Maine Humanities Council

Home of the Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book
“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

1. A New Look

The MHC’s website has always offered both innovative ways of remaining in touch with our constituents and problems related to the sheer amount of information there, caused by our wealth of excellent and compelling programs. The site has grown slowly over the years, and organically, to include hundreds of pages, feeling often clunky to users and far too big. While we’ve contemplated a whole redesign for some years, the reality of our site’s architecture and the potential cost of updating every single section has held us back. So instead, we started to think about strategies for incremental change, and you will see the first example of that here.

We hope that our redesigned homepage is a good compromise for all its users, marrying the colors and looks already prevalent on the site with a crisper design and new features. For example, our calendar feature is linked directly to our in-house program and grants databases and can pull in new information at the press of a button. The new slide show feature can be changed quickly and often (we plan to alternate between breaking news and current programs and include a series of more permanent slides that advertise services or stories that are not time sensitive). We have added a subscriptions area to help visitors stay in touch through this newsletter or our ballooning collection of podcasts. And we finally added a “links” page — something we’ve never managed to put together earlier. So far, it seems to be working well.

Credit is due to Brita Zitin, one of our program officers who deftly coordinated the job; our designer, Lori Harley; and our webmaster, Donna Jones of West End Webs, in Portland. Thanks to all three for a spectacular job.

Please let us know what you think of the new design and if you have any problems with it. Compliments are always welcome, but so are ways to improve.

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2. MHC News

The importance of the nationwide expansion of Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health CareŽ was clear at a training institute held in Chicago from June 22 to June 25. Staff from medical organizations across the country learned about how to hold their own Literature & Medicine program. On June 22-25th, 40 participants met for the 4th Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health CareŽ Training Institute. The experience gave scholars, hospitals, and other humanities councils interested in becoming involved in the program all the tools they will need to launch a successful Literature & Medicine program of their own. The three days combined small group discussions, plenary sessions, and many opportunities for participants to interact with one another as well as with current Literature & Medicine facilitators and hospital organizers. As a result, we now have has eight new states that will be partnering with MHC to host the program.

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The July theme for Born to Read’s book list is “Princes,”. Books on this list explore traditional stories about young male royalty with a twist (such as the frog who was turned into a prince who wants to be turned back into a frog again), unusual takes (an old dumpster scavenger who watches as nature takes back his “kingdom”), and tales of behavior one might expect from a modern prince (the prince who won’t go to bed).

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Listen to Neil Rolde’s lecture in the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lunch Series on a MHC podcast

Podcast Update

Each section of podcasts on the MHC website has been growing very well this summer, and new podcasts share humanities experiences for many different audiences. They include readings from the USM Stonecoast M.F.A. program by poet Shara McCallum and novelist Lewis Robinson; children’s books read by Camden librarian Amy Hand (Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? and In the Rain with Baby Duck among them); an interview with folklorist, writer, illustrator and performer Ashley Bryan; and new lectures from the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lunch series, including ones by historian and former Maine politician Neil Rolde and historical war novelist Jeff Shaara. As always, you need only your computer and an Internet connection to listen.

3. Facilitator Profile: Let’s Talk About It

Mary Alice Brennan, New Books, New Readers facilitator, is easy to connect with. Her interests include poultry (“the free-range flock on our family farm in Lovell included the eccentric Stanley, an unusually sociable turkey, who achieved immortality when an article about him appeared in The Christian Science Monitor”) and word puzzles (“an as-yet-unfulfilled ambition—though I’ve come respectably close—is to complete a full week of The New York Times crossword puzzles”), not to mention literature and those things closest to the heart. “I hold friendship and family ties in the highest esteem,” Mary Alice told us. Anyone who has spent ten minutes talking with her can attest how clear that is.

She has facilitated New Books, New Readers series for the past decade, leading reading and discussion groups for Adult Education students, Literacy Volunteer clients, Head Start parents, family literacy groups, English for Speakers of Other Languages students, residents of county jails, and prison inmates.

With a background in education “from Chicago’s South Side to Harvard Square to rural New Hampshire public schools,” regular membership in book groups (“Currently I’m a member of three!”), Mary Alice is well qualified to work with just about any audience in furthering the program’s mission: to inspire an exchange of ideas based on those found in books. But it is her love of literature that helps her deeply appreciate the books she uses as the basis for discussions.

“The merging of a sustained commitment to education with a love of literature (my undergraduate major was English) is an especially happy combination to bring to my work with New Books, New Readers,” Mary Alice told us. “Believing, as I do, in lifelong learning, and in the uniqueness of each person’s life experience at whatever age, it has been exciting to visit and revisit familiar—and new-to-me— entries in the canon of children’s literature with the focus of guiding new adult readers to an ever deepening appreciation of the rewarding role that reading can have in their lives. In preparing for each New Books, New Readers session, I have found that no matter how many times I have read a given story, I invariably find new insights both in my own rereading and in the process of discussing it with others. In fact, since taking on the role of New Books, New Readers facilitator, I find that I often read the first pages of a new book twice before proceeding because of the additional pleasure of knowing that I am thoroughly grounded in the text.”

And she can see beyond the obvious what the children’s books in the programs can do and the level of sophisticated discussion they can prompt: “People are often initially skeptical about the appropriateness of children’s books for adult discussion; but once they understand that we work with thoughtfully chosen literature, as opposed to the likes of Scooby-Doo, it’s a non-issue. For example, The Little Red Hen can be seen by some as the basis for a discussion of responsibility and hard work and the perils of slothfulness. By others it may be seen as an example of the pitfalls of enabling! Whatever additional points of view may be offered, the discussion can be rich as it relates to shared life experiences. Beverly Cleary’s everyday domestic scenes provide a wealth of discussion starters—we’ve all experienced the dailiness of life. Donald Hall’s appreciation of simple New England characters strikes a familiar chord. Reading helps us to think.”

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4. Grants and Events

Events funded by MHC grants include a multi-town mobile museum exhibit in northern Maine about the Northern Forest; a jazz festival in Deer Isle and Stonington that links cultural methods of rebuilding New Orleans with opportunities for cultural growth in Downeast Maine; and an exhibit of print-based artifacts on Peaks Island discovered in island transfer stations or basements and attics.

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The recently funded grants list includes three categories:

MAJOR GRANTS

$4,346 to Mainely Girls, Camden, for A Girls’ Point of View Book Club, 4th & 5th Grade
Girls’ Point of View Book Clubs provide age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction books to girls in the 4th and 5th grades. These book clubs create enthusiastic, lifelong readers who can apply their understanding of girls’ and women’s complex roles to the literature they will read in the years to come.

$4,000 to the Northern Forest Center, Bethel, for Ways of the Woods
This program provided support for the mobile museum Ways of the Woods: People and the Land in the Northern Forest, and its trips to community events across rural northern and western Maine in 2008.

$4,000 to the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, for Public Programs for the Andre Kertesz: On Reading Exhibition
Andre Kertesz was one of the leading photographers of the 20th century, and this exhibition of 104 photographs taken in Europe, the U.S., and Japan explores the subject of reading as a basic human endeavor. A full slate of educational programs will complement the exhibition and coincide with National Book Month (October).

$4,000 to Partners in Island Education, Vinalhaven, for Bringing It Home
A Maine Authors series designed to promote reading and discussion across generations on Vinalhaven. The series of author residencies will reach all Vinalhaven students pre-K — 12th grade, as well as the extended community, through workshops, evening presentations, and book discussion groups.

$4,000 to the Maine Folklife Center, Orono, for Maine Stories of Place
Stories of Maine is a public program taking place at the American Folk Festival in Bangor. Storytelling will be facilitated by folklorists Jo Radner, Peggy Yocom, and Karen Miller. In addition, there will be a Story Booth—an opportunity for visitors to record their own stories of place.

INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT

$5,000 to Portland Trails, Portland, for The Cumberland and Oxford Canal Interpretive Project
The beginning of Maine’s historic Cumberland & Oxford Canal runs alongside a popular trail within an 85-acre nature sanctuary preserved by Portland Trails. Portland Trails is working with three guest scholars to create educational & interpretive signage to be placed in two locations in the Fore River Sanctuary, overlooking important canal sites.

RECENT GRANTS

$1,000 to the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, Livermore, for Mainers and their Neighbors Who Went Into the World
At the 15th Annual Humanities Seminar at the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center, participants explored the experiences of Northern New England and Maritime residents who ventured beyond the region’s boundaries.

$1,000 to Opera House Arts, Stonington, for New Orleans: Culture and Crisis
“New Orleans: Culture & Crisis” will gather musicians, craft artists, scholars, and others for public discussions, workshops, film screenings, art exhibitions, craft demonstrations, and concerts to explore and experience the significance of culture to community recovery and development in New Orleans and rural, coastal Maine.

$1,000 to the Bar Harbor Music Festival, Bar Harbor, for New Composers Concert
The Bar Harbor Music Festival’s “New Composer” forum and concert will feature guest composer Peter Michael Von derNahmer and will explore America’s musical heritage over the last 25 years.

$500 to Stage East, Eastport, for Maine Youth Summer Theatre Institute Scholarship Program
Stage East endeavors to bring live community theatre to Downeast Maine for all ages. The Maine Youth Theatre Institute in Machias provides an opportunity for youth to learn creativity, community, and art while having fun engaging in theatre pursuits. MYSTI produces a full-length Shakespearean play at the end of their two-week session.

$450 to the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts, Dover-Foxcroft, for Gettysburg at the Center Theatre
Screening of the film “Gettysburg,” with displays, educational information, and historical reenactments before, after, and during the intermission.

$350 to the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust, Rangeley, for Experiencing Maine
The public lecture series entitled “Experiencing Maine” will presented by authors of recently published books on Maine. This grant is funding the lecture on The Story of Sugarloaf by John Christie.

$300 to the Rockland Public Library, Rockland, for America’s Ten Greatest Presidents
Three public libraries (two in last month’s listings) are offering this discussion program with a purpose to examine the historical process of evaluating past presidents. To do so, the group must evaluate the numerous “yardsticks” used to evaluate presidents and select those which seem most useful to the public to compose its own list of presidential greatness.

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5. What We’re Reading

This booklist includes personal favorites of MHC staff members, as well as books used by MHC programs. This month, featured titles are The Three Questions, Rules, Pastoralia, Oryx and Crake, and The Glass Castle

 

 

 

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6. Quote of the Month

“I thought it was one of the best planned and administered institutes I have ever attended. The other faculty and participants were first rate. I learned so much from all of them.”

—A participant at the Literature & Medicine
institute mentioned earlier in this newsletter.

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