April 28, 2010
Washington, DC
To celebrate Harper Lee’s birthday, here is one of my favorite quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird:
I wanted you to see what real courage is. . . . It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
Visit The Big Read website to learn more about Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Woodstock, Georgia
March 9, 2010
Towne Lake Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, recently hosted a Big Read of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In the essay below actress Taryn Chidebelu-Eze, who appeared in a local stage production of Mockingbird, recounts an emotional experience she had at a Big Read event. (Reprinted with permission from The Cherokee Tribune, Sunday February 28, 2010)
I have just been through one of the most emotional and humbling experiences in my lifetime. My name is Taryn Chidebelu-Eze, and I’m an actress with the Towne Lake Arts Center of Woodstock. I’m currently involved in the Arts Center’s production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In order to promote the show in the community, some of the members of the cast went to the local tea room, Tea Leaves & Thyme, to sit and have tea with the guests while in character. We were to act as though we were plucked from Maycomb, Alabama, circa 1935 and placed in Woodstock, Georgia, in 2010.
The character I played was Calpurnia, Atticus Finch’s African- American housekeeper and caregiver to his two children. At my suggestion (because my directors would never), I was seated alone at a table that was labeled “Colored Only” to create a more authentic experience. I wanted to place myself in the shoes of my not so distant ancestors. I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t expect to feel so alone as I listened to conversations around me and no one would talk to me.
The actress who played Miss Stephanie sat with a table full of twelve-year-old Caucasian girls celebrating a birthday. The girls were very much engaged and enjoyed explaining modern gadgets such as cell phones, iPods, Wii, and computers to Miss Stephanie. Their conversation seemed very lighthearted until I heard one of the children say, “We don’t put African-American people in a different section. That’s not right!” Then it seemed that the floodgates opened for the entire table to say what they were thinking. The comments I heard were, “We go to school with African-Americans.” “They’re our friends.” “The only thing different about them is their skin. We’re all the same.” “In the year 2010, the president of the United States is African-American.” One girl even asked Miss Stephanie, “Did you ever ask an African-American how they feel about being treated like that?”
At this point, I was facing the wall because I didn’t want the entire tearoom to see me crying. I’d spent the most of the time in silence as my character would truly only interact with Scout, making a fuss over her, making sure she was minding her manners and generally not embarrassing Mr. Finch. I didn’t have anyone with whom I could socially interact and anyone who knows me knows that that is the opposite of who I am. Not being allowed to speak or be spoken to was utterly stifling. So when I heard those girls speak up for me, I was moved to tears.
After thoroughly giving Miss Stephanie the “411″ on 2010, the birthday girl at the table turned to me and said, “Miss Calpurnia, in 2010 we have an African-American president. He’s the first.” She then launched into an explanation about how on the Nintendo Wii, “You can make a Mii. And it comes in all different skin colors.”
It started off as an ordinary day and turned into one that I will never forget. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a part where Atticus explains to his children, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. . .Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” When I walked out of that tea room, I truly understood.
Greenwood, South Carolina
January 26, 2010
Greenwood County Library in Greenwood, South Carolina, is hosting a Big Read of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird this January and February. So far, the library has distributed more than 1,500 copies of the novel. At least nine community book groups have adopted Mockingbird as one of their winter reads. In today’s photos, led by Ninety Six Library Branch Manager Diana Hennessy, the Extended Branch Book Discussion group plays Jeopardy!—Big Read-style. (Photos by Mike Hennessey)
Visit The Big Read calendar of events to find out how else they’re celebrating To Kill a Mockingbird in Greenwood.
September 28, 2009
Washington, DC
In this interview excerpt NEA Jazz Master David Baker talks about the universal truths he has found in To Kill a Mockingbird, including a surprising link to Kobe Bryant. (Hear more about Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird from David Baker, Sandra Day O’Connor, Robert Duvall, and others on The Big Read To Kill a Mockingbird audio guide.)
Well, you know, and it’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to, certainly [To Kill a Mockingbird] is about prejudice, it’s about pride, it’s about prejudgment. But you know the thing that struck me most about [the novel] is the universality of traits found in all human beings that are in this book. And, particularly, the fact that it’s a book told through the eyes of a little girl as she becomes a woman. . . it’s almost biblical in the sense that a little child shall lead them. And I guess I’m also struck by the way that Harper Lee characterized the various players in the book. For instance, the fact that there is that duality that all human beings have, that nobody’s essentially all bad or all good. And I thought, more than anything else, [Lee] was able to capture that.
And I thought about an ad that I happened to be seeing on TV the other night when I was going through the book again, and it’s the ad that Kobe Bryant does. And he talks about, “People hate me because I swagger, they hate me because I score too many points, they hate me because I’m a pro.” And then when he finishes all of that, he says very quietly, “It’s the same reason that some people love me.” And I thought about that when I thought about some of the characters [in To Kill a Mockingbird] who are very, very bad, are very evil seemingly in intent. And yet there’ll be somebody who says there’s something redeemable about them.
[One example] is Miss Dubose who had been under so much pressure during the time that Jem was assigned to read to her. And he couldn’t figure why she was so angry all the time and so mean. And then it’s revealed when she dies that she had been weaning herself off of morphine, because the pain was so bad, and she was trying to leave—as I think she put it—owing nobody anything. And I thought that was such a wonderful thing. In fact, I believe it was there that Atticus commented, calling her the bravest woman he had ever known.
July 13, 2009
Washington, DC
One of the things about The Big Read that continually amazes me is the uniqueness of each and every project. There were 33 Big Reads on To Kill a Mockingbird in the last round, and not one project was the exact same as any other project. Sure they have things in common—not least of which is the novel—but each organization, and its many project partners, takes very seriously the expectation that its Big Read will celebrate the book but also, ultimately, celebrate the unique character of the community. Don’t believe me? Just click on one of the book titles to the right (under categories) to experience a little taste of the diversity of the projects we’ve been able to feature since we started this blog early last year.
To get back to Wilder, The Big Read program—and I think the one book-one community movement as a whole—is in many ways a “blank check” that each of The Big Read organizers and readers and event participants signs to make the project his or her own. Hmmm, come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like the essential experience of reading a book.
(Since a picture’s worth a thousand words, this post features just a few of the many images from this year’s To Kill a Mockingbird Big Reads. From top: Ashley Horner’s entry for the altered books project hosted by Southern Ohio Performing Arts Association; a portrait by Barbara Parker of then-Senator Joe Biden with a copy of the novel for Piedmont Arts’ Big Read; and the rotunda of Kansas’s Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.)
June 8, 2009
Washington, DC
Just a quick shout-out in honor of the recent launch of the Big Read Web site for the Biblioteca Alexandrina, one of our Egyptian partners for The Big Read Egypt/U.S. The site features discussion boards, the Reader’s Guides for the three Big Read classics they’re reading in Egypt as well as for The Thief and the Dogs, and snapshots from various Big Read events hosted by the library. Make sure to check out my favorite set of pix–The Big Read booth at an Alexandria mall!
May 28, 2009
Pomona, CA
This spring California’s Cal Poly Pomona Foundation put on a Big Read of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The foundation teamed with the city’s library and cultural arts commission to make The Big Read part of the city’s 2nd Annual Chalk Art Festival through a student art contest. Here’s a bit from library staffer Pat Lambert on the project:
The [original] idea for the [chalk art] festival came about because of the large number of public art events that have been cropping up in southern California in recent years. Our climate lends itself to such events, and this was a good fit given the strong arts community in our downtown area. Our library director, Greg Shapton, and Jonnie Owens from the Cal Poly Downtown Center served on the planning committee for last year’s festival, and they suggested a Big Read tie-in to increase participation and awareness of The Big Read in our community.
The artwork was developed by student art teams from local schools consisting of three to four people. There were more than 300 participants in the event, with about 100 art displays. About 25 of the displays were tied to The Big Read. The students created grid drawings, using them as a basis for their sidewalk creations.
Thanks to photographers Delana Martin, Debra Martin, and Danelle Assanelli, here are some views from the event — with commentary by yours truly.
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A look inside the artists’ “studio.” I love that Harper Lee is everywhere in this photo! |
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I really like the mythological quality of this one and the way the central figure is at once unified and divided. The bird reminds me of a Native American depiction of a raven, which is both a trickster and a creator. It brings to mind the childhood innocence of Jem, Scout, and Dill and the growing up they are forced to do. |
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I love the ominous shadow behind the mockingbird: Does it represent Boo Radley? Is it Bob Ewell? Is it the poverty caused by the Depression or the period’s institutionalized racism? It captures the way that Jem’s broken arm hovers over the entire story though we don’t find out how it happened until the novel’s closing pages. |
May 8, 2009
Kelleys Island, OH
Kelleys Island, Ohio, did it. They did it. Everybody on this small, ice-locked Lake Erie island — but everybody — read To Kill a Mockingbird last month, all 134 of them. What started as a reckless challenge I tossed out at last year’s Big Read orientation turned into local pledge, then a countywide sensation, and eventually a low-grade international human-interest story, with reporters as far away as the Manchester Guardian and Russia weighing in on the festivities. For an isolated island, the simple act of reading a book sure brought a little piece of the world to its doorstep. It all culminated in a justly proud celebration last Thursday at the high school gym, where islander after islander took the microphone to thank their neighbors for daring them to do this.
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A mere fraction of all 134 Kelleys Islanders who read To Kill a Mockingbird, plus one very relieved ringer in the last row. Photo by Luke Wark |
Naturally, one big human-interest story on Kelleys Island is only the sum of 134 individual ones. To keep things in perspective, let’s just zoom in on one: the mayor, friendly Robert Quinn, who hesitantly took the stage and admitted to his constituents that safeguarding the public interest usually leaves him little time for pleasure reading. “I haven’t read a book in a long time,” he said, sheepish. “Probably” – sotto voce here — “30 years.”
Now, in a perfect world, a local chief executive’s confession that book-reading isn’t his bag might be grounds for impeachment. But in this fallen one, neighbors just nodded knowingly as he enumerated the two principal hurdles he’d found in cracking his first novel since high school: “For me, the biggest challenge was just getting started … The second biggest challenge was putting names to faces.”
In these challenges, I suspect Mayor Quinn isn’t alone. Even the most readerly among us know that reading a book represents a time commitment, and this can make getting started a little daunting. And a simple thing like keeping all the characters straight, when you’re out of practice and used to more visual forms of entertainment, can make even Mockingbird feel like Crime and Punishment.
So I’m more impressed than ever that all those Kelleys Islanders found the time and concentration to make room for a book in their lives. When I started this blog, I scarcely dared hope that someday I’d find myself in league with Big Read volunteers as dedicated as Elaine Lickfelt and reading professionals as enthusiastic as Sandusky County Library’s Terri Estel. Without them, I’d certainly never have made my foolhardy vow to eat a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird if Kelleys Island fell short of 100% participation.
Now, my optimism and my G.I. tract have both been spared. The only question now is, what next? A couple hundred new grantees will pour into Minneapolis next month to swap ideas about how to make Kelleys Island’s success their own. What new ridiculous challenge can I throw out for some unwary city or town to take up? Can every last soul in a designated Big Read town get a library card? Can everybody memorize a fraction of The Great Gatsby, or The Shawl, or whatever their local book might be, so that together they can recite the whole thing? The silly possibilities are endless, but the mission remains unchanged: Get America reading again.
Consider the suggestion box open…
[For the full story on the Kelleys Island challenge, see prior posts from March 12 and March 16]
May 7, 2009
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, Ohio’s Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio (YANEO) partnered with Warrensville Heights Middle School for a Big Read of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in an effort to boost the reading proficiency of students who had scored below the state standard for reading proficiency. Students and community members read and celebrated the novel with a range of activities including live readings, book discussions, a visit from Harper Lee expert Charles Shields, and a school residency with YANEO theater artists.
Courtesy of Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio (and ace photographer Stacy Goldberg), here are some snaps from Cleveland’s Mockingbird read.
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Students at Warrensville Heights Middle School picketed with signs about To Kill A Mockingbird in front of their school, garnering a lot of curiosity and awareness about The Big Read. This effort helped encourage the entire community to become engaged in reading the book. |
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Students worked with a Young Audiences theater artist to act out scenes from To Kill A Mockingbird at the Cuyahoga County Public Library – Warrensville Heights Branch. Here they are creating a tableau around vocabulary words from the book. |
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Former Warrensville mayor Marcia Fudge (now a U.S. Representative) and the late U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones read a scene from To Kill a Mockingbird with students from Warrensville Heights Middle School. Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones reflected on her career in the courtroom as a trial lawyer and judge, and how To Kill a Mockingbird was one of her favorite books as it brings the excitement of the courtroom to students through reading. She captivated the audience by reading a few of her favorite passages in her spirited, winning way. |
There’s still time to catch a Mockingbird read in Portsmouth, Ohio (Southern Ohio Performing Arts Association), Pensacola, Florida (West Florida Literary Federation), Houston, Texas (Harris County Public Library), Hartford, Connecticut (Hartford Public Library), Whitewater, Wisconsin (Young Auditorium), or Corona, California (Corona Public Library.) Visit The Big Read calendar for details.
April 6 , 2009
Kelleys Island, OH
Through April 12 Matthew Modine is starring as Atticus Finch in Hartford Stage Company’s production of To Kill a Mockingbird, part of Hartford Public Library’s spring Big Read. Modine took a break from Atticus to share his personal response to “Why read?”
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Matthew Modine in a quiet moment as Atticus Finch in Hartford Stage’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Photo © T. Charles Erickson |
“After the age of eleven I was no longer able to keep up with other students my age.
“It was during a comprehension test. A story streamed single file along from a projector and each student was tested afterward. I failed miserably and was put into a class for “dummies.”
“The words looked like the news we see streamed at the bottom of a television newscast or along the side of a certain office buildings. For me, the words jumped and danced and placed themselves in an order all their own. This was 40 years ago, and no one knew what they now know about dyslexia. I certainly wasn’t stupid. I knew I wasn’t. I yearned for the knowledge that the books held and went about to teach myself tricks so that I could decipher the messages and ideas on the pages of books and magazines. I taught myself to conquer my mixed-up way of seeing and unlocked the door to so many great stories. This added effort made my love of books all the greater”
Matthew Modine