March

March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell just happens to be the selection of our Pierce County Reads program.  It also seems an apt choice for this week’s challenge to read a comic written or drawn by a person of color.

Illustrated dramatically in shades of black and white, Congressman John Lewis, a Civil Rights activist, narrates the story which opens on January 20, 2009. As Congressman Lewis is waiting to go to the inauguration, he is visited by a woman from Atlanta who wants to show her boys his office. Not expecting to actually meet him, she is amazed when he starts telling them his story.

In Book One, he starts with his boyhood raising chickens and his ambition to get an education despite the challenges of segregation and his parents’ wish for him work. He then tells his young visitors about his participation in the nonviolent sit-ins at lunch counters around Nashville. As the book ends, Dr. King’s words flow through panels depicting two young black men trying to get service at the newly integrated restaurants. “Walk together children," Dr. King proclaims. “Don’t get weary.”

All Broken Up

When my brother and I were in elementary school, my parents decided to drive us from Dallas to Disneyland. Among the notable places we visited along the way was the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. 

Apart from vague memories of a mock shootout and some knowledge of the litany of familiar names from movies and TV westerns, I wasn’t as familiar with the history of the characters. I was curious, then, to learn more about Doc Holliday when I picked up the novel Doc by Maria Doria Russell for this week’s reading challenge – a western.

The book opens like a biography. We learn about Holliday’s childhood and follow him from his home in Georgia to Texas (a harrowing journey in the late 1800s). I was amazed to discover that Holliday had a dental practice in Dallas (56 Elm Street if you’re ever in the neighborhood).

As he draws closer to Dodge City, the action picks up as Russell introduces the key players of the boom town:  the law officers, cowboys, and entrepreneurs. A young boy’s murder even draws out the local Jesuits (a Russell signature).

Befriended by the Earp brothers, Doc becomes embroiled in the politics and power plays of the bustling city. The brothers even manage to help drum up some business for his fledgling dental practice. However, suffering from tuberculosis, Doc’s every waking moment seems to be racked with pain.  He finds some solace at the card table, and the bottomless glass of bourbon, but can never seem to get ahead. Even in love, his on-again/off-again partner Kate, accomplished in Latin and bed, packs her bags more than once.

As the novel ends, Doc and Kate have received a letter inviting them to move West. Russell chooses not to dramatize the famous fight, but focuses the last chapter on Kate’s memory of how events played out. It’s satisfyingly sad.