Fast Times in Ann Arbor

This writer hosted author Pamela Olson, who gave readings from her first book, Fast Times in Palestine, at the Literati Book Store in Ann Arbor this week. Attendance was about twenty people and Ms. Olson seemed professional and comfortable in her delivery. Of the points she raised, these seemed notable:

She divides her reading material into “chocolate” – those mostly fiction books that you just devour – and “spinach” – books that teach and enlighten but are more difficult to get through. Fast Times, in her opinion, is a combination of these two extremes, a book that gets across the humiliation, frustration and anger felt by the Palestinian people in a manner that has a “difficult to put down” quality to the reading.

Many of the people attending her readings are quite knowledgeable about Israel’s crimes and legitimacy, a familiarity she describes as traveling 60 miles per hour on the freeway. For the many people who know next to nothing about the “conflict”, Fast Times is, in her opinion, the “on-ramp” to the freeway.

When reading from the book, Pamela reproduced the Palestinian accent in an almost perfect fashion when quoting the people she met there. And during the Q&A, when asked about addressing difficult crowds, she imitated a complaining Jewish woman in New York in such a fashion as to bring tears of hilarity to this writer.

“Protest the Fed” is ON!

Michael Rabb of Boulder, Colorado, read last week’s report about protesting Sunday’s annual fund raiser by the Jewish Federation of Ann Arbor, and jumped aboard a United Airlines jet in preparation to stand with JWPF as we protest this display of wealth and power of the local Jewish community. So we are asking all justice and peace activists to join us Sunday (10/20) on the campus of Washtenaw Community College to protest the Fed entering Morris Lawrence Hall.

We will commence the protest at 3:45 PM at the southeast entrance to WCC’s campus, on Huron River Drive, just opposite Emergency Drive leading to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. The protest will last until approx. 5:15 PM.

Comments?

Seven vigilers
“International Law” conveys no legitimacy
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
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