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."