the autobiographical stories found in Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids, editors Reinder Van Til and Gordon Olson seek to introduce the readers to the variety and similarity of young people no matter what ethnicity, social background, gender, or time period.
Olson became the Grand Rapids historian when the position was created during the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1976.
"The city commissioner felt like our history was too important to be left for celebratory events," Olson said.
The position of city historian was created and Olson filled the spot, staying there for more than 25 years.
Years later, Olson and his longtime friend Reinder Van Til were discussing possible book ideas. Both men are published authors and Van Til is an editor at Eerdman's Publishing Co.
"We discovered we both had a similar idea that it'd be cool to pull together things from different sources from people who had grown up in Grand Rapids," says Olson.
Half of the memoirs in Thin Ice were excerpted from previous publications.
"The more we talked, the more we thought they'd all fit together."
For the other half of the book, the pair solicited vignettes from contemporary writers.
Thin Ice begins with a young Potawatomi man in the 1830s who attended a mission school and discovered that he did not fully belong in the white society or with his own people.
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Book Signing for Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
Aug. 17, 7 p.m. grpl.org (616) 988-5400
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The book also contains stories as recent as the 1960s and the 1980s including pieces by President Gerald Ford and the First Lady. For the event, contributing writers will read from their stories and community members will read excerpts from writers since deceased. Local writers John Otterbacher, Glen Peterson, Robert Vander Molen, Hank Meijer, Charles Honey, Tom Rademacher, Levi Rickert and Kay Longberg will be featured.
"[The stories] are on the one hand poignant and on the other hand very good reminisces; the book is of very different parts," Olson said.
Olson hopes Thin Ice will encourage people to think about experiences in their own lives.
"A really interesting thing to look at is in what ways the experiences of young people changed and what things are universal ... young people are going to go through the same kind of experience over time."
It is from this idea of the common experience of young people coming of age that produced the title for the compilation.
"It's not the easiest time in a person's life. Sometimes you're on thin ice and you know it and other times you don't know until later when you look back [you] were moving through treacherous or potentially dangerous times."
Other Literary Events
An Evening with Anna-Lisa Cox
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch, grpl.org, (616) 988-5400
Aug. 23, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m., Free!
While a senior at Hope College, Anna-Lisa Cox became fascinated with the town of Covert, Michigan. Covert was a town that decided to embrace equality long before the rest of the country did. To avoid problems, the community had to keep secrets from the rest of the area. Cox's senior thesis on this town led her to more research and to write her Michigan Notable Book award winner, A Stronger Kinship. Cox, now a Harvard Fellow, will read excerpts from her book and will discuss her publishing and research experience. There will be an opportunity for book signing after her discussion.
Book Discussion
Kent District Library, Wyoming Branch, kdl.org, (616) 784-2007
Aug. 17, 6:30–8 p.m., Free!
KDL's Wyoming branch will be holding an informal book discussion. This month's choice, Elegance of the Hedgehog, is by French author Muriel Barbery. This philosophical romp explores the lives of two very different people. Paloma, a 12-year-old girl, and concierge Madame Michel both live (and work) in the same apartment building. Both of them are hiding something from the world, but the new tenant, Monsieur Ozu, begins to break down their walls and makes them see their similarities.
Byron Days Used Book Sale
KDL Byron Township branch, kdl.org, (616) 784-2007
Aug. 2-7
It's time to make some space for new books. Kent District Library's Byron Township branch is holding its annual book sale. Books and movies for the whole family will be on sale, all for a great price.
Writers Support Group
Barnes & Noble, Battle Creek, barnesandnoble.com, (269) 979-8060
Aug. 26, 6:30 p.m., Free!
Brainstorm plot ideas, get feedback for problem areas, or just get inspired at this self-run writers group. Writers of all ages and levels are welcome and are encouraged to bring in copies of their work for feedback. Come swap tips for breaking writer's block, and enjoy an evening with other local writers.
Rhoda Janzen has experienced a husband's abandonment, a debilitating car accident, financial difficulties, and a move back in with her parents. Frequently, she wondered if anything good could come of those events. They made for an entertaining memoir, as 42-year-old poet and college professor discovered when her "catastrophe of errors" forced her to move back home to live with her Mennonite parents.
"While I was home, I needed something to work on," Janzen said. "I was just sending humorous e-mails to my girlfriends, and they were like, ‘Keep those e-mails, start writing nonfiction! They're funny; they're cute.' And so I did, at their advice, because I had nothing else to do."
And thus, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress was born and released this past April. Despite the seemingly serious content, Mennonite carries a surprisingly deadpan, laugh-out-loud honesty that appeals to everyday readers.
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An Evening with Rhoda Janzen
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch July 8, 7-8:30 p.m. Free! grpl.org, (616) 988-5400 |
Reconnecting with her own past included returning to the Mennonite community of her childhood. Distinguished by simple living and non-violent peace stance, the Mennonites "have a premium on the New Testament life of Christ as it's depicted in the Gospels."
"Most Mennonites would say the goal is to have our lives today in 2010 resemble Christ's life," Janzen said. "So that sometimes leads Mennonites to positions of rejecting participation in the larger popular culture."
Janzen experienced many difficulties growing up in such a strict community, especially since she attended public school.
"I could see that all the kids around me had access to restaurants, they knew how to dance, and they were sneaking doobie behind the bleachers and they could sing the songs on the radio, and I couldn't do any of those things. So I felt very much on the margins, on the sidelines."
It wasn't alienation that ultimately led Janzen to finally break away from the Mennonites-it was academia. But when push came to shove, desperation drove her to return to the comfortable community she'd left behind. In doing so, she discovered that the Mennonites held just the right amount of support, understanding, and humor for her to heal, both physically and emotionally-as well as helping her to find a new niche for her writing.
Currently, Janzen is touring for Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, and is also in the process of writing its sequel, which will be called Backslider and will be written in the same humorous tone as her first memoir.
"The organizing principle is what happens when somebody like me, who has lived a life outside a religious community, decides to make a move back to it. So in a sense, I am really sliding back into religion. I've also had other life events that I'm going to be writing about. I've been diagnosed with cancer, I've married one of the characters in my last book, and I'm now a mom, so all of those things are going to be written about."
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
July 13, 7-8:30 p.m.
grpl.org, (616) 988-5400
Acclaimed author Bonnie Jo Campbell will read a selection from her award winning Michigan-centered book, American Salvage, and discuss her writing, editing, and publishing experience.
National Book Awards Discussion
Schuler Books & Music, Downtown Grand Rapids
July 16, 6:30-8 p.m.
grpl.org, (616) 942-2561
The National Books Awards are the nation's paramount literary prize, given to acknowledge achievements in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young adult's literature. Join the staff of the Grand Rapids Public library at Schuler Books & Music's downtown location as they share their favorite National Books Award winners and nominees.
Me, My Mom, and Erma
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
July 27, 7-8:30 p.m.
grpl.org, (616) 988-5400
Author Wade Rouse will discuss how the three H's-humor, heartbreak, and honesty-are closely connected and define his memoirs. And, how he learned to laugh at life and overcome fears from his two greatest teachers: his mother and Erma Bombeck. His discussion will weave in the writing process, securing an agent, working with a major publisher, and what it is like to be an author today.
Michigan Murders
Cooley Law School, Grand Rapids
July 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
grpl.org, (616) 988-5400
Award winning crime author Mardi Link explores four crimes that continue to perplex citizens in the Great Lakes State: The Robinson Family murders, Sister Mary Janina's disappearance and killing, the death of Jerry Tobias, and the serial killings of Ann Arbor co-eds. Join Link, the staff of the Grand Rapids Public Library, and friends at Cooley Law School for this author event, where she will discuss what makes these crimes stand out in our collective memory, how they were dealt with in the courts, and what new information has come to light.
Dr. James Surrell
Schuler Books and Music, 28th Street location
June 12, 10 a.m.
schulerbooks.com, (616) 942-2561
In the 1890s, the average American consumed approximately five pounds of refined sugar per year. Now, just more than 100 years later, that statistic has jumped to an average of 140 pounds per person per year.
That's a lot of sugar, and, according to Dr. James Surrell, that's a lot of weight.
Surrell, a colorectal surgeon for more than 20 years and director of the Digestive Health Institute, has been studying the relationship between sugar intake, weight management and cholesterol for years. His findings are surprising and have been published in his book, The SOS Diet: Stop Only Sugar.
According to the Doc, the benefits of refined sugar are simple:
"It tastes good. It tastes real good. Makes you want more and more," he writes.
His list of reported and potential side effects of sugar is much more substantial.
"Sugar is stored in your body as body fat. [It] may cause elevated blood cholesterol from excess circulating insulin. [It] may lead to increased risk for vascular disease."
The list ends with, "Likely will cause a shorter lifespan."
However, it is the first item on the list and not the latter that Surrell focuses on in The SOS Diet: Stop Only Sugar. He sets his sights instead on the problem of obesity, revealing the connection between weight gain and a high sugar intake.
"You got to understand the body can only do one thing [with ingested sugar molecules]: it stores it as body fat unless you use it for instant energy," he said. "Every one of our 175 trillion cells uses glucose for fuel. If the body stores all its excess sugar as fat, then when we stop eating glucose the body starts burning body fat."
It is on this concept that Surrell builds his diet. Well, actually Doc says, "this is not a diet. It's a simple lifestyle change. Rule number one: low sugar. Rule two is high fiber and the third-everybody loves this one-is no more rules."
To help his readers adjust to a low sugar lifestyle, Doc provides a list of foods to avoid and a list of foods that fit into the SOS Diet.
"You join the sugar police and once you join the sugar police you will become a label reading detective," he said.
Readers will be pleased to find many favorite foods in the SOS Shopping List, not the "No-No" list.
After discovering it by voluntarily giving up sugar for six weeks, Surrell created the diet using the Make It Short and Simple concept and began suggesting his methods to friends and patients. The average weight loss is five pounds per month exclusive of any other diets or exercises.
"Scientific literature is now supporting my claim," says Surrell. "Low fat diets don't work; two-thirds of the adult population is still obese...I can rest my case with my hundreds and thousands of patients who have tried this. It works: it worked for me and it'll work for you."
