Environmental, Literature, and Culture Students Present at Pebble Hill

Students from Breeden Scholar Tom Hallock's "Environment, Literature, and Culture" class presented excerpts from their work at Pebble Hill yesterday. Throughout the semester, the students visited the Special Collections & Archives Department of the RBD Library, the Donald E. Davis Arboretum, and the John D. Freeman Herbarium. Hallock's students wrote botanical essays reuniting art and science, inspired by the writings of John James Audubon, William Bartram, and Mark Catesby.

We have been fortunate to have Dr. Hallock with us this semester as our 2013 Breeden Scholar!

Getting Ready for Grants

Faculty are invited to attend a “Getting Ready for Grants” webinar hosted by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities  and the American Association for State and Local History on Wednesday, November 20 from 2 to 3:15 p.m. in 310 Tichenor Hall.

The webinar will discuss the characteristics of a grant-ready institution and a grant-ready project, and then review the important components of the proposal-writing team and a successful proposal. No need to have a project or grant deadline yet, just an interest in getting ready to get grants.

The American Association for State and Local History is a non-profit association for state and local history, with a primary focus on museums and historical societies.

For more information, contact Maiben Beard at 844-4903.

Wendy Reed at Pebble Hill

Author Wendy Reed visited Pebble Hill on November 5 to read from and talk about her new work, An Accidental Memoir: HowI Killed Someone and Other Stories.

In An Accidental Memoir, Reed explores a succession of personal tragedies in a collection of deliberately fragmented essays. Told from unusual perspectives and in highly figurative language, the essays draw on the Southern Gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and feature dark humor, flawed people, disastrous events—including a car accident in which Reed was involved that took another woman’s life—and moments of spiritual grace. Taken together they become a meditation on subjects such as death, work, family responsibilities, and raising a child.

If you missed yesterday's book talk, Wendy will be participating in the Pioneer Park Book Fair, a feature of Lee County Historical Society's Second Saturdays program, on November 9 from 10:00 a.m. to Noon. Other authors participating include The Mystic Order of East Alabama Fiction Writers, Daniel Haulman, Ann Pearson, Mary Belk, Marian Carcache, Frye Gaillard, Peter Huggins, Lisa Ditchkoff, William Ogden Haynes, Gail Langley, Peggy Stelpflug, and The Committee for Preservation of Auburn's African-American History. For more information, visit http://www.leecountyhistoricalsociety.org.

Screening of Oscar Nominated 5 BROKEN CAMERAS

On Thursday, November 7, 6:30 p.m., the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University will screen Point Of View’s 5 Broken Cameras (90 minutes) at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (450 East Thach Avenue). The screening is free and open to the public.

Nominated for an Oscar®, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal first-hand account of life and nonviolent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village where Israel is building a security fence. Palestinian Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, shot the film and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi co-directed. The filmmakers follow one family’s evolution over five years, witnessing a child’s growth from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him. The film is a Palestinian-Israeli-French co-production.

Matt Malczycki, assistant professor in the Department of History, will lead a discussion after the film. Refreshments will be served.

PBS’s POV is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. The screening is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University and the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

Join us for a book talk with Wendy Reed

Wendy Reed, author of An Accidental Memoir: HowI Killed Someone and Other Stories, will read from and talk about her new work on Tuesday, November 5,  at 4:00 p.m. at Pebble Hill.

In An Accidental Memoir, Reed explores a succession of personal tragedies in a collection of deliberately fragmented essays. Told from unusual perspectives and in highly figurative language, the essays draw on the Southern Gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and feature dark humor, flawed people, disastrous events—including a car accident in which Reed was involved that took another woman’s life—and moments of spiritual grace. Taken together they become a meditation on subjects such as death, work, family responsibilities, and raising a child.

Wendy Reed has received writing fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Seaside Institute and has published in various anthologies, magazines and newspapers. She also co-edited All Out of Faith and Circling Faith with Jennifer Horne. Reed produced and directed numerous documentaries and the series “Bookmark” with Don Noble at the University of Alabama Center for Public TV & Radio and for her work with “Discovering Alabama” she received two Emmys. She has three children and lives in Waverly, Alabama.

Copies of An Accidental Memoir, published by NewSouth Books, will be available for purchase and signing, and a reception will follow the program. The public is invited to attend.

Can We Have Class Outside?

 Yesterday, local teachers convened at Pebble Hill for a workshop with Breeden Scholar Tom Hallock on the topic of outdoor education and the English Studies classroom. Professor Hallock shared practical knowledge and provided a short critical grounding, helping participants move their writing and literature classes to an outdoor setting. 

Dr. Hallock is the author of From the Fallen Tree: Frontier Narratives, Environmental Politics and the Roots of a National Pastoral (2003, UNC Press) and co-editor of William Bartram, the Search for Nature’s Design: Selected Art, Letters and Unpublished Writings (2010, UGA Press). He is a graduate of Dickinson College and holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from New York University.  He is an associate professor of English at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

From left to right: CMD CAH Director Mark Wilson, Jared Gullage, Tom Hallock, Scott Fleming, Amber Berry-Moore, Amy Robertson, Katharine Martin.

Join us for a screening of BROOKLYN CASTLE

On Thursday, October 3, 6:30 p.m., the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University will screen Point Of View’s Brooklyn Castle (90 minutes) at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (450 East Thach Avenue). The screening is free and open to the public.

Brooklyn Castle tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories. Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arises not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school. Brooklyn Castle shows how these kids’ dedication to chess magnifies their belief in what is possible for their lives. 

Mark Wilson, director of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, will lead a discussion after the film. Refreshments will be served.

PBS’s POV is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. The screening is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University and the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.