Friends,
The book launch date for my memoir, Thumbs Up: Memoir of a Joyful Organizer, is fast approaching, and with it come two special occasions. I hope you can make it to at least one of them, and spread the word.
I Offer My Beat Credentials
On Monday July 14, launch date, Third Mind Books, 118 E. Washington Street, in Ann Arbor, will help me celebrate by hosting my book launch party. Party begins at 7 p.m.
This is my first time speaking at Third Mind Books. I’m especially honored because they specialize in literature of the Beats. To get the invitation, I had to prove my Beat credentials.
How did I do that? Come to the book launch and find out. Then we’ll celebrate with a cake that is a spitting image of the book cover but tastes better.
Bonus: With every book you buy, Third Mind will give you a free copy of Beercans on the Side of the Road: The Story of Henry the Hitchhiker.
Home, Sweet Home
Being at Everybody Reads is like returning home. On Saturday July 26 at 2 p.m., I will have my sixth Lansing book launch at Everybody Reads, 2019 E. Michigan Avenue. Of course, cake will be included, and a free copy of Beercans on the Side of the Road with every purchase.
Thumbs Up is filled with stories of the Lansing area counterculture and antiwar community because so much of my story took place there. Do you remember Michigan State’s secret involvement in the Vietnam War? The trial of the MSU 132? Francine Hughes? The Lansing area’s proud underground press history? The first-ever Natural Food and Health Spring Fest?
Come and share your stories and hear mine.
Thumbs Up: Memoir of a Joyful Organizer is my memoir about the milestone events I witnessed and provoked and that shaped my life from Kent State into the new millennium.
It includes all three phases of my life with the underground press: when I was on it, when I preserved its legacy in print through Voices from the Underground, and when we went digital. But it includes a lot more. Here’s how it is described:
“The author’s journey through the seventies and beyond with the underground press, the Yippies and Zippies, his thumb, his Judaism, organic catering, community organizing, emerging technology, and Emily. A funny, insightful, always hopeful memoir of a joyful writer, editor, dishwasher, Zen phony, and legendary historian of the underground press.”
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz called it “a gift, a cultural outbreak of joy in the dark time of the 1970s for our own dark time.”
Harvey Wasserman said it “spins a Kerouac-worthy tale of an adventure-filled life well spent.”
Speaker Anne Bonney said my experiences are “deeply inspiring, showcasing resilience, activism, and a passion for making a difference in the world. The puke-in had me ROLLING!! This memoir is a must-read for anyone who appreciates a life well-lived and well-told. I LOVE IT!”
I look forward to seeing you at one or both launches. If you can’t make either, go ahead and order the book here.
Ken
