Maine Humanities Council

Are you purchasing books this holiday season for your friends and loved ones? (Don’t tell my husband and son, but I’ve got quite a list of good things in print for each of them.) This weekend only, Borders in Maine has offered to contribute a percentage of all purchases to the MHC.

To help the MHC take advantage of this offer, use this voucher on December 4 or 5, 2010, at a Borders bookstore in South Portland, Brunswick, Bangor, or Auburn, Maine; or through the Internet at www.borders.com.

This funding will provide books and scholar-led discussions throughout Maine, helping low-literacy adults, early childhood educators, and the general public celebrate the power and pleasure of the humanities. We will report back in this newsletter the total contribution from Borders.

View of St. John River from Edmundston, New Brunswick toward Frenchville, ME (credit: Daniel Picard)

The St. John Valley in Aroostook County is an area rich in history and culture. When I visited it two years ago for the second time in my life, I saw rural lawns mowed in straight rows, houses painted perfectly, and window boxes full of flowers. Fields of grass, clover, potatoes, and broccoli were everywhere. The landscape spoke of an idyllic life with a shared pride in community, and the people I met reflected this, too.

The MHC has always had programming in the St. John Valley, from a children’s literature seminar last year in Fort Kent to many New Books, New Readers adult literacy groups to several grants awarded to, among other projects, the development of a cultural tour (“Voici the Valley”). And recently, we’ve had Let’s Talk About It library-based reading and discussion groups.

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