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Survival Math
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
7 posts | 4 read | 3 to read
In his first work of non-fiction, Survival Math, Jackson explores the Portland of his childhood, tracing the ways in which his family managed their lives in and around drugs, prostitution, gangs, and imprisonment as members of a tiny black population in one of the country's whitest cities. He discusses sex work and serial killers, gangs and guns, near-death experiences, composite fathers, the concept of 'hustle' and the destructive power of drugs and addiction on family. It is both a personal reckoning and a vital addition to the conversation about race. With a poet's gifted ear, a novelist's sense of narrative, and a journalist's unsentimental eye, Jackson presents a microcosm of struggle and survival in contemporary urban America - an exploration of the forces that shaped his life, his city, and the lives of so many black men like him. As Jackson charts his own path from drug dealer to published novelist, he gives us a heart-breaking, fascinating, lovingly rendered view of the injustices and victories, large and small, that defined his youth.
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MargaretPinardAuthor
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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Mehso-so

After a significant amount of DNF time, I picked this book up again as 1st pick for my Patreon Book Club: BOOM! Accountability.
There were glimpses of intention, reform, passion but the packaging (voice, format, word choice, range of content) made it pretty inaccessible/off-putting.
I‘ve never hate-read before, but I feel like this was necessary for part of this book.
Necessary for learning, perhaps.
Photo from yesterday‘s walk in SE #PDX

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MargaretPinardAuthor
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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The optimistic physical stack for January.
Any feedback? Survival Math will be Patreon book club pick for Feb 10, if anyone is interested in a discussion!
#pdx #race #caste #bookclub #variety #buddyreads #icontainmultitudes #diversereads

Inkblotsandcoffeestains I absolutely loved the Priory of the Orange Tree! But it starts very slow! 4y
MargaretPinardAuthor @Inkblotsandcoffeestains I started Priory first and the feeling to me is very carefully laid dominos...not boring, but very precise with the names and places to break me in... 🤗 4y
32 likes2 comments
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MargaretPinardAuthor
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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This book has been difficult to get into because there are so many signifiers at the sentence level that are unfamiliar. I have to unravel each as a mystery. And while discovery is enlightening, I feel distant from the message because of the slow pace.
Meanwhile in Portland, people are trying to hold on...and I find posts like this difficult to respond to as well. Ambulances may be blocked but an invading army is also not OK. #pdx #whitesupremacy

21 likes1 stack add
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S3V3N
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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Pickpick

It took me a few weeks to finish this one. I loved the set up, but the content was heavy.

Nute I just purchased this over the weekend. I didn‘t know that he had non-fiction work available. 5y
S3V3N @Nute This is my first book by him. I didn‘t know about him until I saw someone post about this book on here. 5y
Nute Gotta love Litsy! 5y
S3V3N @Nute right! 5y
21 likes4 comments
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valeriegeary
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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I'm going to a friend's choir concert tonight. We carpooled to the performing arts center. The show doesn't start until 8 but she had to be there at 445. It's okay, I said. Give me a book and some tea and I'll be fine for hours. Opera cake is excellent company. 😄 Digging into tagged book for my IRL book club.

kspenmoll That opera cake looks yummy! (edited) 5y
Tamra I love that bonus time! 👏🏾 5y
52 likes2 comments
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Samara_Kipnis
Survival Math | Mitchell S. Jackson
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Calling himself out?