tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81237476823010477422024-03-05T10:42:12.484-08:00Big Read "Wild" WinterBig Read “Wild” Winter extends the conversation for the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Big Read, focusing on Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. Posts reflect how this classic novel came alive for readers during the winter of 2013 in communities throughout Western New York. Many of the authors of this blog are SUNY Fredonia English majors who collaborated with partners throughout the community to host literary discussions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-8847643401288972612013-05-08T10:12:00.004-07:002013-05-08T10:18:48.463-07:00Adventure of Reading Not Lost on Chautauqua County Home Residents<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Has
the importance and prevalence of reading declined in today’s society?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a Big Read group presentation at the
Chautauqua County Home on February 27th, Brian Bailey and I, Caitlin Skellett, worked
to encourage a passion for reading amongst the residents.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Event Background</b></div>
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The Big Read is a program
sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in which participating
organizations work with community partners to encourage literacy in local
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is done through book
discussions and events in the participating areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The program started due to a recent study demonstrating
a literacy crisis and showing that reading rates are declining rapidly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>10% of Americans do not read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a loss of 20 million potential
readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking on the challenge of
re-instating reading in our community, our group presented a discussion at the
Chautauqua County Home with hopes of encouraging resident’s enjoyment of the
book.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Our Event</b></div>
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The event held that Chautauqua
County Home was successful. The group talked about animal cruelty, necessary
punishment, human relations with dogs and Jack London’s life. Most of the
members of our audience grew up on farms where they were surrounded by animals
including dogs. Several members would repeat the dogs they grew up with, and
had throughout their lives, were members of their family. Being members of the
family punishment was necessary. Similar to raising a child, if the child made
a mistake the child would be punished. Punishment would consist of being
grounded, having videos taken away or something similar. The same may hold true
when it comes to raising dogs.</div>
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Our event at the home was
successful and the residents seemed to enjoy themselves talking about the book
(the parts that were read at the home). Our group had a board in the front of
the room with a map of Buck’s journey. From there, the group followed the map
moving along and reaching the wild with activities and discussion questions.
With each activity and question the paper Buck (on the board) would move along
the map until he reached the wild. When “the wild” was reached the event
concluded. The residents seemed to have liked the small visual of Bucks
journey. When the board was put up one of the residents said aloud, “Oh that is
pretty” the group members looked at her and smiled. She smiled back, gave the
group thumbs up and said, “Good job.” </div>
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The residents at the event
seemed pleased and satisfied with the performance with the group. Furthermore,
the residents seemed to appreciate what SUNY Fredonia and the Big Read program
did (do) for them and other members of the surrounding areas. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Audience Response</b>
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Presenting to an audience of
approximately 20 individuals, all of whom bring something different to the
discussion may seem like a challenge, and, although the task wasn’t simple, it
was rewarding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had some residents who
told us they liked reading more than they enjoyed watching television because
they could use their imaginations more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One resident even said that after reading the novel, she wished to
travel to Alaska.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Many members of our audience grew
up in a time when reading was one of the only pass time activities they had to
engage in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This gave our group an
interesting perspective on the importance of reading in these individual’s
lives.</div>
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For
those members of the audience who had not finished the book by the time our
group presented, there was an overwhelming response that they could not wait to
finish reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were even
interested in reading Jack London’s biography,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Wolf</i>, since our presentation used some information from that
book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing the resident’s faces light
up while talking about what reading means to them was encouraging in regards to
the future of reading.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Future of
Reading</b></div>
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The future of reading is
crucial. The Big Read program aims to tackle the problem of the lack of
reading, particularly males from 16 to 25. With the previous in mind, doing an
event at the County Home may help increase reading. How? The event probably
should have been open to the residents’ family members. Family members include
children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. If family members of the
residents were allowed to attend the event, they would have seen (as stated
above) the glow on the faces of audience members. The glow and the event would
show people the enjoyment and “wild” adventure that reading and discussing books
has to offer. </div>
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How does society fix the problem
of the lack reading within the United States? The education system is, perhaps,
the most important “thing” that can change to better and help the problem. Though,
the education system today is something people are not pleased with. Some argue
the education system started to decline with the “No Child Left Behind Act”
under George W. Bush. It goes to show that people like to point fingers when
something goes wrong or is unsuccessful. The education system isn’t the only “thing”
that can change. Parents need to introduce their children to reading through
various ways. Though, parents tend to find it is easier to let children watch
television or play video games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The Big Read is a horse of a different
color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Community partners who participate
within the program are beneficial to the areas and people within of the
location. Hopefully, the Big read program will tackle the goals set forth with
help from students, parents, professors and community partners.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conclusion</b></div>
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To conclude everything gained
from the Big Read program cannot be described with words. Everyone who
participated within the program clearly shares a love of literature unmatched
by any material object and activity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore,
the love of literature goes hand-in-hand with the goal of the Big Read, to
promote literacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading is an
adventure that can be compared to Buck’s journey, difficult times, loss, love,
trust, cruelty and epiphany. All of which prove to be a wild ride.</div>
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<b>Please visit the sites below for more information about SUNY Fredonia, the Big Read and the County Home.</b></div>
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<b> </b>http://www.fredonia.edu/</div>
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http://www.fredonia.edu/bigread/ <b></b></div>
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http://www.co.chautauqua.ny.us/departments/CountyHome/Pages/default.aspx<b><br /></b></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-23506755872102191732013-03-16T10:27:00.000-07:002013-03-16T10:27:29.693-07:00Answering “The Call of the Wild” on New York’s Amish Trail<br />
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One community member at our discussion held at Randolph Free
library in Randolph, New York shared an interesting story about her labradoodle,
“Polly”. She said that during the summer Polly would walk up the street to the
local ice cream stand and wait in line where the employees would give her a
bowl of ice cream. She would then take the bowl back down the street and bring
it back home to eat in the front yard.</div>
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Our audience at the Randolph library was very intrigued with
how Jack London’s <i>Call of the Wild</i>
contemplated human and animal interactions. Polly’s owner saw her dog as a
family member who she shared a special bond with, much like the intimate
connection that John Thornton shared with Buck. Our group contemplated how the
introduction of a dog as the main character of the novel affected the way we
felt about the events in the plot. Are humans a part of the primal order just
as Buck is in London`s novel? Buck’s transformative experience of changing from
a domesticated house pet to a primordial ruler of the wild was of particular
fascination to our discussion group. </div>
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We traveled to Randolph on Monday February 25<sup>th</sup>,<sup>
</sup>2013 at 6pm with the intention of leading a discussion of <i><span lang="EN-CA">The</span></i><span lang="EN-CA"> </span><i>Call of the Wild</i> focused on the
historical and political context of the novel.
The historical richness of the Randolph community inspired this topic. We
prepared to present information on American imperialism, the economic climate prior
to the London’s writing, Jack London’s life, and the Klondike gold rush. We
prepared a visual that our attendees found appealing and fun to look at. There
was a wide variety of knowledge about these historical events among our three
participants, and they were happy to actively participate in this part of the
discussion. The life of Jack London particularly interested the group due to
his brief incarceration in Buffalo, New York. </div>
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Our discussion even went beyond the novel itself, as we seemed
to spark an interest in literature in general. The discussion centered on how
the novel compared to similar novels of the time, other author’s writing
styles, historical events happening around the time of the novels publication, major
events that have taken place since, and Jack London himself. Our participants
showed a deep appreciation for the literary world and clearly saw how the novel
functions in a social sphere. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HCDGbG-cAT8/UUSrA2voXKI/AAAAAAAAAAM/MrPK2EU0iGg/s1600/photo+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HCDGbG-cAT8/UUSrA2voXKI/AAAAAAAAAAM/MrPK2EU0iGg/s320/photo+(1).jpg" width="240" /></a> The community members in attendance discussed how having university
English majors leading the discussion made for a much more interesting and
beneficial conversation. Quite often community members who are intrigued by the
idea of discussing literature in the public sphere lack an environment that
provides a beneficial and enriching analysis. Specifically, our discussion
participants spoke of how their own book club discussion did not necessarily
meet the same standards as the discussion we were able to provide. Also, the
experience proved to be mutually beneficial, as it provided an opportunity for
us to apply our skills developed as English majors in a real-world situation
outside of the classroom. </div>
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Our experience while putting together this event was
exciting and informative. We learned a lot about Jack London’s <i>Call of the Wild,</i> about how warm and
welcoming the community can be, and how we as English majors can have a
positive impact in the community. </div>
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We would like to thank everyone who gave us the opportunity
to have this wonderful experience with the NEA’s Big Read and in particular we
would like to<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a> thank the Randolph Free Library for hosting
the event. </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-57387540657568110882013-03-14T06:48:00.000-07:002013-04-18T06:30:20.219-07:00NEA Big Read Event at Patterson Library by Ayla Dziduch, Thomas Beiter, and Pilar Padrón<br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5442920041331216" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NEA Big Read Event at Patterson Library by Ayla Dziduch, Thomas Beiter, and Pilar Padrón</span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.5442920041331216" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5442920041331216" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5442920041331216" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Intro:</span><br />
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We presented at the Patterson Library in Westfield, NY. We had a
modest event of six people. The intimacy of our event led to a wonderful
and enriching discussion, that really helped to accomplish what the NEA
has set out to do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why did we do the Big Read? What is the Big Read about?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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The National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) started the Big Read Program
in 2006 as a way to try to bring back the enjoyment of leisurely reading into the American Culture and to revitalize the role of reading
and literature. Since its national launch in 2007 there has been over
one thousand Big Read events nationwide. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Who was Jack London?</span><br />
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Born as John Griffith in January of 1876 in San Francisco, California, Jack London grew up within the working class in the Oakland Slums. He spent his time doing
odd jobs such as sealing ships, shoveling coal, pirating oysters, and
working in a cannery, and spending all of his free time in a library with his
nose buried in any novel or travel book he could get his hands on.
His writing career didn't begin until his mother heard about a writing
contest through their local paper where he won first place out writing
writers from Stanford and Berkeley. From then on, London made a point to
write down at least one thousand words each day and soon began
publishing in the Overland Monthly to get his name and work known in the public eye. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> At the age of twenty seven, London published his first novel </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Call of the Wild</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
in 1903 with great success. London published a total of fifty novels
within his short life time, was married twice, and had two daughters.
London soon died from a life long battle against Kidney Disease on
November 22, 1916. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The importance of the Klondike Gold Rush: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Klondike Gold Rush was the setting of the novel. Gold was discovered in the Klondike
region of the Yukon in August of 1896. The Yukon region is located in Northwest Canada. The gold
rush lasted from 1896 until the year 1899. Prospectors came
from all over the West Coast of the United States, coming from as far
as San Francisco. At most 30,000-40,000 prospectors actually made it
into Canada, for they were told to turn around when they reached as far
as Seattle if they did not have the necessary provisions (which was
about 1,500 lbs. of food and supplies). The remoteness of the region of
where the gold actually existed was small, hard to find, and even harder
to reach. The peak of the gold rush brought in roughly 1.139 million American dollars in 1899, which is comparable to $1 Billion today. Most prospectors
didn’t even reach gold, as only around 4,000 actually struck gold. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The list of the supplies needed were as follows:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Clothing and supplies:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-2 suits heavy knit underwear -1 mackinaw, coat, pants, shirt</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-6 pairs wool socks -1 pair heavy buck lined mitts</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 pairs heavy moccasins -1 pair unlined leather gloves</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-2 pairs german stockings -1 duck coat, pants, vest</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-2 heavy flannel overshirts -6 towels</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 heavy woolen sweater -1 pocket matchbox, buttons, needles and</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 pair overalls thread</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-2 pairs 12-lb. blankets -1 mirror and toothbrush</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 waterproof blanket -mosquito netting</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 dozen bandana handkerchiefs -1 sleeping bag</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 stiff brim cowboy hat</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 pair hip rubber boots</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 pair high land boots</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Food and other supplies:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-100 lbs navy beans -1/2 lb. mustard -1 lb. citric acid</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-150 lbs. bacon -1/4 lb. vinegar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-400 lbs. flour -2 doz. condensed milk</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-40 lbs. rolled oats -20 lbs. evaporated potatoes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-20 lbs. corn meal -5 lbs. evaporated onions</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-10 lbs. rice -6 tins beef extract</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-25 lbs. sugar -75 lbs. evaporated fruits</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-10 lbs. tea -4 pkgs. yeast cakes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-20 lbs. coffee -20 lbs. candles</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-10 lbs. baking powder -1 pkg. tin matches</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-20 lbs. salt -6 lbs. laundry soap</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-1 lb. pepper -1/2 lb ground ginger</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-2 lbs. baking soda -25 hard tack</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What is the important need to know information about the novel?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
The novel was written in 1903. The main character Buck is
a large St. Bernard/Scottish Shepherd Mix. This equips him greatly for
the wild. After four years as a domestic dog, Buck is stolen from his
comfortable home life and sold in to the life of being a sled dog,
participating in the Gold Rush. Upon being reintroduced to a more wild
life, Buck quickly rediscovers his primordial side and takes charge of
the pack becoming the leader. Buck was sold a few times until finding
love and comfort in his final owner John Thornton. John is his last
attachment to his human side. Upon John’s death, Buck abandons his human
side and takes his place permanently with a wild pack of wolves.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z6emSbVJXGQ/UTUKXnGApWI/AAAAAAAAABk/7cwzWqsgmLo/s1600/Alaska_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z6emSbVJXGQ/UTUKXnGApWI/AAAAAAAAABk/7cwzWqsgmLo/s320/Alaska_lg.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8077244834490112"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
<b>What influenced Jack London's writing of this novel?</b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
On July 25, 1897, Jack London started participating in the Gold
Rush. He spent several weeks in the Yukon wilderness observing sled dogs
and what it was like to be a part of the Gold Rush. During these weeks
London was inspired to write </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Call of the Wild.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
He learned about breed and behavior from his interaction with sled
dogs. This interaction inspired the character Buck greatly, as well as
the other dogs. These personal experiences inspired </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Call of the Wild.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Join Our Discussion! It is YOUR turn!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the several meanings of the call of the wild?</span></li>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The call that Buck feels VS the call that the humans feel?</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Are they different or just disguised in different beings?</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Are humans still driven by this instinctual animalistic side today? In what ways?</span></li>
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<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If not, what makes humans different than animals or in this case dogs?</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Which is more important in this novel, animal nature or human nature? </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--G-W936oFE4/UTUHhWmwuDI/AAAAAAAAABg/LnOuoWVyg-M/s1600/P1010370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--G-W936oFE4/UTUHhWmwuDI/AAAAAAAAABg/LnOuoWVyg-M/s320/P1010370.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Works Cited:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Courbin-Tavernier, Jacqueline.”The Call of the Wild and the Jungle: Jack</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> London’s and Upton Sinclair’s Animal and Human Jungles”. The .</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism Howells</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to London. Ed. Donald Pizer.Cambridge University Press. 236-262.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Print.</span><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.neabigread.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.neabigread.org/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></li>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.questiconnect.org/ak_klondike.htm"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.questiconnect.org/ak_klondike.htm</span></a></li>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/goldrush.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/goldrush.html</span></a></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://neabigread.org/books/callofthewild/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://neabigread.org/books/callofthewild/</span></a></li>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/gold-rush/photos/klondike-gold-rush-pictures.htm"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/gold-rush/photos/klondike-gold-rush-pictures.htm</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></li>
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<ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.jacklondon.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.jacklondon.co</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">m</span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://woldnewtonresource.wikia.com/wiki/Jack_London"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://woldnewtonresource.wiki</span></a></li>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://woldnewtonresource.wikia.com/wiki/Jack_London"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://w</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">ww.biography.com/people/jack-london-9385499</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-36740362887305461412013-03-12T19:59:00.000-07:002013-03-12T19:59:04.859-07:00The Big Read at Buster Brown in Fredonia<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8128376042004675"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Community involvement and public dialogue, the fine tuning of skills in collaborative efforts are natural complements to any major in the humanities. Even if they are mostly “honored only in the breach,” the capacity of the arts to promote empathy, critical analysis and appreciation of beauty are limited if we do not extend these teachings into the public realm. Such practice is being curtailed as the humanities lose out to “practical” fields of studies in the realms of science and technology. The Big Read is the acknowledgment of the danger this poses. According to the National Endowment of the Arts’ website, The Big Read was, “designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment.” Specifically it is mentioned that the target demographic for this program is young boys between 11 and 15. Through participation of the event, what conclusions might be drawn about the efficacy of The Big Read program in achieving its goals?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At our event, aside from the presenters, there were but 10 people who came. Of them, all had read </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Call of the Wild</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the event; for some it was the second time with the book. Among all of those who participated in our discussion group, we talked about many different topics relating to the novel, both in depth and broad, both critical and anecdotal. For example, a critical topic that was covered was that of survival of the fittest in the book and, in a similar vein, whether those in the group thought that Buck evolved or devolved throughout the book. And a anecdotal offering, for instance, was provided by one community member who mentioned that, </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">every time</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> something bad or hurtful happened to Buck, she would take a brief pause from reading and cuddle with her own dog. The audience was uniformly adult, with two college age individuals, and two professors from the SUNY Fredonia English Department. The rest were elderly. In this respect, the program cannot be reasonably declared a success, though the conversation was lively and critical.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Problems may be located with how the program was pitched to the demographic in question. While advertisement was centralized mainly to public areas trafficked by people who already consider themselves avid readers (book stores, libraries, etc.) there is little evidence to show that any special efforts were made in the way of outreach towards young people, much less young boys. Literature is at odds with many of the current trends in media production.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, it requires active participation. The youth of today have been conditioned to accept almost exclusively passive forms of entertainment in the way of television, movies and the internet. Even those media which might push their audience to participate, like video games, still rely, at least initially, on raw visual stimulation to keep the audience interested.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second, literature is forced to compete with the omnipresence of electronic media and the “140 characters or less” format. This is a reference to the shortened attention spans, and even immunities to excessive external stimuli that has resulted from the overload of information that saturates young people’s consciousness almost constantly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Organizers of the Big Read recognize the detrimental effects that a decrease in literacy can have in society. These factors are only going to proliferate as technology advances and unless literature is sold and promoted in a way that accommodates these trends its presence will slowly dwindle among future generations. Jack London and Ray Bradbury will find themselves increasingly relegated to academia, or at best to overworked Hollywood adaptations. The Big Read strives to renew the public interest in literature and brings it to an intimate community setting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In promoting future Big Reads, these factors need to be taken into account— so long as 11-15 year old males are the target demographic. Online marketing techniques may be employed, or different age groups, or sexes should be targeted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This does not mean that a small turnout for The Big Read is an unsuccessful one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the contrary, The Big Read events bring people of selected communities together, though not necessarily due to the initially intended goal of promoting literacy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take those who planned, organized and constructed the events for The Big Read, for example. There are dozens or people, if not more, who all collaborated in order to produce an organized series of events. In conditions without The Big Read, these people may never have came together and, even if they did happen to interact at some point, it would certainly not have been in the capacity that The Big Read orchestrated. The English students who worked with school officials, community members and each other, especially, benefited from developing their communication skills in such an applicable manner to their futures in the field. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even those who did not directly get to work side by side in organizing The Big Read events for our town were able to, eventually, work with members of the community through the actual planned discussion events. These people in the community, too, would not have ever come in contact with many of the college students that planned and participated in these events. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But, because of The Big Read, there was a dialogue between all of these different people. And this is the case for each and every community that participated in The Big Read, a total of 78 towns and cities. While The Big Read didn’t necessarily produce the outcomes that they had originally planned for this literacy promoting campaign, The Big Read did bring people together. And that’s a start.</span></div>
Zainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06099610774344812444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-66277691205349577032013-03-11T14:23:00.001-07:002013-03-11T14:23:53.593-07:00The Big Read at the Lakeshore Humane Society<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Lakeshore Humane society turned out to be the perfect setting for a book discussion based around a text with an inhuman protagonist. As the primary character of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The Call of the Wild</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Buck serves as the feature point of interest, and he was the perfect launching point for our discussion. The group was enthusiastic, interested, and well prepared for an engaging conversation about the novel. Everyone seemed to be “on the same page”, so to speak, about the powerful effect the novel had on us as animal-lovers. Twenty eight people gathered in a small meeting area to discuss the issues of animal advocacy and the nature of beasts, as well as to support the World Wildlife Fund Organization’s Gray Wolf Adoption Sponsorship. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Initially, we raised the question of the effectiveness of Buck’s role as the protagonist. Several people responded that since Buck was a dog, he was more relatable and more empathetic (rather than if he were a human character). This caused one person to raise the question of what Buck’s being a dog had to do with the success of the plot, and whether or not we would feel the same way if Buck was a human and the story was about human slavery. Collectively, the group seemed to agree that undertones of slavery were inherent in the text already and that no matter what, human connectivity is a part of us and therefore a part of what we read. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Was Buck bored by if before he was hurled into the world of terror in the Northland, were the Law of Club and Fang reigned? When Buck was kidnapped to pull the sled, he transformed into something faster, stronger, and even more magnificent. However, was this change a matter of regression or transcendence? Did Buck revert back to a simpler way of life, or was the call of the wild about rising above the trials of his present circumstance? In the end, we all agreed, survival means to protect yourself above all others. What, then, does it mean that Buck, even in his elevated state of wild consciousness in the final chapter, still holds a glimmer of love for the human John Thornton?</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVJoY_R-FWY/UT5KFwAOSNI/AAAAAAAAACw/QvAWhfEqSwM/s1600/photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vVJoY_R-FWY/UT5KFwAOSNI/AAAAAAAAACw/QvAWhfEqSwM/s320/photo+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Inevitably, the conversation turned to people’s own pets and whether or not they thought their dogs had a primordial beast within them or not. An amusing discussion, but it touched upon the importance of human and animal relationships. This refers to the fact that even some sled dogs in the novel were better equipped for living in the wild, but it was Buck who proved to be the most capable in the end. It was Buck who started off as someone’s pet and had never had a taste of the wild.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font: 12.0px Times; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">During our Big Read event, we had the pleasure of being in the presence of educators- from the primary level to collegiate. This turned part of our discussion into a comparison of the usefulness of this canonized novel. At the elementary level, one teacher noted that the text was found most interesting by young men, which is very meaningful. Research has shown that younger men are less likely to read for enjoyment, but this novel has the capabilities of bringing back the “fun” in “reading for fun.”</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfyFkWCcS_E/UT5KNQIGfTI/AAAAAAAAAC4/6qBJX9_hXLw/s1600/photo+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfyFkWCcS_E/UT5KNQIGfTI/AAAAAAAAAC4/6qBJX9_hXLw/s320/photo+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"> Something that really piqued everyone’s interest was the brief discussion we had about Jack London’s relationship with his own dog. London was an interesting guy who spent a significant amount of time cultivating a philosophy about life and writing and how to navigate the hardship in life without losing heart. He gives a great deal of worthy advice to young writers, and to young people in general struggling to hold onto their humanity in a cold, wild world. </span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-83037358545450937682013-03-07T08:52:00.001-08:002013-03-27T08:45:08.195-07:00Anderson Lee-ding the Pack!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It was a perfect chilly night at <a href="http://www.andersonleelibrary.com/" target="_blank">Anderson Lee Library</a>
in Silver Creek to collaborate together and discuss Jack London’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Call of the Wild</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our group spanned a large range including a
family who had read the short novel aloud to each other, the library’s normal
book club members, as well as several SUNY Fredonia students!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This range proved to bring many interesting
topics of discussion up and a large array of perspective!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very
helpful that everyone involved had finished reading the novel, and for some this
reading was a second experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><b>Gender:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all noticed the lack of female characters
throughout <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Call of the Wild</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were two female dogs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first was literally torn apart by other
male dogs, perhaps because she couldn’t handle a lifestyle this demanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the second female dog lost her mind,
chased Buck around the tundra, and was axed to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only other female role was the high-maintenance
woman named Mercedes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had no
intellect to survive in harsh conditions and often road inside the sled,
forcing the dogs to take her weight as if their lives weren’t difficult
enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a group, we decided that in
this time period women weren’t the people out searching for gold and adventure
in the Arctic tundra, women were homemakers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Personification:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of the most stimulating topics of discussion was the personification of the
dogs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given that they were given in
depth emotional capacity, what was Jack London trying to say about the
dogs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We overall concluded that the dogs
can represent humans, but they also stand in representing themselves, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dogs</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a lot of interesting feedback in this discussion and it
eventually led to the idea of racism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Man is represented as superior, yet all of the human characters in the
novel were not near as developed as the animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only exception we could think of was the
rabbit that caused the raucous leading to Buck becoming the lead dog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Wealth:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another topic
we discussed was the concept of wealth throughout the novel and how it was
represented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buck was kidnapped and sold
in order for a man (with a gambling problem, no less) to afford to feed his
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the dog team receives Mercedes
and her husband and brother as new masters, Mercedes is forced to leave behind
most of the wealth of their possessions in order to seek out gold during this
gold rush, in order to gain more wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seems to be a vicious cycle that results in only negative, especially
for Mercedes and her family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But on the
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We would like to thank the Anderson Lee Library for making
this such an enjoyable experience as well as everyone who was able to
attend!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you all for your company
and pleasurable discussion on the Call of the Wild!</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0Silver Creek, NY 14136, USA42.5442251 -79.166706642.5208276 -79.2070471 42.5676226 -79.1263661tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-13405015250283718302013-03-06T11:51:00.000-08:002013-03-06T11:51:08.851-08:00Call of the Wild and the Big Read: a Great Experience<!--[if !mso]>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This year, our English Senior
Seminar class in SUNY Fredonia participated in great program called <a href="http://www.neabigread.org/books/callofthewild/">The Big Read</a>. For
those of you who don’t know what the Big Read is, the official website defines
it as “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a program of
the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to revitalize the role of literature
in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and
enlightenment.” </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every
year, the NEA features a selection of literature from which participants (community
members, schools, and businesses, to name a few) can choose to read and discuss
over blogs, videos, and Big Read events like the one our class participated in.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The goal here is,
specifically, to increase public exposure to and engagement with classic
literature—but it also served as an opportunity for us English majors to see
how our skills in literature could operate in a public setting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<img align="left" height="176" hspace="12" src="file:///C:\Users\mood6766\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg" width="264" /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Location</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our class was assigned
Jack London’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Call of the Wild</i> to
read, discuss, and, in small groups or pairs, build a discussion/presentation based
on the novel for the community partners we were assigned to. My partner, Lauren,
and I worked together for about four weeks, debating points of interest,
elements of writing and story and the like to facilitate the book discussion we
would be leading out in a public setting. Our event was hosted by a great little
bookstore in Jamestown, NY called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Novel-Destination/141350359287827?fref=ts">Novel
Destination</a>. If you live in the Jamestown area I would highly recommend
checking it out! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Material</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Call of the Wild</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is of those novels that can be
enjoyed by everyone. It’s short and easy to read, for one thing, but also quite
artful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember reading this book as
a kid and loving it because it reminded me of the movie Homeward Bound. The
book can appeal to young readers for the danger and adventure and indomitable
spirit of the story as they follow Buck’s transformation from abducted family
pet to Klondike sled dog</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to feral killer. But there are deeper elements to the story—like
social commentary, self-transformation, the regression from domestication to
wildness—not to mention the features of London’s writing itself, which can give
more mature audiences a lot to think about as well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Preparation</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Lauren and I listened to
several other groups in our class who had already presented to their community
partners, and it sounded like attendance to the events was turning out to be a
little disappointing. Three to eight attendees seemed to be the norm. So we
were both a little nervous for our event, because it can be tough to have an
engaging discussion (of the kind we had prepared for, at least) with only a few
people. However, Carrie, the owner of Novel Destination with whom we talked a
lot about discussion topics, was expecting a big turn-out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Carrie really liked the
idea of explaining who Jack London really was and what was going on during the
time of this novel’s publication. She also told us that (even though this book
is for all ages) we should prepare our discussion for a group made up of
adults. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we made a little brochure handout
with a short biography of Jack London’s life, as well as some information about
what was going on during the time of the novel’s setting (the Klondike Gold Rush),
and prepped our notes/topics to be flexible and adaptable to what our attendees
brought up.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Event</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our turnout was
incredible. We had about thirteen people show up who were eager and ready to
discuss the book. Some were retired English teachers who had read the book
numerous times and had unique insights and opinions on the novel. There were
others who had only just read it, and enjoyed it for the story’s own sake. Lauren
and I sat at the front of the room, facing the crowd, but luckily they didn’t
take that as indication that this would be a lecture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<img align="left" height="206" hspace="12" src="file:///C:\Users\mood6766\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image004.jpg" width="308" /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Right off the bat, people were talking
back and forth to each other, agreeing and disagreeing on different points,
building off of this or that person’s insights. We had been optimistic coming
into the event—we felt well-prepared and confident in our familiarity with the
story—but we were blown away with how easy it was, and how much fun, to fill
that hour-and-a-half. Lauren and I had made a general outline of how we wanted
the discussion to flow, but we didn’t really need it—the conversation naturally
moved to every topic that we had wanted to bring up, as well as many other
insights from the readers. There was never a lull or awkward silence—we had
highly interested, engaged attendees. And later, it occurred to us that
quality, not quantity, is what really makes or breaks a book discussion like
ours.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, if you haven’t
participated in The Big Read, I highly recommend that you take a look at the
program, grab a book, and engage yourself in community discussions (locations
of events are posted online if you search a little). You don’t have to be an
English major to appreciate and enjoy, and benefit from, this awesome program—get
involved!</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-20698702527247915022013-03-06T11:33:00.001-08:002013-03-06T13:57:18.846-08:00NEA's The Big Read Ahira Hall Memorial Library In Brocton <br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S4tExWv93ps/UTe6X-8iijI/AAAAAAAAAB8/hQxEcrtnP9I/s1600/WP952013022795001+(1)2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S4tExWv93ps/UTe6X-8iijI/AAAAAAAAAB8/hQxEcrtnP9I/s320/WP952013022795001+(1)2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">This past Wednesday, the Ahira Hall Memorial Library held an event for the Big Read discussion of Jack London's novel, The Call of the Wild, amongst the community of Brocton. The town is small enough to be described by locals as a single four-way intersection, and the library is very fitting in terms of size. Julie Putcher, director of AHML, paired up with our team to be sure we had a success experience, and helped us to create an appropriate atmosphere for our loosely based discussion. Out of the thirteen participants that had attended our Big Read event, three of them came from Brocton High School and despite our doubts, felt motivated to participate in the discussion with college students and older women. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lR1HhB5Co/UTe6ZyUelYI/AAAAAAAAACE/TnXSx-jtZRU/s1600/WP_20130227_003+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lR1HhB5Co/UTe6ZyUelYI/AAAAAAAAACE/TnXSx-jtZRU/s320/WP_20130227_003+(1).jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwIVIQmHL8U/UTe6ahFU9pI/AAAAAAAAACM/bBeiQ0-P434/s1600/WP_20130227_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwIVIQmHL8U/UTe6ahFU9pI/AAAAAAAAACM/bBeiQ0-P434/s320/WP_20130227_004.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">After much thought, we decided it was necessary to pick something universal that anyone could connect to and we felt using Buck as a focal point would be the best way to engage everyone in attendance. Of course, one of the first things brought up in our discussion was the human qualities of Buck and how much we as readers could identify with the humanity within the dog. Talk of empathy with animals led further to some of the biggest, and most controversial, topics of the novel, including animal abuse and environmentalist issues. Memories of connections with dogs in the past were shared, which carried into discussion of the kind of cruelty that can come from man’s power over animals. One of the big topics of discussion was the Iditarod and whether or not the treatment of the dogs involved was cruel, which lead to some interesting insights into the racing process. The talk of animal abuse got the younger members of the community to speak up and share their personal animal stories. That topic then segued into the environmental concerns of the novel, chiefly London’s emphasis on respect for nature, and the consequences of forgetting that respect. One of our ties to the modern world through this topic was the issue of hydrofracking, an issue one of the community members in attendance had vivid memories of dealing with on her property in the seventies. Tackling these topics helped everyone in attendance get to the core of what London was really writing about in Call of the Wild, and this provided an opening for insights into what the novel meant to all of the people involved.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Our thanks goes out to everyone who made the Big Read possible, to the participants from the Brocton and Fredonia communities, and to the Ahria Hall Memorial Library in Brocton for hosting this event!</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-1975489585168331232013-03-06T10:09:00.002-08:002013-03-06T11:38:25.481-08:00Adapting to a changing environment at the Dunkirk Free Library As we waited in anticipation at the
Dunkirk Free Library, we prepared ourselves for our discussion on Jack London’s
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call of the Wild</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had geared our presentation towards
adolescents in the middle to high school range, hoping that the local schools
would have promoted the book and encouraged students to attend our discussion
which was in a central location in the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We only had one student turn up, one of our
peers, a college student, but our discussion was still as riveting as we
anticipated.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The Big Read aims to promote
literacy in a world where many people are not as concerned anymore about
books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their mission is an adamant one,
and they succeed in getting people to think about books in a different and more
in-depth way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that all of the groups
have witnessed that fact through this experience which we have been granted in our English Senior Seminar. We
contributed to this year’s The Big Read on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call
of the Wild </i>by offering a deeper look at Buck’s character and his
adaptation to his environment as well as how Jack London is identifiable
through Buck’s character. We offered a source of identity between our reader
and Buck as a character, hopefully causing a positive reader response between their
own experiences and Bucks’ in the novel. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HJgJfkPLrO8/UTZ66QoYOhI/AAAAAAAAAAk/9vnwSYmqXSA/s1600/IMG_2787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HJgJfkPLrO8/UTZ66QoYOhI/AAAAAAAAAAk/9vnwSYmqXSA/s1600/IMG_2787.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The venue of our event was
wonderful. We were provided a room on the second floor of the library where we
arranged the chairs in front of a Jack London display provided by SUNY Fredonia’s
Reed Library to educate the public on the text and its context. Other library goers made their way in and out of the room to use
the community computers as we analyzed several aspects of the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although our Big Read discussion at the
Dunkirk Free Library had a turnout of only four readers, all were active and
engaged in discussing the content of London’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call
of the Wild.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group consisted of
all upper level, pre-graduate students, with an academic background in English literature. Having
one audience member did affect our presentation; however we were still able to
discuss everything that we had planned. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given
our audience member’s academic background, and her previous reading of the
novel, she was able to offer insightful information to our discussion. She used
her psychological background to chime in about the different ways people
strategize to fit in, the anxieties people generally have about going into new
situations, and how people tend to abolish that feeling of uncertainty in
different communicative ways. Her English background was an obvious help when
it came to discussing the literary history of the novel, and she was
intrigued to listen to the ways Jack London’s biographical information
paralleled with Buck’s character in the novel. Although we had such a small
audience, as a group we felt we were able to generate positive discussion, and
truly cover everything we had planned, and maybe even a little more, given the
psychological aspects our audience member contributed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD5hnjWbS6o/UTZ68eAH8DI/AAAAAAAAAAs/9mOv6s7FpsM/s1600/IMG_2788.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD5hnjWbS6o/UTZ68eAH8DI/AAAAAAAAAAs/9mOv6s7FpsM/s1600/IMG_2788.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The group, consisting of Alyssa
Velk, Chelsey Ray, and Christina Boody, worked alongside Janice Dekoff, the
director of the Dunkirk Free Library to put together a discussion thoroughly
discussing Jack London as a man and as a novelist, as well as forming a deep
discussion about environmental adaptation and how Buck’s journey through
different environments expressed the theme. We hoped our chosen theme would
generate thought within our audience, as we felt that the environmental
adaptation was a topic that anyone could relate to in different
ways. When choosing this particular theme, we wanted to make sure that it was adaptable to many different kinds of people because we had no idea what our anticipated demographic would be, and we felt that being able to connect a reader to
the characters and plot of the novel was one of the best ways to generate
positive reader response. We wanted our readers to have an emotional tie to the
novel, and perhaps recollect on a time when they remembered themselves going
through a similar journey to adapt to a new environment in their own lives, and learn the role of
a new situation as Buck does with the Huskies. We analyzed the novel past the final
page and evaluated the ability (or inability) to return to one’s former ways
after natural instinct has taken over the mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With Chelsey’s knowledge on poetry, we analyzed the quoted poem at the
start of the novel and related it back to Buck and his journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We discussed the force behind the meter,
and how it was driven like the actions of the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking in meter becomes second nature for
us, almost like an instinct, exactly the way we watched Buck adapt in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call of the Wild.</i></div>
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The Big Read experience helped us to
foster a deeper understanding of Jack London’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call of the Wild</i> using biographical information about Jack London,
textual examples to support our chosen theme, and showing parallels between the
author and the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our readers were
engaged and offered lots of input, yet were still intrigued enough to ask
questions and search for more answers. Our group had success with the Big Read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met all of our goals with this project,
and hope that our presentation of the novel promoted a future for lifelong learning and reading.</div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-78619384079372042002013-03-06T05:13:00.001-08:002013-03-21T10:39:43.248-07:00Boys and Girls Big Read<br />
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<i>The Call of the Wild</i> book discussion at <a href="http://www.bgca.org/Pages/index.aspx">The Boys and Girls Club</a>, Dunkirk, NY took place on February 27 at 3 PM. We had no idea what would happen, and for the first 15 minutes it was as if we were as invisible as the wind.<br />
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Eventually our presence became noticed; a kid here or there would look into the art room and kind of giggle before popping back out again. Our audience was divided into two groups, each group spending approximately thirty minutes with us. We put the newspaper editions of <i>The Call of The Wild</i> at each of the seats, and crayons were also put out on the tables.<br />
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Anne read a couple of passages from the book, and then she and Luke encouraged the kids to draw what they imagined after hearing the passages. There was a lot of spirited conversation about dogs and how they fit into their lives. <br />
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We also talked about sled dogs and how working dogs assisted people. A few of the kids knew what the Alaskan Iditarod is, and remembered learning something about the gold rush. Unfortunately, it seems that none of the kids had read <i>The Call of the Wild</i> even though some issues of the newspaper- style version had been left at the Boys and Girls Club the previous week. The closest they came to the storyline was remembering the movie <i>Balto</i>.<br />
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We encouraged the boys and girls to take the story with them when they left. Several of the students declined, but in the end many of them left with their own copy of <i>The Call of the Wild</i>. We left the remaining copies for the Boys and Girls Club to use.<br />
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We had materials to support our book discussion and bring a visual depth of our topics to the boys and girls at the club.<br />
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Jack London's book introduces many avenues to explore such as wolves in the wild, wolves in relation to man and dogs, working dogs, the gold rush and survival. Working with young children, I wanted to include a book that had a good visual impact, and so I used <i>The Eyes of Gray Wolf</i> by Jonathan London, and <i>National Geographic</i>'s "Wolf Wars: Once Protected, Now Hunted"<i> </i>by Douglas Chadwick (March 2010). (<a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=national+geographic+magazine+archives&qs=AS&form=QBRE&pq=national+geographic+magazine&sc=8"><cite><span style="color: #388222;"><strong>archive</strong>.<strong>nationalgeographic</strong>.com</span></cite></a>)<a aria-haspopup="1" aria-label="Actions for this site" href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=national+geographic+magazine+archives&qs=AS&form=QBRE&pq=national+geographic+magazine&sc=8-28&sp=2&sk=AS1&ghc=1#"><span class="c_tlbxTrg"><span class="c_tlbxTrgIcn sw_ddgn"></span><span class="c_tlbxH" h="BASE:CACHEDPAGEDEFAULT" k="SERP,5158.1"></span></span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=national+geographic+magazine+archives&qs=AS&form=QBRE&pq=national+geographic+magazine&sc=8"><br /></a>We also had a passage to read which had been translated (courtesy of <a href="http://www.bing.com/translator">Bing Translator</a>) into Spanish as a possible avenue for engaging some of the bilingual students. We did not use this with either of the groups. I think their level of engagement wasn't developed sufficiently for the book discussion at this time. The passage was on page 46 (our text) and page 28 in the newspaper edition. A couple of the students looked the English up in the newspaper edition. It was not something I had previously thought of doing.<br />
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In keeping with a "natural" and sustainable presentation, I also made a scrapbook of working dogs, and the Alaskan Iditarod. I had a pad of recycled material that had been on clearance in the SUNY Fredonia Bookstore. I pasted pictures (<a href="http://www.bing.com/images/search">http://www.bing.com/images/search</a>) for visual "talking points" with the kids. I was able to obtain a picture of a Saint Bernard, which was included with the results of my internet search for working dogs.<br />
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In our discussion of working dogs, we also talked about the Alaskan Iditarod and the gold rush.<br />
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How could you talk about <i>The Call of the Wild</i> and Alaska, and NOT talk about wolves, especially when Buck finds a wolf mate and starts a family -- one of the main reasons Buck reverts to his instinctual behavior when drawn to the wild and away from humanity?<br />
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The event at the Boys and Girls Club Big Read Event (<a href="http://www.nea.gov/">http://www.nea.gov/</a>) was a meaningful experience and even immensely enjoyable, once we were able to get past the panic that we would not have an audience at all. I think being a new community partner, the Boys and Girls Club-community partnership needs a little extra effort next time in connecting, as the director and staff were unprepared, and understandably so, dealing with so many energetic kids! It would be nice to have a few kids actually read some of the book beforehand, as the best that we could do was go along with the group reference to a Disney film <u>Balto</u>. I wonder, would a "graphic" novel version engage the interest of the kids? We briefly touched on the adaptations of literature to movies, etc. during our group discussions.<br />
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It would also be nice to see the Big Read announcement posters in Thompson, especially since the School of Business and early childhood cirriculum is located there. I would like to see greater public school and library engagement also. Maybe the Dunkirk Senior Citizen center? And more Hispanic outreach? I know the focus is to teach English, but are we missing some connections because of a language barrier? -- Doreen </div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-17639390463245509952013-03-05T18:18:00.002-08:002013-03-05T18:24:54.148-08:00The Canine Characters in Call of the Wild at the Chautauqua County Humane SocietyWhat better way to tie a book like Jack London’s <i>Call of the Wild</i> to the local community than by hosting a Big Read book discussion at the Chautauqua County Humane Society? Though the gathering was small, it was an interesting and rewarding discussion about not only the canine characters in the novel, but about the four-legged characters in our own lives. The folks at CCHS were kind enough to allow one of the dogs currently up for adoption to be present during parts of our discussion, which really added to the atmosphere. Our guest of honor was Jubilee, a one year old yellow lab mix, who was eager to say "hello" to everyone who stopped by.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fHb9K2P_5ml-h-VR2GJoC8FEcw2EG-5YP9ZhEvcCwjY33ifzi0X2RU7yFywmxZTstUNybntbaZJot8d1Z8ZbLrmb2Id7VY6CWpe5AVsLgZqZtG0YC4ERvn9U4RkRXw8GcMuWcoXI9Fs/s1600/bigread1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3fHb9K2P_5ml-h-VR2GJoC8FEcw2EG-5YP9ZhEvcCwjY33ifzi0X2RU7yFywmxZTstUNybntbaZJot8d1Z8ZbLrmb2Id7VY6CWpe5AVsLgZqZtG0YC4ERvn9U4RkRXw8GcMuWcoXI9Fs/s320/bigread1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Jubilee with Andy, Tahnee and Ethan</span></td></tr>
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After summarizing the book for those who hadn’t read it, we jumped right into a discussion about the treatment of Buck and the other sled dogs in the novel. Buck and the other dogs were beaten into submission simply to force them into pulling a heavy sled through the frozen tundra of the Yukon. This led into a discussion about proper treatment and care of animals--particularly our pets. A CCHS staff member gave the group an overview about properly caring for your dogs. She said that dogs should always be provided with the basic needs like food, water and grooming, but it’s also important to make sure you have the time to spend with the dog, both indoors and out, and that they are properly socialized, both with other dogs and with humans coming in and out of your (and their!) home. She also mentioned training tactics--particularly the idea of positive reinforcement. She said that dogs often respond better to being rewarded for good behavior, rather than being scolded for bad behavior. To sum it up, she said it best in saying that “the best thing for a dog is the person on the other end of it.”<br />
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We also talked about the way London personified--almost humanized--the canine characters in the book, particularly Buck. Buck felt emotions such as fear, confusion, courage, and with John Thornton, love. Participants in the discussion agreed that dogs in their own lives also tend to show human-like emotion and personality. Roxanne, the community relations director for CCHS, brought up the story of Nana, an area dog who lost her life saving her family from a fire. After waking the family and alerting them to the danger, she went inside to rescue the family cat, but never returned. This story was a real-life example of a dog’s capacity for loyalty to their owners.<br />
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Al, a group participant, talked about his experience with using therapy dogs in wilderness training programs. He said that these dogs helped to teach kids responsibility. This led into a quick discussion about the role of the wilderness. Al said that “we [as human beings] were originally hunters and gatherers,” and that “getting along in nature should be something everyone knows how to do… this book brings you back to the basics.” Participants in our discussion believed that getting in touch with nature and testing yourself is a good thing and may be ultimately what the book is aimed toward. When you are in wilderness setting, you don’t pause to think about whether or not you are happy or unhappy; you do what you need to do to get by. In many ways, this is how Buck needed to cope with being moved from his cushy life on the Judge’s estate into the harsh and rugged wilderness.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Jubilee saying hello to discussion participants Rowan, Randee, Margo and Al</span></td></tr>
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Our discussion also touched on the difference between humane and inhumane treatment, and whether or not using dogs as working dogs (rescue dogs, therapy dogs, or K-9 police dogs, for example) could be considered inhumane treatment. We talked about the many benefits of using dogs for these kinds of jobs, and in terms of therapy, Roxanne mentioned the ways in which therapy dogs help autistic children with speech and confidence skills, and help sexually abused children cope with their traumatic experiences. Participants seemed to think that the concept of humane vs. inhumane treatment in these working situations is rather subjective, and is really determined by the owner or trainer of the animal. If that trainer would be willing to go in and do that dog’s job for him, or put himself in harm’s way to save the animal if need be, then the use of that dog for work may not be considered inhumane. However, if the dog is treated poorly (like Hal treated Buck and the other dogs in the novel), or the owner has no intention of doing what the dog does (like going into a burning house or finding a bomb) then it can be inhumane to force that dog into doing that job. This discussion also touched on the Iditarod Sled Dog Race that occurs in Alaska every year. Some people feel that the tradition is so valued that it would be a shame to discontinue it, while other seem to think that running these dogs ragged over thousands of miles of rough terrain in only a few days is animal cruelty. Again, our discussion yielded the same subjective answer: it depends on the owner of the animal. These races today take enough safety precautions to insure the health and well-being of the racing dogs, and the general response was that the dog has enough human quality for you to know whether it wants to race or not. If an owner were to continue to run a dog if it did not want to run, or if it were too ill to continue, then that would be a case of inhumane treatment.<br />
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We concluded our discussion by addressing the ending of the novel. Was Buck’s return to the wild and his “natural” state a happy ending? Or was it sad to think that the book didn’t come full-circle? Randee, another attendee, said that she didn’t like the way it ended. She wanted the end of the book to come and find that Buck was safe, warm and well-cared for in someone’s home once again.<br />
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While that may not have been the way Buck’s story ended, it could be the ending for the many dogs (and cats) currently up for adoption at the Chautauqua County Humane Society. If you are interested in adopting a furry friend looking for a forever home, or if you would like more information about CCHS and it’s many services, you can stop by their Pet Adoption Center on Strunk Rd. in Jamestown, or visit their website at <a href="http://www.spcapets.com/">http://www.spcapets.com</a>.<br />
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We would especially like to thank Roxanne Wendling and everyone at CCHS for allowing us to host a Big Read discussion at their facility--and to Jubilee for her exuberant welcome! Allyson Raehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00849690502045380381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-17332295220535430772013-03-05T15:45:00.001-08:002013-03-05T15:45:19.940-08:00Fredonia Place Takes the Reins<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">For our senior seminar class, we
brought Jack London’s <i>Call of the Wild</i> to the local retirement
community, </span><a href="http://www.fredoniaplace.com/" target=""><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fredonia Place</span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">. There, we met with a wide variety of people with a rich
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Brought together by our mutual love for
canines, our audience was intimate and passionate. </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sirius-Dog-School/167102069968855" target=""><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sirius Dog School</span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> graced us with their presence during the
discussion, bringing with them two Siberian huskies – dogs much like those that
would have been used to pull the sleds in the Yukon at the time London crafted
his novel. With the aid of the therapy dogs came many moments of recollection
by audience members of the dogs they had loved throughout their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Together, we discussed several key
issues of the book. We tackled the concepts of naturalism, human nature, and
the validity of an animal as a literary protagonist. We also touched on the
shift from romanticism to London’s, and America’s, emerging survivalist
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Too often, discussion of literature
remains restricted to academic settings. The fact is, we often do not tend
discuss books with individuals outside of this particular demographic. The Big
Read granted us an enlightening and wonderful opportunity to engage in
conversation about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call of the Wild</i>
with individuals from an older generation. The viewpoints the residents
held on certain topics and themes caused us to reflect on our own literary
perspectives in a completely different manner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Our community partner, Fredonia Place, </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sirius-Dog-School/167102069968855" target=""><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sirius Dog School</span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">, and the individuals coordinating the </span><a href="http://www.neabigread.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Big Read Project</span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> enabled
us to bring literary discussion to a location and those within a demographic
outside of the traditional academic realm.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We would like to extend a special thank you to Brittany Hawkins, Activities Director at Fredonia Place, as well as Christina Jarvis and Scott Richmond for allowing us to have such an amazing opportunity and experience.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-2509733043172218622013-03-04T13:14:00.000-08:002013-03-04T13:14:11.205-08:00Spirited Response to The Call of the Wild<div class="MsoNormal">
The Big Read starts strong at Fredonia’s Reed Library with
an active audience and an insightful discussion around Jack London’s <i>The</i> <i>Call
of the Wild.</i> </div>
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After a quick introduction to Jack London and a recap of his
book the presentation moved into an open forum for discussion. Audience members
responded positively to our variety of questions. From the novel itself to
broader implications surrounding the humanities at large we asked audience
members to think about <i>The</i> <i>Call of the Wild </i>both historically and
from contemporary perspectives.</div>
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<b>Accessible and
Engaging</b>. Our crowd had varying amounts of previous experience with Jack
London and his works. Even so, the folks who hadn’t read the book could jump in
on discussion about the ideas London had formed his novel around. The conceptual content of the work is
reasonably universal so gearing our questions towards the content in turn made
our discussion reasonably universal. The hard context of <i>The Call of the Wild</i> was touched on, but served as a jumping off
point more than anything else. </div>
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By focusing on philosophical content we were able to draw
attention to the cultural application of literature. The audience engaged with our questions and
through our questions grew closer to the text. Our forum was a living model of
active reading, exactly the experience the Big Read is after.</div>
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<b>The topics we covered
and effects they produced</b>. Our talk started with the virtues of literacy.
We talked about fiction and the power it has to inform while entertaining. We
talked about contemporary applications of London’s philosophy and were
pleasantly surprised with the audience engagement. In time we returned to London
and the cultural climate that might have produced <i>The Call of the Wild</i>. Discussion was spirited and well paced. The
talk easily filled an hour of time and audience members approached us after the
presentation for further discussion.</div>
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Our presentation incorporated, not only on the book itself,
but the tenets of the Big Read. We were lucky to have such strong audience
engagement and we were pleased to have had this opportunity to launch the 2013
Big Read at Fredonia. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8123747682301047742.post-77338344098665527532013-03-04T09:12:00.003-08:002013-03-27T09:17:02.050-07:00Gender in the Klondike Peaks interest in Dunkirk<br />
All we needed to do was mention the name "Mercedes" and we had the primarily female audience in Dunkirk up in arms. Our Big Read leaders had no intention of discussing gender roles in <a href="http://www.jacklondon.com/">Jack London</a>'s <i>The Call of the Wild,</i> but the women of Dunkirk had other ideas. Our discussion began with a statistic: 8% of all prospectors in the Yukon were women. The community members immediately wanted to discuss what that experience would have been like, taking into account the harsh conditions of that lifestyle and the limited experience with independence that women of this time period were familiar with.<br />
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<a href="http://busterbrownbeanco.com/">The Buster Brown Bean Company</a> was hospitable enough to open its doors to the Big Read at 12pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Thirteen students and community members met over coffee to discuss the trending issues present in London's <i>The Call of the Wild</i>. <a href="http://www.neabigread.org/">The Big Read</a>, sponsored by SUNY Fredonia, is meant to "inspire people across the country to pick up a good book." This event, particularly the selection of London's <i>The Call of the Wild</i> was meant to draw in the most at-risk literacy demographic: 13-18 year old males. Little did we know, <i>The Call of the Wild</i> attracted an audience within a range of demographics and with a wide range of experiences. <br />
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Our discussion began with a visual representation of the dogs from <i>The Call of the Wild</i> and quickly moved to a hot debate as to whether or not Buck had realistic traits for a dog. Some participants maintained that a dog would not be as invested in achieving Alpha status as Buck was. Others asserted that Buck was completely believable as a struggling leader. Everyone agreed that there were traits in this dog that were not only empathy-inspiring, but transcendent of species. We briefly touched on London's biography and the phenomenon of the Gold Rush which led us to our discussion of gender roles in London's novel and the world at the time of publication. The students in attendance provided some academic context, bringing in comparable gender questions from other literary works, which drew in questions about the nature of the Big Read. Three of the community members in attendance were concerned with how <i>The Call of the Wild</i> was chosen, and expressed interest in next year's more female-oriented collection of Emily Dickinson poems. Most participants decided that London's dismissal of female characters and his tendency to get rid of even the female dog team members had more to do with the reality of gender differences in the Yukon at the time of the Gold Rush than it did with any inherent sexism.<br />
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Our thanks go out once again to everyone who made the Big Read possible, to the participants from the community, and to the Buster Brown Bean Company for hosting this event!<br />
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