Maine Humanities Council

As the opening event of the newly minted Mechaya Center, Director Jonathan Lee, invited Adam Hochschild to Maine to discuss new new book To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914 – 1918, where he focuses on the long-ignored moral drama of World War I critics, alongside its generals and heroes.

This event was sponsored by the Mechaya Center and was hosted at the University of Southern Maine, Portland campus.

To End All Wars [ 39:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (515)

Kate Braestrup is a Unitarian-Universalist chaplain to the Maine Warden Service, joining the wardens as they search the wild lands and fresh waters of Maine for those who have lost their way, and offering comfort to those who wait for the ones they love to be rescued, or for their bodies to be recovered. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, Here If You Need Me, won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award for nonfiction. Her magazine articles have appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

This talk was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, After Shock: Humanities Perspectives on Trauma, held on November 12 & 13, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

The Bad News and the Good News [ 1:03:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4711)

Jonathan Shay, MD, PhD is a clinical psychiatrist whose treatment of combat trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans combined with his critical and imaginative interpretations of the ancient accounts of battle described in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are deepening our understanding of the effects of warfare on the individual. His book, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994), draws parallels between the depiction of the epic warrior-hero Achilles and the experiences of individual veterans whom he treated at a Boston-area Veterans Affairs’ Outpatient Clinic. In Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2002), using Odysseus as metaphor, Shay focuses on the veteran’s experience upon returning from war and highlights the role of military policy in promoting the mental and physical safety of soldiers. A passionate advocate for veterans and committed to minimizing future psychological trauma, Shay strives for structural reform of the ways the U.S. armed forces are organized, trained, and counseled.

Respected by humanists and military leaders alike, Shay brings into stark relief the emotional problems faced by military combatants and veterans, ancient and modern. In 2007, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” for his work with veterans.

This talk was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, After Shock: Humanities Perspectives on Trauma, held on November 12 & 13, 2010 in Washington, D.C.

Learning About Combat Trauma From Homer's Iliad [ 1:06:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (5742)

Wonder what writers really think about? Get ready for a literary extravaganza! The Maine Festival of the Book, brought to you by Maine Reads brings together writers and readers to enjoy readings, panel discussions, book signings, and performances. With the exception of Opening Night and Youth Outreach, festival events are first-come, first-served, un-ticketed seating, and are free. Almost 2000 people attended this year’s three-day event. In its four years of existence, the Maine Festival of the Book has featured more than 200 authors, including four Pulitzer Prize winners.

For more information about The Maine Festival of the Book and to join the mailing list for 2011, check out Maine Read’s website.

This lectured entitled “The Reawakening of Ayn Rand” featured Anne C. Heller, author of Ayn Rand and the World She Made, offers a new perspective on the novelist-philosopher’s life and work and why she is still popular today.

The Maine Festival of the Book is an annual festival brought to you by Maine Reads with support from the Maine Humanities Council.

The Reawakening of Ayn Rand [ 57:33 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2300)

In the “flash reading” by Stonecoast MFA program faculty members, each writer gets three minutes in which to share his or her work before introducing the next writer in the queue. The flash reading from Stonecoast’s summer residency in July 2009 began with an introduction by director Annie Finch. Joan Connor started the reading with her “Three-Minute Love Story.” Aaron Hamburger read an excerpt from his story “Ludmilla in the New World,” published in the anthology Between Men 2. The next reader was Richard Hoffman, who read from his collection, Interference and Other Stories. Barbara Hurd shared the opening of a novel, Slow Dance on a Slanted Floor, then Michael Kimball read from his novel Mouth to Mouth. Debra Marquart read the essay “Whisker Meditations,” and finally, Suzanne Strempek Shea closed the reading with an excerpt from a story published in “Golf World” magazine.

This reading took place in Brunswick, Maine, on July 10, 2009. Stonecoast is the low-residency MFA program in creative writing at the University of Southern Maine. For more readings from faculty members, including other flash readings, click on the “Stonecoast” tag, below.

Flash Reading [ 37:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3827)

In this three-part episode, two particularly quick-witted and talkative apes, Hannah Holmes (The Well-Dressed Ape) and Bill Roorbach (Temple Stream), address their collisions with the rest of the natural world. Roorbach’s recent work has taken him into the woods and fields behind his own house, a primitive but not always private domain. Holmes has turned inward, primarily, to consider the fundamental animalness of this ape we so often mistake for something extraordinary. Here, they each share their own work before turning their practiced analytical eyes on one another.

This conversation between Hannah Holmes and Bill Roorbach took place at the Maine Festival of the Book, sponsored by Maine Reads, on April 4, 2009.

Bill Roorbach reading [ 14:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2658)

Hannah Holmes reading [ 10:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (245)

Meeting of the Apes [ 23:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (248)