News from SUNY Cortland

For more information contact: Barb Toomey, 607-753-2232

'The Big Read' Comes To Cortland County Starting March 1

SUNY Cortland Reading Program Supported By Federal Grant

CORTLAND, NY (02/27/2008; 1114)(readMedia)-- SUNY Cortland will launch “The Big Read” as part of a national effort to encourage children, youth and adults to become more literate and informed citizens with a community kickoff on Saturday, March 1, and a campus kick-off on March 6.

Supported by a $7,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), “The Big Read” will feature 32 separate events during March and April both on campus and in other locations around Cortland County.

“’The Big Read’ brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment,” said Karen Stearns, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of English, who organized the local series of events with her colleague, Sheila Cohen, associate professor of literacy.

“Over the years, Cortland County has had a very high dropout rate and the level of illiteracy has been a very big issue for businesses in the community,” Cohen added. “To thrive, businesses need an educated workforce. And, to foster a healthy democracy, communities need a literate population.”

Priscilla Berggrenn-Thomas, head librarian with the Phillips Free Library in Homer, N.Y., is also organizing a number of the events, including book discussions, a “Readathon” at the Homer Center for the Arts, and a series of “Random Acts of Reading” events at locations on the campus and in the community.

The organizers will kick off “The Big Read” to the Cortland community on Saturday, March 1, with four separate events at various locations.

Three “Dr. Seuss Birthday Parties” geared for young children will take place that day. The first will be from 10 a.m.-noon at Phillips Free Library on South Main Street in Homer, N.Y. The second will run from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Children's Museum. The Children’s Museum is located on the ground floor of the O’Heron Newman Hall at 8 Calvert St. in Cortland. The third will take place from 1-3 p.m. at Main Street SUNY Cortland, located at 9 Main St. The parties are organized by students in the College’s Education Club.

The day’s activities will culminate in a community kick-off reception at Main Street SUNY Cortland starting at 4 p.m. Event sponsors will distribute materials and describe other planned “The Big Read” events.

Cortland’s “The Big Read” will also include book discussions on campus and in the community and a visit to campus by Chris Crutcher, a popular author of books for young adults whose work has been censored.

“Crutcher's sensitive and fast-paced writing, popular with teens, is influenced by his work as a therapist and child protection advocate,” Stearns noted. “He has received dozens of awards and honors including the National Council of Teachers of English’s 1998 National Intellectual Freedom Award.”

“’What book would you save?’ is the slogan for the upcoming celebration of Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian fiction, Fahrenheit 451, which is the focus of the two-month program,” Berggrenn-Thomas explained.

"Fahrenheit 451 is one of 16 titles featured in several hundred participating communities across the country,” added Stearns. “In one of literature's most haunting denunciations of censorship, Ray Bradbury uses the materials of science fiction to tell the story of Guy Montag, a fireman forced to burn books.”

Films will be shown on themes relating to Fahrenheit 451, such as censorship, civil liberties, and individual rights to read and engage in critical thinking.

Buttons will be distributed that depict the Fahrenheit 451 book, and query, “Which book would you save?”

“Random Acts of Reading” will provide the public with opportunities to read a section of one of those books in a public forum, Cohen noted. The Blue Frog Coffeehouse will be among the venues for these planned readings.

As another means to “foster a burning desire to read” in community members, SUNY Cortland students will also visit libraries, schools and daycare programs to read to children and create books with children and teens using a computer program called Comic Life.

Cohen encourages others to organize a discussion group. Interested individuals can request materials and schedule a discussion by calling (607) 753-5784.

Those who attend “The Big Read” events are encouraged to look for drop boxes where they can donate new or slightly used children's books for the Family Reading Partnership Red Bookshelves.

The events will continue with dates, event titles and descriptions, times and locations as follows:

Tuesday, March 4 - Film Screening: “Fahrenheit 451;” 6:30 p.m.; Youth Bureau Teen Center, 35 Port Watson St., Cortland

Wednesday, March 5 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 4 p.m.; Blue Frog Coffeehouse, Main Street, Cortland

Wednesday, March 5 - Demonstration: Chemistry of Fire; 6:30 p.m.; Youth Bureau Teen Center, 35 Port Watson St., Cortland

Thursday, March 6 - Panel discussion with “Teachers and Author Chris Crutcher on Censorship;” 4:20 p.m.; Corey Union Fireplace Lounge, SUNY Cortland

Wednesday, March 12 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 3:30 p.m.; Blue Frog Coffeehouse, Main Street, Cortland

Wednesday, March 19 - Sandwich Seminar with Jill Schaeffer, a pastor in Cincinnatus, N.Y., on “’Rites’ and/or ‘Rights’: Cultural Practice and Human Dignity.” A Presbyterian minister from an ecumenical background, Schaeffer also teaches part-time for New York Theological Seminary, primarily in the Master of Professional Studies Program at Sing-Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y. After Sept. 11, 2001, she directed the New York Disaster Relief Interfaith Task Force; 12:30-1:30 p.m.; Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, SUNY Cortland

Wednesday, March 19 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 6:30 p.m.; Cortland Free Library, Church Street, Cortland

Wednesday, March 19 - Workshop on “Bullying” with Vanessa Johnson, an African-American storyteller, actress and fiber artist from Syracuse, N.Y. The College’s Education Club is sponsoring this event; 7 p.m.; Corey Union Exhibition Lounge, SUNY Cortland

Thursday, March 20 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 10 a.m.; Cortland Free Library, Church Street, Cortland

Friday, March 21 - Gail Wood, SUNY Cortland director of libraries, on “Burning Ideas: Freedom to Read, Freedom to Think, Freedom to Speak;” 2 p.m.; Memorial Library Teaching Materials Center, SUNY Cortland

Wednesday, March 26 - Caroline Kaltefleiter, SUNY Cortland associate professor of communication studies, and students, will interview organizers of “The Big Read” on Kaltefleiter’s radio talk show, “The Digital Divide;” 3 p.m.; Tune in to WSUC 90.5, FM (NPR)

Thursday, March 27 - Dan Harms, coordinator of instruction at SUNY Cortland’s Memorial Library, and Alex Reid, SUNY Cortland associate professor of English, on “The Future of the Book;” Noon-1 p.m.; Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge, SUNY Cortland

Thursday, March 27 - Teleconference: “Bradbury Interview by Robert Thompson, Syracuse University”; 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time; WCNY Studios, Syracuse, N.Y. (dial-in instructions available)

Thursday, March 27 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 5:30 p.m.; Old Main, Room 120, SUNY Cortland

Saturday, March 29 - Workshop: Raymond Hedrick, a graduate assistant in the College’s Interdisciplinary Center, will demonstrate “Creating Books with Comic Life on a Macintosh Computer;” 11 a.m.; Kellogg Free Library, Cincinnatus, N.Y.

Thursday, April 3 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 4 p.m.; Osborn Room, YWCA, Clayton Avenue, Cortland

Friday, April 4 - Talk Back: Kevin Halpin, SUNY Cortland associate professor of performing arts, will lead a discussion following a performance of “The Who’s ‘Tommy’;” 8 p.m.; Performing Arts Theatre, Dowd Fine Arts Center, SUNY Cortland

Saturday, April 5 - Workshop for children: Bethany Sopchak, a graduate assistant in literacy education, will present “Creating Books;” 11 a.m.; Cortland Free Library, Church Street, Cortland

Saturday, April 5 - Workshop for children: Jane Richards, SUNY Cortland lecturer in English, will present “Creating Books, Part I of a Three Part Series;” 10:30 a.m.; Phillips Free Library, South Main Street, Homer, N.Y.

Tuesday, April 8 - Film Screening: “The Matrix” and discussion with Marnie Gauthier, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of English; 4:30 p.m.; Old Main, Room G-9, SUNY Cortland

Wednesday, April 9 - Book Discussion: Marnie Gauthier, SUNY Cortland assistant professor of English, will lead discussion on Fahrenheit 451; a comparison with film ‘The Matrix’;” 4 p.m.; Moffett Center, Room 202, SUNY Cortland

Wednesday, April 9 - Film Screening and Discussion: “Fahrenheit 451;” 7 p.m.; Corey Union Exhibition Lounge, SUNY Cortland

Thursday, April 10 - Lecture: Peter Jeffers, SUNY Cortland emeritus professor of chemistry, on “Linus Pauling, Nobel Prizes and Civil Rights;” 7 p.m.; Bowers Hall, Room 109, SUNY Cortland

Saturday, April 12 - Workshop for Children: Jane Richards, SUNY Cortland lecturer in English, and students will offer “Creating Books, Part II of a Three Part Series;” 10:30 a.m.; Phillips Free Library, South Main Street, Homer, N.Y.

Saturday, April 12 - Lecture: "Historically Great Fires of the City of Cortland." In this City of Cortland bicentennial event, Doyle "Duke" Glover, recently retired historian of the City of Cortland Fire Department, will give an electronic presentation featuring photos of fire stations of Cortland County and will chronicle the history of fire departments in Cortland County; 2 p.m.; Cortland County Historical Society, 25 Homer Avenue, Cortland

Thursday, April 17 - Book Discussion: Fahrenheit 451; 1:30 p.m.; Teaching Materials Center, Memorial Library, SUNY Cortland

Saturday, April 19 - Read-A-Thon: “A Marathon Read of Fahrenheit 451;" 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Center for the Arts, South Main Street, Homer, N.Y.

Saturday, April 26 - Workshop for Children: Jane Richards, SUNY Cortland lecturer in English, will present “Creating Books: Part III of a Three Part Series;” 10:30 a.m.; Phillips Free Library, South Main Street, Homer, N.Y.

For more information, contact Sheila G. Cohen, associate professor of literacy, at (607) 753-2464.

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