2009 Reading #26: Voices of Rondo

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
21. Hmong and American: Stories of Transition to a Strange Land by Sue Murphy Mote.
22. Meet Me In the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich.
23. Children of Rondo: Transcriptions of Rondo Oral History Interviews edited by Kimberly K. Zielinski.
24. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry.
25. The Cowboy and His Elephant by Malcolm MacPherson.

26. Voices of Rondo: Oral Histories of Saint Paul's Historic Black Community, gathered and edited by Kate Cavett (Hand in Hand Productions). This is pretty much the book I wanted Children of Rondo to be; the interviews are shorter but more concentrated, there are many more of them, and the experiences are more direct, coming from people who not only grew up in Rondo but experienced the neighborhood as adults. The interviewees discuss a greater breadth of things, including the racism they experienced--the borders of Rondo were well-defined, and more than one interviewee talks about having to fight their way back across Lexington or Selby after having been out after dark. Mostly what comes through, though, is a picture of a diverse and almost idyllic community that was taken away. Even aside from the research value, I found this an enormously illuminating read about things that went on right here in my hometown.

2009 Reading #27: Letters From Attica

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
21. Hmong and American: Stories of Transition to a Strange Land by Sue Murphy Mote.
22. Meet Me In the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich.
23. Children of Rondo: Transcriptions of Rondo Oral History Interviews edited by Kimberly K. Zielinski.
24. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry.
25. The Cowboy and His Elephant by Malcolm MacPherson.
26. Voices of Rondo: Oral Histories of Saint Paul's Historic Black Community, gathered and edited by Kate Cavett (Hand in Hand Productions).

27. Letters From Attica by Sam Melville. Can't find a link to an in-print version of this. Not sure what my experience of this book might have been if I hadn't already read Jane Alpert's book Growing Up Underground; as it is, nearly a third of this volume is taken up by Alpert's profile of Melville, which she wrote and sent in while in hiding. Melville's letters start as arrogant and ranting--his letters to his then seven-year-old son are particularly hard to read--and the sexism that Alpert talked about is much in evidence. He does become more thoughtful as he is moved from the Tombs and Sing Sing to Attica, where he engages with the other inmates and their attempts to lobby for improved conditions there. I already have Tom Wicker's book A Time To Die for a fuller account of the riots; I hope to get to it in the next few months.