William Foster | Christy & Briana

In today's episode, Christy and Briana sit down with Bill Foster, Russell Library Board of Trustee, retired professor of English from Naugatuck Valley Community College, and a historical collector of comic books. Bill has been a commentator for CNN News National Public Radio and a consultant for a variety of museums. Libraries around the state have benefited from Bill's enriching programs documenting black characters in comics. In this conversation, you'll learn how Bill's love of comics began and how he's extended this love to the broader community.

Book Recommendations

Harbor Me by Jacqeline Woodson

Wildseed Witch by Marti Dumas

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters

I Think They Love You by Julian Winters

James by Percival Everett

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

The Love Simulation by Etta Easton

This podcast uses music by Ashutosh, under a creative commons license:
Time by ASHUTOSH | https://soundcloud.com/grandakt
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
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Transcript

Interview: 0:17

Welcome to Middletown Strong. Looking Up with Russell Library. I'm Christy Billings, along with podcast team member Briana Gannon. Hello. And our guest today is Bill Foster. Welcome, Bill. Are you kidding? Absolutely thrilled to be here. We are so happy to have you. So, Bill, from the history that I know of you, because you've been coming to the library for and doing programs. Yes. For a long time. I'm a fan and we so appreciate that. You're retired professor of English from Naugatuck Valley Community College. I have it from my old brain pen myself. I have a memory of that. You're a fan of Westerns and Star Trek. Oh, God. Okay. And a historical collector of comic books. You've been an expert commentator for CNN News National Public Radio and a consultant for a few museums. We were talking about the Norman Rockwell one before we started recording. And you presented many library programs documenting black characters in comics. So can you tell us how you began your love of comics and how you started looking for representation of black faces on the comic page? Absolute pleasure. I was about 11 or 12 years old and I read everything, you know. And we talked about toothpaste. Toothpaste, too, because, hey, what really, that's a difficult but different ingredient. And my mother and father encouraged me to read, you know, So and a lot of guys I knew my age were getting into trouble and find a nice book for Lisa grew up. And I read you know, I didn't I wasn't a typical kid. I didn't particularly care to go to Halloween. It wasn't like that crazy about candies or lipstick. That's how to go and do a piece. And it's it's I just I couldn't I read the Bible. I read the entire Bible. And two and a half years, I read three verses every day and nine verses on every Sunday. And that was a goal that I set for myself. I didn't tell anybody about it because it wasn't to impress anybody. It was impress me. So I was taking. I was. My mother had me in Bible school. So Sunday school, you know, summer Bible school. So I was reading all these things about what life should be about, how we should be treating each other. And when I looked out around me, I never saw, you know, because some people couldn't act that way or decided not to act that way. I said, well, this is a good lesson, please, for me. And because I thought I was going to be a minister for the Lord, I said that was going to be a military minister. I thought it was to be a chaplain, but I didn't work out. But because I went away to school, I was in the summer program at Dartmouth College as a young man, and I wouldn't talk to one of the what they call them, chaplains. It had to be talking the chaplain at colleges with the people. And I said, listen, I'm thinking about I want to quit the church. He said, well, sit and talk with me. So we're talking now, talking about the world of things I'm always interested in. And he said, Listen, Bill, it sounds like you're interested in more than just one day, so I'm going to give you some advice. Try all the other things you want. If you find you're still not satisfied and will still be here and you will not, you know, but it will be difficult to switch from the other. The other. So my mother didn't like that advice. Hard, too hard to imagine. But I just I started writing when I was eight and I was first published when I was 12 and my junior high school literary magazine. I didn't think they were going to publish anything of my. But, you know, it worked out for me from that point on. I just kept writing. Now I had a very big family, so I had millions of stories to tell, and I still do. And that's when I you know, I've read comic books and I couldn't afford as many as some of my friends. That's okay. The little group I had was fine, but they had an unfortunate, I say, accident and it was deliberate. My mother thought that comic books is communist inspired and, you know, all these horrible images of people stabbing people in the eyes with ice because of that man. Obviously, when so many bad men know what happened and it's great stuff. And but because I had friends and a set of twins, I went to school with and their parents obviously with a lot of money and so was they. So I was a comic book destroyer and coming read comics. I was 73. Yeah. So and I just I kept it up. And then in the seventies, when underground comics came in, yeah, that's how I thought of it. This is something I would never do, you know. But it just gave me a sense of that sex and violence, of religion and racism were still issues to be dealt with. So I kind of I saw it as a field. You saw the world in comics and not to protect it world, the people would tell you about the novel. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't have been prepared to deal with in the same way. But because I grew up with guys who like smart guys and guys who were tough guys and they were tough girls who would only be get started. People think I'm kidding. The girl was sitting possibly in seventh grade the next right next to me. Her nickname was Butch. I'm not making that up, you know, And I didn't find that up. And then I found that she liked me. Oh, my God. I could get. How fast can I get home at the end of school day, you know? But it was a fool thing, and. 1968 was my 40th birthday, and the news that Dr. Martin Luther King would've been assassinated. We were in high school. In the high school I went to was we were black, primarily black, Italian and German and Jewish, and we kind of tolerated each other. But we had a teacher in 10th grade. She was phenomenal. She said, First day of school, first class. She said, Y'all see, I'm not very tall. I've been teaching here a long time. You do what I tell you, I will kill you. We are often afraid not. Oh, shoot. She could say that She was. We were. But she opened the world to us. We could do debates about topics. We did Shakespeare. We did. Was she an English teacher? Social studies. She was English 10th grade English teacher. And she just. And if you you had a discussion with somebody, didn't agree with them, you said, okay, we'll do for you guys who bring your point of view discuss in front declare. It was amazing. Was this at Middletown High? No, no, no. This was in Philadelphia at Overbrook. Overbrook was at that point before they were like they were kind of mixed, as was the only place where we kind of met each other. And we decided, You know what? I don't have a problem with you. I don't have a problem with you. And that's how we got along, you know? And then from that program, I went to a school in Amherst, Massachusetts. Okay. It was a B.S. program. They took me from Philly to unbelievable opportunity. At that summer where I was talking to the reverend was at Dartmouth College. Yeah, right, Right. Where the hell is Dartmouth? You're so unbelievable. Six and a half weeks intensified math and English. They took us on trips. I met people from all over the country. Native American, Latino. Oh, open up experience. And I'm a black guy from the South, and my family was from this area. I never met anybody who was directly from there and these young guys. So we just it was amazing, you know? And I realize how much it must have cost my parents to send me away for that cause. But if I stayed in Philadelphia at that age might have been a different story. Years, a lot of difficulty, you know, And I'm a minor amount personal. My, my, my business that started I'm a funny guy, but some people didn't like that. Well, you don't have to like it. I hate if we do like it, but it got me out in time. And I think that's why my parents sent me, you know, and they succeeded. I graduated from that program and I succeeded from UMass. I was the commencement speaker and my family showed up. The. Did you think they would? Well, my aunt, my you know, my cousins, you know, my nephews knew, you know, if we would go to college, just, you know, so a funny thing happened at that particular event, You know, how in need now the program was going to be a you're coming up. So they said we will have such a such uptight for speaking in the public and we'll have to commit was because Cynthia Brattle and we of was and my family lost it they had cowbell yeah I said huh yeah, yeah. So would he. And you're trying to like get your family seriously think it's going to be and and he got into the habit of like is it going is going down the agenda he said blah blah blah. And and Bill Foster and it was like a 10,000 stadium place that they would all crack up with laughter. But I had a I had planned a speech. I said, which way to go? Black college graduate. And that was it. I already got one complete and I hadn't thought about it because we were young. We use it was all the time. So I I'm not that easily. Okay. Yeah. But I said instead of we have an opportunity to fight for things that we need to be instead of being PO'd at things or not. And I guess some people excuse me, I don't like I say, because I wasn't here. I wasn't here to make, you know, kind of guys who were weak for that, you know, And they wanted the courage to say, it can't do anything to me. I'm going to graduate, you know? Yeah, well, good luck with that, pal. And I had some of the best teachers ever met. Genetico, who became the president of Spelman College, was one of my was my anthropology teacher. Really got. Nelson Stevens from Chicago, a world famous artist. It's just an amazing opportunity, and I took full advantage of it. Yeah, we had television production, film productions. I did film. I did. I did photography. Still photography. I was developing a darkroom. Yeah. No, I let somebody else do that. And that was it. It was exactly my fault. But I was on the student newspaper. I worked on the student yearbook. I said, I'm here for a reason, that if I don't take advantage of it, who am I going to blame when I get out of here? So you really took what the what your chaplain had said and really, you know, did a full, really immerse yourself? Yeah. And it was amazing. And some of those people I'm still friends with today. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's that is a piece that young people don't necessarily know. Like when you make those friendships at that point in your life. Yeah, they're lifelong. Shirley Chisholm came when her really was she was running for president. Yeah. I got into the to the press covers because I was a reporter for the like historic. So I just gave the, the my prints and the film the I gave that to the college university for the archives. Oh yeah. Yeah. I was just she was so personable and I was in the front row. Isn't that something that actually like, like you said, this was a historic piece to actually meet somebody? Just amazing. That's great. Let's move it back to comics, that newspaper and tell it. Tell us. Yeah. Tell us what you brought. First of all, you brought you brought some fun stuff for us to look at. I did. So tell us a little bit about some of the things you brought. Okay. This is called Black Images in the comics, and it was written by Frederick Stromberg, who I met when I went to Sweden. Okay. I stayed with his family. Of course. You met him in Sweden? Yeah. And he was just he did this book for Sweden. People give him a hard way to go about doing this book. What do you do about black people? So. So they. They had an idea. Let's have a forum at the International Comic-Con. Nice. And they put me on it. We want you to challenge this man. So I said, Sure, no problem. So when I got up there, I said, Anybody because it was room was crowded out, the word had gotten. So I said, Anybody here who thinks this man didn't do a good job, He knows what he's talking about. I've read his book. Shut up, Get out. You know, he said he came over, he came. He shook my hand to do. And he said, thanks for the black man who saved my life. But I just it was that is an interesting forum to set up. In the beginning. It wasn't everybody's idea or somebody's idea, you know, because it's like if you have any you see, you guys, somebody has a really bad idea. But, you know, yeah, this will be how America will love us for this anyhow. Yeah, but that's not what I go to before I go there, because to expose evil people, I see black people that I hadn't seen in place. I say introduce myself. I look at the books that they're writing. They have a big convention here in Connecticut, which I go to, and I just love it and I make my wife go, That's horrible. W Yeah, you don't have to go. So what else did you bring? Oh, this is one of the first books of poetry I did as a professional, and I had a friend of mine, it's called me The Words of My Mouth, which is one of my mother's favorite biblical pieces. Yep. Meditations of my heart be sufficient to myself. Oh, Lord. And a picture that is really me. I thought this was a celebration for my martial arts master. Oh, cool. He didn't. You know, he doesn't expect this, but he's been my. My teacher since 1981, so I'm a sixth grade black belt in and also seems to be a black belt in weapons. And I brought my suit. You know that. Meet this man. You will your life will be changed because he was he was okay. I can I can't tell the story in the year because it's true. But people hate it. Let's just say I experience some amazing, amazing racism in middle town of all places. I did what? Really? I just keep it in my heart and I want to tell people about it, to say, you know what? Either we recover from it or we don't. But I want anybody to feel bad for what? Past actions. That's just, you know, we're just going over the old ground. But and I when I was at my college, I my students would bring me people they knew and like comic books, what they would do was like, you guys can have this. So if you take pictures of it and the idea was that there was a woman she knew who was the daughter of a guy who took photographs of black soldiers around the world during World War Two, him and his brother. And she said she bought the pictures. I said, this is amazing. Let me let me see if I can get this published. And we did. And we had a whole an exhibit at my college. I asked my president about it. She said, you can go at it. The president and I got along very well. And so I, I didn't know that. I didn't know the were black people in the in the Pacific Theater of war got photographs of me in a machine gun nest. We hear the bad stories, we hear the single stories about, you know, the the gentleman who shot down four Japanese zeros into toward Pearl Harbor. You can barely hear about it now, you know. But I. I wanted to say something. So this is says proud to be in the service and exhibit A black and white photographs featuring African-Americans serving in the military to World War Two. And it is it shows has photographs of all the world. These two guys were sent by the government all around the world to take the photographs as it whatever it takes. We want to be sure. And she was still alive when she let me use these photographs. She passed away shortly after. I just crushed my heart because she was a beautiful person. She had photographs of her as a young girl in the military. That's really cool. This is called Abraham. It's about a black superhero. And the reason I kept this book is because whenever I meet young people, we do a show every year in Philadelphia. I said, let me help you any way I can get go see this guy. And they never forget me. So what he did was he included me as one of the characters in this book. Oh, well, I don't think that's me. But what they read here. Yeah. This guy here a lot more here than I got now. Where can you put it out? Sure. And I just. I've been lucky and grateful because this is what it's about. If I don't bring other people along for the trip, then it's going to be half the fun that's going to Disney World by myself. But that's not going to be any fun. This is a cover of a magazine. A magazine of the anthology was put together. I lost one of my relatives to AIDS. Cost me. Curse my heart. I figured, well, you were right to write about it. So I wrote about him going up, and he was my movie partner. We used to love to go see Roman epics, you know? Are you Spartacus? Yeah. And. And my brother had this. He had a hold of his that you and I did. We were watching something, and somebody died horribly, and he fell out of his chair. Who are you? I know what you raised. I want to get the key to this guy. But we. We just cracked it all the time. And they published my piece. That's really. So I was just. I was. Is I still cry? Yes, because he's a 22. I'm sorry. I loved him to pieces. And. But that was my family. That was we were love. We were laughter. We were, you know, we're dedication. We watch out for each other. And a lot of guys don't get it. But I grew up in a family of women would mess around if you want to. I guess you've lived too long with two legs. Let's fix that. And so and so at the time, they were very young. They just quit. You mess with my family. Oh, no, no, no. You guys stand over that. You will be to help you. And it was like, Dude, black mafia, don't mess with them. Please don't. You know, and we and we're like that now. And we go to we have our family reunions every every holiday. We have a big. All we're doing is laughing and telling stories. And I'm just proud to be a part of. I we did that from the time we were kids in knee high and we still do it and we pass it on to the next generation. Absolutely. So, yeah, nine of us, 11 cousins last count, 34 nephews and nieces, and most are still in Philadelphia. And it people can kind of got a summer moved to California. Some have moved to Washington, D.C. but majority I'm still in Philadelphia and they love it to pieces. Yeah. And so when I go home as exactly with everybody, I go to see the houses where we grew up. You know, I never take the kids to see because they'll never be they'll never be affected by the same way. You know, I'm surprised someone was still standing. Yeah. So, Bill, your library programs featuring some of your vast collection of ephemera have brought a new light to the topic of how important representation is. Do you think it has helped people understand and respect the historical aspect better? I'd like to think so. I think that in most cases, if people don't know, as opposed to keep people trying to hide it, people are try to hide the people who are actually perpetrating. Now, that's kind of a whole different generation then. And but it also satisfy people who say that never happened. That's the part I want to be ready for is a will. Here we go. You know, and and now, of course, they've gotten rid of Jemima. And I think Uncle Ben is either gone or he's on his way out. Yeah, that's okay, because I've been to other countries and I've seen them on packages, so I was in Sweden. There's a whole bit on the package as it's kind of hard to hide that. But I'm not, I'm not mad anybody. I'm just saying this wasn't the real truth. You know, when people say the most extreme example, people say black people are lazy, the uneducated, you know, they use drugs and stuff like that. And that's one point of view of an entire group of people. Surely there's more. And I'm not going to tell you they don't. That's not my business, because the majority of people who do drugs are white. But I'm not going to say that because it would be wrong. The idea is that we have to learn from each other and and learn the best. If we learn from our worst examples how we can, we go from there. And I kind of gave that to my students when the guys in class were telling the women to shut up, do don't say that. First of all, there's only two of us who I can I can handle. One of you can have to handle the rest of that. How are you going to deal with people? We had a student in class who said that this is just in his eyes for you. Somebody asked him. He said, We're talking about mothers and fathers and wives and how he and his father divorced his mother. And he said, Well, what if you get married again? Would you be okay? He said, no, I would be okay with it. And in class, we get try to give more where to go. Wait, wait a minute. He told the truth. That's his mother. That was his father. This new guy. You know, So if he pretended like, you know, you know, father knows best. Like we all get along. Did it? He didn't know, okay? He told the truth. I'm impressed. He didn't, you know, fall to, you know, to to classroom, that's for sure. Yeah. And we just had students who were actually involved in some. So I would bring I actually had a course called the graphic novel. I, I started at my college. Some of the sharpest kids in that I'd ever met in my life. The stuff they were doing for their final projects was amazing. You know, I would invite artists I knew from the area to come in to speak to the class. And there's a guy who you guys know who Stan Lee is. Write the song Steketee. Okay, You got something to look at where you get a very classic song about a guy who was like, He was a really tough guy, and somebody knocked his head off and it was a big fight and he took out his gun and killed the guy. So I said, But then I had some friends who did a graphic novel about it, and they told to several different versions of the story, not just the one that became popular. And by being a part of a record that has come on, there's a lot to be discovered here. So they had a women's conference at the college and they were asking folks, it was I say, could we do one about women or people of color or people of diversity, how they appear in books? They said absolutely. And the stuff they put together was just stunning. I bet. So my involvement with comic books and we had the first comic book show done at our college, it was called Best City Comics, and I got people coming from everywhere. I was so thrilled when a guy and I knew of by reputation only he had been the artist on the first comic with the future of Black Cowboy feature him that as opposed to somebody walking in the background and he and his wife came in. But I was doing something because I'm trying to run the show. My his ability to talk to this guy, it know you need to talk to this guy now. And he was just amazing me at the best conversation and he he gave me stuff for this other old man I'm touched by this only I ever do for you. Please let me know because I'm about to return. It was all about me getting, you know, how long is that going to last? Okay, So, no, I'm just and a number of people I'm encouraging two of my former students who are getting ready to do their first graphic novel, husband and wife team and a wife is amazing artist and her husband's amazing computer. I said, Dude, I need your help. Oh, but that's a lot of hard work. And he did do make it look like it was hard. Okay, maybe too bad. But I'm involved in last because I just I'm thrilled with him. You know, he found a partner who's, like, a competitive and incompetent are awful, but they get along so well, you know, and we start laughing because she and I both love who was the black woman who went to France and helped them during World War Two. She was a singer. I see him. I can't remember her name, but she's a big fan of her as well. So whenever I find something, I give it to, you know, be, you know, I can you get paid for it. It's a national money. You have your appreciation. That's what I'm past ready for. So so comics, though, were sort of the early part of of graphic novels. Graphic novels kind of came after. Yeah. So have you like, did you discover graphic novels and thought, oh, this is a very similar thing to what I already like? Or was it more like something that you found as as fresh? It was like the next step. Yeah. Comic books came from comic strips. The first comic books actually were the guy who said, What do would do? All in all the Sunday newspapers, you cover six. He's well, let's cut them up from this format. Most of these all about so quickly you realize when you throw away money you you even thought away money and and being a commercial artist like for artists, you know the comic strip that was out, all these guys from New York got up to new to Connecticut. That's how they got to the good life, because now they could afford it, you know, because you lived in a tenement, more like in New York and nothing. And after people discovered how, you know, how valuable they were and for years, people threw away stuff, you know, this is wasted. Now we can't make money off that again. Well, and then they they try for a while. Well, there's a lot of now the cartoon series, animated cartoon series and now they're online. So it kind of followed, you know, follow the technology. Yeah, that makes sense. What do you think are some of the the most the biggest misconceptions that people have about comics that they're for kids, that it's for the intellect, really, you know, because it's type of thing about Superman. I taught a and I was teaching Urdu. I said, okay, I'm going to give you the background to a story. You guys tell me who it is. I didn't tell him anything about. I said, Okay, here we go. There is trouble in a country and the person who's running the country is going to try to kill all the children. So they will be too many of them. There'll be enough of us. And one parent sort of has decided that we can just make sure our child gets to safety so they take the child away so that he's not killed and he's found by another couple from a different group and they raise him his own. He becomes a great leader. Was who am I telling you story about Superman and Moses? Oh, yes, Yes. Anyway. Oh, well. And you see that moment of enlightenment to their faces. And I've been reading about Moses all my life. I recognize that story right away. Can you, Chuck, is that really if you put translations of it, he's not really human as we know him. Okay? But he looks like us. He is concerned for us and he watches out for us. Hey, that we got that, you know. And when you got to first and the people who did the whole mythology of Superman that they couldn't put black people on Krypton over quota, but they did have more when I had a and I'm surprised some people who don't know that story and you have to kind of keep reading they did a map of Krypton and they had the eye of the blacks, the have of the blacks. Oh boy. So but then as time has gone on, they've given them more role in the mythology. So it's time change. It's like Captain America, they in about 15 years ago, maybe maybe 20 now, they gave up came up with an idea of the Tuskegee experiment. Sure they put that into the Captain America story because Captain America had to take a form, they said, But what if it was they weren't sure what the result would be? Would they test it? On his story about the guys? They tested on it and they all had bad results except for one guy and that story. So they sort of tell a history and they said, is this part of the story will now be a part of the continuing story of Captain America. I said that took bravery. Yeah, definitely. You know, so I was impressed with that. And I want my students to be a you can be a part of history. Tell a story, write a story, you know, And whenever my students would bring some of their kids to class and and they found that I was a of history, I would bring gifts for the kids. What am I going to do? What I will put in my coffer when I do so. And the kids would draw their own books and they would give me up. When you become famous, I'm selling this. Yeah, it's a sign. So I guess our next question is what has surprised you the most with your collection whole? Is there anything that's kind Yeah, actually let I stuff surprise me that women got women got fair treatment at some point started and then they did Wonder Woman was like back down to bondage a lot in the beginning comics. But this guy who created a Wonder Woman who I met his granddaughter at the show here in Connecticut, my life never gonna be the same. And then you have you have to see what different stages everybody went through. Okay? Because black people went through. Captain Marvel had a black servant and he was real black and he had the big pancake mouth. And, you know, there was black kids. It was a no, no, no, no. Little Lulu, the character, Little Lulu. Yesterday, you know, it's yeah, it's a little it's it's a while ago, I should tell you, because she was advertising for Kleenex and then she started doing comic books, and then she started doing, like, the animated cartoons. But in the animated cartoons, she's always doing a parody of black people. She puts blackness on the faces. You start walking slow, stopping and carrying on. That's what our times were like. Not mad at soul, you know, because when I was in college who were looking at we watched a Amos nanny and we had to say, Wait a minute, it was a plus and a minus, because in Amos and Andy, they had black lawyers, black judges. They would do. You had way too many kind of negative stereotypes as well. So people were getting the work done slowly but surely, and some not mad at folks particularly. But the idea that I wanted my students to see that everything that you can imagine can become true, doesn't have to be. Because let's face it, some stuff we we've seen has never been true that every woman is, you know, taking every 5 seconds refresher lipstick. Come on, get out of here. You know, be real. So the idea is it can be what you want it to be. That's about as open a form for ideas and policies and theories that you can possibly get. It's like when we talk about traveling in outer space. Flash Gordon, none of that was could be close to, you know, being real, but look at the people it inspired, you know, and made it real. Yeah. So it's and basically I just, I kind of like move beyond the stereotype I like I said, I taught diversity training and it was it was ever eye opening to me. I didn't know everything in that, but I never pretended to know anything. I said, listen, would it make a difference? You've got to make it now because you guys are listening to each other. Think about people who don't listen to you. Okay. Maybe we'll never listen to you. Okay. And it doesn't mean I'm right. It means I have a different point of view. And probably the best thing we could do if we all think the same thing. That scares me because I've only member stories in the past and not the file we passed. Well, that was true. And the results were horrendous, right? Absolutely. So you you live in Middletown? I do indeed. And so you've been here and I know you've been here for a number of years. How did you decide to come to Middletown and stay in this community? Stay in the inn in Middletown? Oh, I got a job. I worked for a weekly reader. Oh, really? I did. I was a copywriter. Oh, okay. I came right from Detroit. Both like I had to leave the flat. I grew up. My youth was in New England with the mountains and in the lakes and the rivers and the ocean. Not out in the. And. And they had hurricanes. I was moderate only because I would really tend to go back after roll back. I'm going back. And I just I know you know what? Plus, I came to New England. I just fell in love with it. Really? Here? Yeah. And what better place would in Middletown? There's. It's such an interesting community. It's true. Yeah, definitely. I love Middletown. I live in Meriden, but I feel like Middletown is like a second home because we're just here. Yeah, like five days a week. And I just. I feel like I know more about Middletown than I do. And. And the nature of Connecticut is you always discovering something new. I did a play about Prudence Crandell. Really? Oh, God, yes. Young audiences asked me to do it. I just said. And then the head of the Prudence kind of museum. And I became close friends because we know. Who is she? I'm going to sound really dumb, but I have no clue who that is. She was a woman who started a school for black students, black girls back in the day, and her neighbors were so incensed that they tried to shut her down. And then when they couldn't shut it down, they set the school on fire. It's an interesting story, and I read in order to write a play, I had to read all the different reviews because I was like, well, this is this is amazing. And then we we did the play at schools and we had tickets. What do you see from this that you can learn about what you like? And they said to watch out for other people. You know, you don't have to look like me. You have to sound like me not to dress like me, you know? And Prudence Canales, first black student who became a teacher herself and started school in Providence, Rhode Island. Wow. So it was like and it's interesting because the guy who was against the key guy who was against it was like a big patriot, you know? And he didn't feel bad, you know? Would it be God you students would have to go to, you know? He said he was upset by the fact that they were coming from out of state. The governor got to New York and that, you know, that's okay. That's what you say. Well, that's that'll be fine, sir. But it was just it was a is an international income down. Yeah. Yeah. And when was the play. Oh no. You got to really break it to a few years ago. Okay. Nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it could still be being put on. I'm not sure. Yeah, No, that's very cool. That's cool. Is there anything happening locally that you'd like listeners to know about at this time? Anything happening that you're either. Either a talk that you're giving or anything you'd like folks to know about? Sure. I'm. I'm working with several plays and my my luck has been good with previewing my plays here in in Connecticut, particularly Middletown Wesleyan sponsored several oddfellows play inspired to do one of the two of them. I do a and we're lucky and I'm going to stick with that. We have a lot of theater in Connecticut. It's I got to love that. Yeah. And I'm working on a play about a city's first Jewish woman mayor. Okay. And she's a composer, too. And I have a friend of mine who I would say, Listen, you got to take the lead in this. I'm so tired. Shut up. Make me big. That's all you waiting for. And I'm working on a book about my finishing up, a book about my experiences coming from Philadelphia to Massachusetts as a young man at the most important, crucial areas times of our lives. You know, Dartmouth was amazing. And then Emma's was even more so than people who are still friends of mine. This is what was it, our fifth reunion from high school, The new 71. It was 50th. Yeah. And we still laughing at stuff we did back in the day. Yeah, because we had to. I was telling I said, How did you guys figure out we were going to be okay? How did you figure we were going to be okay? And we all kind of just went in with, you know, eyebrows arched and eyes open and we and some of the experiences just touched our lives 100% as librarians, of course, We're always curious, do you have any book, film or podcast recommendations for. Oh, you're kidding. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. I'm. Some friends who do podcast. They're kind of good writers and artists. Jerry Kraft, who does Mama's Boys and he's just he's gone off in to to doing. Young adult novels. Oh, cool. He found his spot. He was doing hard work for a while, but he wasn't getting the same kind of pop he was get when he because he worked for Newsweek Junior. Okay. And and from that, he started meeting people in New York, and he said, well, would you just listen? And people would say, he's a very talented artist and he's funny as hell. You know, he just cracks me up. And we we call each other because we were talking about somebody who whenever you say something, oh, I know somebody. There's also my. Oh, well, I know, you know. So one time we did it and the guy said, Oh, yeah, I know Puffy. So Jerry liked to put our hands and I know we don't want to laugh at his brother. We don't. We don't. That will be wrong that we're discredited. But as soon as he leaves, you know. Hey, how are you? I hear Pop, he went out with the Harriet Tubman. Dude, you're so wrong. He's so wrong, you know? Well, Alex Simmons, who was not only a great comic book creator, he's a craft that a creator he's written plays the the black actor who did great Shakespearean work back in the turn of the century. He did a play about this guy. This guy is almost like Sherlock Holmes. Alex is amazing. I'm just I just meet amazing. But you never know. You never know who's going to be. And just when you think it's over. No, it ain't. That's right. And that's a great note to end on. But, Bill, we really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today. This has been amazing. And when you finish your book, we'll have to have you back. And we look forward to having you on our board and really looking forward to having you talk more about some of this really amazing stuff. After your trip to Japan, maybe. Oh, my goodness. I only hope to and I'm going to push on that one because I've been because I've retired and I had my wife goes out with her sisters a lot of places, but I'm like, oh, no, oh, no, it doesn't stick in the mud. We're going to hold we're going to hold you to it. That's cool by me, because that would be a great trip for me, too, because I get from so many from the culture and the people of my study about Japan, because I had a teacher at Wesleyan. Who is a professor of Japanese. Several. And I was like. And we just get fascinated, talk about the politics and the culture. So I'm looking forward to that. Wonderful. Yeah. All right, folks. This is all of us from Middletown Strong signing off. Have a great, great bye. Hello and welcome to the segment we're calling. Turn that Shape Up projects at Russell Library that are too good to keep quiet. The temperatures are rising and the library has plans for spring. We're cleaning up, sorting out and celebrating the changing, changing seasons with song on Sunday, March 30th at 2:30 p.m., the library will host the New Haven Chinese Cultural Cooperative and a spring themed program about how nature is incorporated in traditional music and poetry. You'll experience songs about flowers and flowing water and Tang Dynasty poetry about Spring Rain and HCC is a nonprofit, traditional Chinese music ensemble, bridging cultures and people by bringing Chinese and Taiwanese music to communities around Connecticut. Oh, that's awesome. Doesn't that sound cool? Yeah. While we're recording this, it was just the Lunar New Year, right? Yeah. Are we in the Year of the Snake? We are officially in the year of the snake. Oh, I wonder what that means. I think it's about new beginnings, shedding your skin and moving forward. That's a nice way to start this year. Right. But let's hope it continues to grow in that in that direction. Yeah. And, you know, but some things are always, you know, around homework is one of them. So the library strap in program homework help will continue into the spring on Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m.. Experienced tutors will be available to help in a variety of subjects and will work in small groups to assist students on their homework assignments. Homework Help Center is intended for middle and high school students. Now these sessions will take place in the teen area of the library. Okay. Thanks, Kim. And in our children's department, we will continue its Family Storytime Series on Tuesdays in Wednesday mornings. Join our children's librarians for stories, songs, friends and free play. The kids department will also host their Alphabet Academy series on Wednesday afternoons. Registration for program updates is recommended. Yeah, I was there. So it's a storytime where they feature a different letter O or the alphabet and there are activities and and songs. So just some more fun singing and spring and let's go. Yeah in fact I think yeah I think they're well into the alphabet by this point, frolicking and singing and with the alphabet. That sounds awesome. And this is my favorite time of the year. Whenever this happens, it's the springs Friends of the Russell Library book Sale, and it's planned for March 28th and Saturday, March 29th. Browse titles ranging from current bestsellers to collectable Classics. The book sale will be open during library hours. In all proceeds support new programming and other projects at the library. I love the friends, the library books. I do. I do. It transforms the whole library. It's so cool how our entire reading room becomes a sale. I like books even more Books on top of books, which just. It makes you feel at home. Well, for me, it does. It does. So, while Kim and everyone today, thank you for joining us, the Russell Library appreciates all the support that we receive from the community. Thank you for listening and please visit our website to learn more about our events and resources and stay tuned for shelf life. Thanks, Kim. Thanks. Hello and welcome to Shop Life. I'm Stephanie Rush, and I'm here today with my friend Brianna. Hello. And Kate. Hi. And today we are going to be talking about and recommending books by black authors. Who wants to start? I could start out as dancing. I'm selling. I'm going to dance, going to town. So the book? Yeah, It's really cold out. So actually, it's a dancing kind of day because it's so cold. Oh, you have somebody. Yes. So, like, ten degrees out. I'm going to recommend James by person will cover it. I read it last year. It was my second favorite book of the year. The women was my favorite. I just came in a really close second. It's basically a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim the Slave, and it's just so beautifully written, very powerful. I can't recommend it enough. It's just it's the way that Huckleberry Finn should have been. But I tell you, this came out on a list for me of books that are basically fan fiction, which made me laugh because it's not wrong. It's not wrong. I feel like we think of infection is very reductive, but like, I mean, this in a way is a it's basically that because they took on original work and they re mixed it and I was like, Oh, that's fine. You don't really think of like Epic works like this as fiction. But I thought, like it is. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love I thought of you because I know you love this book. Yeah. All right. Do you have a book you want to recommend? Do I have Jacqueline Woodson's Harbor Me? And it's about six students from different backgrounds who are just sent to a room in their school with no adult, nobody else to talk to, just the six of them. And they initially don't like each other and they don't want to talk about their stuff because they have a lot of things going on and somebody's dad disappears. He's deported, I believe. Mm hmm. I think. I think so. Yeah. And through this, these things start happening. They all start opening up to each other, and they become, um, you know, they're the people that they lean on, and they tell they start to tell their stories, and they start to develop their courage and their strength to face, you know, all this adversity that's thrown at them. And it's really, really good book. I really enjoyed it. And it's called Jack. It's called Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson. And her books are typically on the shorter side, which I think is good for some folks who maybe haven't read her before. Yes. Yeah, I've only read one of hers. But now after this one. Yeah, this this definitely just stuck in my head because the stories that the kids have to tell, the things that they face and how they just come together to support each other and what actually kind of drew me to this book was the cover with the you see the silhouette of the six kids facing the Statue of Liberty. I just love that. It's beautiful. I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out. Yeah, I couldn't tell what it was at first, but no, it's definitely the Statue of Liberty once you. When you zoom in on it. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Bren, do you have another book or you want or you have your anticipated. I anticipate. Okay, so I'll talk about my book and then we can go back to Kate, Then we can talk about anticipatory. Okay. So the book I brought today is called They're Vicious Games by Joel Wellington. This is a Y thriller. It's like also like borderline social horror, which I love. Yes. Yes. So it's set at the prestigious Edward Edgewater Academy, a school for mostly white and very rich New Englanders. And our main character, Adina, is there on scholarship. And because she's black, she has to work twice as hard to prove her worth and never letting anybody see her sweat. And then a peer interaction turns into a physical altercation and she gets blacklisted from her top choices for college. Yeah. So now she has to compete in what's called the Finnish, a contest sponsored by the school's founding family, in which 12 young women are chosen to compete in three mysterious events called The Ride, The Raid and the Royal. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yes. And the winner will gain access to the Remington family and the privilege that comes along with being part of the family. Mhm. Yeah. So this is like high octane, unforgettable, ruthless. And it reveals that the stakes are actually life and death and not just, you know, who's going to get to the next level and it turns into can she win by playing by the rules or does she have to find a way to win at any cost? This is so smart. Adina is so smart and cunning. And as the stakes get higher and higher, the story just keeps building. And it has this really nuanced approach to privilege and class and race and money. And as in books like this, some of the characters are like classic villains, but most of them are more grey. And it brings up a lot of, like, moral implications in the story. There's a little bit of flirting with romance and coupling, but you can't trust anybody. So the stakes are so high. How are you supposed to find love or romance when you literally don't know who you can trust? And then there's this one moment. I won't reveal it, but during the horseback riding scene that is so chilling, I still think about it. And I read this book a while ago. Yeah. So those of you who read this or when you read it, you'll remember, you'll know which scene I'm talking about. So yeah that's They're Vicious Games by Joel Wellington. She had another one come out last year called The Blonde First which I did not get to yet. But she also has another one coming out in 2025. So I look forward to hearing more of her social horror thriller books in the future. They sound really cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So this one is called Wild Seed, which it's by Marty Dumas, and she is the main character. Hasani is an influencer. Oh, she has her own I think it's a YouTube channel and she does her she calls it make up on the cheap, cheap. And so she's well now she's an influencer for her, her friends and she all her parents are also separated. Separated. She discovers she gets mad. She has this emotional outburst, and she discovers that she has magic. And so she gets this invitation to study La Belle Demoiselles as a literal charm school. So she's sent to study at this term school. And she can't have she can't have magic outside of the school. So she's she doesn't have control of her magic because she's learning that she has it. So she cannot control any magic that comes off of her body. Okay. And she so anyways, they call her a wild seed because she's not she didn't grow up in the the wealthy families that have now she didn't grow up And anyways it's a really good book. I enjoyed it. And the trilogy is right. Yeah. Oh yeah. I remember when this book first came out and I went to pick it up and I had just read a book that there was an influencer main character. So I was like, I can't read this, but I'll come back to it. And now thank you for reminding me. Yeah. And so there's, you know, she encounters like the girls who've been there, who grew up with their families in prison. But it's, it's really good. And she slowly comes into her own and it's really amazing the covers so pretty so pretty love that covers are like this It's kind of like a purply pink. It's almost like a painting. Yeah, Yeah. And she's got Hasani is black and she's got a flowers in her hair. She is beautiful, like, natural like. Yeah, Blown out hair. Yeah. It's gorgeous. Yeah, yeah, she's. She's great. And Marti Dumas, who is the author, she grew up in New Orleans, where she's from, New Orleans, where most of this takes place. It's called New Orleans. I love that. Cool. All right, Brianna, what are some books you're looking forward to? So I have two. One comes out February 4th, 2025. The book is called Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray. And if you loved the Personal Librarian, this is her next book and my book club. When I read this a couple of years ago, we like eight. The personal library is this historical. And so it's about a woman who is going to be moving to Harlem from Washington, DC. She's really excited for her lifelong dream to come true, to be the editor of the crisis, which is a. Like a magazine. And she ends up becoming the lover of W.E.B. Du Bois, who's the founder of the crisis. Oh, okay. And so this like affair is going on. But she's also trying to find these, like, up and coming writers. So she finds, like Langston Hughes is one of them. County Colin and Noel Larson, they are becoming good friends of hers. So it's kind of about her then releasing her own novel and kind of helping uplift other black writers. So this is like an alternate history type, basically, like an alternate history. I don't really know the real story behind any of this, so I'm very interested in like learning more about it. Yeah, but I have a early release copy of it, so I'm hoping to read it after I finish something else. But if I don't, I'll go back and read another one. Yeah, but the personal librarian was phenomenal. Like it was about the personal librarian. She, like, one of those very rich men. Mm hmm. I can not remember his name. He's. He's just very rich. Okay. I didn't actually give him that one. And the main character she is passing for White to get this job as librarian. Oh. And her employer never really finds out. Mm hmm. But she just did amazing things and curated, like, really unique, like, rare items for. For him. Cool. And the next book I have is The Love Simulation by Anna Esten, which comes out March 4th of this year. This one. I got a arc of it because I liked the cover. I didn't read much into it, but when I reread what it was about, I was like, Oh, I actually think that's really fun. So the main character's name is Brianna. Didn't realize that also till before I came here, and I was like, Love that. So she is a teacher and there's just some stuff going on with like her principal not giving money to a library upgrade that the school really needs, instead giving it to a football field so she gets mad or some like basically like she just gets mad. And so then she decides to join this other teacher's in a mars simulation during the summer. Oh, I don't really know what this has to do with anything, but like, she's just going to, like, do that. And her brother's an astronaut, so she's like, Yeah, like, let's do it. And then she ends up being kind of around this science teacher. She's like, not a fan of Roman. So they're going to be like, hot and cold, like, this is a romance. I think it's a romance, a real guy. So I feel like in this little simulation, there's going to be some love found. I'm intrigued. It sounds like a lot happening, but I'm intrigued. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's really fun. Yeah. I feel like there's some, like, sabotage. It's going to go on prize money. I don't know. I just really want to read it because the cover was just so cute, okay? And I'm very excited for it. So again, that was the love simulation that comes out March 4th. Cool. Be on the lookout for that. And Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray, which comes out February 4th. Yeah. Yeah. And the two I'm looking forward to are both by the same author, so I'm just going to give them to you back to back. The first is called Prince of the Palisades, which is the latest young adult novel from Julian Winters, who I've really liked in the past. This book came out in 24, but I haven't got my copy yet. But it's a royals not royal pairing. So it's got a little like royal intrigue. It's a prince and a normal person, I guess an army situation. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And then Julian Winter's adult debut is coming out any day now. It's called I Think They Love You, which features fake dating and a Second Chance Romance. So I'm excited to get to bolt soon, Hopefully both this year. Yeah. Very exciting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Yay! Books got out. So those were our picks for books by black authors. We hope that you'll check some of them out and that you have a great start to your reading year. Yeah. And soon. So.