"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
1. Civic Reflection Goes Nationwide
It is difficult to find time in this world to reflect on the things that really matter.
This is a truism that has become almost trite in its repetition, but despite that it remains strangely true. To people who think about thinking, this can be frustrating. Some people, though, are bringing the concept of reflection to a very high level.
"Civic reflection," mentioned in the first issue of this on-line newsletter,
uses reading and discussion to reflect on issues of giving, serving,
associating and leading. This simple practice can help those who are engaged
in civic life to step back and reflect on the purposes and consequences of
their activity.
This seems particularly timely and valuable for Americans as the country
becomes ever more divided. The Maine Humanities Council offers civic
reflection programming for citizens and community groups. But in an effort
to help promote the practice nationwide, it has joined with colleagues at
the Project on Civic Reflection at Valparaiso University in Indiana to
sponsor a new website: www.civicreflection.org.
The site is intended as a one-stop resource for people and organizations
seeking to convene conversations around civic life. At its heart is an
interactive electronic 'Resource Library' of several hundred suggested texts
that raise questions around civic topics. These resources can be sorted in a
traditional fashion by author, key word or title, or they can be searched in
a 'guided' fashion, using a series of menus to help identify intriguing
readings that get at a particular topic, theme or question.
The library is designed for browsing. We hope you will visit it, explore
some of the texts, and, of course, reflect.
Visit the link below for details of programs
that the MHC funds in whole or in part by providing grants. We hope
you have the opportunity to experience one of these projects and
see the difference that the MHC grant program makes.
The MHC Board saw a bit of silliness last month
at the MHC's October meeting in Greenville. I would not ordinarily
call ours a quirky staff, but three of them took the matter of saying
farewell very seriously and performed (with hand percussion) a musical
tribute to Marli Weiner, MHC Board Chair from September 2002 to
December 2004. Marli is hardly averse to laughter, but I think even
this took her unawares.
Who is Marli Weiner to be lauded with "I've been working with my
Marli all the livelong day" in public before her peers? The answer
is easy: she is a truly extraordinary woman with a very tolerant
sense of humor.
Marli is a professor at history at the University of Maine at Orono.
Her publications include Plantation Women: South Carolina Mistresses
and Slaves, 1830-1880, "A Heritage of Woe:" The Civil
War Diary of Grace Brown Elmore, and "Mistresses, Morality,
and the Dilemmas of Slaveholding: The Ideology and Behavior of Elite
Antebellum Women," in Patricia Morton's Discovering the Women
in Slavery. She is a featured scholar in MHC programs on
American history and a much-loved friend of the MHC. We are all
very glad that she will serve on the Board for one more year as
a trustee.
Richard Barnes, who has served on the MHC Board since 1996, takes
over the leadership on January 1. Dick knows us well enough to
understand that the imagination inherent in the MHC staff (leading
to abilities to create award-winning programs and solve problems
swiftly and with grace) also can give vent to a bit of mischievous
behavior on occasions. He seems not at all afraid.
Deadlines for the regular and discretionary grant program are
rolling. The next major grants deadline is November 10, 2004 (final).
Down on the Island, Up on the Main: $500
WMPG Radio, Portland
WMPG, Portland's community radio station, will produce and air a
60-minute radio version of Ellen Vincent's award-winning oral history
of South Bristol, Down on the Island, Up on the Main. Like
Vincent's book (Tilbury House, 2003), the program will present the
culture and history of Maine's mid-coast region through the voices
of South Bristol's citizens. The MHC is proud to renew support for
the ongoing Down on the Island project, which we funded in
a previous incarnation as an exhibit at the South Bristol Historical
Society. Listen for three broadcasts of the finished radio program
on WMPG during the winter of 2005.
Maine Authors in our Schools: $500
Vivian E. Hussey Primary School, Berwick
Over the past decade, Claudia Updike has brought over 100 Maine
children's book writers and illustrators to York County schools.
As director of the K-6 library program in SAD #60, Updike recognizes
the inspirational impact that meeting a working author or illustrator
can have on young writers and artists in elementary schools. She
started the Maine Authors in Our Schools program in 1993, and has
kept the program running in spite of limited school budgets and
rising author fees. This spring, with the help of the MHC, Updike
will bring Kevin Hawkes to the North Berwick Primary School. Hawkes,
an illustrator of national renown, lives in Gorham. In one whirlwind
day, he will give four presentations to accommodate every student
in the school (and many parents). He will also appear at a luncheon
with teachers, school librarians, and other local children's literature
enthusiasts.
This looks like a quiet month for publications. Several from MHC family members are in the works right now, but it may be another month or two before they are on paper.
"I must remind you again how deeply appreciative
rural libraries such as ours are to have the Humanities Council
make possible such marvelous roads into Literature (and Life) for
our lucky patrons; the pebbles you toss into our pond go so much
further than you could imagine."
Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please
contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org
or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233,
ext. 208) to respond.
Notes from an Open Book
