Jody Fein

Storyteller Jody Fein visited the East End Community School in Portland on May 15, 2008, to tell stories to the Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade. She selected the stories "Abiyoyo," "Stone Soup," and "The Wind and the Sun," all of which tie into the Born to Read initiative Peaceable Stories. This event was part of the Maine Festival of the Book. Audio recordings of other Festival events are on the MPBN website.

Andrew Walkling

Andrew Walkling is Dean's Assistant Professor of Early Modern Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he teaches in the departments of art history, English, and theater and is affiliated with the faculties of history, music, and philosophy. He earned a Ph.D. in British history from Cornell. A Fellow of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, he works in an interdisciplinary field focusing on the courts of Charles II and James II (1660-88). He is writing a book entitled Masque and Opera in Restoration England.

Two handouts accompanied Dr. Walkling's talk at Winter Weekend, "Dido's Lament: Virgilian Epic and 17th Century English Opera." These can be downloaded on the main Humanities on Demand website.

Art for Justice

Jennifer Hodsdon, a 2008 graduate of the Stonecoast program who now coordinates the Maine SpeakOut Project, led this discussion of some of the rewards and challenges that come from using writing as a transformative exercise to effect social change. The panelists were three Maine-based writer-activists—Gary Lawless, Cathy Plourde, and Chiara Liberatore—whose experiences range from writing workshops with homeless youth, veterans, and immigrant populations to theatrical performance with incarcerated youth and adults. You may have seen Lawless at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick, which he co-founded in 1979. Plourde founded Add Verb Productions, and co-wrote that organization's play "When Turtles Make Love: Real Talk Between Parents and Teens" with Liberatore.

Please use this forum to weigh in on any of the issues raised by the panelists and facilitator.

Poetry Festival

Three events from the Portland Public Library's 2008 Poetry Festival
were captured for Humanities On Demand: the kick-off with Annie Finch and Patricia Hagge, a collaborative reading by three poets whose work has been published by Moon Pie Press, and a lecture by Shakespeare scholar David Kastan.

Ford in Focus

Michael C. Connolly and Kevin Stoehr are the editors of John Ford in Focus, a collection of essays that offers a comprehensive examination of Ford’s life and career, revealing the frequent intersections between Ford’s personal life and artistic vision, including his roots in Portland. Stoehr is associate professor of humanities at Boston University and lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Connolly teaches History and Political Science at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. He is the author of They Change Their Sky: The Irish in Maine. They spoke at the Portland Public Library in March, 2008. Please leave your questions about John Ford here!

"How Did You Get Here?"

Playwright Victoria Mares-Hershey’s “How Did You Get Here?” gives voice to Africans in Maine, during the period of slavery and beyond, by giving audiences a sense of their everyday lives. This reading of the play’s first act was recorded on March 21, 2008, at the Museum of African Culture’s new location on Brown Street in Portland. Museum Director Oscar Mokeme welcomes the audience and architect Stephen Oliver introduces the show, then volunteer actors join with Mares-Hershey to perform the excerpt.

Rachel Davis

Rachel Davis is the children's librarian at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. In April, 2008, she read aloud from some of her favorite children's books for Humanities on Demand. She also found some fingerplays to go along with the books.

Let us know what you and your kids think of the readings!