EWC Announces a Reading and Discussion Program on American Diversity
July 29, 2003
(Torrington, WY) Eastern Wyoming College will host "Many Americas," a reading-and-discussion series that explores versions of the American experience that tend to be unfamiliar, even "invisible," to the mainstream culture. The series will run from September 8, 2003 to February 12, 2004 at the Eastern Wyoming College Library. It is funded by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities.
From the beginning, America has been a mosaic of "other" cultures, languages, ethnic groups, lifestyles, and economies. Frequently, those who inhabit "other" Americas feel ignored by the larger culture; sometimes, in the words of Luis Rodriguez's memoir Always Running, they even feel "disposable."
The six works in this series record the experiences of some of those "invisible" and "disposable" Americans: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, Waist-High in the World: A Life Among the Nondisabled by Nancy Mairs, Always Running: La Vida LocaGang Days in L.A. by Luis Rodriguez, Extra Innings by Doris Grumbach, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines, and Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons.
Leading the discussions will be Lusk rancher Bob Brown. Brown holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Denver. He was a college teacher, a psychotherapist and a concert musician before relocation to the Crooked Heart ranch near Lusk in 1995.
For more detailed schedule and registration information on "Many Americas,"
contact EWC's Maureen Reichert at 307.532.8323.
The program is one of twelve offered by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities through its 2003 Book Discussion Program. The Book Discussion Program provides reading-and-discussion series to non-profit organizations and ad-hoc groups throughout the state and is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information about WCH programs, call 307.721.9246 or visit the Council's website at www.uwyo.edu/special/wch/.
