Winning Essay - Campus Read Essay Contest

Congratulations to Alexis Leidholm, who wrote the winning essay for this year's Campus Read essay contest.

In honor of her achievement, Alexis will be awarded a $500 scholarship for the Spring 2014 semester.  Her essay will also be published in an upcoming issue of The Mystician, BSC's student newspaper, and in Figments of Imagination, BSC's annual literary publication. 

Campus Read Essay Contest - Deadline Today!

A reminder ... the deadline for submitting your entry for the Campus Read Essay Contest is today, Wednesday, November 27, at 5 p.m.

See the previous posting for details.

Campus Read Essay Contest & Scholarship Opportunity

Clint Hill’s Mrs. Kennedy & Me

 
You’re already reading, discussing, and writing about Mrs. Kennedy & Me, this fall’s Campus Read selection.  Shape up those ideas and submit an essay to the Campus Read Essay contest.

Full-time students with the winning essay will be awarded a $500 tuition scholarship from the BSC Foundation for the Spring 2014 semester.  Part-time or dual credit students will be awarded up to three credits of scholarship funds.

Essay Guidelines

·       Submit your best work of 600 words or more.

·       The topic for your essay may be anything related to your consideration of the selection.

·       The essay may be a critical response to the book or a narrative essay relating your own  experiences that relate to the theme of the book.

·        Don’t be afraid to be creative with other ideas.

·       Quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material must be correctly cited (any recognized format accepted).

·       The essay must be typed.

·       Include a cover page with your name, student ID number, address, phone number, and email address.

·        Essays that do not follow the guidelines will not be considered.

Essays will be judged anonymously by Bismarck State College staff, faculty, and administration. 

The deadline to submit an essay is Wednesday, November 27.  Essays may be submitted electronically as an attachment and emailed to Michael.Tomanek@bismarckstate.edu.

The winning essay will be published in the Mystician.

Get Ready for the JFK Symposium

Along with Mrs. Kennedy and Me, JFK Symposium planners have some other reading suggestions for preparing for the sympoisum: 

• Robert Dallek. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
• Robert Caro. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Volume 4: The Passage of Power
• Robert Kennedy. Thirteen Days: a Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Garry Wills. The Kennedy Imprisonment: a Meditation on Power
• David Talbot. Brothers: the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
• Henry Fairlie. The Kennedy Promise: the Politics of Expectation
• Craig Nelson. Rocket Men: the Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon 

The BSC Library also recommends Dallas, 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis.  It's hot off the press and has had rave reviews.

Check them out!  BSC Library
 

After reading Mrs. Kennedy and Me, this fall's Campus Read selection, you may be curious and want to find out more about Jackie Kennedy.

Check out this eBook from the BSC Library:

Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books by William Kuhn
 

 

"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis never wrote a memoir, but she told her life story and revealed herself in intimate ways through the nearly 100 books she brought into print during the last two decades of her life as an editor at Viking and Doubleday ...  Jackie is remembered today for her marriages to JFK and to Aristotle Onassis, but her real legacy is the books that reveal the tastes, recollections, and passions of an independent woman."

 

Find it in the Beyond Library Walls Digital Collection

Invisible Man Back on the Shelves

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is back on the shelves of Randolph County (North Carolina) Schools’ high school libraries.

The Randolph County school board originally decided to ban the book, by a 5-2 vote, on September 16, 2013, after receiving a parent's complaint about the book. On September 23, the Board reinstated the book by a 6-1 vote. Read the full story.

The Invisible Man won the 1953 National Book Award. It was also selected as the most distinguished postwar American novel and Ellison as the sixth most influential novelist by a New York Herald Tribune Book Week poll of 200 authors, editors, and critics in 1965.

Want to read Invisible Man for yourself?  Check it out from the BSC Library.

An invitation ...

 

Please join us to talk about Clint Hill’s memoir, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, on Monday, October 7, at 3 p.m. in Library 116. 
 

This discussion will be a chance to share your initial impressions of the book as well as your ideas for possible classroom assignments and activities, whatever the discipline.   Even if you 're not a teacher, we would love to hear your ideas.

 

Michael R. Tomanek, co-chair of the Campus Read Committee and Assistant Professor of English, will lead the discussion.  We plan to hold other informal meetings and workshops throughout the semester as a way for us to engage this book as a campus community. 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 MPLA Literary Contribution Award Given to Larry Watson

Larry Watson, a BSC alum and author of numerous books, including our first Campus Read selection, Montana 1948, and our Spring 2014 selection, American Boy, was named the 2013 recipient of the MPLA (Mountain Plains Library Association) Literary Contribution Award at the SDLA/NDLA/MPLA Tri-conference last week. 

The MPLA Literary Contribution Award is "To be given to an author whose published writings have successfully furthered an understanding and appreciation of the Mountain Plains region. The author need not reside in the region, and the selection may be based on either a single work or a body of works. Published works will be evaluated on the basis of literary worth, readability, and evidence of responsible research."

Watson will visit our campus in March as part of our Campus Read activities.  Watch for more details!

 Check the BSC Library's catalog for books by Larry Watson.  Good reading!

The Kennedy Years: 50 Years Later

Check out this LibGuide on The Kennedy Legacy!  It's a great resource to use with the fall Campus Read book, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, or to prepare for the upcoming JFK Symposium on campus.

How Can I Get a Copy of the Fall Campus Read Book?

The Fall 2013 Campus Read book is Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill.

The BSC Library has a copy that can be checked out.

The BSC Bookstore also has copies for sale at a discounted price.

Good reading!

Campus Read 2013-2014

Fall 2013 Campus Read Selection

Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill

 

North Dakota native, author, and former secret service agent, Clint Hill, protected Mrs. Kennedy during John F. Kennedy's presidency and, very publicly, on the day JFK was assassinated. Hill will be the keynote speaker at the JFK Symposium on campus, November 5-7, 2013.

 

Spring 2014 Campus Read Selection

American Boy by Larry Watson

 

Larry Watson, formerly of Bismarck and a 1967 BSC alumnus, is the author of Montana 1948, BSC's first Campus Read selection in 2004. American Boy,Watson's highly-praised eighth book, is about a young man's coming of age, a murder, and the American dream in a small town.

 

Encouraging a shared reading experience among employees, students, and the community

 

Persepolis Banned by Chicago Public Schools

The 2009 Campus Read was The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. 

"On March 14, the Chicago Public School system ordered a district-wide ban on Marjane Satrapi's critically acclaimed graphic novel "Persepolis," citing concerns over "graphic illustrations and language," "developmental preparedness" and "student readiness."

Pushback from the schools led to an easing of the ban (now limited to 7th grade classrooms) -- a move that the Chicago Teachers Union called "Orwellian."  Read the full story ...

Freedom of Information Day - March 16, 2013

Mark your calendar!

Freedom of Information (FOI) Day is an annual event on or near March 16, the birthday of James Madison, 4th President of the United States, who is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government.

Each year, the James Madison Award and the Eileen Cooke State & Local Madison Award are presented by the American Library Association Washington (DC) Office on Freedom of Information Day to recognize those individuals or groups that have championed, protected, and promoted public access to government information and the public's right to know.

MoveShake! Shannon Galpin Coming to BSC

Shannon Galpin, a Bismarck native, will be on campus on Tuesday, February 26, to host a screening of a documentary film about her work.

Galpin founded the nonprofit humanitarian group Mountain2Mountain, which works for women’s rights in conflict regions in the world, most notably Afghanistan.

• Where: Sidney J. Lee Auditorium
• When: Tuesday, February 26, 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)

This event is co-sponsored by the BSC Embracing Diversity and the Campus Read committees.

Be there!

Catching Fire

Catching Fire Movie Poster

Catching Fire is the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. 

The movie version is coming out on November 22.

Can't wait!

Puzzlers Welcome!

Stop by the BSC Library and add a piece to The Hunger Games jigsaw puzzle!