BookTalk at BSC 2015

Not Campus Read, but another chance to read good books and talk about them on the BSC campus!

BookTalk at BSC is the BSC Library's annual book discussion series. Read the books & join us for lively discussions at the Library this winter.  It's fun!

BookTalk at BSC 2015

ROAD TRIP

Sunday, January 4, 1-3 p.m.
Blue Highways: a Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon
Discussion leader: Clay Jenkinson

Sunday, February 1, 1-3 p.m.
Wild: from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
Discussion leader: Dr. Janelle Masters

Sunday, March 1, 1-3 p.m.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Discussion leader: Dr. Brian Palecek

BookTalk discussions are free and open to all.  Join us … and bring a friend! The books are available from libraries and booksellers.

 

Good reading!

 

Funded by the BSC Library and the BSC Foundation

Are You Writing Your Essay?

The submission deadline for the Campus Read Essay contest is only a few days away ... Wednesday, November 26. Get it written and then relax and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!

Read the previous posting for all the details.

Campus Read Essay Contest = BSC Scholarship Opportunity!

Campus Read Essay Contest
Submission deadline: Wednesday, November 26, 2014

You’re already reading, discussing, and writing about Dakota: a Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris, this year’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 2015 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 submission deadline is Wednesday, November 26, 2014.  Essays may be submitted electronically as an attachment and emailed to Michael.Tomanek@bismarckstate.edu.

The winning essay will be published in the Mystician and Figments of Imagination.

What a Treat!

If you were at the NECE Saturday afternoon for Kathleen Norris' presentation, you know what a treat it was!  Norris is an engaging speaker and shared so much about her personal background and how she came to write Dakota: a Spiritual Geography.  She also read a short selection from the book as well as a couple of her own poems and one that her husband wrote.

You can find Dakota and several other books by Kathleen Norris at the BSC Library.  Check them out!

Kathleen Norris at BSC Tomorrow - Saturday, October 4

BSC Campus Read 2014
Dakota: a Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris

Kathleen Norris will be on campus tomorrow, Saturday, October 4. 

Join us in the Bavendick Stateroom at the NECE (National Energy Center of Excellence) at 2 p.m. for her talk and public reading.

Read more about it ....

Mark Your Calendar!

Mark your calendar!  Kathleen Norris, author of Dakota: a Spiritual Geography, the Fall 2014 Campus Read selection, will visit BSC on Saturday, October 4. 

If you aren't already reading her book, it's time to start!

Campus Read Bringing Author Kathleen Norris to BSC in October

North Dakota and South Dakota are commemorating their 125th anniversary of entry into statehood with a special One Book collaboration that is being organized through a joint effort of the North Dakota Humanities Council, South Dakota Humanities Council, and the 125th Anniversary Committees from each state. 

 
The book chosen for the One Book collaboration is Dakota: a Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris. Dakota will also be BSC's Campus Read book this fall.

As part of the One Book project, author Kathleen Norris will conduct a sixteen-city tour in North and South Dakota to interact with readers and promote exploration of the book's themes. 

Norris will be at BSC on Saturday, October 4, at 2 p.m. in the Bavendick Stateroom at the NECE.

Click here for the complete North Dakota tour schedule.

About Kathleen Norris - Author of Dakota, a Spiritual Geography

Kathleen Norris is the author of the 2014 Campus Read selection, Dakota: a Spiritual Geography.  This book is also part of a special One Book collaboration by the states of North Dakota and South Dakota to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the entry of both into statehood.

"Kathleen Norris is the award-winning poet, writer, and author of The New York Times bestsellers The Cloister Walk, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, and The Virgin of Bennington.  Exploring the spiritual life, her work is at once intimate and historical, rich in poetry and meditations, brimming with exasperation and reverence, deeply grounded in both nature and spirit, sometimes funny, and often provocative."  Read more ...

Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2013

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom collects reports on book challenges from librarians, teachers, concerned individuals, and press reports. On April 15, OIF released the top ten most frequently challenged books list of 2013 as part of the State of America's Libraries Report.  

The number one most frequently challenged book of 2013 was Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series, which ranked #1 for the second year in a row. The series also placed in the Top Ten in 2002, 2004, and 2005. 

Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2013 
(out of 307 challenges as reported by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom)

1)      Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence

2)      The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence

3)      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie (2008 Campus Read selection)
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group 

4)      Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
Reasons: Nudity, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

5)      The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (2012 Campus Read selection)
Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group 

6)      A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit

7)      Looking for Alaska, by John Green
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

8)      The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

9)      Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: Occult/Satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

10)  Bone (series), by Jeff Smith
Reasons: Political viewpoint, racism, violence

Sherman Alexie Book Removed from Curriculum

The 2008 Campus Read selection has been challenged and banned ... again.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (2007) by Sherman Alexie was removed from the curriculum of the Meridian (Idaho) School District on April 1.  After two hours of emotional public testimony, trustees voted 2-1 to keep a hold on the book in place.

   (Read the full story and watch video of some of the emotional testimony here).

The Absolutely True Diary ... won the 2007 National Book Award and the 2009 Odyssey Award for best audio book. It has been included on the 2010, 2011, and 2012 lists of "Top Ten Challenged Books" compiled by ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Among the reasons given are: offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, religious viewpoint, sex education, and violence.

Announcing Campus Read Selection for Fall 2014

Dakota: a Spiritual Geography by award-winning author and poet Kathleen Norris is the Campus Read selection for Fall 2014. 

In Dakota, Norris paints “a fine portrait of the High Plains and its people as well as a very personal memoir of a spiritual awakening,” according to Publishers Weekly. First published in 1993, Dakota was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was also selected as one of the best books of the year by Library Journal.

The Campus Read Committee chose Dakota so we can participate in a joint effort by the North Dakota Humanities Council, the South Dakota Humanities Council, and the 125th Anniversary Committees from the states of North and South Dakota to commemorate the entry of North and South Dakota into statehood with a special One Book collaboration. 

Norris will travel around the state this fall as part of the celebration -- including a stop at BSC's campus in early October (date to be determined).

Established in 2000, BSC's Campus Read encourages a shared reading experience among students, employees, and the community.

Good Writers Read

It was great to have Larry Watson visit our campus and classrooms as part of Campus Read. In his presentation on March 11, he told us that he made the decision to become a writer when he was a student at BSC (then BJC). He was inspired by his reading, by the writing assignments in his classes, and by his teachers.

In an interview "Ten Questions for Larry Watson" with Laurie Hertzel of the Star Tribune (December 11, 2011), Watson said:

"When I was in my late teens I read "Catcher in the Rye" and Hemingway's short stories, and both made me feel as though writing was something that I could do. Before reading these books, I'd had writerly impulses, but I didn't know what to do or where to go with those feelings. Salinger showed me that a novel could be written in the slangy, digressive language of a troubled teenager, and Hemingway showed me that stories could be brief and powerful. I don't write like either writer (though I tried for a while), but both made writing seem possible for me."

Larry Watson Reading Tonight!

Tonight's the night ...

• Who: Larry Watson, author of American Boy, Campus Read selection
• What: Public Reading, Q&A, and Book Signing
• When: Tuesday, March 11, 2014, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Bavendick Stateroom, National Energy Center of Excellence
• Why: 
• It's fun to hear authors read from their own work
• You can ask the author some burning questions about the book, about being a writer, about getting published, and more
• You can buy a book and get it autographed by the author
• et cetera

Don't miss it!

Larry Watson at BSC, March 11-12

Larry Watson, BSC alum and author of American Boy, the Campus Read selection for Spring 2014, will be on campus March 11-12.

On Tuesday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m., he will give a public reading in the Bavendick Stateroom in the National Energy Center of Excellence. Watson will also visit BSC classrooms March 11-12.

Mark your calendar!

American Boy by Larry Watson - Spring 2014 Campus Read

We did something unusual for the 2013-14 academic year. We chose two books for the Campus Read -- Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill and American Boy by Larry Watson.

Why?

• Author Clint Hill is a North Dakota native and was a keynote speaker for the JFK Symposium in November 2013.
• Campus Read is celebrating 10 years. Our first Campus Read book was Montana 1948 by North Dakota native and BSC alum Larry Watson; it is a good time to read another one of his books.
• We like to read.
• So many books, so little time.

With the start of the Spring 2014 semester, we invite you to read American Boy, talk about it with your fellow students and BSC colleagues, and come to Larry Watson's reading and book signing at the Bavendick State Room, NECE, the evening of March 11. 

Start reading & mark your calendar! 

The book is widely available from booksellers and libraries.