Successful Winter and Spring Term Events

Reading Together at Washington Center Conference

2005-06 Reading Together Books Announced at Lane's Spring Conference

2005-06 Reading Together Book Selection

The theme for the 2005-06 Reading Together Project is:

CIRCLING HOME
STORIES AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

The two books chosen for 2005-06 are:

Lucille Clifton's book of poetry, Blessing the Boats

Terry Tempest Williams' memoir,
Refuge: an Unnatural History of Family and Place

Getting the Books

Multiple copies of both books are available at the circulation desk of the Lane Community College Library as one week, renewable reserves.

Refuge:an Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
pub: Random House/Vintage
ISBN 0679740244

Available at the Lane Community College Bookstore for the discounted price of $10.40 (list $15)

Faculty who wish to order examination or desk copies can order online:
For policies concerning desk and examination copies:
http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/?view=requests
To order a desk copy:
http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/?view=deskform
To order an examination copy:
http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/?view=examform

Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton
pub: BOA ISBN 188023887X

Available at the Lane Community College Bookstore for the discounted price of $12 (list $15)

Faculty who wish to order examination or desk copies:
FAX 1-585-546-3913 on letterhead. Indicate type of course, anticipated enrollement, name and mailing address.
For examination copies, indicate that you are participating in Lane's Reading Together Project. You can be very general about the possible course(s) you are considering using the book for.

2005-06 BOOK SUMMARIES

BLESSING THE BOATS
NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1988-2000
--by Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton has said, “I’ve always been a person who found more interesting the stories between the stories. I’ve always wondered the hows and the whys to things. Why is this like this? What has gone into making us who we are? Is it good or not so good? What is destroying us? What will keep us warm?” In her collection of poems, Blessing the Boats, winner of the National Book award, Clifton explores these stories of our making in a strong, yet unassuming voice, a voice which is unadorned, simple but never simplistic. Perhaps to emphasize this simplicity, Clifton dispenses with conventional capitalization. She uses the language of our daily lives, yet this language becomes somehow elevated through her deep sense of humanity and justice. Elizabeth Lund, in the Christian Science Monitor, states that Clifton’s “stunning imagery sears the senses, and her rhythms demand to be heard." Library Journal states, “Clifton's poems owe a great deal to oral tradition. . . her keen sense of rhythm, of the sound, tone, and texture of words, is delightful, a rare find in this day and age. . Clifton's voice, her unique vision and wisdom, make this book essential”.

Clifton’s poems are simultaneously intimate and personal, universal and political. Her stor10/30/07with cancer, of the challenge of race in America; she writes from her perspective of her gender as a woman, and as a mortal being trying to make spiritual sense of it all. Yet, she does not forget the irony and humor of our human condition. In her series of poems addressed to Clark Kent (aka Superman), Clifton asserts, “they had it wrong,/ the old comics./ you are only clark kent/after all. oh,/ mild mannered mister,/ why did I think you could fix it?”

Above all, in Clifton we hear the honesty of a voice compelled by the need to get these stories out and shared. In her title poem, “blessing the boats,” Clifton hopes, “may the tide/ that is entering even now/ the lip of our understanding/ carry you out/ beyond the face of fear”. Her poetry takes us to a place of beauty and hope that is capable of doing just that.

REFUGE
AN UNNATURAL HISTORY OF FAMILY AND PLACE
--by Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams, noted author and former naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History, explains, in an interview with Scott London, “I can tell you that in Refuge the question that was burning in me was, How do we find refuge in change? Everything that was familiar had been turned inside out with my mother’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer and with the Bear Migratory Refuge being flooded.” As readers, through the lyrical power of Williams’ writing, we also experience the chaos of that flux, and the attempt to forge new understandings from that profoundly altered world. Williams’ relationship to her family and place are deeply intimate, so intimate that her body appears permeable. She is no longer in control, and she knows it, yet also has the wisdom to know that she will only survive by letting go. Only by letting go will she be able to hear her teachers—her dying mother and the wildlife refuge, now so flooded that it can no longer serve as refuge for the birds and other animals that historically nest there. And Williams knows that if she does not hear the lessons, then she will have dishonored those and that which she loves, as well as herself. She knows that she must listen in order to learn how we sustain ourselves and the places we inhabit.

In that same interview with London she states, “The notion that we can extend our sense of community, our idea of community, to include all life forms -- plants, animals, rocks, rivers and human beings -- then I believe a politics of place emerges where we are deeply accountable to our communities, to our neighborhoods, to our home. Otherwise, who is there to chart the changes? If we are not home, if we are not rooted deeply in place, making that commitment to dig in and stay put ... if we don't know the names of things, if don't know pronghorn antelope, if we don't know blacktail jackrabbit, if we don't know sage, pinyon, juniper, then I think we are living a life without specificity, and then our lives become abstractions. Then we enter a place of true desolation.”

Author Barry Lopez states, "Remarkable....Her demonstration of how deeply human emotional life can become intertwined with a particular landscape could not be more relevant to our lives." Laurie Tynan in the Library Journal speaks to the inclusive range of William’s vision; “Williams's book is difficult to pigeonhole because she wrestles with a wide range of ethical questions in her struggle to find understanding." And the San Francisco Chronicle captures the essence of this amazing work: "There has never been a book like Refuge . . . utterly original."

Successful Winter and Spring Term Events

click on poster to download printable PDF version*
*( Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. )

Reading Together distinguished author and scholar, Professor Ronald Takaki was enthusiastically welcomed by Lane Community College and the Eugene/Springfield community, April 20-22. His visit included several presentations of the lecture, "America in a Different Mirror: Re-Visioning Our Nation's Past." Dr. Takaki also engaged college and community members in several Question and Answer discussion sessions, as well as viewing the Lane Reading Together Student Art Show, where he discussed individual works of art with the student artists.

Lane art students, working with 5 Lane Art Faculty throughout the school year, created works inspired by the Reading Together books. Their work was on display from April 21-May 5 at the Lane Art Gallery, Building 11.

Reading Together's Winter and Spring Guest Speaker Series brought several members from regional diverse, often marginalized communities to the Lane campus. A wide-cross section of the Lane college community, as well as local community members, gathered to learn from the stories these speakers shared. You can go to the Event Scrapbook page to learn more about the specific presentations.

Reading Together at Washington Center Conference

Ellen Cantor, Reading Together Coordinator, presented a session on Lane's Reading Together Project at the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education's February conference, "Education for a World Lived in Common: Environmental, Economic, and Social Justice." The Washington Center is a national leader in developing and supporting innovative, learning centered approaches to education. They state that their purpose is to "support and coordinate the development of interdisciplinary 'learning community' programs, inter-institutional faculty exchanges, curriculum reform initiatives in science, mathematics and cultural pluralism, and offers conferences, seminars and technical assistance on effective approaches to teaching and learning.

Reading Together session attendees were able to view Lane student art work and video clips of a play and several dance performances developed in conjunction with the Reading Together Project. The attendees were inspired by the meaningful,creative, and stimulating learning opportunities that the Reading Together Project offers. and left excited about the possibility of replicating a similar project on their campuses.

Reading Together was invited to return in June to present a session at the Washington Center's 7th Annual National Summer Institute on Learning Communities.