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• An Appreciation

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• Fezziwig’s and Others’ Festive Activities

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• Upcoming Events

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• News from the MHC

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• Recent Grants

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• What We’re Reading

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• Quote of the Month

“In reality, every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have experienced in himself. And the recognition by the reader in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its veracity.”

— Time Regained
Marcel Proust

December promises to be a poignant month for all of us at the Maine Humanities Council. While we have a capable, talented, and much-loved new executive director in the wings—our own Erik Jorgensen—we will be seeing the departure of our director of the past 25 years, Dorothy Schwartz, known to everyone here and probably most people who read this newsletter as Deedee.

In a recent print newsletter, Deedee’s “Letter from the Director” shared her perspective of the past quarter century of her leadership. Many people attended Deedee’s retirement party on November 30, during which a tribute video from Mainers and friends in Washington, D.C., shared their thoughts on the impact Deedee has had on the state of Maine and the humanities world nationwide. She has made a lasting difference and deserves tremendous applause for that.

But I also want to offer one perspective that has not been shared quite yet, and that is of a staff member who works closely with Deedee. Other staff, not to mention scholars, know how important encouragement and belief is in a supervisor. One of Deedee’s greatest talents as a manager has been her process of surrounding herself with people who are very good at what they do, bringing together a palette of skills that no one person could ever have on his or her own. She is also a sharer—of thoughts, ideas, feelings, projects, and excitement. When Deedee’s sparkling brown eyes appear in the doorway of my office, I know that she has another brilliant idea to bestow or a wonderful joke.

Deedee is also a solid manager who understands the financial aspect of our work. She can slip easily into a discussion of hard facts between discussions of program strategy and, an hour later, the Darwin biography she’s reading. To have this balance in a manager is unusual. To have this in a manager as warm, caring, and kind as Deedee is unique.

Starting in January, Deedee will begin her new life, traveling to England (where she will conduct research at libraries holding Darwin’s works for an art project that’s been bubbling in the back of her mind for the past year), working in her new studio downtown, and spending time with Nathan, Sophie, and Mason, her three grandchildren, and their respective parents. While I know that I and many others here will see Deedee often in the months and years ahead—and her studio is only a five-minute drive from the office—it is still a bittersweet feeling to know that we won’t see her every day.

Take care, Deedee. We know you will make wonderful things of your new life, just as you made a wonderful thing of the lives of everyone at the MHC.

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Back in Dickens’s day, families gathered around a hearth with a reader before the fire, A Christmas Carol open on his or her knee. Reading aloud was an important part of domestic life, and in some families today (such as in my own) it is a part of each day and certainly each holiday. For both the reader and the listener, the aural sensation of storytelling is powerful. The rhythm of words and the mixture of imagery can bring about a special atmosphere to even the most festive setting.

The MHC’s Born to Read program encourages parents to read daily—not just on holidays—to children from birth, not only to help build vocabulary, but also to encourage children, even the very youngest, to exercise their imaginations. We have recently begun linking our end-of-year fundraising appeal with Born to Read, and, at the suggestion of one MHC donor, began offering books as part of this process. This year, if you’d like to make a special gift to Born to Read, helping to fund its statewide programs for childcare providers, volunteer readers, and others who work closely with young children, you may opt to receive a book or a group of books for a child you know. Through our Born to Read Holidays appeal, you can make three gifts at once—to your child, to a daycare in need, and to Born to Read for program development.

Due to requests for books previously offered only as part of a group, we are happy to offer all books of each group for individual purchase.

On behalf of the MHC, I wish everyone a wonderful December.

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Just two grant-funded events are available this December:

December 6, 2006 ~~~ Ellsworth

The Hancock County Cultural Network has planned a Brown Bag Artist Series for the first Wednesday of every month (with the exception of August) from April 2006 through March 2007. The intent is to encourage a varied audience to see behind the scenes of an organization or an artist’s work. Speakers begin at noon and present for thirty minutes, then invite the audience to join in a discussion. On December 6, brush artist Frederica Marshall will speak at the Ellsworth Public Library. Marshall, a master sumi-e artist, will demonstrate this ancient art of ink and brush and present examples of finished work. For details and future lecture dates, please contact Carolyn Hecker at (207) 348-2535.

December 21, 2006 ~~~ Orono

The Orono Historical Society is hosting a monthly public lecture series as part of the bicentennial celebration of the town. Lectures have been held on the third Thursday of every month in the year. The final lecture, on December 21, will bring Roxanne Saucier of the Bangor Daily News to talk about early family life in Orono. All lectures are free and open to the public in the Town’s Council Chambers. For more details, please contact the Orono Historical Society at (207) 866-4270.

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Let’s Talk About It, the MHC’s free reading and discussion program offered with libraries throughout the state, has developed a new series called “Making a Difference.” This series explores lives of people who aim to make a difference in big ways and small and the instinct of communities to follow duty. This can sometimes result in positive examples (support of individuals who desperately need help), but can also exhibit misguided duty or duty that ends up harming communities. This has been a very popular new series and is available to any library that wishes to present it. As mentioned, it’s a free program, so if you are interested, contact your local library and share this information. The “Making a Difference” series is funded by the MHC’s Thoughtful Giving project and by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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The December booklist from Born to Read reveals favorites from the MHC staff, in time for the holidays or for any quiet moment.

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$1,000 to the Presque Isle Historical Society, Presque Isle, for Presque Isle and Its Main Street
The Presque Isle Historical Society will create an exhibit to show the ways in which local, state, national, and world events affected the cultural and economic development of Presque Isle’s Main Street.

$1,000 to PCA Great Performances, Portland, for Understanding the Performing Arts through the Humanities
This series of fifteen scholarly, humanities-based lecturers will place the PCA artists and their art forms in historical, literary, and social context.

$500 to the City of Portland for Portland Freedom Trail
Portland’s Freedom Trail will link significant sites connected to the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement with permanent granite pedestals in a walking route throughout the peninsula.

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At age seven, Laura Bridgman lost her hearing, sight, and ability to speak thanks to a case of scarlet fever that passed through her family. She lived in rural New Hampshire, utterly alone in her empty, blank world, no longer able to remember, or, it was thought by those around her, to feel. To many, Bridgman was no longer a true human being.

Enter Samuel Gridley Howe. He was the director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind and never before had seen such a case. Howe took Bridgman away to Boston and gave her teachers to help her communicate with her hands—through a finger-spelling Howe developed, feeling her way through raised letters on a page, and writing—and in doing so, opened up her life. Howe viewed Bridgman as an experiment, though, and used Bridgman as an effective advertisement for his work. At the same time, however, he saw the potential that no one else recognized in her and aimed to prove that she was indeed a human being.

Howe’s work prompted debates from such great thinkers as Darwin and Carlyle, but despite his marketing of Laura Bridgman and his work, by the end of her life in 1889, she was largely forgotten, replaced by the more glamorous Helen Keller. Elisabeth Gitter’s The Imprisoned Guest explores the lives of Howe and Bridgman and their unusual relationship.

This book is used in the MHC’s Teachers for a New Century program.

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“Reading to children gives me the chance to escape into a world filled with wonder, joy, and spontaneity.”

—a Born to Read volunteer reader

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