2017-2018 ¡Adelante Group Dialogues
Montevallo branch of AAUW
New information is coming soon.
16: Sandra Lott, Mary Jo Buff, Kathy Daum, Elaine Hughes, Melissa Nixon, Coordinators
Adelante Committee members: Barbara Belisle, Dorothy Grimes, Amanda Melcher, Judy Rogers, Leonor Vazquez Gonzalez, Kathy Lowe, Tracy Payne-Rockco
October November December January February March April
Adelante Theme: “Opportunities for Lifelong Learning: Transcending Barriers through Reading and Discussion”
Adelante Focus: “The Issues of our Lives as Reflected in Literature by and about Women” The Adelante Book Group provides “Opportunities for Lifelong Learning: Transcending Barriers Through Reading and Discussion.” In a series of Community Dialogues, people from throughout the community come together to discuss selected books and the key issues they raise. These works explore AAUW’s principles of equity, education, and positive societal change, and they support our strong belief that inclusiveness and diversity enrich individuals and the community as a whole. The Adelante sessions will promote “understanding ourselves and others through literature and through the authors’ life experiences. Selected books will focus on the concerns of women from diverse cultures and time frames; through these works, we will examine recurring issues faced by women with different situations and backgrounds. Special attention will be given to the biographical and cultural frameworks which helped shape the author’s world view and which are reflected in their books. Attention will also be given to the power of the reading experience to shape and change our lives.
Dialogue I. Wednesday, October 10, 4:00 p.m., Pat Scales Special Collections Room in UM Library
Join us at AAUW’s Adelante Book Club’s first event this year! Tuesday, October 10 at 4:00 pm in the Pat Scales Special Collections Room on the top floor of the University of Montevallo Carmichael Library, please join us to hear Dr. Samantha Webb, Professor in the UM English Department review the new Young Adult novel George by Alex Gino. Dr. Webb tells me :
“Pat Scales herself directed me to a book I’m currently teaching in my Children’s Lit class: it’s called George by Alex Gino. It’s about a 4th-grader whose coming to terms with being transgender, and she wants to play Charlotte the spider in the 4th-grade school play. Despite the 4th-grade setting, from what I’ve read about the intentions of the author and Scholastic, it’s intended for a middle grades audience. It’s an easy read, not terribly long, but it’s quietly powerful and doesn’t read like a “message book.” It works in Charlotte’s Web really nicely. In two semesters of teaching it, I’ve found students have responded to it well.”
The book is available in hardback and paperback on Amazon.
Dialogue II. Wednesday, November 12, 4:00 p.m., Brown Room, Carmichael Library
UM Professor and noted poet James Murphy will discuss Trethewey’s poetry. Jim has helped to faciliate Trethewey’s visit to Montevallo, and we are grateful to Jim for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for Trethewey’s work with our group.
December
Dialogue III. Wednesday, January 14 , 4:00 p.m., Brown Room, Carmichael Library
“Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee. This book is of special interest to fans of Lee’s iconic book “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Focused on Lee’s heroine Scout as a young adult, the book sheds further light on the history of race in small town America and on the generational divides surrounding such issues. We hope you will join us for a lively session, exploring the insights and controversies surrounding the publication of Go Set a Watchman.
From Amazon.com review: “A historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.”
Presenter: John Lott
Respondent: Kathy Daum
Dialogue IV. Tuesday, February 16, 4:00 p.m., Brown Room, Carmichael Library
The AAUW/Humanities Foundation Black History Month event coming up on Tuesday, February 16 at 4:00 in Carmichael Library on the UM campus. Program is on “Mother’s Day 1961: The Freedom Rides in Alabama,” presented by UM Alum Laura Caldwell Anderson. Everyone is welcome. For more details, see post.
Dialogue V. Tuesday, April 5, 4:00 p.m., Brown Room, Carmichael Library
A special book group session with UM’s Vacca Professor Dr. Beasley, whose specialty is African American Literature and Culture. Dr. Beasley is the current UM Vacca Professor, visiting from Bates College, where he teaches Cultural Studies, African American Studies, and Women and Gender Studies He will discuss Between the World and Me by Ta Nahisi Coates, for which Coates received the National Book Award.
Between the World and Me is written as a series of letters to Coates’s teenage son. In this memoir Coates “walks us through the course of his life, from the tough neighborhoods of Baltimore in his youth, to Howard University—which Coates dubs ‘The Mecca’ for its revelatory community of black students and teachers—to the broader Meccas of New York and Paris. Coates describes his observations and the evolution of his thinking on race.” According to reviewer Jon Forso, “Coates is direct and, as usual, uncommonly insightful and original. . . .This is a powerful and exceptional book” (Amazon.com review).
Dialogue VI. Wednesday, April 13, 4:00 p.m., The Eclipse Coffee and Books
Annual Celebration of Area Authors whose works address issues of special concern to Alabama women and their families. Cheryl and Michael Patton, co-hosts.
Glenn Wills will discuss his book Forgotten Alabama. “Forgotten Alabama” by Glenn Wills is photo tour of lost places and lives. According to photographer and author, Wills, the book focuses on “Alabama’s forgotten and abandoned past as seen through the lens of my camera.” The haunting photographs are accompanied by Wills’s commentary on the photographs. Reviewer Kelly Kiezak asks, “What is it that makes an abandoned building so haunting? A sadness of the history lost, perhaps, or thoughts of unrealized dreams?” Wills’ photo tour will help us to reflect upon these provocative questions about our Alabama heritage. Reviewer Kelly Kiezak asks, “What is it that makes an abandoned buildingso haunting? A sadness of the history lost, perhaps, or thoughtsof unrealized dreams?”Wills’ photo tour and commentary on lost places andlives will help us to reflect upon these provocative questions about our Alabamaheritage.
Respondent will be Dr. Kathy King.