Nadifo Ayanle reading the first A Somali Alphabet to her daughter

A Somali Alphabet is a Maine Humanities Council bilingual book, first published in 2001. Its genesis was the African Women's Literacy Project, developed and implemented by Portland Adult Education. Through the project, Somali mothers with babies or toddlers received tutoring in their homes, and storytelling was used both to explore and celebrate Somali culture and to provide a basis for English instruction. One of the project participants was a Somali refugee named Nadifo Ayanle. In 2001, one of her teachers persuaded her to link her stories and memories of Somalia with the letters of her native alphabet, and with partial funding from the MHC, the result was A Somali Alphabet.

It is a beautiful book, illustrated by Melissa Girardin, with vivid and simple illustrations depicting common objects of daily life in Somali, each linked with a letter of the alphabet. The MHC organized and funded a second printing in 2003 (as part of the Council's New Mainers Book Project) that introduced a map and description of Somalia into the book. Since then, A Somali Alphabet has enjoyed extensive use through the Born to Read anti-bias training in educational settings from preschools to adult education programs, both in Maine and Minnesota.

The MHC recently created and funded a third edition, revised with this varied readership in mind, and it was released in late September. English pronunciations accompany the featured Somali word on every page. In addition to the map and description of Somalia at the back of the book, there is a new section full of tips for teachers and a description of the Somali language. Finally, the book is accompanied by a compact disc featuring Portland resident Awralla Hashi-Aldus reading the book aloud in Somali. Raymond resident and recording artist David Delacroix volunteered his services to record and edit the audio book.

The new edition of A Somali Alphabet is now available to schools, libraries, and individuals in Maine. Copies are also headed to Minnesota, Vermont, Ohio, Ontario, and other areas with significant Somali communities.

Are you interested in seeing a copy? Let us know. And if you listen to the CD, you'll hear Born to Read's very own program officer Brita Zitin reading the English part of the book. There is more about A Somali Alphabet on Born to Read's section and you can listen to a clip from the CD, too.

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Ashley Bryan presenting at a Born to Read conference with one of his books

The International Board on Books for Young People just announced that Maine author and illustrator Ashley Bryan is among the nominees for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2006. This prestigious award is presented biannually "to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature." Ashley has been nominated for the illustrator award of the International Board on Books for Young People. Fellow nominees are from around the world. We at the MHC are especially pleased to hear this news. Ashley Bryan's books have been fixtures in Born to Read and are beloved by so many people in our programs. As many readers of this newsletter may recall, Ashley himself was part of a Born to Read conference in May 2005, during which he gave a public presentation in Portland that drew a tremendous crowd — and lines for signed books. We are pleased to have this nomination go to an artist who so clearly deserves it. We are also pleased that this nomination is going to one of the kindest and most inspiring people we know. Ashley — from all of us at the Council, congratulations.

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The Maine Humanities Council helped to fund the upcoming 7th Annual Longfellow Forum at the Maine Historical Society in Portland. On Saturday, October 15th, from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM, speakers at the Maine Historical Society will explore the cultural impact of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. Dr. Alan Trachtenberg, author of Shades of Hiawatha: Staging Indians, Making Americans, 1880-1930, will serve as keynote speaker of the forum. Dr. Trachtenberg is also the Professor Emeritus of English and American Studies at Yale University. This fee for this event is $35.00 and includes refreshments and lunch. For more information or to register, please call the Maine Historical Society at (207) 774-1822

For more upcoming events funded by the Maine Humanities Council, please click here. And be aware that many of these projects finish at the end of October, so time to attend these exhibits is short!

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The Future of Life

Small expressions of belief can really make a difference. In July 2004, the Maine Humanities Council awarded a $500.00 grant to Brunswick's Curtis Memorial Library for The Future of Life Book Discussion Series as part of the library's Cornerstones of Science program. This grant was one of many small grants that the Council gave in 2004. These grants help fund modest projects that have the potential of making a large difference.

The final report from Curtis Memorial Library stated that the discussion series had been successful, having good attendance and an enthusiastic response that prompted an extended book discussion of The Future of Life with an advanced placement biology class in Naples, Maine, as well as plans to hold a similar book discussion again at Curtis.

Just last month, Project Director Jocelyn Hubbell, Coordinator of the Cornerstones of Science program at Curtis, wrote to the Council to let us know that there's more afloat. Curtis Memorial Library has received a competitive grant from NOVA/WGBH Boston to fund the upcoming discussion as well as Cornerstones of Science programming about Einstein's contribution to physics. Curtis Memorial Library is one of 20 libraries across the country to serve as an outreach site for the NOVA show Einstein's Big Idea (debuting October 11, 2005, on PBS). "So, the seed that you and the Maine Humanities Council helped to plant here at Curtis Memorial Library is growing and thriving," Hubbell wrote.

We are pleased to share with you this example of the difference that small Maine Humanities Council grants can make. Congratulations to Curtis Memorial Library for the expansion of a wonderful project. For more information about their autumn programming, go to www.cornerstonesofscience.org.

Recent Grants

$1,000 to Maine Archives and Museums, Augusta, for MAM Newsletter 2005-2006 Publication costs for four issues of the MAM newsletter, the statewide information-sharing mechanism for Maine Archives and Museums.

$1,000 to the Temple Stream Theater Association, Temple, for Temple Stream Theater's Performance of Victor Klemperer's Diaries
Three performances from the diaries of Victor Klemperer, a German Jew, dramatizing the responsibility of the individual to 'bear witness' to injustice. Each performance will be followed by a facilitated discussion.

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We are pleased to announce that in December 2005, University Press of New England will release Black Bangor: African Americans in a Maine Community, 1880-1950 by Maureen Elgersman Lee (Associate Professor of History and Faculty Scholar of the African American Collection of Maine at the University of Southern Maine). She has also been a project scholar for the Maine Humanities Council's programs for teachers.

University Press of New England writes of the book:

Blacks have lived and worked in Maine as early as the seventeenth century, but historically have constituted less than one percent of Maine's population. Probably for this reason, books on Blacks in New England have largely ignored the experience of African American Mainers. Black Bangor is the first major published study of a Black community in Maine.

This tightly woven case study examines the African American community in Bangor during its heyday, 1880-1950, the period that saw an unprecedented migration of Blacks to that city. Blacks migrated to Bangor not just from other New England states, but from the Caribbean and Canadian Maritime Provinces as well, creating a heterogeneous community with roots in two hemispheres. Constituting an "ultraminority" in Bangor (according to the census, Blacks never numbered more than 300 souls during this period), this diverse community nonetheless came together to establish an impressive range of institutions, including local chapters of the NAACP and Odd Fellows, as well as of Mothers and Junior Mothers Clubs. Concentrated in an area known as the Parker Street neighborhood, Black women in Bangor became domestics and cooks, caterers and beauticians, clerks and stenographers. Men worked as loggers, teamsters, porters, chefs, and barbers; a few owned businesses.

This fascinating and exhaustive study will appeal to anyone from Maine, as well as those interested in African American history and the rich texture of the region's cultural life.

From all of us at the Council, congratulations.

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"I think that it is valuable to step back occasionally and see the world from the patient's point of view . . . To experience the emotional burden of decision making and the impact it has on the lives of all of the people involved — the "cared for" and the "caregivers." The process helps to validate our common human qualities and create perspective for our day-to-day interactions."

— A participant of Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® from 2005

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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.