‘How we welcomed Detroit’s first avant-garde art movement into our home’
THAT’S THE STORY WITHIN a lavishly illustrated new book by our God-Signs columnist Suzy Farbman. Her new memoir, told through personal stories and hundreds of color photographs, tells how her family quite literally welcomed the visions of Detroit’s First Generation Cass Corridor artists into their home. Over many years, that creative commitment also led the Farbmans to welcome many more artworks from around the world.
As Suzy herself explains on the back cover of her book:
“Over many years as a design editor, I featured other peoples’ beautiful homes. When I finally had the chance to create my own, I wanted a house imbued with heart and soul. As a grandniece of world-famous architect Albert Kahn, cousin of legendary art collector Lydia Winston Malbin, and granddaughter of antiques collector Deborah Wilkus, I inherited a love for art, design and antiques.”
Our readers who have followed Suzy’s hundreds of columns in our Read the Spirit magazine know all about Suzy’s long career as a journalist and her love of showcasing inspiring true stories for all of us to enjoy. Now, she’s welcoming readers into her home through this new book, called Detroit’s Cass Corridor and Beyond: Adventures of an Art Collector. Please enjoy this cover story in which Suzy introduces this major new book showcasing her beloved Detroit—and share it with friends via social media and email.
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From our Writers
Larry Buxton
On the Power of Awe and Wonder
THIS WEEK’S Leading with Spirit video by leadership coach Larry Buxton explores the power of awe and wonder to promote resilience and compassion in our lives. “The experience of awe somehow brings us closer to each other,” he says—speaking to us from the woods this week. This is an inspiring little video to share with friends. Please use social media or email to do so after you’ve enjoyed Larry’s thought-provoking message.
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Elaine Greenberg
On ‘Never Long Enough’
REGULAR READERS of our online magazine will remember a recent story in which the remarkable musician and educator Elaine Greenberg asked us for help in recommending books that can help with grief. Well, as a result of that conversation, Elaine began reading some of our books and now is sending us columns reflecting on what those books mean to her as she recalls the passing of her beloved husband Shelly. If you missed the start of this story, we’ve provided a convenient link to it at the top of Elaine’s column, which is headlined: Finding comfort and hope in the pages of ‘Never Long Enough.‘
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Bill Tammeus
On Southern Baptist Blindness
“How could a church in 2022 be so blind about sexual abuse?” That’s the question Americans have been asking since the release of a Southern Baptist Convention report about the nationwide pattern of abuse that SBC leaders actively tried to suppress for many years. “But what went wrong in the SBC—just as what went wrong in the Catholic priests/bishops abuse scandal—can’t be fixed with an apology and some governance tweaks. The issue is much deeper than that … We need outside eyes to help us and we need a willingness to listen to what others are saying about what they recognize is deformed,” writes journalist Bill Tammeus. As always, Bill has provided us with a thoughtful news-analysis that also includes links to learn more about this crisis. Thanks Bill for your reporting!
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Paper shortages affect everything from books to toilet paper
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Holidays & Festivals
Trinity Sunday
HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS columnist Stephanie Fenton describes the centuries-old Christian tradition of honoring the Trinity, coming up this year on Sunday June 12.
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And, Remembering D-Day, June 6, 1945
FAITH & FILM columnist Ed McNulty marks the anniversary of World War II milestone D-Day, this year, by recommending a moving documentary film: Sunken Roads—Three Generations after D-Day. If you want to recall D-Day this week, that film can be rented for for home streaming for $2.99 via Amazon.
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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com
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Faith & Film
CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to learn more about the June 2022 issue of Ed McNulty’s Visual Parables Journal, which is packed with complete discussion guides for movies including Emergency, Top Gun—Maverick, Downton Abbey—A New Era, The Survivor, The Grey Zone and more.
ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.
Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:
- ON GUN VIOLENCE—This week, Ed recommends viewing three films about gun violence in America. First, he reaches back and points out that the 1989 documentary Bowling for Columbine is as relevant today as it was when originally released. More recent is the documentary 91%, which features interviews with a wide cross section of Americans and makes the point that there is nearly unanimous consensus on the need for more effective background checks on gun buyers. Finally, he recommends Behind the Bullet, a documentary that explores the impact of guns from the perspective of people who have fired them.
- DOWNTON ABBEY—Ed writes, “Let me say right up front that this addition to the Julian Fellowes’ franchise ought to please fans of this beloved series. In fact, thanks to the story line unfolding at the magnificent estate itself, it is better than the previous enjoyable 2019 film.”
- EMERGENCY—”At first glance, this film might look like Animal House Meets Get Out, but it is far more serious than the former, and a bit more realistic than the latter, even though it also is somewhat of a farce, a very delightful one at that.”
- THE SURVIVOR—”Just when you think you have seen every variation of a Holocaust story, along comes another that adds a new bit of knowledge and horror at how cruel a human can be and how strong is the will to survive—such is this film, based on the book Harry Haft, written by his oldest son Alan Scott Haft.”
- THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY—Ed writes, “In the twilight of his years Samuel Jackson again proves what a consummate actor he is in this adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel, one that focuses more on character development than on crime.”
- THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY—”I was delighted to find on Netflix this production directed by one of my favorite English directors, Mike Newell. We learn of the book club with the unwieldly name through a series of flashbacks to World War II.”
- SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE—Netflix now is streaming two dozen episodes of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 2015-19 TV series, Servant of the People. Ed McNulty writes about the “life-imitates-art” experience of watching this series in the midst of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. There are two parts: Here is Part 1: Ed’s commentary on the opening episodes. Then, here is Part 2: Ed’s follow up, focusing on later episodes.
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