Everybody Reads Blog

Wow, well I can't believe that Everybody Reads is already over!

To any of you reading this blog, what were your favorite parts of Everybody Reads this year?

What can the program do better to engage the community?

I personally would love to a see a system where the community decides on what book the program features.

How do you think we can make that work? Voting at the branches? Voting online? 

 

Let us know by leaving a comment.

As this years Everybody Reads program comes to an end, we just want to say thanks for your participation.  We hope that you enjoyed reading the book and checking in on this blog, as well as attending all the events.  This project has been a great opportunity to work with the community and promote a great library program.   

Please let us know your favorite part of the Everybody Reads program and if there is anything you would like to see next year.  We would love to know what you think.  You can leave a comment by choosing the comment link at the bottom of the post.

Thanks Again!! 

I was reading the Portland Mercury this morning and found out that the Refugee Allstars are playing tonight!

 

From the Mercury: 

 

Friday, February 22, 2008

It's a miracle anybody made it out of Sierra Leone's gruesome civil war alive, let alone to sing such hopeful, uplifting African folk music. These performers (one of whom, Black Nature, now lives in Portland) were the subject of an award-winning 2005 documentary financed by Keith Richards and Paul McCartney—find out why tonight! MD Berbati's Pan, 10 SW 3rd, 9 pm, $18-20

Tonight at 7 PM at the Smith Center at PSU join us and Turiya Autry for a hip-hop lyrics workshop.

Turiya has collaborated with The Coup, Black Anger, and Life Savas and is all about art as a medium for empowerment and the exchange of opinions, ideas, and resistance.

Don't miss this one!

 

I get wretchedly motion-sick on buses. I try to find anything to stare at and keep my mind busy as the vehicle bobs and sways along. Last week, while scanning the bus to find anything to grab my attention, a girl pulls A Long Way Gone from her purse and starts reading it!

I really wanted to talk to her about the book, but alas, she was four rows away from me and the bus was packed.

Does this resonate with you? Have you read the book and have a lot you want to say, but no one to discuss it with? If so, you should check out one of the many book groups we are holding! They're happening all over town, so check out the schedule!

 

The Times published an article stating that school records found at the UNICEF school in Sierra Leone may add to the speculation that Beah's memoir is not totally accurate.

Read more here. 

 Beah still denies that his story is anything but accurate and is angry at the bad press lately,

“They [The Australian] never actually apologised for dragging me through that emotional thing . . . Every other day now, I go on The Australian’s website and they have a new instalment. This is what I think: they went and they didn’t find anything so they tried to find something else just to discredit me.”

 A re-cap of the controversy can be found here, at ABCnews.com
 

Tomorrow, February 18th, at the PSU Smith memorial union, join us for a hip-hop lyricism and writing workshop.  Turiya Autry, Portland's Grand Slam Champion of 2003, leads this interactive workshop. 
Then, on Monday, at Central library, learn about the sustainable, illegal, and commercial harvest of wild meat in Africa.  This workshop is lead by the Oregon Zoo.

Also, check out the list of book groups coming up this week by clicking on book groups from the links to the right!

I'm really excited for the film events coming up this next week! The films showing are being co-sponsored by the PCC Cascade Festival of African Films.  Two are happening on Thursday at the PCC Cascade Campus, and one is on Friday at the Hollywood Theatre. Details below:::

The Lion Mountains: A Journey Through Sierra Leone's History

• This film follows 25 year-old Louis Buckley's journey to Sierra Leone and through the country's past. Stories of pre-colonial Sierra Leone, the African and European trade, slavery, resistance, and colonial rule unfold to an amazing hip-hop and reggae soundtrack.
  

Thursday, February 14, 7:30 p.m.
Moriarty Arts & Humanities Building, Room 104
Portland Community College Cascade Campus
705 N. Killingsworth St.

 

Moving to the Beat

• This film follows Rebel Soulz, a hip-hop group from Portland, as they journey back to their roots in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This group aims to utilize hip-hop as a means of sharing their experience - what Chuck D. would call the Black CNN. These guys are supposed to be super awesome and their lyrics explore issues of race, gender and war. Come join us! Support your local filmmakers!
  

Thursday, February 14, 8:30 p.m.
Moriarty Arts & Humanities Building, Room 104
Portland Community College Cascade Campus, 705 N. Killingsworth St.

Ezra

• I've heard that this movie is simply amazing. The film follows Ezra, a former child soldier searches for inner peace the trauma he suffers during Sierra Leone's civil war. This won the Grand Prize at the Festival Panafricain du Cinéma à Ouegadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso, Africa's largest and most prestigious film festival, in March 2007.

Friday, February 15, 7 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd.

 

As these may be some of the only chances you will get to see these films on the big screen, I would recommend you all come. 

The Hollywood branch is hosting a book group this Sunday featuring Evelyne Ello-Hart, President of the African Womens Coalition.  Come and hear her and members of the African youth community share their life experiences and thoughts on the book. 

 Also coming up this week is a book group hosted by one of our partnering coffee shops.  If you are in the north/northeast Portland area, Goldrush Coffee shop (located on the corner of Russell and MLK) will be hosting a book group on Monday at 7pm. 

Mercy Corps invites you to their headquarters at 3030 SW First Ave to listen and discuss current improvements in nine countries across Africa.  They will be speaking on the fight against famine, HIV/AIDS, and economic improvements.   This event is held on Tuesday, February 12, at 11am and 6:30 pm. 

Hope to see you there!

 

The Oregon Zoo will be setting up a series of discovery stations to allow adults and children to discover together how animals are adapted to life in Africa.

The program is a mix of hands-on biofacts and live animals! Bring the kids!

* Tuesday, February 5, 3 p.m., Northwest Library

* Thursday, February 21, 4:30 p.m., Woodstock Library

Hello Everyone!

There is so much happening this week!  The Everybody Reads programming is just getting started and there are a lot of exciting events coming up.

Join us Tuesday, February 5th for the Memoir Writing workshop at PSU.  Debra Gwartney, a former correspondent for Newsweek and the Oregonian and current professor at PSU will be leading this workshop.  Learn how to record and create your own piece of personal history. Check out her profile here:
 http://www.english.pdx.edu/faculty/gwartney_d.php

 Wednesday, February 6th is the first of our children's story time.  We will be exploring African Picture Books at the Clackamas Town Center Barnes and Noble Cafe.  Bring the kids for a fun day of stories, African mask-making, and even a parade! 

Have you chosen a book group?  This week you can participate at PCC Cascade Campus, Albina branch library, Capitol Hill library, Gresham library, and Central library. 

You can find all the upcoming events on the right side bar by clicking on Related Events and Book Groups.

 

 

Chata Addy and Shi Dah:
Traditional Drumming and Dance

 

Chata Addy and Shi Dah perform in the traditional style of their homeland, Ghana, West Africa.
This is a family friendly performance that will be engaging to all ages.
With dancing, drumming, beautiful costumes, and great story-telling, this performance is going to be great!

Also check out their website to hear music clips!

Saturday, February 2, 2:30 p.m., Gresham Library

Saturday, February 9, 2 p.m., North Portland Library

This exhibition, culled from a variety of sources, looks at the relationship between children and war in an international context.

February 1–29
Portland State Library lobby
1875 S.W. Park Ave., Portland

 

ABC news published a cumulative account of the recent controversy surrounding Ishmael Beah and A Long Way Gone on Friday.

Read it here.

A blog reader brought my attention to this article published Sunday in The Observer that states that certain details in A Long Way Gone may be inaccurate.

 

Following the article, initial article, another article was published in The Australian on Monday. 

 

According to this article:

 

[Beah's] Creative writing professor Dan Chaon said if errors did exist in the autobiography, they should be put down to poetic licence, saying that during the two years he and Beah worked on the book, its factual integrity was never discussed...

"I was completely amazed that an undergraduate could write as well as he could and was completely astonished by a lot of his sentences and his metaphors and, yeah, by the vividness of his memory. During the period of our writing the book, I did not discuss the factual integrity of the book with him. I didn't have any questions about the accuracy of the content. I was acting as a writing teacher.

"I guess as I was reading it, I was so convinced by the detail that I never felt as if there was any question that this was something he understood and knew.

"If there are factual discrepancies, I don't know. But it wasn't as if, during the writing of this book, that Ishmael imagined in his wildest dreams that he was writing a bestseller that would appear all over the world.

"He was writing it as a creative writing project. He was writing it for himself ... with really no sense that it would be published."

 

 Subsequently, Beah issued a response to the news articles on Tuesday.

 

"I was right about my family. I am right about my story. This is not something one gets wrong. The Australian's reporters have been calling my college professors, asking if I 'embellished' my story. They published my adoptive mother's address, so she now receives ugly threats. They have used innuendo against me when there is no fact. Though apparently, they believe anything they are told—unless it comes from me or supports my account. Sad to say, my story is all true."  The full response can be found here.

 

What do you think? Do the discrepancies in his book invalidate, or at least detract, from the tragedy of Beah’s experience as a child soldier? Or do you believe that factuality and accuracy should be the top priority for any non-fiction book which aims to educate the public?

 

As this story was just published, I am interested to see what other ripples this article will cause in Ishmael Beah's waters.