Thursday, October 23, 2008

Mining Suzan; Book Trailers

My new style Dearborn-native friend Suzan continues to be a wealth of information. So far today I've learned more about Dearborn's old mayor, Mayor Hubbard, who was such a fierce racist that blacks from Detroit heading west would intentionally go around Dearborn to avoid him and his police force; that to get a pass (even a day pass) to the local recreation center, you had to be a Dearborn resident and that Hubbard kept blacks out of Dearborn (as did Henry Ford) which means they weren't hanging out at the rec center.

We also drove by the old Montgomery Ward site. I say "old" because, well, they done blown that shit up. Yup, the place where two of my main characters had an office is now dust. RIP Montgomery Ward Dearborn.

I also got to canvass around Dearborn Heights today which I'll do again a few more times before election day.

Lastly, Suzan's family and I went into Detroit to see a film. Before and after the film, Suzan and her sisters pointed out a myriad of local landmarks (the Fisher Building, Hitsville, U.S.A. (the home of Motown), the Fox Theatre, the new casinos and their geneses, the Wayne State University campus and the Detroit Institute of the Arts, to name a few). I'll see them again Friday night and hope to speak to a brother-in-law of Suzan's who used to work for Ford. Needless to say, I've been very fortunate to meet some good, informative people pretty quickly.

In other news, supposedly "book trailers" are all the rage as marketing tools. I kinda like the idea, though it also kind of defeats the purpose of a book (and being a writer) if you still have to sell your idea/work via a visual image/film. Regardless, I came up with about five different ideas for trailers last night. Buiser, if you're reading this, I'm gonna knock on your door, bro.

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