Boise Weekly Vol. 19 Issue 05

Page 24

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8 DAYS OUT PAWS ON THE PATIO—Leashed, well-behaved dogs are invited to hang on the patio to help raise money for Spay Neuter Idaho Pets, by chowing down on some of Zamzow’s finest vittles. 3 p.m. FREE. Donnie Mac’s Trailer Park Cuisine, 1515 W. Grove St., Boise, 208-384-9008, www. donniemacgrub.com. PIONEER TOASTMASTERS— Participants can work on their public speaking with the Pioneer Toastmasters speaking club. For more info, e-mail personalityonpaper@yahoo.com. 6-7:30 p.m. FREE, 208-559-4434. Perkins Family Restaurant, 300 Broadway Ave., Boise. SPACE DAYS—This year’s theme is Women in Space. Events include educational activities, model rocket launches, talks with female astronauts and more. See website for full schedule. Discovery Center of Idaho, 131 Myrtle St., Boise, 208-3439895, www.scidaho.org.

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Festivals & Events PERFORMANCE POETRY WORKSHOP AND POETRY SLAM OF STEEL AND HAIKU BATTLE—Workshop with Tara Brenner at 6 p.m. followed by an all-ages poetry slam. For more information, e-mail cheryl_maddalena@yahoo.com. 6 p.m. FREE for workshop; $5 poetry slam, $1 with student ID, www.boisepoetry.com. Woman of Steel Gallery and Wine Bar, 3640 W. Chinden Blvd., Garden City, 208331-5632. PLAYING IN THE PLAZA—Food and craft vendors, along with live music by Mr. Cappi. 5 p.m. FREE. Generations Plaza, corner of Main Street and Idaho Avenue, Meridian, www.meridiancity.org.

Food & Drink TUESDAY NIGHT FARMERS MARKET—The parking lot of the North End Organic Nursery on Hill Road will host local growers and farmers selling produce. Gardeners and farmers interested in selling at the market should contact Bingo Barnes at bingo@northendnursery.com or by calling 208-389-4769. 5-7 p.m. North End Organic Nursery, 2350 Hill Road, Boise, 208-3894769, northendnursery.com.

Workshops & Classes HIP-HOP MASTERS CLASSES WITH NICK ZBROWSKI—Nick Zborowski, a member of the Adrenaline Dance Company and faculty member at Debbie Reynolds Studio in Hollywood, will teach two levels of hip-hop dance classes. Contact tnefzger@gmail. com to register. 7 and 8 p.m. $15-$25. Mountain View High School, 2000 Millenium Way, Meridian, 208-855-4050.

24 | JULY 28 – AUGUST 3, 2010 | BOISEweekly

Literature

Citizen

POETRY READING—Poetry host Scott Berge invites poets to share their own work or favorite poems during a fun night of poetry readings. Sign up at 6:30 p.m. and start waxing poetic at 7 p.m. For more information, e-mail ScottBerge@live.com. Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. FREE. Alia’s Coffeehouse, 908 W. Main St., Boise, 208-338-1299.

CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS—The Boise City Council meetings are held every Tuesday evening, except the fourth Tuesday of the month, when meetings are held at noon. 6 p.m. Boise City Hall, www.cityofboise.org.

ARTS/BOOK REVIEW DAVID AXE AND MATT BORS THINK WAR IS BORING The 2009 Oscar for Best Film went to Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, a film made from the premise that war is a drug, something some participants become addicted to and need higher doses of. Her film focused on a soldier addicted to the thrill. War is Boring, a new graphic novel memoir from reporter David Axe and artist Matt Bors, covers similar themes as experienced by a war correspondent. Axe reports from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chad, Darfur and more, paying for much of it out of pocket. And every time he runs out of money and returns home, he can’t wait to get back, though he can’t really put a finger on why. His friends and family tell him he has a death wish. He doesn’t completely disagree. A great many war memoirs have been released in the last decade, many of which have been more interesting or insightful. In all of them, it can be difficult to separate the story from the author. War is Boring, is no different, and that is its central problem. It’s difficult to care about Axe or his struggles as he alienates everyone he knows for their ignorance, yet acknowledges his own. He insinuates he does the job to help, especially at the end when he travels to Africa to shed light on genocide in Darfur, but he genuinely loves going to war. Even the title is snide. The book is a slim 124 illustrated pages, barely enough time to address the full range of experiences of one war zone, let alone six. Tim O’Brien has devoted nearly his entire literary career to one tour in Vietnam. By nature, a memoir often lacks the balanced perspective found in novels. It is intended to be a narrow personal view. And in that respect, War is Boring works. But though most of the story takes place in war zones, it isn’t about war as much as what war does to people when they return home. And it’s far less gripping to read than it is frustrating, not from being clunky or poorly created but because aside from Axe being unlikable, there is little unique about his story. —Josh Gross WWW. B O I S E WE E KLY. C O M

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