The Big Read and Martin Luther King Day

Hello Friends of Fishtrap,

I was going to tell a little anecdote about how the chimney sweep, when he came to clean my wood stove flue, probably saw the new garter belt on my dining room table. But then, today in the Fishtrap College class, we watched the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, and that sure changed my mood. It reinforced for me the importance of this year’s Big Read, as we study To Kill a Mockingbird.

THE BIG READ

Charles Shields, author of the Harper Lee biography Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, did a great job as our Big Read kick-off speaker, addressing a standing-room-only crowd of over 130 people at the historic Odd Fellows Hall.

This Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King Day, you can see the brief but still powerful speech by King, then listen to Seattle musician Reggie Garrett play his unique blend of blues, folk, and ethnic music. Garrett, who has performed through the U.S. and Canada, performs original songs, traditional folk ballads, and contemporary folk music. The sound has strong rhythmic underpinnings, beginning with Garrett’s almost percussive guitar style. He has been compared to acoustic legends Richie Havens and Bill Withers by the national folk publication Dirty Linen. Join us at the Joseph Methodist Church at 7 pm. Admission by donation.

Other Big Read news: Wednesday, January 27 will be Whitman College professor David Schmitz on the history of race relations in the US. And if you have a buff-colored calendar handout, the panel discussion shown as February 3 is actually on February 2.

Those of you who are not in Wallowa County can still experience To Kill a Mockingbird. We’ve been cooperating with the good folks at Ada Community Library in Boise, who are also doing the Big Read on Harper Lee’s book. Even if you didn’t catch Charles Shields in Boise on January 14, you can catch Mark Mathabane there on March 1. The Spokane County Library District is also doing the Big Read, and KPBX in Spokane will be serially broadcasting the book on its Bookshelf program Monday through Thursday nights, starting February 1 at 6:30 pm.

And now through January 24, the Profile Theatre in Portland is showing a staged reading of Horton Foote’s Academy Award winning screenplay of To Kill a Mockingbird. Call 503-242-0080 or visit www.profiletheatre.org for more information.

Back here in Wallowa County, tickets are on sale now for the Big Read finale, Sunday, February 28, featuring Mark Mathabane, author of Kaffir Boy. We will have a Southern foods potluck at the Hurricane Creek Grange, followed by a presentation by Mr. Mathabane, who was born in a ghetto in South Africa, escaped from apartheid at age18, and touched the hearts of millions with the bestseller Kaffir Boy in 1986. Tickets are $10 each and are available at Fishtrap, the Bookloft in Enterprise, Mt. Joseph Family Foods in Joseph, and the Public Library in Wallowa. Seating is limited, so don't delay picking up your tickets.

For a complete Big Read calendar of events, go to www.fishtrap.org/tbr.shtml.

OTHER FISHTRAP NEWS

Fishtrap writing groups will continue to meet in 2010. The all genres group meets 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 6 pm, next meeting January 19. The poetry group meets 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 6 pm, next meeting January 26.

Our wildly successful 2009 Writer-in-Residence, Collier Nogues, has returned to Wallowa Country for a reprise in 2010. Collier, now a year older (happy birthday, Collier), will be offering a workshop on Cross Genre Revision. Says Collier, "How do you turn a promising draft into a polished piece of writing? This workshop is designed to do two things: first, help participants move a specific piece of writing from draft stage to near-final; and second, build a foundation of revision strategies useful across genres for other and future writing projects." The 10-hour class will run every other Wednesday evening, 7-9 pm, starting January 20 and ending March 17. Cost is $50. Call us at Fishtrap at 541-426-3623 to register.

Best to all,

Rick Bombaci

Executive Director, Fishtrap