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• Learning, Thinking, and Talking About the Middle East

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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

When I read about the death on August 30 of the 94-year old Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, a little part of me cried out in despair at the thought of this brilliant mind no longer being present in our world. I have long admired Mahfouz’s longevity as a writer, but most of all his insightful works. When I first introduced myself to one of his novels, I was initially unimpressed, being fond of the Nabokovian style of literary gymnastics (Mahfouz has a straightforward style), but within a page this author had caught not only my attention but my deepest sympathy. He was able to capture the spirit of a Muslim world that I knew very little about in a manner that was instantly accessible to a Westerner born and bred on the European Canon, and he made it simply fascinating. I think of his characters every time I hear the news.

These days, with the Middle East and Islam being topics that threaten to singe even the coolest BBC World News correspondent, it is especially important to be able to understand cultures so very different from our own, whether or not we agree with its actions or motivations. Maine Humanities Council programs have always focused on bringing to the people we serve a greater understanding of the world around them, in ways big and small. I was very proud of the Council when I heard earlier this year that we were offering two library-based Let’s Talk About It programs focusing on the history of the Middle East, featuring USM professor and scholar Mahmud Faksh in York and UMaine Orono professor and scholar Alexander Grab in Bangor. These programs, working with a nonfiction text, were such great successes that the Council is offering two more this fall, in Yarmouth and Bridgton (Faksh will be the scholar for both). More details will be available soon on the homepage of our website once the final dates are set.

But our series did even more than spawn two additional offerings. A few days ago, Elizabeth Sinclair, Let’s Talk About It’s program officer, told me of an exciting development stemming from the program in Bangor. A group of participants asked the scholar, Alexander Grab if they could continue meeting. (Grab is a well-known voice in Bangor about Middle Eastern affairs, and, having been an Israeli citizen and served in the Israeli army before coming to the U.S., has a very interesting perspective.) The participants were intent on continuing the discussion and are now meeting in an informal monthly group open to the public at Bangor Public Library. That’s precisely what we want all of our programs to do—encourage open conversation among the people of Maine. Congratulations to all involved who helped make this happen.

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Grant-funded events are listed here.

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Finding Events the Easy Way

It has taken some months to put together, but thanks to the tireless efforts of MHC staff (in particular, Erik Jorgensen and Brita Zitin), we are pleased to offer an online calendar of Maine Humanities Council events. If you go to the homepage referred to in the first article of this newsletter, you will see a link directing you to upcoming events and a link to this calendar. Use either the pull-down menus or click on the map of Maine to select your county. You may also select the month in which you’d like to search. We update this every week, so keep glancing back to see what we’re up to.

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Born to Read’s Recommendations of the Month

For those of you with young children around and who are constantly in search of new book ideas, we are offering a monthly booklist from our Born to Read program. These are high-quality examples of children’s literature recommended by the experts in early literacy who select the Born to Read curriculum. Born to Read books tend to be among the most imaginative and fun to read, both for children as well as adults, so please glance at our monthly list if you’re looking for a really good read. September’s theme is Tourism and Travel. For a booklist index, click here.

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NEW MAJOR GRANTS

$5,000 to the Katahdin Foundation, Wellington, for Wabanaki Language Immersion Project

The Wabanaki Language Immersion Project, directed by former two-term Penobscot Chief Barry Dana, will bring speakers and specialists in Wabanaki languages together with Penobscot families for a five-day interactive immersion camp-out. Activities such as basket-making, cooking, plant identification, and storytelling will all be conducted in the endangered Eastern Algonquin dialects of the Wabanaki people: Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Micmac, Maliseet, and Abenaki. Portions of each day will be videotaped with the goal of producing an edited DVD exemplifying traditional language. The camp-out, which is planned for Solon, Maine in early autumn 2006, will promote intertribal networking and intergenerational learning as well as language preservation.

OTHER RECENT GRANTS

$1,000 to Victoria Mansion, Portland, for Fall Lecture Series 2006
The two lectures this fall will cover the art historical context of the wall and ceiling paintings and the recent conservation techniques being used to address areas of badly deteriorating paintwork.

$1,000 to Midcoast REACH, Brunswick, for Exploring 400 Years of Kennebec River Industry and Craft
This project will research and develop an exhibit and presentation materials that show connections and contributions of early Kennebec River industries to contemporary craft and culture.

$1,000 to Friends of Phippsburg, Phippsburg, for The Mouth of the Kennebec: Its History
This grant will support a series of programs for the public and members of area historical societies relating to the history of the original Popham colony and Fort Popham, which occupies a mouth of the Kennebec River. This is a Kennebec-Chaudiere Heritage Corridor.

$1,000 to Lincoln County Historical Association, Wiscasset, for Pownalborough Courthouse Interpretive Signage
A series of bi-lingual (English & French) interpretive panels will be designed and installed at the 1761 Pownalborough Courthouse, tying together larger historical themes of the Kennebec-Chaudiere Heritage Corridor.

$500 to Phylum Productions/Calais Community Theater, Calais, for Downeastah!
"Downeastah!" is an original interpretive production exploring the unique characteristics and historical perspectives of living in Downeast Maine.

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Paul Farmer is an incredible physician, a brilliant researcher and clinical physician who has devoted his life to a backbreaking labor: trying to save the people of the world who need medical help the most. In Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder’s nonfiction account of this real person’s work, a powerful, inspiration tale develops about a man who has devoted his life to saving the lives of people ignored by the best of the world. From a clinic he established in Haiti to other sites around the world that he travels to, Kidder follows Dr. Farmer’s path, including his conflicts with the World Health Organization, which approaches mass illness with a coverage-rather-than-efficacy method rather than Dr. Farmer’s own method of working for individuals. This text raises interesting questions about public health and the decisions that public health organizations make, prompting eager conversation among Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® participants.

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“I love the exchange of ideas with intelligent thinking people.”

—from a participant in a Let’s Talk About It program in Lisbon Falls

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