Notes From an Open Book
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Maine's libraries are tough. Now, you wouldn't necessarily know that by glancing into their civilized interiors. But I've been to several libraries last month, which showed me a few things about the way libraries and their communities work together to benefit each other.
A high point of one recent road trip was the Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor. The library is down about 30 minutes or so from Route 1, and Yvonne Gloede, the head librarian, told me that their constituents are mostly local community members. But what wonderful community members they are. Yvonne is part-time, and so is another librarian. But they have over 30 volunteers who work at the front desk and do so many other things. This community helped its library make a major capital campaign work, resulting in an impressive building with one of the sunniest and most comfortable reading rooms I've ever visited-and their children's room is huge, full of windows and color, with rows and rows of books on beautiful wooden floors. Yvonne has thought hard about putting new books in the library out front (just like thoughtful bookstores) with the rest of the collection in an enormous basement scattered with comfortable chairs and, again, more natural light. The library also has acquired an impressive collection of Classic texts, thanks to a generous bequest from one of the community members. Another community member happens to be a retired expert in the Classics, and helped Yvonne select the initial books to form the heart of this collection.
That's just a glimpse of a powerful small library I visited last month in a rural place whose community is eager to learn. The MHC is delighted to offer our "Taste of the Humanities" brown bag lunch on Seamus Heaney, partnering with the Jackson Memorial Library. If you missed the January lunch in Portland, please consider taking the beautiful drive to Tenants Harbor to visit this impressive library. It's on April 9 from noon to 1:00 pm (more information is below in this issue).
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The Maine Humanities Council,
a statewide non-profit organization, uses the humanities-literature, history, philosophy, and culture-as a tool for positive change in Maine communities. Our programs and grants encourage critical thinking and conversations across social, economic, and cultural boundaries.
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Think & Drink: Race in a Networked World
Wednesday, March 5th, 6:00 - 7:30 pm, free and for all ages, at SPACE Gallery in Portland
 This spring, the Maine Humanities Council's Think & Drink series invites you to participate in a facilitated public conversation with expert panelists. "In a Networked World," the theme for the four-session series, will explore through a variety of lenses how our highly networked, plugged-in culture affects the way we relate to each other and to the world around us.
This series aims not to create consensus but, rather, to foster an open interplay of viewpoints and perspectives. As we prepare for the kick-off next week, it's clear that our opening event, "Race in a Networked World," will do just that.
In fact, the more we explore the intersections between race and digital media, the farther we stray from consensus. On one hand, the Internet is a breeding ground for racist representation. Take Richard Sherman's recent post-game interview with Erin Andrews. Stripped of context, the viral interview clips were met with immediate online backlash. Sherman was branded a "hood", a "hooligan", and a "thug." But the same digital mediums that circulated those streams of racist imagery and language soon became the tools of an anti-racist rebuttal. Articles surfaced to defend Sherman, calling out the racism behind the online frenzy, and contextualizing it within broader systems of power. So, while our virtual networks disseminate racist imagery and hate speech at alarming rates, they also foster rich critiques and social justice dialogues.
On Wednesday, March 5, Panelists Shay Stewart-Bouley (Executive Director of Community Change Inc. and blogger @ blackgirlinmaine) and Ingrid Nelson (Assistant professor of Sociology @ Bowdoin) will be joined by Special guest Alondra Nelson (Professor of Sociology @ Columbia) to discuss these tensions and others. True to the spirit of Think & Drink, we won't strive for resolution; we'll work instead to shed new light on the contradictions.
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A Taste of the Humanities
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"Taste of the Humanities" is the Maine Humanities Council's newest offering: a one-hour brown bag lunch series appearing in towns across Maine. We have two more lunches coming up this spring and hope you can join us for one or both:
French Acadian Foodways: Ployes and Soupe au Navetat the Cultural Crossroads of Maine's St. John Valley
April 4, 2014, 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Maine Discovery Museum, Bangor
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Photo: Raymond Pelletier
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The Franco tradition in Maine is richly complex, particularly in northern Aroostook County where settlers from Acadia and New France took refuge when those place names were erased from the map. Professor Raymond Pelletier (Emeritus, Canadian-American Center, University of Maine) will present French Acadian Foodways, a multisensory, interactive discussion of cultural traditions that transcend the U.S./Canadian border to Maine and New England. The presentation promises to provide a glimpse into the sights, sounds, and tastes of the cross-border traditions that have been maintained. Tastings of traditional Acadian foods will be provided.
Teach Me Now to Listen: A Retrospective of Seamus Heaney
April 9, 2014, 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Jackson Memorial Library, Tenants Harbor
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Seamus Heaney, photo courtesy of
The Kenyon Review
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Seamus Heaney's death last year was a blow to poets and literature lovers alike. Professor John Ward (Centre and Kenyon Colleges), as well as many others, believes that Heaney's work deserves to be kept in the present. In this retrospective on the poet and his work, Professor Ward explores Heaney's ranging subjects and styles-from personal and familial to political and cultural. First held in Portland last January, Teach Me Now to Listen will be at Tenants Harbor at the Jackson Memorial Library on April 9 thanks to great demand.
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Student Humanities Ambassador
The MHC is looking for creative and energetic rising 10th or 11th graders interested in community engagement through the humanities. Through the Student Humanities Ambassador Program, students will work with the MHC to identify a topic and, working with a budget of $1,000 from the MHC, create, plan, run, and evaluate a humanities-based program or event within the student's community.
Do you know a student who might be interested? Please share this link.
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News from Local and Legendary: A Discussion of Soldier's Heart in Presque Isle
 Last month, 28 people gathered to discuss Gary Paulsen's Soldier's Heart as a part of Local and Legendary, the Maine Humanities Council's Civil War program presented in partnership with Maine Historical Society. The partners in Presque Isle were holding a series of book discussions open to the community. This night, with Soldier's Heart as the book under discussion, we had a fascinating group: 14 students, seven Veterans, and four other community members. One participant attended because he's a Civil War re-enactor, and he also attended the previous discussion of Rodman Philbrick's The Mostly True Adventures ofHomer P. Figg. A boy close to ten attended with his mother because he, too, had liked Homer P. Figg so much that he was eager to try Soldier's Heart. The Veterans included two women and those who had served from WWII to more recent actions.
Jan Grieco, the scholar/facilitator that night, introduced topics that ranged from how military life is the same (endless drilling) and different than it was during the Civil War, why we fight, why the kids today seem younger than a character in the book seemed at 15, communication between the homefront and soldiers, and why the war was fought, as well as weapons, food, and medicine. The final question of the evening came from a student who asked the Veterans if they had to do it again would they still enlist. The overwhelming answer was yes, but one Veteran told them to get an education first.
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Whether you've survived the icy winds of St. Petersburg (in the MHC's upcoming Winter Weekend, which features Crime and Punishment) or simply endured the long nights of another Maine winter, you deserve a trip to the sunnier climes of Sicily, the Po Valley, and Naples. Led by famed MHC scholar Peter Aicher (University of Southern Maine), this is our 2014 Community Seminar series: three discussion sessions of literature with a common theme.
Peter will take us first through Giuseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard, a story of an old aristocratic and new Italy, on April 10. Then on May 8, we'll delve into a love-story, a horticultural hymn to Italian villas, a depiction of the complex reactions to the "racial laws" in Italy, and a meditation on memory and loss with Giorgio Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. Last, on June 5, we'll explore the childhood and adolescence of two girls growing up in working-class Naples with Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend.
Sign up soon, as we only have a few spots left!
For more information or to register, contact Karen.
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Podcasts
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Photo: Arthur Fink
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In this episode, we revisit Martin Steingesser's The Thinking Heart in honor of its inclusion in one of our recent grants. A 2013 grant brought the performance to Bates College, where it was very well received. Here we hear a recording made in 2009 of The Thinking Heart, A Performance in Two Voices with Cello by Martin Steingesser, Robin Jellis, and Judy Tierney (pictured). The Thinking Heart is an original arrangement of journal and letters written by Etty Hillesum, a Dutch woman who chose to enter a World War II concentration camp in order to be with her people.
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Upcoming Events
Spring is on its way, and the MHC has plenty of events to keep you busy. Local & Legendary: Maine in the Civil War will be bringing book discussions to Belfast, Presque Isle, Portland, Westbrook, Gorham, and Windham. Thanks to last month's stormy weather, Think & Drink will now debut on March 5th at the SPACE Gallery in Portland. The subject for the evening is "Race in a Networked World." We can't believe it, but it's already time for Winter Weekend 2014! It will take place March 7-8th at Bowdoin College.
For these and more events, visit our calendar.
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Recent Grant List
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In February, the MHC awarded the following grants:
$1,000 for "Where Were You in '64?: Margaret Chase Smith's Campaign for the Presidency in the Year That Changed the States," Margaret Chase Smith Library; co-presented by MSAD 54 Adult & Community Education and the Skowhegan Free Public Library, Skowhegan (Community Outreach)
"Where Were You in '64?" will examine the epochal and pivotal year 1964. This year saw the arrival of the Beatles and British Invasion, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the deepening of the American involvement in the Vietnam War following the Tonkin incident, and Margaret Chase Smith's historic run for the Republican presidential nomination in an election that marked the resurgence of the conservative movement. The grant will include an exhibit, book discussion series, lectures and essay contest at the library-in conjunction with theatrical performances and movies in the community.
$1,000 for "2014 Maine Summit on Citizen Diplomacy." World Affairs Council of Maine, Portland (Community Outreach)
This summit will bring together educators, students, and community organizations interested in international education to promote an understanding of citizen diplomacy and the role of education as an instrument of citizen diplomacy, and to explore ideas for international experiences and opportunities for partnerships between Maine's schools and international education organizations and institutions.
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Recommended Reading
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Musings on Colum McCann's TransAtlantic
by Peter O'Brien
 I had seen one review of TransAtlantic that spoke of the story as being a bit unwieldy. I failed to see that. I found myself comfortable with the language and familiar with the locales, though I've never been to Missouri. New York, Maine, and Senator Mitchell came very easy to me. I greatly respect the Senator. I believe he was an honest representative of the State of Maine and the American people in his time in government. His work on the Good Friday Agreement is a great achievement that as an Irish/American I take great pride in. I was moved by Colum McCann's portrait of Mitchell on these pages: soft spoken, considerate, humanely insecure; a hero in the purest sense.
The sweep of the book across time and ocean is epic on a personal scale. I felt Frederick Douglass's insecurities in trying to understand these people who seemed to accept him as a man. I followed his journey from Dublin to Cork, recalling roads I have travelled, towns I have visited. I admired David Manyaki and his wife Aoibeann, the strength of their relationship, and wondered at what might have been between Douglass and Isabel Jennings. Lily, Emily, and Lottie were strong women who stand tall in the face of unimaginable loss. The book is rich in history and the content of its characters
A line from the book I thought was central to its being is: "A pattern on a saucer, a circularity. No beginning, no end." I would add, like Celtic knot work, an interweave of life, an intricate, elaborate, beautiful circle.
 Peter O'Brien, MHC program participant, is a skilled photographer. He wrote about his photo to the left: "We were staying in Boyle, County Roscommon, where my maternal grandparents were from, and toured the King House, a grand Georgian town house from the early 1700s. This was a wall bordered with heavy drapes. The way the Celtic design emerged from under the drapes made me think of how my Irish heritage was being revealed." |
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From our programs:
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"Whether our participation numbers are large or small, the value one gains from the Let's Talk About It program should not be underestimated. This opportunity helps to further the mission of our library as we strive to be a cultural and intellectual center for our community and we can't thank the MHC enough for giving this opportunity to our small rural town."
-from a rural library that had just held MHC programming
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I hope that readers of this newsletter take the opportunity to visit their local libraries; these institutions make a major difference in our communities. The MHC is proud to partner with them in so many ways.
Thank you for reading this newsletter, and for all your support. Your gifts make our programs possible.
Warmly,
Diane Magras Director of Development Maine Humanities Council |
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Would you like to make a donation? Please contact Diane Magras or call
(207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to discuss.
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