Maine Humanities Council

by Denise Pendleton

Last week, I was delighted to have the opportunity to facilitate the first of two sessions of a Born to Read Peaceable Stories training. Held in Bucksport, it was attended by educators of children ranging in age from toddlers to children in those afterschool or local elementary and middle school special ed programs. Most had been working with children for more than 15 years. As participants did a free association exercise on the word “peace,” questions about the concept emerged. How often does peace require compromise? What are the connection between power and peace? Does our culture provide hero and heroines that model peaceful behavior? One participant said peace for her meant being quiet, while another participant described peace for her as as noisy children that become embroiled in conflict, then learn resolution through communication.

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By Victoria Bonebakker

Literature & Medicine presents in Las Vegas (or is it Venice?), credit: Victoria Bonebakker

The Maine Humanities Council and Dr. Tim Richardson, Chief of Staff at the Togus (Maine) VA Medical Center, were invited to present two sessions on the Council’s program, Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care®, at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Leadership Conference in Las Vegas the end of August. It was a great honor to be invited to this conference, attended by approximately 2,500 senior staff from the VHA’ s 14,000 facilities across the country.

As the Council’s representative, I was impressed and somewhat awed by the enormity of the challenges faced by the VHA as an organization, and by the task and the high standards it has set for itself.  The theme of the conference, “Be the Change You Want to See,” suggests the level of its aspiration to provide a continuously improving level of care; it is gratifying that Literature & Medicine is considered a valuable partner in this effort.

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by Sheila Jans

Judy Paradis takes part in an animated discussion during the Ste-Agathe LTAI. (credit: Sheila Jans)

This was no ordinary book club. And then again, what was I comparing it to? I had never belonged to an ordinary book club. Regardless, I knew I was in the midst of something uniquely distinct this past summer. I participated in my first ever Let’s Talk About It – a book discussion program of the Maine Humanities Council.

Once a month for five months I met with close to 20 other people in the little town of Ste-Agathe on beautiful Long Lake in the St. John Valley. Yes, we read a book. Then we got together and talked about it. The five books we read were part of a thoughtfully designed series called “Defining Wilderness, Defining Maine.” And then a scholar, who is an accomplished writer and teacher of creative writing, artfully led our two-hour discussions.

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by Thomas A. Desjardin

In late September 1775, an army of 1,150 Continental soldiers disembarked from eleven ships in the Kennebec River and transferred their arms, food, and other gear into 220 small boats made ready for them by local settlers under the direction of Reuben Colburn, a member of the Committee of Safety in Gardinerstown, now Pittston.

By the time this army, under the command of then-patriot Colonel Benedict Arnold, reached the walls of Quebec, it had dwindled to just 450 men. Along the way, this band of Colonial revolutionaries suffered from disease, freezing, drowning, desertion, starvation, and eating too quickly after starving. They had marched, paddled, and slogged through a wilderness country that most thought impenetrable, and won the admiration of even British subjects within the walls of Quebec City.

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