The Big Read Program at the Chautauqua County Home

Greetings everyone!

I just wanted to add my two cents about how my experience presenting at the Chautauqua County Home was. I do have some experience volunteering with my family at the Erie County Home. At times, it can be painfully depressing and quite honestly, heartbreaking. Seeing elderly men and women without families, sitting outside of their rooms just waiting for visitors is almost too much to take. Any empathetic heart could hardly handle it. I have to say, this "Big Read" experience was absolutely, incredibly positive. It went way beyond any expectations that I had.

I never expected to be so affected by the men and women that took time out of their days to come and spend time with us. I presented on the roles of women during the time of the novel and brought in a large display of how this was exemplified in the advertisements and magazines of the time. The response from each person who attended was simply phenomenal. Alongside my presentation partner, Lauren Kerzee, we were blessed to have the residents open up and tell personal stories that I never anticipated. Hearing each person's thoughts on the novel (so many of them READ!) was mind-blowingly rewarding. Lauren and I both smile that in our limited contact we really did make great connections with them.

In particular, hearing one resident speak of his years as an author, poet, and minister was so enlightening. Honestly, that was the best part of this entire experience. Simply talking to each of these men and women was just awesome. They were so excited to have us there visiting with them, and it really left like they got so much out of us visiting. This experience was incredibly enlightening to the fact that at any age, no one stops having that thirst to learn something new.

Chautauqua County Home

The Big Read Event at the Chautauqua County Home was simply amazing. The residents were eager to discuss their ideas, which led to interesting discussions. Our class learned as much from them as they did from us. One resident, Joe, was reading My Antonia for the second time and had a notebook in which he kept ideas to bring up once we got there.
I discussed gender, marriage, and the problems of Jim Burden as a narrator, which generated lively discussions with those that had completed the book and others who shared stories from their lives. It was awesome to see them get so involved in the text, and I hope that the residents who hadn't finished the book have been inspired to do so since we left.
All of the residents expressed a desire to learn and become involved in the text. I enjoyed sharing my research with them, but it was their ideas and comments that were really the highlight of the event. Each of their ideas has inspired me and furthered my understanding of My Antonia.
I plan on going back to the home and visiting, especially my new Facebook friend Frances.

Lauren Kerzee, English 600

Reading Event at Reed Libary: March 23rd at 7 p.m.

The Big Read continues at SUNY Fredonia this month with a selected reading of “My Antonia” by Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil of the department of English. The reading will take place this Tuesday, March 23rd, at 7 p.m. in the Japanese Garden area of Reed Library. Faculty and student readers from the English, History, Women's Studies, and Theatre departments will also be sharing passages from a variety of authors who have been influenced by their gender or sexuality either on or off the page. In conjunction with the reading, the Willa Cather Gender and Sexuality Exhibit will be on display, offering an exposition on the gender and sexuality of Cather and the novel. Display materials were created by event organizers: Paul Beverly, Cais Jurgens and Jillian Ziemianski, students in Dr. Emily VanDette's English Senior Seminar course, in partnership with librarians, Dawn Eckenrode and Scott Richmond.

Posted by: Dawn Eckenrode

Reflection on County Home Experience

The experience I had at the County Home was unlike anything I've ever done. The ability to work with older citizens was in complete contrast to working with children. I feel that discussing the book with them was not only fulfilling for them, but I was also moved by the experience. In particular, discussing the music in the novel was very interesting to all of us. I chose a youtube clip to give an example of the music that Jim and Antonia might have danced to, and many of the residents knew the song I chose! I was surprised how many residents were interested in me playing the viola. I thought it would nice to play a Bohemian song to show the contrast between the dance music and the music that Mr. Shimerda played. They loved the song, and I've never felt so flattered after playing! One of the residents even gave me a copy of some of his poetry set to music! Overall, I feel that this assignment became less of simply a class assignment and more of a way to connect reading and interaction between generations.

Jessica Kalny
Dr. McVicker's ENGL600

Reed Library- Cather's Sexuality and My Antonia

Exploring the Gender and Sexuality of Willa Cather and the effect it has on My Antonia.

Exhibit materials currently on display at Reed Library highlight the subject of Willa Cather's lesbianism and the direct effect this had on her literature. I wanted to take a moment to post and share with you an interesting fact that may enhance your interpretation of the novel.

Willa Cather's greatest love affair occurred with Isabel McClung, whom she met in Pittsburgh in 1898 when Cather lived in her families attic. During her time with McClung, Cather wrote four large pieces of creative exposition, including major parts of her well-known novel O, Pioneers!. The great affair continued until 1916, when McClung suddenly announced that she was to marry the violinist Jan Hambourgh. At this point in time, Cather had just finished the first two chapters of My Antonia and was about to write the "Hired Girls" chapter. If we take a closer look at the novel, we can see that Antonia is taken off her pedestal at this point and is led to an advantageous marriage that brings her shame and downfall in the eyes of society. Many scholars would suggest that the character of Jim was formed after Cather herself, but perhaps Antonia is formed after Cather's love for women, instead of one woman in general. Perhaps Antonia simply inhabits all the attributes of the passion and then the heartbreak that Cather and McCung shared.

After learning this fact about Cather's love life, what can we infer about Cather's own emotional state and it's influence on the novel?

Do you believe this further characterization of Antonia could have been a result of Cather's own heartbreak and loss?

Posted By: Jillian Ziemianski

Reflections on the Big Read at Chautauqua Home

Rachel Hoff
SUNY Fredonia Graduate Student
English

I participated in the Big Read program with Dr. Jeanette McVicker’s Graduate Seminar Class in Professional Development. For most of us in the class, this is our last semester at Fredonia. On average, we have all spent six years or more analyzing and studying literature. The amount that we read and write is unparalleled by any other department. It can be so easy to get wrapped up in our own coursework and other responsibilities for our education, we forget about Fredonia as a community outside the university. But it’s the community which makes Fredonia unique.

Being a part of the Big Read program forced us as students to put the community in the foreground of our daily lives. We were asked to prepare presentations on My Antonia for the Chautauqua community home. Now, I have prepared many presentations in my career as a student, but I have never had to prepare any literary presentation for a non-academic audience. It was definitely a refreshing change. I could just relax and have fun discussing literature with others who were not as concerning with literary theory and analysis. My presentation focused on historical perceptions of women and the traditional households around the time My Antonia was set.

The residents in the Chautauqua County Home were very welcoming to all of us. There was never any issue of having to break the ice in a group of strangers. Almost immediately, there were people sharing stories from their youth and talking about their families and many impressive accomplishments. Even those who did not talk about the literary aspects of the book still had a lot to offer. My presentation on the history of the book sparked interest from those who remembered being in a more traditional household. The residents were very encouraging and added to my presentation with their quips from the past.

Our class had the privilege of presenting to the residents at the Chautauqua County Home, but in reality it was us who learned from them. We met a man who was a published poet and had some wonderful reflections on writing. I spoke with a woman who spent part of her life completely devoted to her mother and helping her in old age. Everyone in that room had lived a life that could easily be a best-seller. They were all a blessing for our class.

ENGL 600's Big Read Events

Michael Wayman and Natalie Hewitt discuss the novel, My Antonia, at the Chautauqua County Home, Dunkirk, NY.

Community members enjoy a morning filled with conversation and literature.

Jessica Kalny plays viola for the residents of the County Home in Dunkirk, NY, as part of her discussion about the music from Bohemia.

Thanks to Dr. Jan McVicker for sending these photos!

Posted by: Dawn Eckenrode

Randolph site- Part 2

Last night was the final event at the Randolph site and it went off with a bang. Due to the sweep of the flu across town, a lot of people were unable to make it but I was fortunate enough to have seven brave souls come out and discuss My Antonia. The atmosphere was tense at first, due to many of them feeling as though I would wow them with some sort of hoity-toity English jargon. After I told them to relax and just discuss what they wanted to discuss, they became a wealth of knowledge. One lady, who had been to the previous book discussion and had apologized for taking over the conversation, actually asked me at the beginning of the discussion to explain a comment that I had given in the book discussion the previous week. I had happened to mention that Willa Cather might be termed a transvestite during her specific time period. This lady told me she had gone home and had tried to look up the meaning of the word transvestite and had gotten lost. She could not find the meaning of that word anywhere and asked me to explain myself. This mood started out the night.
For an hour and a half we discussed everything about the novel including the historical background that contextualized the plot to the different critical lenses that the book could be read through. The ladies that attended had many personal insights into the different parts of the novel that most of the time was spent in the sharing of their stories. A teacher of senior year high school english was more than happy to relate what all of us were talking about to what her classes were discussing in school. This made the event more light-hearted and with the mini refreshments (after learning the donuts were entirely too big for people to eat last time) and excellent coffee, the night went off smooth as silk and was enjoyed by all that attended.

Thanks to ENGL 314, Women Writers, students

I neglected to mention in my post last night how grateful my ENGL 600 students and I were to the students in Adrienne McCormick's ENGL 314 class on Women Writers for letting us borrow some of the posters they'd made in connection to the novel. We took four of them with us yesterday to the county home, to supplement our class's visual materials in the presentations on gender, beauty standards and narrative structure. The residents found the visual representations appealing and creative and were able to get a better sense of Cather's ambiguous gender identifications. This became yet another way to foster collaboration among the different classes working with the novel. If you haven't yet seen them, take a walk past the display case in Fenton Hall, across from the president's office.

posted by: Jan McVicker

Encouraged by the "senior" readers

Just wanted to update everyone on what the grad students in ENGL 600 (graduate capstone) are doing and to say thanks to Natalie Hewitt for her thoughtful post the other day following our first visit to the Chautauqua County Home. The whole group initiated our discussion of Cather's novel with residents on Tuesday, 3.2 and we're continuing in smaller groups today (3.8) and Wednesday (3.10). The students who presented today (on gender crossing and standards of beauty in popular advertising during the time in which the novel is set) got a lively conversation going with the residents. It was truly rewarding to observe the interaction.

I was also happy to read what Ned Campbell and Bridget Fuller were doing at the Randolph library with their "senior readers". I think this means there is a great group of readers we may not automatically think about, older readers who are hungry to talk about books, who are glad to be connected to this project. I am really delighted to be participating in the program with the English graduate students. They'll be posting more of their own observations as well as photos soon and they have been developing a great wiki on ANGEL of research materials, which we'll be linking up to this blog soon.

Posted by: Jan McVicker

March Events at Reed Library

As you may know, the Daniel A. Reed Library in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts is co-sponsoring the third Big Read Program across both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties this March. To celebrate this year's selected novel, My Antonia by Willa Cather, we have scheduled several exciting events:

Event: Willa Cather Gender and Sexuality Exhibit (Opening March 8th)
Event Location: 280 Central Avenue-Reed Library Exhibit area, Fredonia, New York 14063
Date: Mon, March 8, 2010 – Wed, Mar 24, 2010
Time: 7:30am – 1:00am

This exhibit offers an in-depth exposition on the gender and sexuality of Cather and the novel, My Antonia. Sketches from Professor Dixon Reynolds' Costume Design I class are also on display in the Reed Library Exhibit area.

Event: Selected Reading of My Antonia by Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil; Readings on Gender and Sexuality
Event Location: 280 Central Avenue-Japanese Garden Area, Reed Library, Fredonia, New York 14063
Date: Tue, March 23, 2010
Time: 7:00 pm

We hope to capture the attention of community members with a selected reading of My Antonia in the Japanese Garden area of Reed Library by Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil,
author of At the Drive-In Volcano and Miracle Fruit.

Additional guests readers are invited to share short passages from an author who has been influenced by their gender or sexuality either on or off the page. If you are interested in participating as a reader, please email: dawn.eckenrode@fredonia.edu. Refreshments will be provided.

Thanks so much to event organizers, Paul Beverly, Cais Jurgens and Jillian Ziemianski, students in Dr. Emily Vandette's Senior Seminar English Capstone course.

Posted by: Dawn Eckenrode

Reflection on Reading Event Held at the Chautauqua County Home

Initially I did not know what the “Big Read” project was even about, but after my experience at the County Home in Dunkirk, I am proud to say that this year I took part in it. As an English graduate student I have always had a passion for literature and writing. Sometimes I forget this passion when I am overwhelmed by a heavy course load, but I can honestly say that on March 2nd 2010, the residents reminded me of the pleasure, connection, and intellectual conversation that a shared reading of a novel can bring. Willa Cather’s My Antonia, sparked an interest in the residents, and many were eager to comment on issues such as a woman’s role in the household during the time period of the novel, as well as what their nationality meant to them. They knew that women were an essential part in taking care of the household, taking on a role that was just as significant as the role of men. National identities were also considered as they thought about their heritage and what it now means to be an American, or a “mongrel” as one woman put it. They were a welcoming group, full of interesting stories and even a few humorous jokes. Sharing time with them was a joy and I feel that our class was able to not only engage them with the novel, but also bring literature to their lives that they could enjoy, relate to, and converse about even after our visits.

Posted by: Natalie Hewitt

Randolph Library - Discussion Part 1

Today I (Ned Campbell) traveled to Randolph, NY to help my SUNY Fredonia classmate Bridget Fuller host a "Discussion on Crime in My Antonia" at 1 p.m. Bridget lives in Randolph and coordinated the event with Randolph Free Library's director, Ellen Beck. The deal was that Ellen would provide donuts and coffee if we would host two discussions on the book (By the way, the donuts were incredible). I made the flyers and Bridget posted them around town.

Well we tried the Crime thing, partly because Ellen had advised us that Crime novels were the most popular books at the library. But when Bridget asked, "So did anyone notice the crime in the novel?" one responded, "Well sure, but I didn't think it was a big part of the book." This seemed to be the consensus, so we moved on to talk about Cather's great description of the land, the intereresting characters, and, because our guests were interested to know, our plans for after we graduate.

The discussion was lively and fun, and far more laid back than the classroom setting we've grown so accustomed to. Right away, one woman admitted to being impressed by Cather's ability to write from the perspective of a man. In general, our guests loved the writing of My Antonia.

We talked a lot about the characters. Everyone loved Antonia for continually reaching out to people, even after learning that many were not to be trusted. One woman was impressed with the skillfull way Cather lets us get to know the characters through the events of the story. Then again, we all loved Cather's way of introducing the characters with quick, vivid descriptons as well. I went ahead and opened up My Antonia to read this description of Wick Cutter to the group: "I detested his pink, bald head, and his yellow whiskers, soft and glistening." A lot was said of Antonia and Jim's lasting friendship, and we spoke on the theme of the importance of the past.


With all the topics discussed, there was one recurring theme to the afternoon: humor. When Bridget suggested that Mr. Shimerda's suicide was a bit shocking and unexpected, considering his succesfull life in Bohemia, one woman chimed in, "Well who could blame him? He was living with Mrs. Shimerda!" Laughs were in no short supply; these women knew how to talk about a novel and have a good time doing it.

We talked about the prairie life, and how annoying those constant winds must've been. One woman suggested that they must've gotten used to it over time, and reminded me where I was, saying, "When I first moved to Randolph, all I heard was the trains. I don't hear them anymore."

The discussion went better than expected, and I'm glad The Big Read brought me Randolph where I met these six kind, intelligent, and downright hilarious older women. On my way out the door, Ellen left me with this memorable goodbye:

"Thank you for bringing My Antonia to us!"

Our next discussion is Tuesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. It's a good 45 minute drive from Fredonia to Randolph, so if you cannot make it, check for another blog post next week. I would offer a ride to anyone interested in going, but I will not be making the trip due to my Tuesday night class. Talk to me or Bridget if you need trustworthy directions.