Winding Down the Big Read and Winding Up for Spring

The Big Read winds down with the grand finale: Swing with Janie and Tea Cake!

Saturday, February 27 from 5:00-8:00pm | Ruby Lee’s Restaurant (Hilton Head)

 

Join us for the final act of The Big Read at Ruby Lee’s restaurant in Hilton Head! The evening will feature great music, swing dancing, tasty food from the land and the sea, and signature cocktails available for purchase. Jazz Age attire is encouraged. The event is open to the public, however dinner is $45/per person and cocktails are available for purchase. Reservations are required 843-681-7829 (Use code MPP). The Big Read closing event is sponsored by The Mitchellville Project. (BTW: We have a Mitchelville: List of Links & Materials page at http://bit.ly/1gYUQ1P )

In case you missed one of our book discussion groups about Their Eyes Were Watching God, Beaufort County Library's own librarians, Halle Eisenman, Ann Cox and Traci Cox, did a "Well-Read" podcast on the topic. They actually preferred the audio version for the first read because they experienced some difficulty with the variety of dialects that the characters use, though Traci Cox mentioned that the profound comments Hurston makes are sort of lost in the audiobook. She felt the lack of time to savor the profundity of statements. Each one loved the narration provided by Ruby Dee. As Halle Eisenman says "It has a richness in the language" and deep symbolism that one seldom sees in most modern novels. Each one recommended listening to the audiobook first and then reading a printed book to capture all the juicy details. Download this episode (right click and save)

But anyone reading local media knows that we are entering a very active phase of community life events. In February, Hilton Head hosts its Gullah Celebration and the Beaufort Film Festival draws in hundreds of film-makers and fans. March has some notable special events, too: The Landmark Conference of the Confederation of Local Historical Societies; a Living History Civil War Encampment at the Arsenal put on by the Beaufort History Museum; the Third Annual Sam Doyle Folk & Gullah Cultural Arts Festival to name but a few. April has Taste of Bluffton; Soft Shell Crab Festival; a celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Spanish settlement led by the Santa Elena History Center and the 48th Annual RBC Heritage golf tournament. May's end brings the Gullah Festival. Add in the arts festivals, school events, and architecture tours and one could spend almost every week exploring a different aspect of all that Beaufort County has to offer residents and visitors. (Forgive me if I failed to list your favorite event. There are just so many!)

(BTW: We have a Sam Doyle: List of Links & Materials page at http://bit.ly/1S0ngLh)

Another Big Read Update

We had a cozy group of attendees at our "Hurricanes of Beaufort's Past" program on Sat., Jan. 23rd. (It was a dismally cold day. The overcast conditions seemed rather appropriate for the gravitas of the topic.) Those attending saw and heard about some of the almost 100 hurricanes and tropical storms that have visited Beaufort County since 1852. We highlighted the Hurricanes of 1656, 1752, 1854, 1885, 1893, 1896, 1898, 1911, 1940, "Able," "Gracie," "David," "Hugo 'a- wimp-with-a-wallop'," "Earl" and "Floyd." (I really hadn't expected to find quite so many.)  

Looking at "Hurricanes" materials from the Research Room

The Big Read program continues this week with a Book Discussion Group at the Lobeco Branch Library, the final Storyboard Workshop at Beaufort Branch Library, and the closing days to see the Cassandra Gillens Art Exhibit at St. Helena Branch Library. 
 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Book Discussion at Lobeco, 1872 Trask Parkway, Thursday, Jan 28, 2016, 4:00pm – 5:00pm (The Reader's Guide has questions to ponder.)

Final Storyboard Workshop: Everybody has a story. What’s yours? Whether you’re a writer or not, let inimitable Joggling Board Press publisher and editor Susan Kammeraad-Campbell show you how to capture a moment of your life. No registration necessary. No writing experience necessary. Heck, she even supplies the pens and paper!

Event Location: Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort, SC, 29902-5556
Date: Sat, Jan 30, 2016
Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm

And don't forget that the Cassandra Gillens Art Exhibit on display at St. Helena Branch Library closes Monday, February 1. Be sure to go see her vibrant work during the branch's regular hours of operation.

 

Event Location: St. Helena Branch Library, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road, St. Helena, SC, 29920
Date: Mon, Jan 25, 2016 – Mon, Feb 1, 2016

Please check out the full schedule of upcoming The Big Read events. There are plenty more enlightening, instructive and entertaining events and programs left to explore the themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

The Big Read Continues: Hurricanes, Writing Workshops, and Art Exhibits

Everyone is on board for The Big Read.  Just take a look at what's happening on January 23rd!

I admit to a little bias about our contribution to The Big Read Project. Learn a bit about the "Spanish Repulse Hurricane," the Great Sea Island Storm, and 20th century hurricanes and tropical storms that caused death and destruction here in Beaufort County.(First come; first seated - no registration. Doors to the 2nd floor open at Noon-ish).

However, I know that hurricanes, death, and destruction do not appeal to everyone  - which is why I bring this wonderful opportunity to your attention:  

The inimitable Joggling Board Press publisher and editor Susan Kammeraad-Campbell is back to weave her magic - to help unleash the writer in you!  We know that storytelling is an integral part of what it means to be human. Our stories help us make sense of our world. They tell us who we were, who we are and who we can be. As Ursula K. Le Guin has attested: “There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.”

You may recall that Kammeraad-Campbell did several memoir writing workshops for the BDC a few years ago in connection with the publication of the national award-winning memoir, The Other Mother by Teresa Bruce. Kammeraad-Campbell drew on techniques she designed while guiding Bruce to access memories and render them through her senses in her workshops. Bruce describes her experience working with Susan in this Charleston City Paper article.  

Post-workshop survey responses were resoundingly enthusiastic:

• “Writer’s workshops in a public library setting are a necessary and non-judgmental arena to develop;” 
• “The workshop made me want to write more and to approach writing as a craft;” 
•  “This workshop changed my perception on the diversity and validity of other’s viewpoints;” 
• “This workshop empowered me ‘to be me’;” and, several one word critiques: 
• “Cathartic;”
•  “Therapeutic,” and 
• “Inviting.” 

Perhaps most telling, one participant said: “The public library is an inclusive setting where judgment is held at bay. The interaction with the other writers made me feel validated.” If you have any writing aspirations at all, you would be crazy (yes, I wrote "crazy!") not to take advantage of this opportunity to learn at the feet (well, table) of a master editor.

If you can't make the January 23rd session at St. Helena Branch at 1 pm, then be sure to catch the final installment at Beaufort Branch on Saturday, January 30th. No registration necessary. No writing experience necessary. Heck, she even supplies the pens and paper!

And don't forget to enjoy the artwork of Cassandra Gillens on display at St. Helena Branch Library through February 27 during regular library hours. Her work decorates our Library system newsletter, too.

We've have a list of all The Big Read programs and activities at http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/the-big-read so you can pick and choose among a variety of options available to help you understand and appreciate one of more aspects of Their Eyes Were Watching God by  Zora Neale Hurston.