Happy new year to you. Congratulations on surviving 2025. If you had a pulse, you know that an orange wrecking ball is on the loose. But the resistance is strong and getting stronger. Popular mantras are “He can’t live in my brain,” “Keep laughing,” and “Keep the vision.”
With them in mind, 2026 is going to be amazing. If you are anywhere near the Ann Arbor area, I invite you to begin it with me by joining me at Schuler Books on Thursday January 8, at 6:30 p.m. Schuler has chosen that day to spotlight my book, Thumbs Up: Memoir of a Joyful Organizer, and they’ve invited me to tell stories from it.
Thumbs Up is one Baby Boomer’s story of how he navigated his new reality after Kent State, became a life-long writer and community organizer, and came to be renowned as a historian of the underground press. If you’re unfamiliar with Kent State and the underground press, I’ll open your mind. If you were a Baby Boomer, you’ll recognize the terrain.
It’s funny. It’s historical. It includes cameo appearances from Alan Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Country Joe McDonald, Susan Brownmiller, and a host of other luminaries from the radical left during the Vietnam Era who I never would have met if I hadn’t gone with the flow.
A lot of it takes place right here in Ann Arbor, like the successful thirty-year struggle at Eastern Michigan University to form the first-ever collective bargaining unit for adjunct faculty members in Michigan; and the successful campaign to bring Temple Beth Emeth and St. Clare’s Episcopal Church together into today’s sanctuary movement.
Historian Harvey Wasserman says Thumbs Up “spins a Kerouac-worthy tale of an adventure-filled life well spent. Full of fight and fun.”
Kirkus Reviews called it “an open and funny account that spans decades with joy and passion.”
This will be my third time speaking at Schuler. It will likely be my last, as Emily and I will be moving to Palm Springs, CA, next year to begin a new adventure.
I’d love for you to buy a copy for yourself or a friend. But mostly I’d just like you to join me, January 8, 2026, 6:30, at Schuler Books, 2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor.
Peace and happy new year,
Ken
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Ken Wachsberger is an author, editor, speaker, and book coach. His memoir, Thumbs Up: Memoir of a Joyful Organizer, was released in July 2025 and is available for purchase here.
