The Power of Singing, the Power of Song

Matt Watroba Folk Singer

Join us and enjoy a demonstration of the healing and unifying power of community singing. Inspired by the work of Pete Seeger, Watroba will use a variety of song genres and techniques to create an experience that is as entertaining as it is uplifting and healing. Many know Matt Watroba as the voice of folk music in Michigan for his work producing and hosting shows for public radio. He has devoted his life and career to being a custodian of American folk and roots music. This has shaped a repertoire and presentation that is unique on stages across the state and country. He is committed to inspiring the world to sing—one town at a time. In 2019, Matt, along with his life-long musical partner Robert Jones, co-founded the Detroit non-profit, Common Chords. Also in 2019, Matt was inducted into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Montreal.

Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read But Probably Didn't by John Atkinson is a humorous, cartoon-illustrated book that offers ultra-short, witty synopses of famous literary works, making classic novels accessible and funny for those who missed reading them, featuring irreverent summaries like "Old ladies convince a guy to ruin Scotland" for Macbeth.

"When Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. There he meets David Smith, a medical student recovering from drug addiction, and the two men begin a tennis ritual that allows them to shed their inhibitions and find security in the sport they love and with each other. This friendship between doctor and intern grows increasingly rich and complex, more intimate than two men usually allow. Just when it seems nothing can go wrong, the dark beast from David’s past emerges once again—and almost everything Verghese has come to trust and believe in is threatened as David spirals out of control."

-- Goodreads

Ta-Nehisi Coates began The Message intending to write about writing, but it evolved into a meditation on how stories and myths shape—and distort—our realities.

In three linked essays, Coates journeys from Dakar to South Carolina to Palestine, each revealing a struggle between myth and truth. In Dakar, he confronts the romantic Afrocentric visions of his youth against the tangible legacy of slavery. In Columbia, South Carolina, he witnesses both the transformative power and the backlash of America’s racial reckoning. And in Palestine, he sees firsthand how entrenched national myths obscure human suffering on both sides of the conflict.

Written at a moment of global upheaval, The Message is a profound call to break free from destructive nationalist stories and face the liberating force of difficult truths.

"When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn’t become scientists, she decided she would." "Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned ​a curiosity ​of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions." "The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code." "Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? "After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020."

-- Goodreads

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"The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience."

-- Goodreads

"Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now." "Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job..." "Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?"

-- Goodreads