Library Book Recommendations – August, 2021

Aug 9, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.

Non-Fiction

Vacant to Vibrant: Creating Successful Green Infrastructure Networks by Sandra Albro
Vacant lots, so often seen as neighborhood blight, have the potential to be a key element of community revitalization. As manufacturing cities reinvent themselves after decades of lost jobs and population, abundant vacant land resources and interest in green infrastructure are expanding opportunities for community and environmental resilience. Vacant to Vibrant explains how inexpensive green infrastructure projects can reduce stormwater runoff and pollution, and provide neighborhood amenities.

Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole by Sarah Dry
Linking the history of the planet with the lives of those who studied it, Sarah Dry follows the remarkable scientists who summited volcanic peaks to peer through an atmosphere’s worth of water vapor, cored mile-thick ice sheets to uncover the Earth’s ancient climate history, and flew inside storm clouds to understand how small changes in energy can produce both massive storms and the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Gradually, their cumulative discoveries coalesced into a unified working theory of our planet’s climate.

Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
The celebrated first memoir from arguably the most influential singer-songwriter in the country, Bob Dylan.
Through Dylan’s eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan’s New York is a magical city of possibilities—smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With the book’s side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota, and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.

The Superhero Symbol: Media, Culture, and Politics by Liam Burke, Ian Gordon, et al.
Superheroes are intellectual property jealously guarded by media conglomerates, icons co-opted by groups, masks people wear to more confidently walk convention floors and city streets. Bringing together superhero scholars from a range of disciplines, The Superhero Symbol provides fresh perspectives on how characters like Captain America, Iron Man, and Wonder Woman have engaged with media, culture, and politics, to become the “everlasting” symbols to which a young Bruce Wayne once aspired.

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean-American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph
Writing from the perspective of a friend, Frederick Joseph offers candid reflections on his own experiences with racism and conversations with prominent artists and activists about theirs. Touching on everything from cultural appropriation to power dynamics, “reverse racism” to white privilege, microaggressions to the tragic results of overt racism, this book serves as conversation starter, tool kit, and invaluable window into the life of a former “token Black kid” who now presents himself as the friend many readers need.

Fiction

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. When their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos unleashes repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle Walker who emerges as an unlikely leader. An unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction.

Golden Girl: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand
On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging. She ascends to the Beyond where she is allowedi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo separated from his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.
#1 bestselling page-turner from “the queen of beach reads” (New York Magazine)

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike-particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member is found murdered. Mariana suspects that, behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, lies something sinister. When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships.

Libertie: A Novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Coming of age as a free-born Black girl in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson is all too aware that her mother, a physician, has a vision for their future together: Libertie will go to medical school and practice alongside her. But Libertie feels stifled by her mother’s choices and is constantly reminded that, unlike her mother, Libertie has skin that is too dark. When a young man from Haiti proposes to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries to parse what freedom actually means for a Black woman, Libertie struggles with where she might find it–for herself and for generations to come.

Seven Days in June: A Novel by Tia Williams
Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author. When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York’s Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can’t deny their chemistry-or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.

Summaries adapted from publishers.

NMC Remembers U.S. Senator Carl Levin

Jul 30, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College joins many others around the state and nation in expressing our condolences on the passing of U.S. Senator Carl Levin.

Senator Levin’s legacy can be seen throughout the state and region. He was a tireless advocate for NMC working to secure the T/S State of Michigan as the training vessel of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy by making available $3.7 million dollars to have the ship converted from cold war era surveillance duty to the highly capable teaching ship that it is today. He was also instrumental in securing support and funding from the federal government for the renovation and expansion of the Great Lakes Campus Harbor, a critical component of many unique NMC programs such as the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, and the Marine Center.

In addition to these very specific projects that continue to benefit our learners today, Senator Levin also made it a priority to visit campus often, speaking with faculty, staff and students and learning about their work and goals. These visits helped to shape Senator Levin’s work in Washington where he was a champion for expanded Pell funding and support for other training and technical support for community colleges, including NMC.

We send our condolences to the family and wish them peace during this difficult time.

Nick Nissley, Ed.D., President

Release date: JUly 30, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

NMC Remembers U.S. Senator Carl Levin

Jul 30, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College joins many others around the state and nation in expressing our condolences on the passing of U.S. Senator Carl Levin.

Senator Levin’s legacy can be seen throughout the state and region. He was a tireless advocate for NMC working to secure the T/S State of Michigan as the training vessel of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy by making available $3.7 million dollars to have the ship converted from cold war era surveillance duty to the highly capable teaching ship that it is today. He was also instrumental in securing support and funding from the federal government for the renovation and expansion of the Great Lakes Campus Harbor, a critical component of many unique NMC programs such as the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, and the Marine Center.

In addition to these very specific projects that continue to benefit our learners today, Senator Levin also made it a priority to visit campus often, speaking with faculty, staff and students and learning about their work and goals. These visits helped to shape Senator Levin’s work in Washington where he was a champion for expanded Pell funding and support for other training and technical support for community colleges, including NMC.

We send our condolences to the family and wish them peace during this difficult time.

Nick Nissley, Ed.D., President

Release date: JUly 30, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

West Hall renamed the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center

Jul 27, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

Entrance (download a high-resolution version here)TRAVERSE CITY — The West Hall Innovation Center on Northwestern Michigan College’s main campus has been renamed the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center to honor President Nelson’s decades of service to NMC students, the college and the community.

The NMC Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the building at its regular meeting on July 26. They credited President Nelson’s drive, vision and commitment to innovation in making NMC a world class institution.

“The work Tim Nelson has done throughout his career to make NMC a point of pride in our community, and a leader around the world, will have a positive impact for generations to come,” said NMC Board of Trustees Chair Chris Bott. “We want to honor his dedication to this college with a public recognition that will also have lasting impact.”

The project combined state and NMC-funded investments for renovations and modernizations of the West Hall building to create a 54,000-square-foot, multi-story library and flexible 21st-century learning space with classrooms, conference rooms, student-centered workspaces and simulation labs. The building also houses NMC’s Hawk Owl Café, the college’s WNMC 90.7 FM radio station and other NMC departments.

Atrium (download a high-resolution version here)NMC broke ground on the project in September 2018 and celebrated the building’s opening with a livestreamed ribbon cutting ceremony in September 2020. The project recently won a Michigan American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Design Excellence.

President Nelson, NMC’s longest-serving president, retired from the college in 2019 after leading the institution for over 18 years. He helped champion the project, including working to win state legislative approval of $7.4 million in capital outlay dollars to cover about half of its $14.4 million cost. Other highlights of President Nelson’s tenure include overseeing NMC’s launch of Michigan’s first community college baccalaureate degree, supporting the creation of NMC’s Experiential Learning Institute and Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, and creating the Global Opportunities Scholarship Fund with his wife Nancy.

Release Date: July 27, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Associate Vice President of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

West Hall renamed the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center

Jul 27, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

Entrance (download a high-resolution version here)TRAVERSE CITY — The West Hall Innovation Center on Northwestern Michigan College’s main campus has been renamed the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center to honor President Nelson’s decades of service to NMC students, the college and the community.

The NMC Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the building at its regular meeting on July 26. They credited President Nelson’s drive, vision and commitment to innovation in making NMC a world class institution.

“The work Tim Nelson has done throughout his career to make NMC a point of pride in our community, and a leader around the world, will have a positive impact for generations to come,” said NMC Board of Trustees Chair Chris Bott. “We want to honor his dedication to this college with a public recognition that will also have lasting impact.”

The project combined state and NMC-funded investments for renovations and modernizations of the West Hall building to create a 54,000-square-foot, multi-story library and flexible 21st-century learning space with classrooms, conference rooms, student-centered workspaces and simulation labs. The building also houses NMC’s Hawk Owl Café, the college’s WNMC 90.7 FM radio station and other NMC departments.

Atrium (download a high-resolution version here)NMC broke ground on the project in September 2018 and celebrated the building’s opening with a livestreamed ribbon cutting ceremony in September 2020. The project recently won a Michigan American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Design Excellence.

President Nelson, NMC’s longest-serving president, retired from the college in 2019 after leading the institution for over 18 years. He helped champion the project, including working to win state legislative approval of $7.4 million in capital outlay dollars to cover about half of its $14.4 million cost. Other highlights of President Nelson’s tenure include overseeing NMC’s launch of Michigan’s first community college baccalaureate degree, supporting the creation of NMC’s Experiential Learning Institute and Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, and creating the Global Opportunities Scholarship Fund with his wife Nancy.

Release Date: July 27, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Associate Vice President of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

Recognizing Disability Independence Day

Jul 26, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

July 26 is National Disability Independence Day, a federally recognized day to celebrate the 1990 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). View a sample of books in the library, films on Kanopy and podcasts that recognize Disability Independence Day below.

Books in the Library

Born at the Right Timeby Ron McCallum
Ron McCallum has been blind from birth. When he was a child, many blind people spent their lives sheltered, but Ron’s mother had other ideas for her son. She insisted on treating him as normally as possible. Ron recounts his social awkwardness and physical mishaps and shares his early fears that he might never manage to have a proper career, find love or become a parent. He has achieved all this and more, becoming a professor of law at a prestigious university and committee chair at the UN.

If at Birth You Don’t Succeedby Zach Anner
Comedian Zach Anner entered the world with cerebral palsy and an uncertain future. But he lives by the mantra: when life gives you a wheelchair, make lemonade. Whether recounting a valiant childhood attempt to woo Cindy Crawford, encounters with zealous faith healers, or the time he crapped his pants mere feet from Dr. Phil, Zach shares his fumbles with unflinching honesty and characteristic charm. If at Birth is a hilarious memoir about finding your passion and your path even when it’s paved with epic misadventure.

The Trouble with Illnessby Julia Segal
This book explores the effects a challenging disability or illness can have on the mind and personal relationships, and how friends, family and professionals can help. Illness or disability can isolate people. Friends and family can find themselves saying the wrong thing or awkwardly avoiding topics as a result. The insights and advice offered in this book can help children and adolescents overcome anxiousness caused by a parent’s condition, improve communication between partners and family members, and increase friends’ awareness of how their disabled friend feels about their situation.

T elling Deaf Lives: Agents of Changeby Kristen Snoddon
Deaf community historians share diverse stories of deaf individuals in this collection. Melissa and Breda describe the Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club, a group of deaf individuals who corresponded in the early 20th century from Australia to Western Europe to the United States; Ulla-Bell recounts first-hand growing up deaf in Sweden and her process in authoring six memoirs; Tatiana writes about her deaf family’s experience during the World War II siege of Leningrad; others look at the evolution of ASL poetry by analyzing works of prominent ASL poets Valli, Cook, and Lerner.

Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Educationby Thomas J. Tobin
Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have worked hard to make universal design in the built-world “just part of what we do.” For example, captioned instructional videos benefit learners with hearing impairments but also the student who worries about waking her young children at night. This book is aimed at faculty, disability support providers, student-service staff and campus leaders who want to strengthen the engagement, interaction, and performance of all college students.

HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earthby Elizabeth Wheeler
A look at young adult novels, fantasy series, graphic memoirs, and picture books in which characters with disabilities take center stage for the first time. These books take what others regard as weaknesses — for instance, Harry Potter’s headaches or Hazel Lancaster’s oxygen tank — and redefine them as part of the hero’s journey. HandiLand places this movement from sidekick to hero in the political contexts of disability rights movements. HandiLand moves through the public spaces young people with disabilities have entered, including schools, nature, and online communities.

Golem Girlby Riva Lehrer
In 1958, Riva is one of the first children born with spina bifida to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to “fix” her, sending the message over and over again that she is broken. That she will never have a job, a romantic relationship, or an independent life. Enduring countless medical interventions, Riva tries her best to be a good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured. Everything changes when, as an adult, Riva is invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers who are building Disability Culture. 

eQuality: the Struggle for Web Accessibility by People with Cognitive Disabilities by Peter Blanck
Never before have the rights of people with disabilities aligned so well with information and communication technologies. This book is about the lived struggle for disability rights, with a focus on the web, for people with cognitive disabilities, like intellectual disabilities, autism or print-related disabilities. The principles derived from the right to the web – freedom of speech and individual dignity – are bound to lead towards full and meaningful involvement in society for persons with cognitive disabilities.

Films in Kanopy

Explore movies in Kanopy for free. Go to nmc.kanopy.com and login using your NMC ID and password.

Beyond the Library: Podcasts

This is life from a disabled lens. Hosted by San Francisco night owl, Alice Wong, featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you’re interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you.
Disability Visibility is a production of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.

This is a podcast that looks at disability stories. It’s like sitting down with a really close friend to have real conversations about disability, sexuality and everything else about the disability experience that we don’t talk about; the things about being disabled that we keep in the dark.
The show is hosted by disability awareness consultant Andrew Gurza.

The Accessible Stall is a disability podcast hosted by Kyle Khachadurian and Emily Ladau that keeps it real about issues within the disability community. Because they each have different disabilities and mobility levels, they approach everything from two unique viewpoints, offering a fresh insight into how differences in disability can color your experiences and perspectives. They never shy away from offering our honest opinion. Even if they go against the grain of the disability community at large, they always speak our minds.