Vermont Humanities Council * January 7, 2014
Days by Billy Collins
Click on the picture to continue this New Year's poem by Billy Collins.
Photograph by Alex Derr.
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In This Issue
First Wednesdays
Interstate Highways
Vermont Reads 2014
Civil War Book of Days
Commentaries
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First Wednesdays 2013-2014
Wednesday, January 8: First Wednesdays at a Library Near You

January 8 at 7:00 pm in the nine Vermont communities below.

Women and Labor Conditions
Brattleboro -- What If Poor Women Ran the World? with Labor Historian Annelise Orleck. Location and host: Brooks Memorial Library. Learn more. 



Virginia Woolf
Essex Junction -- The Incandescent Mind: Virginia Woolf and Our Literary Foremothers with UVM Lecturer Dr. Annika Ljung-Baruth. Location and Host: Brownell Library. Learn more.


The Brain
Manchester -- Brain Lessons and Life Stories: Understanding Your Emotional Life with Dartmouth College Psychology Professor Paul Whalen. Location: First Congregational Church. Host: Mark Skinner Library. Learn more.

Downton Abbey
Middlebury -- The Costumes of Downton Abbey with Middlebury College artist-in-residence Jule Emerson. Location and host: Ilsley Public Library. Learn more.



What women want
Montpelier  -- What Women Want with Psychotherapist and Author Polly Young-Eisendrath. Location and host: Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Learn more.


   
Queen Elizabeth & Prince Phillip
Newport -- The British Monarchy from Victoria to Elizabeth II with Middlebury College Professor Paul Monodh. Location and host: Goodrich Memorial Library. Learn more.


Statue of Libery
Norwich -- Security Versus Civil Liberties: America's Perpetual Dilemma with Former ABC News Correspondent Barrie Dunsmore. Location: Norwich Congregational Church. Hosts: Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society. Learn more.

 

Vincent van Gogh Painting Rutland -- Vincent Van Gogh: What Influenced Him and His Influence on Twentieth Century Art with Art Historian Carol Berry. Location and host: Rutland Free Library. Learn more.  

 

Pre-war Nazi Germany St. Johnsbury -- Daily Life in Prewar Nazi Germany with Keene State Professor Paul Vincent. Location and host: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. Learn more. 




First Wednesdays draws nationally and regionally renowned authors, artists, scholars, and public figures who speak on diverse topics before audiences sometimes numbering several hundred people.

  

First Wednesdays talks are free and open to the public.

Learn about First Wednesdays near you. 
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Vermont's Interstate Highways:
Interpreting the Interstates

Exhibit at the Vermont History Museum, Montpelier
Through April 26, 2014

Free with admission to the Museum

A new exhibit takes a look at how the construction of the Interstate Highway System changed the culture and landscape of Vermont. The exhibit draws from more than 36,000 images scanned by the Landscape Change Program at the University of Vermont. The images are from the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration taken between 1958 to 1978, before, during, and after Interstate construction.

This three-year project of the Landscape Change Program is funded in part with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In December, Frank Bryan, UVM professor emeritus and lifelong Vermonter, considered the cultural and historical impact of the Interstate Highway System on Vermont in a First Wednesdays talk in Norwich.

Listen to a story about Interpreting the Interstates on Vermont Public Radio. 

Learn more about the exhibit at the Vermont History Museum. 
I89 in Brookfield
This dirt road in Brookfield was soon replaced by the interstate. Credit UVM Landscape Change Program / Vermont State Archives and Records Administration

Vermont Reads 2014
Announcing Vermont Reads 2014 

Vermont Reads
Wonder by R.J. Palacio

"Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness."


- Mr. Tushman, the principal at Beecher Prep,
the middle school at the center of Wonder


Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Vermont communities are invited to participate in the statewide read of Wonder, R.J. Palacio's bestselling, inspiring story about the power, and the importance, of kindness -- in everyone's life.

On the inside, fifth-grader Auggie Pullman knows he's like any other kid. But due to a congenital birth defect, he stands out in ways nobody wants to. Wonder traces Auggie's journey through his first year in middle school, where he experiences the challenges of being shunned -- and the satisfactions of belonging -- in a world where differences can both set us apart and bring us together.

Discover with others the power of reading, and of reflecting on the ways we can choose kindness and inclusion in our communities. Vermont Reads unites communities around reading, ideas, and activities. Libraries, schools, and other nonprofit organizations may apply; collaboration among town organizations and businesses is strongly encouraged.
  • Receive FREE books and programming support.    
  • Host readings, discussions, and community event nights in your schools, libraries, and local businesses.    
  • Listen to Vermont Public Radio's Vermont Reads feature.

Civil War Book of Days -- Marking Events that Happened Each Week During the Civil War

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Sign up for the Civil War Book of Days

VHC's weekly Civil War Book of Days marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. It commemorates what happened each week 150 years ago.

Read some of the latest editions of this e-newsletter.

Humanities Commentaries on VPR
Without a Country (12-12-13) Commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert notes that emotional criticism of the federal government isn't new. Nor is the concern that it can easily get out of hand-to everyone's detriment.

New US Capitol (11-27-2013) A hundred and fifty years ago, the US Capitol building was being dramatically expanded. It's a story rich in irony and steeped in the meaning of freedom and slavery and of our national government itself. Here's commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert to explain.

Enjoy these timely reflections pulled from the archive.
Thank You for Your Donation

The Vermont Humanities Council depends on donations from individuals and businesses to offer public programming and programming for underserved communities.

VHC accepts donations online or by mail or call Linda Wrazen, Development Officer at 802.262.2626 x 309.

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The Vermont Humanities Council presents more than 1,100 events every year. Thank you for your interest in lifelong learning!

Sincerely,

 

Sylvia Plumb, Director of Communications
Vermont Humanities Council