On October 20, 2007, the MHC held its “Good Book on a Fall Day” event, mentioned previously in this newsletter. Tom Lizotte, director of development and marketing at Mayo Regional Hospital, Commissioner of Piscataquis County, and member of the MHC Board, attended and shares his thoughts below.
More than one person took a look at my name tag and expressed surprise: “You came all the way down from Dover-Foxcroft for this?” Yes, we did. While Dover may only seem like it is near Baffin Island from the perspective of Portland, it still required a five-hour, round-trip drive for Leslie and me to attend the Maine Humanities Council’s “A Good Book on a Fall Day” session on Oct. 20 at the University of Southern Maine.
The book was Robert Penn Warren’s masterful political novel All the King’s Men—all 661 pages of it—inspired by the life of “The Kingfish,” Louisiana’s Huey Long. And while the Willie Stark character took center stage, it was the cynical, world-weary voice of Boss Stark’s aide, ex-journalist Jack Burden, that got the attention of this occasionally cynical, world-weary ex-journalist.
“A Good Book on a Fall Day” was the Council’s attempt to replicate its ultra-successful Winter Weekend program on a smaller scale, with the 70 attendees enjoying a half-day event featuring top-notch scholarly presentations. Support from the We the People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities made it all possible.
The day started with an examination of the Huey Long-Willie Stark connection by Raymond Arsenault, Professor of Southern History at the University of South Florida and a specialist in the political history of the American South. To hear the story of the Kingfish is to realize that America just doesn’t produce demagogues like we used to.
Next up was Joseph Wensink, who is pursuing his PhD at Brandeis in American novels of the 20th century. Wensink peeled the onion on the philosophical structure of Warren’s novel, delving into the clashing currents of determinism, idealism and pragmatism. Pity those readers who thought this book was just about populist politics.
Tricia Welsch, who chairs the Film Studies department at Bowdoin, examined the filming of American politics in general, and specifically looked at the two film versions of Warren’s novel—the Academy Award-winning 1949 version with Broderick Crawford, and last year’s remake with Sean Penn. It was startling to discover what insights one can gather from watching film with the sound turned off.
Welsch, Arsenault and Wensink also conducted breakout sessions on Hollywood and the Novel, 20th century Southern politics and “All the King’s Men” as literature.
After all that heavy intellectual lifting, we walked next door to the top floor of USM’s Glickman Library to enjoy the view and a delicious Southern dinner. There was also a bourbon-tasting bar as part of the reception, and I sampled some Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek. Just to be sociable, of course.
It was a long drive back home through the dark, but a warm glow sustained me during that trip. Leslie suggested it might have been the whiskey; I insisted it was the power and pleasure of ideas.
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A Special Mention: Camden Conference in Portland via World Affairs Council of Maine
The World Affairs Council of Maine has long partnered with the MHC to offer the “Views of the East” teacher program. Below is an upcoming event, though not involving the MHC, that readers of this newsletter might find of interest.
“Religion as a Force in World Affairs,” the 2008 Camden Conference, will come to Portland on February 22 to 24, 2008. Previously live only in Camden, the Camden Conference will also come to the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Center via live interactive video streaming by the World Affairs Council of Maine. This will be an opportunity to explore one of the most talked-about issues in foreign policy. The dialogue will include experts in academia, government, the media, and the international community, discussing the potent role religion plays in our world. For a list of speakers and related reading, visit www.camdenconference.org. Ticket prices for the Camden Conference in Portland, including lunch on Saturday and coffee service for Saturday and Sunday, are as follows:
- $155 for World Affairs Council members, educators and students.
- $190 for non-members.
- $100 scholarships may be available for students and educators.
Register at www.wacmaine.org, and do so soon as the Camden Conference always sells out quickly.
Facilitated discussions of the Camden Conference presentations will be offered during the Saturday lunch, but registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. The Portland venue offers an optional reception at 6:30 PM prior to the Friday night keynote speech at the Abromson Center for $20 per person, with a cash bar. Parking is available in the adjacent garage.
The World Affairs Council of Maine is celebrating its 30th anniversary as the state’s oldest and largest non-profit, non-partisan public membership organization dedicated to public education in international affairs. The Camden Conference, founded in 1987, is a nonprofit, non-partisan educational organization whose mission is to foster informed discourse on world issues.
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The November book list from Born to Read is the third and final in the program’s “Lost and Found” series.
September’s list covered missing toys and the joys (in many cases) of recovering them. October’s list went beyond the category of toys to include books about other missing things (mostly hats and mittens); in November, the theme will cover missing children. Click here to see the current list, and here reach a compilation of past lists.
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In 2007, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the MHC a Digital Start-up Grant for Humanities on Demand: Podcasting and the Maine Humanities Council. This program, providing podcasts of lectures, readings, and interviews with prominent Maine writers, will be on the MHC website www.mainehumanities.org starting November 5. Podcasts will feature programming from the MHC and partners, including the Maine Historical Society and the Portland Public Library.
Humanities on Demand will launch with seven recordings: three interviews from the MHC’s 30th Anniversary CD, Maine Writers Speak (featuring authors Cathie Pelletier, Monica Wood, and Richard Russo), three readings from the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lunch series (poet Elizabeth Edwards, novelist Eric B. Martin, and writer Meredith Hall), and a poetry reading by Wesley McNair from the MHC archive.
Following the launch, new recordings will be released every two weeks. Future selections will include more from Maine Writers Speak and the Brown Bag Lunch series, lectures from the Maine Historical Society, and other MHC events, including family-friendly programming. Listeners can download selections or subscribe to the podcast using a program such as iTunes.
Funding like this allows the MHC to reach audiences beyond the traditional venues we serve. For more information on this new program, contact Brita Zitin.
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“Stories for Life” is a program that has produced many stories in itself. MHC staff hear about how its participants learn—sometimes dramatically—how to think critically and to consider multiple options. For example, one probationer participating in “Stories for Life” in 2001 told a MHC staff member that the series had made him change his mind about killing someone who had been causing a conflict in his life.
“Stories for Life” developed as a program to serve prisoners or probationers who would be more comfortable with a short story series rather than a book series due to the length of the texts. Working with shorter texts has proved useful for other audiences, too, and it now serves other at-risk groups with members who wish to read seriously but for whom a whole book is simply not the best option.
More recently, “Stories for Life” has proved its value other settings, providing series for inmates nearing the end of their sentences at Maine Correctional Center in Windham (funded by the MHC's Civic Reflection and Thoughtful Giving projects), and also at Community Counseling Center in Portland, where clients value the social and intellectual stimulation of a facilitated book discussion (with support from the CWG Fund of the Maine Community Foundation). The program, in all its sites, is known for the opportunity it provides for participants to talk about their thoughts and feelings, and be listened to. Participants have said how the program helps them look to the future and imagine different options for their lives.
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Events funded by MHC grants over the past two months included an exhibit at the Portland Harbor Museum on “rephotography” (pairing old photographs with current ones); a workshop on American Sign Language storytelling in Farmington; and a program for Hancock County educators to learn ways of teaching African culture through literature, art, and music.
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The recently funded grants list is short but includes some fascinating projects:
$1,000 to the Bangor Public Library, Bangor, for Bangor Book Festival
The first of an annual festival in downtown Bangor designed to bring together authors with a Maine connection and their readers for panel discussions, readings, and book signings.
$500 to the University of Southern Maine, Portland, for Parallel Lives Project: From Maine to New Delhi
This project is a study exploring the cultural and economic issues and thought processes in two different societies: American and Indian.
$250 to the Portland Film + Video Artists Collective, Portland, for Dan Graham Visiting Artist Event
A public lecture presentation at One Longfellow Square Cultural Center on October 11, 2007, covering the history of video art. The project also includes a discussion with Dan Graham on his multi-disciplinary practice, and an interview text for publication.
Is fighting the only path to freedom? What difference do courage and faith make when your village is threatened by slavers? Ann Grifalconi’s “The Village that Vanished” uses folk tale format and hauntingly beautiful illustrations by Kadir Nelson to tell a chilling and ultimately uplifting story of courage and resourcefulness in the face of danger. Abikanile, a young member of the village, has been taught by her mother Njemile to respect the memory of their ancestors. When she first learns of other villages in the area being terrorized by slave traders, Njemile urges her fellow villages to act instead of cower. It is through her creative ideas that the village “vanishes,” and then through Abikanilešs faith that the villagers escape.
This text appears in the New Books, New Readers “Freedom”. Other discussion questions in that series include: Is freedom a right? What are the differences between an individual’s freedom and the freedom of a group of people? What are we willing to give up in order to have freedom?
Back to the Top“By reading Achilles in Vietnam [a book by Jonathan Shay about post traumatic stress disorder] I have already changed my practice.”
—a participant in Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health CareŽ
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Thank you to our current members. Your support helps to make Maine Humanities Council programs like the ones detailed in this newsletter possible. If you are not a member but would like to make a gift you may do so online or contact me, Diane Magras, for more information.
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.