Reading Aloud, Listening Together

Reading Aloud, Listening Together

June is National Audiobook Month. If you haven’t heard of it, though, you aren’t alone. This annual celebration of the spoken word was once promoted by the likes of David Sedaris; now it’s hardly even recognized by the Audio Publishers Association. If Audible and the ubiquity of free podcasts are any indication, the spoken word itself is by no means in decline. Perhaps National Audiobook Month, which strategically coincides with summer reading and complements long family road trips seems less exciting, less pertinent, now that we can all listen to, read or watch whatever we want, whenever we fancy. We can entertain ourselves, individually, forever.

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Skepticism, Engagement and Fond Farewells

Skepticism, Engagement and Fond Farewells

In which we say goodbye to Rachel Burstein, our Academic Director, as she pursues opportunities closer to home (and her young child) in California. Rachel wrote frequently about the program on this blog, and in other venues. In this post, she reflects on special aspects of the Books@Work experience. Please join us in thanking Rachel for her powerful contributions to the growth and development of Books@Work, and encouraging her to keep in touch.

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Middle English at the Kitchen Table

Middle English at the Kitchen Table

In which we welcome our new Curriculum and Program Director, Jessica Isaac, to The Notebook and the Books@Work team. As Jessica writes of her passion for literature and culture: “Pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in English satisfied my hunger for greater understanding about language and texts and their relationship to culture, but I am happiest when I am sharing that knowledge with others… with people who have felt excluded from the conversation, who haven’t had the time or money or invitation to have discussions about meaning and experiences of awe and delight. And what always happens when I have those conversations is that I see what I have learned completely differently.” How lucky we are to have Jessica on the team – help us welcome her!

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Marking Time, Book by Book

Marking Time, Book by Book

In which we welcome our new Communications and Marketing Director, Cecily Hill, to The Notebook and the Books@Work team. As Cecily writes: “Books@Work is a natural extension of the work I undertook while pursuing my PhD: exploring the impact books and narrative have on life-long opportunities and our interactions with others.” Please help us welcome her to the fold.

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Opening Windows Through Others’ Stories

Opening Windows Through Others’ Stories

Reading, writing and discussing poetry has the power to open windows in life-changing ways, giving readers the freedom to tell their own stories and view themselves as capable learners and contributors. Our current partnership with the East Cleveland Municipal Court and From Lemons to Lemonade (FL2L) bring Books@Work to a group of single mothers and other women whose lives rarely afford them the opportunity to read, let alone reflect.

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Significant Grant From The Teagle Foundation Propels Books@Work

Significant Grant From The Teagle Foundation Propels Books@Work

We are extraordinarily excited to share the news of our new partnership with The Teagle Foundation, enabling Books@Work to take a giant step toward significantly furthering its reach. Last week, the Foundation announced a $150,000 two-year grant to support and scale our programs and research activities. Established in 1944, The Teagle Foundation works to support and strengthen liberal arts education, as a prerequisite for rewarding work, meaningful citizenship and a fulfilling life. Books@Work forms a part of a new special project entitled, “Liberal Arts Education Beyond the Academy.” This initiative supports programs for individuals in underserved communities who may not have access to higher education but who may derive substantial benefit from exposure to the liberal arts and university communities.

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Borges’ Idiosyncratic Library

Borges’ Idiosyncratic Library

In just seven pages of text, Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges raises profound questions about the meaning and value of knowledge in his 1941 essay, “The Library of Babel”: the timelessness of knowledge, its organization, the identity of its stewards and its accessibility. In this installment of “A Text at Work” we invite you to read Borges’ essay, consider the questions posed by Professor Peter Haas in a recent Books@Work seminar, and contribute to the conversation in the comments section.

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In Support of the Moral Authority of Professors

In Support of the Moral Authority of Professors

In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Mark Bauerlein, Emory University English professor, took aim at an increasingly broken higher education system, this time with professors in his cross-hairs. “You can’t become a moral authority,” he writes “if you rarely challenge students in class and engage them beyond it.” But Books@Work demonstrates that the professor is not only a moral authority, but a powerful agent for effective change.

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Building Faculty Community by Recognizing Diversity

Building Faculty Community by Recognizing Diversity

Last month Books@Work organized a gathering for Cleveland-area college and university professors who have taught, are teaching or plan to teach in Books@Work seminars graciously hosted by Case Western Reserve University’s Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, a major hub of humanities activity in the Northeast Ohio region. Along with an opportunity to socialize, attendees were introduced to the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, a prestigious prize awarded to literature that confronts racism and celebrates diversity. We look forward to many opportunities to deepen our partnership with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and with the Baker-Nord Center in the coming year.

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