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Vermont Humanities E-newsletter
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Fall Conference: A Fire Never Extinguished
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Vermont Humanities Council Annual Fall Conference
November 14-15, Dudley H. Davis Center, University of Vermont
 | | Lincoln Statue, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC by Yortw |
The Civil War casts a long shadow in the United States. As Robert Penn Warren put it in his classic 1961 book, The Legacy of the Civil War, "many clear and objective facts about America are best understood in reference to the Civil War."
VHC's 2014 fall conference, presented in collaboration with the Vermont Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, explores the influence that the War had and continues to have on literature, visual art, race, memory, and politics. The conference, taking place five months before the end of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, will seek to identify lessons vital to American democracy that still can be learned from the War and its aftermath.
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Wonder Author R. J. Palacio Coming to Vermont
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 Thursday, October 9, 4:30 PM, Manchester Elementary Middle School, free and open to the public
Presented by the Vermont Humanities Council and the Northshire Bookstore
The author of Wonder is coming to Vermont on October 9. R.J. Palacio will be here to present her new book 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts.
 Wonder, the 2014 Vermont Reads pick, has drawn the largest Vermont Reads participation ever, inspiring 115 communities to host discussions, staged readings, Wonder-themed movie nights and art exhibits, community meals, and more. Two schools also chose Wonder as their theme for VHC's summer Humanities Camps program for middle-school students.
There's something for everyone in Palacio's new book with words of wisdom from such noteworthy people as Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., Confucius, Goethe, and Sappho. And it includes precepts from two Bennington students who participated in Vermont Reads Wonder.
We hope to see you on October 9!
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Words to Live By: Katherine Paterson
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 "People get very unhappy about books raising questions and making people unhappy. But I say that, if a book has any power at all, it has the power to offend. You have to risk that as a writer, I think."
-- Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson is a writer best known for children's novels. She is the recipient of two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards, as well as the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The quote is from "Read for your Life": A Conversation with Katherine Paterson.' Paterson's The Day of the Pelican was the Vermont Humanities Council's 2010 Vermont Reads book. Words to Live By brings weekly wisdom from Vermont poets, writers, artists, and thinkers and is a project of the Vermont Humanities Council and the Vermont Arts Council.
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A Calendar Sample
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August 15 - A Sense of Place: Vermont's Farm Legacy. Landgrove Meetinghouse, 4:00 pm. Priscilla Grayson, (802) 824-6867.
August 15 - The Roaring '20s in Fox Trot Tempo. West Fairlee, Congregational Church, 7:00 pm. Bonnie Cray, (802) 333-9655. August 16 - Journalism and War Coverage. Wilmington, Memorial Hall, 7:00 pm. Allison Smith, (802) 464-8557. August 17 - Shipwrecks of Lake Champlain. Weston, Old Parish Church, 1:30 pm. Robert Brandt, (802) 824-5486. August 19 - Mask-Making Workshop for Families. A Vermont Reads Wonder Event. Newbury, First Congregational Church, 3:00 pm. Peggy Hewes, (802) 757-2693. August 20 - 1964: A Watershed Year in Vermont's Political (and Cultural) History. Brookfield, Old Town Hall, 7:00 pm. Laura Rochat, (802) 276-3358. August 25 - Beatrix Potter Revisited. Enosburg Falls, West Enosburg United Methodist Church, 7:00 pm. Shirley Duso, (802) 933-4394. August 26 - The Old Country Fiddler: Charles Ross Taggart, Vermont's Traveling Entertainer. Barnard, Barnard Historical Society, 7:00 pm. Caz Rozonewski, (802) 234 -9080.  | | Charles Ross Taggart |
Visit the Vermont Humanities Council website to learn about events throughout Vermont. The calendar is updated on a regular basis.
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Civil War Book of Days Website Launched
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Double Your Devotion
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A group of VHC friends has offered a one-to-one 40th anniversary challenge grant. They will match the entire gift of donors who at least double their giving from 2013 to 2014. They will also match gifts from people who didn't give in 2013 or are a new donor to VHC. VHC hopes you will participate in this exciting opportunity to help the Council in a very dramatic way.
If you would consider making a stretch gift to VHC, there isn't a better time to do so!
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Humanities Commentaries on VPR
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 War and Irony (8-7-2014) This summer, several virtually simultaneous anniversaries of war has commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert thinking about how ironic war is, and how tragic. Civil War Stress Disorders (7-22-2014) In the midst of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Civil War, commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert considers a largely overlooked topic related to the war, PTSD. State Mottos (7-11-2014) Commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert has been thinking about what state mottos say about their states. Timely CommentariesCivil War Commission (8-11-10)This afternoon Governor Douglas appointed a commission to plan, promote, and present programs related to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which begins next April. Here's commentator, executive director of the Vermont Humanities Council, and commission member Peter Gilbert to provide some context. Yard Sales (8-19-05) You find some of the darndest things at yard sales. Recently commentator Peter Gilbert found a family board game, and it was not a . . . Trivial Pursuit.
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The Vermont Humanities Council presents more than 1,000 events every year. Thank you for your interest in lifelong learning!
Sincerely,
Sylvia Plumb, Director of Communications
Vermont Humanities Council
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