Motown madness

The picture to to the right is of a writer and photographer who came to one of our Detroit events. More on that in a second.
We had a lot of anxiety going into this trip to Motown. All along, Nat M. was reluctant to read about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in his hometown because the subject is too raw and too close to Detroiters, being that he is the current mayor. The Natalies heard rumors on the grapevine that there was some official concern about the chapter. Nat H. --whose only authority on Detroit was a week we spent finishing up the manuscript there last year--naively said, eff that! We stand by our work! Bring it on!
Well, we did. We spoke at Wayne County Community College - East Side campus. As Nat. M read the chapter detailing the strengths and foibles of their mayor and his rocky relationship with the media, the tension was so, so thick...Let's just say that Nat. H has a brand new level of respect for the judgement of her book partner. No one walked out, and many bought books, but it was quite a ride for everyone on both sides of the podium. Thank-you, students administrators at WCCC for being open-minded enough to hear our our crazy ideas on Detroit politics and sexuality. When the smoke cleared, it lead to one of the most engaging discussions and rewarding experiences we've had so far on this tour.

The next day were at a Detroit bookstore, Shrine of Black Madonna, we were expecting an empty house being that so many of our friends bailed to watch the Michigan v. Ohio State football game. One friend said the game was "a once in a lifetime opportunity." Sorry 'bout your luck...The death of Michigan football coach legend Bo ...(what IS his name?) affected bookstore attendence and bumped us off of more than one media interview. Our Detroit friend Nichole was one of the few to skip the game. Said something about how she couldn't get into college football because it was too much like $40 million dollar slavery...Some how, life went on. We sold out the books at the Shine and we had a terrific discussion. We also sat down for an interview with a writer from Wayne State's student newspaper, who later concluded that DT suffers from ADD. Thanks for the review, Meghana! We enjoyed talking journalism shop with you. And thanks Thomas Richardson, a Detroit attorney who is also an avid photographer, for the lovely pictures.
Special shout outs to Carrie, our hosts Kenny and Rachel, Chastity, also Chris, Don, Peter, Renee, and Nichole and Naomi for dinner.