Campus Read Essay Contest Winner: Sarah Grimm

The winner of the Campus Read Essay contest is Sarah Grimm for her essay entitled "Just a Little More."

The essay will be published in the Bismarck State College Mystician. Sarah will also receive a scholarship award of $500 from the BSC Foundation.

Congratulations, Sarah!

Campus Read Essay Contest Deadline Is December 1

A reminder ....

The deadline for the Campus Read Essay Contest is soon here. Essays are due on December 1. The student with the winning essay will be awarded a $500 scholarship from the BSC Foundation for the Spring 2011 semester.

Guidelines

•Submit your best work of 600 words or more. The topic may be anything related to your consideration of Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference. For example, a critical response to the book, or a narrative essay relating your own experiences that relate to the theme of the book. These are only examples. Don't be afraid to be creative!

•Essays must be typed and must be a polished, finished product.

•Essays will be judged anonymously, so include your name on a separate cover page with the title of your essay.

•The submission deadline is Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Essays may be submitted electronically as an attachment and e-mailed to Erin.Price@bsc.nodak.edu, OR hand-delivered to the BSC Library front desk.

•The winning essay will be published in The Mystician.

Bend It Like Beckham - Available at BSC Library

Even if you missed last night's showing of the movie, Bend It Like Beckham, you can still see the movie. It is available at the BSC Library (Media PN 1997.2 .B45 2003).

In the film, the parents of eighteen year-old Jesminder (Parminder Nagra) want her to be a nice, conventional Indian girl, but Jess wants to play soccer like her hero, David Beckham. For Jess, that means kicking a ball around the local park with the lads until she’s spotted by Jules (Keira Knightley), who invites her to join the local women’s team.

Check it out!

Bend It Like Beckham

As part of the Campus Read of Outcasts United: an American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference, you are invited to a free showing of

Bend It Like Beckham

Tuesday, November 23

6:30 p.m.

Sidney J. Lee Auditorium, Schafer Hall

Click on the movie title to watch the trailer!

Fugees Family on CNN

Click here for a CNN story about the Fugees Family and Luma Mufleh.

BSC Campus Read on facebook

Hey!  We're on facebook.  Join our group!

Luma Mufleh at BSC Tonight!

Luma Mufleh, the inspirational coach and founder of the Fugees Soccer team featured in Outcasts United, will be speaking at the Sidney J. Lee Auditorium in Schafer Hall tonight (Tuesday, November 9) at 7 p.m.

Luma emphasizes what can be done to change the life of one child, one family at a time, to transform a community.  She will talk about how she became involved with the Fugees, about the plight of the refugee children she helps, and about what they teach her in turn.

Be there!

Posting Comments

We've heard some questions about how to post comments on the blog.  It's easy!

Here are the basics from Blogger Help.

A couple of notes:

• You have options to create a blogger account to post signed comments, or to post anonymously if you don't have an account or don't want to create an account.  
• All comments on the BSC Campus Read blog are moderated; spam will be deleted. 

Luma Mufleh Will Visit BSC on November 9

Mark your calendar!

Luma Mufleh, the coach and founder of the Fugees soccer teams, will visit campus on Tuesday, November 9. She will work with BSC's soccer teams in the afternoon and give a presentation at 7 p.m. in the Sidney J. Lee Auditorium that evening.

Be there!

Watch these YouTube videos to find out more about Coach Luma and the Fugees.

Tracy Kuchera - Guest Speaker on New Immigrants

Who: BSC students and employees
What: Tracy Kuchera, Guest Speaker on New Immigrants in the Bismarck-Mandan area
When: Friday, October 22, 2010
Time: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Where: NECE (National Center of Excellence) Auditorium

Description: Did you know that more than 5,000 legal immigrants have come to North Dakota's Red River Valley since 1998? Tracy Kuchera of Lutheran Social Services works with new immigrants in the Bismarck area and will speak about new immigrants and their experiences on Friday, October 22, in Lisa Hoynes' classes. Kuchera will also show a 20-minute video about refugee camps.

Other interested students and employees are welcome to join the class groups for this presentation.

Mystics United! II - BSC Soccer, October 16

Mystics United! II

Saturday, October 16

Community Bowl

BSC vs. Anoka Ramsey Community College

6 p.m. - Women's Game

8 p.m. - Men's Game

Let's Pack the Bowl!

What Shall We Read Next Year?

What shall we read for the 2011-2012 BSC Campus Read?

Guidelines

1. The book must be in print and in a price range of no more than $20 per book. Hardcover books will be considered this year for the first time.


2. The book should be reasonably short -- 200-350 pages.


3. The Campus Read selection should be an engaging read that will generate lively discussion.


4. The book should explore any of the universal themes of literature such as coming of age, abuse of power, triumph over adversity, the importance of the individual, conflicts with self, others, and nature, etc.

The Campus Read Committee will take suggestions through December 1, 2010.

Please post your suggestions as a comment on the BSC Campus Read blog or contact one of these committee members:

• Lynette Borjeson Painter, Co-chair (Lynette.BorjesonPainter@bsc.nodak.edu)
• Erin Price, Co-chair (Erin.Price@bsc.nodak.edu)
• Marlene Anderson
• karen bauer
• Theresa Felderman
• Pamela Krueger
• Dan Leingang
• Janelle Masters
• Kitty Netzer
• Dan Rogers
• Jean Rolandelli
• Carla Sivesind
• Tom Stein
• Lynn Warnke

Campus Read Essay Contest

An announcement to all BSC students ...

You're already reading, discussing, and writing about Warren St. John’s Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference. Shape up those ideas and submit an essay to the Campus Read Essay contest. The student with the winning essay will be awarded a $500 scholarship from the BSC Foundation for the Spring 2011 semester.

Guidelines

• Submit your best work of 600 words or more. The topic may be anything related to your consideration of Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference. For example, a critical response to the book, or a narrative essay relating your own experiences that relate to the theme of the book. These are only examples. Don't be afraid to be creative!
• Essays must be typed and must be a polished, finished product.
• Essays will be judged anonymously, so include your name on a separate cover page with the title of your essay.
• The submission deadline is Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Essays may be submitted electronically as an attachment and e-mailed to Erin.Price@bsc.nodak.edu, OR hand-delivered to the BSC Library front desk.
• The winning essay will be published in The Mystician.

Mystics United! Photos

Check out these photos by Eric Monzelowsky, Mystician photographer, from the Mystics United! games on September 22.

It was a great evening!

Mark your calendar for the next home games on Saturday, October 16. BSC will play Anoka Ramsey Community College. Women's game at 6 p.m. , men's game at 8 p.m.

Let's Pack the Bowl!

Mystics United! Prize Winners

Here are the lucky winners of the Mystics United! prizes donated by the BSC Bookstore. Aren't you glad you came to the game?

Sweatshirts
Eric Bernhardt, Shae Brown, Taite Grossman, Shawn Kuntz, and Dan Rogers

T-Shirts
Megan Clooten, Aaron Harris, Lacey Knoll, Lacey Petersen, and Kyle Weisbeck

Coffee
Alyssa Hummel, Isiah Kampeska, Eric Monzelausky, Megan Presser, and Sheldon Weisbeck

Mystics United!

We didn't quite pack the bowl last night (it was chilly out there), but the crowd was enthused. One of the players said it was the biggest crowd of the year. Cool.

The women beat Presentation College by a score of 3-1; unfortunately, the men lost 2-0.

BSC Soccer's next home games will be Saturday, October 16, when we play Anoka Ramsey Community College. The women play at 6 p.m. and the men at 8 p.m. Be there!

Mystics United!

Mystics United! Let's Pack the Bowl

Mystics United!
Let's Pack the Bowl

BSC Soccer vs. Presentation College
TODAY - Wednesday, September 22
Community Bowl
Women’s Game – 5 p.m.
Men’s Game – 7 p.m.

Wear Your BSC Garb and Cheer the Mystics to Victory

Drawings for Prizes
Get an Entry Form at the Student Union,
September 20-22, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Give Your Entry Form to Mystic Ian at the Game

Sponsored by the BSC Campus Read Committee
2010 Campus Read: Outcasts United by Warren St. John

The Absolutely True Diary ... Absolutely Banned

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie was BSC's 2008 Campus Read. In Stockton, Missouri, the book was removed from the classroom and the library in April 2010. Protests led to a special board meeting on September 8. Here is the story from the Cedar County Republican about the school board's decision.

"The Absolutely True Diary ... Absolutely Banned" by Adam Stillman
Cedar County Republican - Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Stockton R-1 School Board unanimously voted to keep the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, out of the Stockton High School curriculum, and voted 5-2 to keep it out of the high school library during a special meeting Wednesday, Sept. 8, in the high school gymnasium.

In the end, the sexual content and inappropriate language made the awarding-winning novel unsuitable for use in the classroom and in the library, the board decided.

“We can take this book and we can wrap it in those 20 awards everybody said it won, and you know what, it is still wrong,” board member Ken Spurgeon said.

According to a handout provided by John Rummel before the special meeting, there are 74 instances of vulgarity throughout the novel’s 230 pages. These instances involve topics such as masturbation, racism and violence, among others. It had been mentioned earlier in the meeting the book had done a particularly good job of interesting high school boys in reading.

“It’s an insult … to say to them (students) that we have to have stuff like that in our school in order to make them want to read books,” Mike Holzknecht, who spoke in favor of the ban, said.

Communication arts teachers Kim Jasper and Dana Whitesell spoke for more than 20 minutes defending the use of the book in the classroom, questioned why they weren’t asked for input back in March when the book was challenged and highlighted the merits of students reading such a story.

“They can recognize themselves in the literature,” Jasper said, “and yes sometimes books deal with harsh issues — bullying, alcoholism and drug use, sexual identity and rape … such literature, even with its harsh issues, tells teens their lives matter, and the issues they face are important, and that they are not alone in the battles they may be fighting.”

After the decision was announced to keep the book out of the high school, Jasper clearly was upset.

“I’m disappointed,” Jasper said. “I think it’s a sad day for Stockton school … What can we teach now if this is our bar? Do I need to take Of Mice and Men out of my classroom? Do I need to take Huck Finn out of my classroom? I just fear the chilling effect of what teachers will choose now. They’ll be worried about what they choose.”

Cheryl Marcum, one of the more outspoken advocates of returning the book to the school, was let down, as well.

“I don’t think the board heard us,” Marcum said. “The teachers did an excellent job describing how they chose the book and why they used it in the classroom … and I don’t think there is anything anyone could have said on that side the board would have understood and accepted.”

During the allotted time for public comments, a crowd of more than 200 people witnessed 12 people speak in opposition to the book’s removal from the classroom and library, and 10 people speak in favor of the book’s removal from the curriculum and school library.

Four TV cameras were present to capture the conclusion of the hot-button issue which has caused much discontent among Stockton community members. Several arguments on both sides drew applause from the crowd.

At one point during the night, Holzknecht pounded his fist on the podium while speaking, drawing a standing ovation at the close of his argument. “I’m proud of you guys (the board) standing up and saying, ‘No, here’s the limit right here, we’re not going to take it’.”

Jasper’s argument garnered a lengthy applause, as did Dakota Freeze’s presentation. Freeze, a senior at the high school, wants something bigger than Stockton. She plans on attending a college on the east coast and studying politics and law.

“This book in a nutshell is about hope,” Freeze said. “It’s about overcoming adversity. This book is about believing in yourself, believing you can become whatever you want to become.”

Many supporters of keeping the book in the school pointed to the freedom to read, censorship and the First Amendment.

“I must advocate for my students’ right to read and to think, or my 23 years of teaching are a fraud,” Jasper said. “When I have my students memorize the First Amendment, it’s not some theoretical exercise for a grade. Those are words that protect some of the freedoms I feel most strongly about, and those are words that have allowed this country to produce some valuable pieces of literature. The library especially must be a place where all students have access to a wide range of materials. If we censor books, we censor opportunity and hopes and dreams. As the American Library Association states, ‘censorship results in the opposite of true education and learning’.”

School board president Chad Pyle, vice president Dean Pate, board members Doug Haines, Rod Shipley, Rod Tucker, Ken Spurgeon, Gus Rutledge, superintendent Shannon Snow and high school principal John French all were present at the main table ... Tucker expressed his displeasure with the newspaper’s coverage and refused to comment.

Mystics United! Let's Pack the Bowl

MYSTICS UNITED!
Let’s Pack the Bowl

BSC Soccer vs. Presentation College
Wednesday, September 22
Community Bowl
Women’s Game – 5 p.m.
Men’s Game – 7 p.m.

Wear Your BSC Garb and Cheer the Mystics to Victory

Drawings for Prizes
Get an Entry Form at the Student Union,
September 20-22, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Give Your Entry Form to Mystic Ian at the Game

Sponsored by the BSC Campus Read Committee
2010 Campus Read: Outcasts United by Warren St. John

Upcoming Campus Read Events

Showing of Bend it Like Beckham (date to be announced)
Panel Discussion on Immigration (date to be announced)
Campus Visit by Fugees Coach, Luma Mufleh, on November 9

2008 Campus Read Book Remains Removed from Missouri Library

Background Information
The 2008 Campus Read Book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literaturer.

In April 2010, The Absolutely True Diary ... was first removed from the Stockton, Missouri school and library. After protests, a special public meeting was held on September 8. Here are the results of that meeting as reported in the Cedar County Republican.

Book Remains Removed from Curriculum and Library
by Adam Stillman
Thursday, September 9, 2010 9:10 AM CDT

The Stockton R-1 School Board unanimously voted to keep the book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, out of the Stockton High School curriculum, and voted 5-2 to keep it out of the high school library during the special meeting Wednesday, Sept. 8, in the high school gymnasium.

After Shannon Snow gave the book committee report, Kim Jasper and Dana Whitesell addressed the board regarding the use of the book in high school communication arts classes. Then, during the allotted time for public comments, 12 people spoke in opposition to the book’s removal from the classroom and library, and 10 people spoke in favor of the book’s removal from the curriculum and school library. More than 200 people were in attendance, and four TV cameras were present.

Celebrate the Fact that You Can Read!

It's International Literacy Day -- September 8, 2010.

If you can read this, thank the people in your life -- parents, teachers, and others -- who helped make it possible.

Being able to read is a gift beyond compare.

Update - Banning of 2008 Campus Read Book in Missouri

On August 9, we posted information about an April 2010 banning of the 2008 Campus Read book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, in Stockton, Missouri. The book won numerous awards, including the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

The Stockton R-1 School Board has now scheduled a special meeting on September 8, 2010, to discuss removing the book from the curriculum and the library.

For more details, check out the news stories from the Cedar County Republican.

Soccer at BSC!

For the Campus Read, we're reading about the Fugees playing soccer in and around Clarkston, Georgia. How about watching BSC's Mystics play soccer right here?

BSC soccer made its debut last year. If you haven't been to a game before, now's the time!

BSC Women's and Men's soccer teams will be playing at home (in the Bowl) on our campus this weekend.

Sat, August 28

• 1 p.m. – BSC Women vs. Century College
• 3 p.m. – BSC Men vs. Century College

Sun, August 29

• 1 p.m. – BSC Women vs. Rochester Community & Tech College
• 3 p.m. – BSC Men vs. Riverland College

Welcome to Campus Read 2010-11!

It's going to be a great year!

We're excited about the 2010-11 Campus Read selection, Outcasts United: an American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John. You can get your copy of the book at the BSC Bookstore.

We're also especially excited that Luma Mufleh, the coach of the Fugees soccer team, will visit our campus in November, and that the author of the book, Warren St. John, will be on campus in April.

Stop by the BSC Library and check out the Campus Read display in the hallway.

2008 Campus Read Book Banned in Missouri

The 2008 BSC Campus Read selection was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It was popular with students, faculty, and staff and led to great discussions on campus. Alexie also visited campus and gave a presentation to a standing room only crowd at the Belle Mehus Auditorium. In fact, he invited people who couldn't find seats to join him on the stage and sit there. His presentation was fun and funny as well as thoughtful and reflective.

In April 2010, the school board in Stockton, Missouri, voted to remove Alexie's book from the school. In July, they voted to reconsider their original motion. At their August 18 meeting, they will schedule a date for a special meeting to discuss the suitability of the book and answer in writing five questions posed by the school board.

Numerous groups have sent letters in support of keeping Alexie's book in the school, including the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom and a joint letter from the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the American Library Association, and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

For more about the story, visit the Cedar County Republican.

Your thoughts?

Football Fever

The Fugees have football fever! Check out this video from CCN.

Campus Read Book Available at BSC Bookstore

Now Available!

Purchase your copy of Outcasts United

at the BSC Bookstore

at a discounted price of $11.80.

Good reading!

Campus Read 2010 Selection

The Campus Read Committee is pleased to announce the 2010 Campus Read selection ....

Outcasts United:

an American Town, a Refugee Team, and

One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference

by Warren St. John

Outcasts United tells the story of the Fugees, a refugee soccer team, their coach, and the small town of Clarkston, Georgia, which became a refugee settlement center in the 1990s.

Bill Littlefield of NPR said, "If you only read one book over the next few months, it should be Outcasts United."

The bestseller was written by Warren St. John, a reporter for the New York Times, who also wrote Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: a Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania (2004).

Roxana Saberi's Visit to BSC

As part of Roxana Saberi's visit to BSC, she and her mother had dinner with students from The Mystician staff, campus leaders, and the Campus Read Committee. She also graciously signed copies of her book after her presentation.

Roxana and Akiko Saberi at BSC

Roxana Saberi and her mother, Akiko, were at BSC's Sidney J. Lee Auditorium last night (Tuesday, April 20). Roxana gave an outstanding presentation about her six years working as a journalist and writer in Iran, her father's homeland. She also told about her arrest as a political prisoner accused of espionage and being held in Tehran's Evin Prison for 100 days in early 2009. Her account was riveting and insightful.

Meeting Roxana's mother, Dr. Akiko Saberi, was a treat. You can tell that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Dr. Saberi is an accomplished, warm person. A native of Japan, she is a pathologist with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fargo.

The BSC Library has a copy of Roxana Saberi's memoir, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran (PN 4874 .S23 A3 2010). Check it out! The book is also available from booksellers in both print and eformats.

Saberi will also be finishing and publishing the book she was working on when she was arrested. Stay tuned!

Roxana Saberi Speaks at BSC - April 20 - 7:30 p.m.

The Campus Read Committee and our co-sponsors (North Dakota Humanities Council, BSC Foundation, North Dakota Newspaper Association, and North Dakota Broadcasters Association) invite you to attend a presentation and book signing by Roxana Saberi on Tuesday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sidney J. Lee Auditorium, Bismarck State College.

Saberi will also be at Barnes & Noble in Bismarck from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, for a book signing.

Saberi is an Iranian-American journalist and former Miss North Dakota. She will speak about her ordeal as a political prisoner in Tehran, Iran. Copies of her "hot off the press" memoir, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Capitivity in Iran, will be available.

Soapbox: Books Are Not Dead. They're Not Even Dying

Jack Estes has published an essay in the April 5, 2010, issue of Publishers Weekly entitled "Books Are Not Dead. They're Not Even Dying." Music to my ears.

Check it out!

Soapbox: Books Are Not Dead. They're Not Even Dying: " I've heard people aren't reading so much anymore, but as fa..."

Sherman Alexie Wins 2010 Pen/Faulkner Award

Add one more to the list of awards for Sherman Alexie, author of the 2008-09 Campus Read book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. On March 23, Alexie's book, War Dances, was selected as the winner of the the 2010 Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The Pen/Faulkner Award is America's largest peer-juried prize for fiction. As winner, Alexie will receive $15,000. Each of the four finalists -- Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna, Lorriane M. Lopez for Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories, Lorrie Moore for A Gate at the Stairs, and Colson Whitehead for Sag Harbor -- receives $5,000.

All five authors will be honored at the 30th Anniversary Pen/Faulkner Award Ceremony on May 8, 2010, at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Alexie has visited the BSC campus twice in recent years.

War Dances is available at the BSC Library in printed form at PS 3551 .L35774 W37 2009. It is also available as an eAudiobook for download. Check them out!