Daumier's depiction of Cervantes's hero

Here was a foe that even the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha could not defeat: an army of frenzied snowflakes, each as determined and bestial as a sorcerer's demonic minion, railing down upon the brave readers of Edith Grossman's new translation of Don Quixote. These readers had gathered at Bowdoin College March 11 and 12 (to date the last major storm in southern Maine), determined to participate in the 2005 Winter Weekend despite the weather.

Bowdoin professor of Romance Languages John Turner speaks about what Don Quixote's first readers were reading

The event boasted a series of fascinating talks: on multiculturalism at the time of Don Quixote, on the literary experience of the Cervantes's first readers, on the influence chivalric art had on the text and the influence that the text had on future artists, on what Don Quixote means in present-day Spain, on a close reading of the Cave of Montesinos episodes within the text, and on superheroes and censorship in the context of the book.

This is typical of a Winter Weekend. If you've never been and if becoming so deeply involved in a powerful, influential text sounds like something that would interest any of this newsletter's readers, please let me know (diane@mainehumanities.org) and I shall put you on the mailing list. The Winter Weekend's seats fill with remarkable alacrity, so being on the event mailing list really is the best way to secure your place.

Next year's book is under discussion but I hope to have an announcement next month.

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photo by Don Cyr, Lille

That's because Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon is almost here. On Thursday, April 7, the Maine Humanities Council and the Saco Museum will celebrate the grand opening of this Museum on Maine Street exhibit (created by the Smithsonian Institute and brought to Maine by the MHC). We invite everyone to join us from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at the Saco Museum (the first site where Barn Again! will be on display), 371 Main Street, Saco (call 207/283-3861 for more information).

Other Barn Again! events include:

Bethel Historical Society
Monday, April 18
Antiquarian Supper
In the mid-1850s, members of the Bethel Farmer's Club (the first such organization in Maine) held "antiquarian suppers," during which they dressed in old-fashioned clothes, brought "relics" to exhibit, shared stories of the "olden time," and enjoyed a bountiful meal. Participants of the 2005 supper are encouraged to dress in clothes of an earlier period and to bring an artifact to show. The event will be held at 6:00 PM in the Mason House Exhibit Hall and a small fee will be charged to offset the cost of the meal.
For more information, call 207/824-2908.

photo by Andrea Strassner, Saco

The Saco Museum
Thursday, April 28, 7:00 PM
Slide Lecture
"Barns and the Changing Agricultural Landscape of Southern Maine" will be led by Christi A. Mitchell from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission in the Deering Room at the Dyer Library (across parking lot from Saco Museum)
$5/person (includes admittance to lecture and 2 free passes to the Museum)
For information, call 207/283-3861.

The Saco Museum
Saturday, May 21, Noon-5:00 pm
Downtown on the Farm
This family event will celebrate barns and farming with timber hewing and joining demonstrations, live animals, and children's activities.
$2/adult (includes outside activities and museum admission)
$1/children (includes outside activities and museum admission)
For information, call 207/283-3861.

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Neil Rolde led the March 31 program

Over 60 teachers from around the state signed up for a MHC Teachers for a New Century program on March 31 at the new Topsham Public Library. It was a fascinating program, led by Neil Rolde, author of Unsettled Past, Unsettled Future: The Story of Maine Indians, but what made this program striking is how well it seemed to be filling a great need of Maine teachers. Donna Loring, a representative from the Penobscot nation who participated in this program, is a former legislator who sponsored LD 291, a Maine Studies law in the Maine Legislature that mandates the teaching of topics related to Maine's Native Americans in all of Maine schools. Maine's teachers are eager to use the MHC as a resource for building a curriculum and finding ideas of how to meet this state requirement and crucial need in Maine's educational system.

Teachers from as broad a geographic scope as Jackman, Machias, and Isle au Haut, as well as many teachers more local to Topsham, participated in this program.

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Poetry in the Branches

On June 13 and 14, librarians from around the state will gather at the Bangor Public Library to learn ways of expanding poetry programs and services at their libraries through Poetry in the Branches, a training created by Poets House and sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council, Tom's of Maine, and the Maine State Library.

Poets House is a literary center and poetry archive with a 45,000 volume poetry collection in New York City that developed the Poetry in the Branches training to increase poetry awareness and poetry related programming in public libraries. It seemed to the MHC a good partnership to pursue.

As one of the first Poets House trainings in the nation to take place outside of New York City, the Poetry in the Branches for Maine librarians will feature Poets House staff, a visiting poet and several Maine poets.

This training is free but only open to a maximum of 20 Maine librarians. Spaces will be reserved for librarians from each part of the state to ensure statewide exposure.

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Illustration by Ashley Bryan

On Friday, May 6, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in Portland High School's John Ford Theatre, the MHC welcomes Ashley Bryan for a celebration of the storytelling power of children's literature. This presentation is the opening activity of a conference presented by the MHC early literacy initiative Born to Read.

For many residents of the part of Maine where Ashley resides (Islesford, the little Cranberry Island off Mount Desert Island), Ashley's name represents great energy, enthusiasm, and youthful exuberance. Ashley is an acclaimed children's book author and illustrator. His images are as vivid as his personality, and his presentation, "A Tender Bridge: African American Poetry, Spirituals, and African Tales," will help audiences see firsthand what makes his work so special. Ashley's books include the award-winning Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum; Lion and the Ostrich Chicks; The Story of Lightning and Thunder and collections of spirituals such as All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals.

Illustration by Rosemary Wells

On May 7, Born to Read will present "Early Literacy in a Changing World, "a conference exploring paths to early literacy for childcare pro heritage">viders, preschool teachers, and kindergarten teachers who work with children ages birth to five. The workshops emphasize early literacy development using storytelling, music, and book selection. Ashley Bryan will join nationally acclaimed children's author/illustrator Rosemary Wells for keynote addresses. This program runs from 8:30 AM through 2:30 PM, also at Portland High School.

And finally, at 2:30 PM after the conference, Rosemary Wells will give a presentation, "Lightning in a Small Bottle," for the public. Rosemary Wells is the author/illustrator of sixty well-loved picture books, including Noisy Nora, My Kindergarten, the McDuff Series, the Max and Ruby series, the Bunnycake series and other well known and loved children's tales. Her PBS TV program, "Timothy Goes to School," aired on Maine PBS until fall 2004 as part of the popular "Bookworm Bunch." Rosemary Wells' program for children of all ages will take place at Portland High School, in the John Ford Theatre.

We are very excited about this conference and hope any reader of this newsletter who can attend will come. Children are welcome on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon! For more information, please call 207/773-5051.

Visit the link below for details of programs that the MHC funds in whole or in part through grants. We hope you have the opportunity to experience one of these programs and see the difference that an MHC grant can make.

MHC Grant-Funded Event Calendar

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Upon opening the Calendar section of the March 17 Bangor Daily News, a very strange sight greeted me: Dr. Charles Alexander, with his eyes very wide and rolled down in locked attention, two jagged stitched-up scars extending across half of his forehead and down one cheek, staring with a frightening eagerness at two rather grim instruments. I am most accustomed to seeing Charlie with a slightly calmer (dare I say more sane?) exhibition of interest in the setting of a MHC Board or Development Committee meeting. As many of the staff know, though, Charlie, in his spare time, is a talented actor, and this wonderful picture gives us all a sense of a side of Charlie we don't often see. From March 18 to 27, Charlie was Jonathan Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace" at the Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth. Congratulations, Charlie. We hope it was a successful show.

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Deadlines for the regular and discretionary grant program are rolling.

$1,000 to the Saco Museum for Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon
The MHC is providing grants to each of the host sites for this project. See Barn Again for more information.

$1,000 to the South Portland Public Library for One Community/One Book — South Portland Public Library
One Community/One Book is a program designed to bring persons together to discuss A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. South Portland Public Library's goal is to deepen our community's appreciation for quality literature and critical discussion while sharing the fun of reading and learning from one another.

$500 to the Maine Olmsted Alliance for Parks and Landscapes, Portland, for Designing Maine Neighborhoods" Shaping Landscapes and Community
The Maine Olmsted Alliance for Parks and Landscapes invites participants to explore ways that towns can build new developments that are compatible with the character of existing neighborhoods, paying attention to density and designed landscapes.

$500 to the Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish and Islamic Studies at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, for Living in an Age of Genocide: Remembering the Victims, Preventing the Perpetrators
This project will explore two significant anniversaries: the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide and the 60th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and the defeat of National Socialism. It will feature a major speaker and a roundtable discussion of the effect of the Holocaust and genocide on various communities that have experienced some form of genocide.

$500 to the Mahoosuc Land Trust, Bethel, for The 10th Mountain Division
Professor Mckay Jenkins of the University of Delaware presents a slide lecture on the 10th Mountain Division, based on his book The Last Ridge: The Epic Story of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division and the Assault on Hitler's Europe.

$418 to the University of Maine at Farmington for Planning Meeting for History & Culture Project.
The University of Maine at Farmington is hosting a portion of the Remnant Trust, Inc. collection of rare books and documents in the fall of 2005, including a copy of the Magna Carta from 1542 and the first English language edition of Plato's Republic. Community input is being sought to develop a series of events to maximize exposure to these materials to the widest possible audience in Maine.

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In March, University of Maine Press released Of Place and Gender: Women in Maine History, edited and with introductions by Marli Weiner. The Press writes of this book:

This volume of fourteen essays on Maine women's history fills a real need, helping to answer questions about what women were doing in local communities and highlighting their similarities and differences from women elsewhere. Maine women were sometimes in the forefront of change and sometimes lagged behind; most of the time they were preoccupied with the tasks of daily life, as were women in other parts of the world. … The essays in this volume offer insight into a rich variety of Maine women, some famous and some ordinary, some intent on changing their lives and their society and other struggling to survive…. Taken together, their stories enrich our understanding of Maine, of women, and of history.

Marli Weiner is a Professor of History at the Univesrity of Maine. She is the author of Mistresses and Slaves: Plantation Women in South Carolina, 1830-1880 and Heritage of Woe: The Civil War Diary of Grace Brown Elmore. Marli is a current member of the MHC Board and recently retired Chair.

All of us at the MHC offer our congratulations to Marli for a marvelous accomplishment.

The MHC is holding a book party at 674 Brighton Avenue, Portland, in honor of Marli on Friday, April 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. If you are able to attend, please contact me (diane@mainehumanities.org or 207/773-5051 ext. 208).

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"[Reading] showed me that a lot of things in books are true in real life. And there is always a way to make things better."

New Books, New Readers participant from the Houlton "Community" series in answer to a New Books, New Readers evaluation question: How has reading these books and talking about them made a difference to you?

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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.