Meri Henriques, a nave freshman from New York, arrives at Indiana University in September of 1963 expecting an idyllic midwestern college experience; instead, she finds herself thrust into the middle of violent political unrest and escalating racial tensions.
Indiana University, September 1963. Meri Henriques, a nave freshman from New York, arrives on campus thinking she's about to enroll at an idyllic Midwestern college. Instead, she discovers a storm is brewing.
An intriguing cast of characters inhabits Meri's new and often troubled world: Katherine "Pixie" Gates, Meri's charming and quirky roommate; Rachel, brilliant and sarcastic fellow New Yorker; Daniel, a tough radical with a tender heart; folk singer Derek Stone, Meri's crush; and Shennandoah Waters, a white coed who only dates black men or exotic foreigners, much to her ultra-conservative parents' horror.
is a timely story of prejudice and political unrest that, today more than ever before, must be told.
“"Readers interested in Midwestern history, American race relations, and stories of culture shock will find the book both stimulating and convincing. This well-paced narrative absorbingly depicts a handful of lives in Indiana in a pivotal year." -- Kirkus Reviews "Vahl, a Jew from New York, was among the first students to live in an integrated dorm room at the conservative campus. In her desire to strike out on her own, she had unwittingly entered the front lines of a battle over race and culture that would rage throughout her freshman year, as she precisely recounts in this memoir." -- Booklist”
2019 ELit Book Awards bronze medal in Autobiography/Memoir“Readers interested in Midwestern history, American race relations, and stories of culture shock will find the book both stimulating and convincing. This well-paced narrative absorbingly depicts a handful of lives in Indiana in a pivotal year."—Kirkus Reviews“Vahl, a Jew from New York, was among the first students to live in an integrated dorm room at the conservative campus. In her desire to strike out on her own, she had unwittingly entered the front lines of a battle over race and culture that would rage throughout her freshman year, as she precisely recounts in this memoir.”—Booklist
After leaving Indiana University, Meri Henriques Vahl arrived at the University of California, Berkeley just in time to witness the Free Speech Movement. Since earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Berkeley, she has worked as a graphic artist and musician, and is currently an award-winning art quilter who teaches at various venues in the US and overseas. Vahl has two adult children and lives in central California with her family and two rowdy felines.
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