29160: info: Haiti event Hudson valley (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: info <info@wozoproductions.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Gerald Benjamin, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
SUNY New Paltz  (845) 257-3520 benjamig@newpaltz.edu
Lyn Thoman, Composition Program Assistant, Department of English
SUNY New Paltz  (845) 257-2727 thomanl@newpaltz.edu
Onebookonenewpaltz.org

 New Paltz, NY September, 2006.  ONE BOOK BRIDGING MANY COMMUNITIES?
 What book could capture the attention of a village, a university campus,
 and a large town?the attention of a large and diverse Hudson River Valley
 community? What book demands social and philosophical discussion beyond
 its beautifully written pages?

 The Dew Breaker, Haitian author Edwidge Danticat?s elegy to history,
 memory, pain, and forgiveness has been selected as the focus of the 2006
 community-wide One Book, One New Paltz project. The synergy among the One
 Book committee, the English Composition Program (among other disciplines
 at SUNY New Paltz) and the Village and Town of New Paltz is particularly
 rich, promising a memorable and rewarding One Book program. Numerous
 events have been organized to foster discussion of the book and educate
 the public about Haiti?s politics and culture. Since 1998, nation-wide
 One Book programs have aimed to encourage a broad spectrum of people from
 a single town, school, or region to read the same book and participate in
 programs and discussions around the selected book.

 Edwidge Danticat, a particularly accomplished young author, is scheduled
 to speak on Thursday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Studley Hall at SUNY New
 Paltz the evening before she is scheduled to appear at the prestigious
 New Yorker festival in early October.

 ?Danticat?s gift is to combine both sympathy and clarity in a moral
 tangle that becomes as tight as a Haitian community. . . Moving,?  writes
 Pico Iyer about The Dew Breaker in Time.  The Dew Breaker is a patchwork
 of nine stories that at first seem only tenuously and mysteriously
 connected, but as you read one after the other it becomes clear that what
 is being formed is a beautiful and passionate quilt. These stories
 originally appeared in the New Yorker or in other publications and each
 can stand powerfully on its own.

 Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when
 she was twelve. She is the author of several books, including Breath,
 Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book
 Award finalist; and The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner.
 She is also the editor of The Butterfly?s Way: Voices from the Haitian
 Dyaspora in the United States and The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing
 by Men and Women of All Colors and Cultures.

 Another key One Book event is ?Anfas Listwa Nou: Facing Our History,? an
 exhibition of photographs by Haitian photojournalist Daniel Morel at the
 Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz from October 4 through
 December. As a photojournalist, New Paltz resident Morel has documented
 twenty years of political and personal upheaval in Haiti; his images,
 published internationally, have prompted worldwide shock, commentary, and
 empathy. Morel, aware that native Haitians rarely see these or other
 images of themselves, hopes that this exhibition, originally launched in
 Haiti in July 2006, fosters introspection and dialogue among Haitians
 both at home and abroad?those who Morel believes are crucial to the
 future of his native land. A public reception (5 p.m. at the Dorsky
 Museum) and artist talk (7:30 p.m. at the nearby Lecture Center) will
 mark the beginning of a series of events celebrating Haiti?s people,
 history, culture, and future. http://www.facingourhistory.org

 Several discussion groups will be held at various locations throughout
 the village and town and the following events have been organized:

Wednesday, October 4
  ?Anfas Listwa Nou: Facing Our History? opening reception. Samuel Dorsky
 Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, 5 p.m. Co-sponsored by the SUNY 
Composition Program, Department of English.

 Haiti Eyes multimedia presentation co-hosted by journalists and
 filmmakers Daniel Morel and Jane Regan. SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center
 100, 7:30 p.m.  Co-sponsored by the SUNY Composition Program, Department
 of English. Photos, excerpts from past documentary projects and works in
 progress.

 Thursday, October 5
 Edwidge Danticat Speaks! The author of The Dew Breaker lectures at
 Studley Theater, SUNY New Paltz,
 7:30 p.m.  Co-sponsored by the SUNY Composition Program, Department of
 English, Office of Academic Affairs, Office of Academic Advising.

Saturday, October 7
 Village of New Paltz? annual Diversity Day Celebration
  Conversations @ Samuel Dorsky Museum featuring Daniel Morel at Sarah
 Bedrick Gallery, SDMA,
 SUNY New Paltz, 11:00 a.m.

Sunday, October 8
 Screening of PBS documentary Haiti: Unfinished Country (Jane Regan,
 Daniel Morel, Whitney Dow) (2003) at Unison Gallery, 7:30 p.m. Discussion
 to follow.

Tuesday, October 9
 Screening of Jonathan Demme?s The Agronomist (2001) at New Paltz High
 School 7:30 p.m. Discussion to follow.

Monday, October 23
 Dr. Arthur Spears (Chair, Anthropology, City College, CUNY), co-editor of
 Black Linguistics: Language, Society and Politics in Africa and the
 Americas (Routledge, 2003) and editor of Race, Ideology: Language,
 Symbolism and Culture (Wayne State University Press, 1999), will hold a
 symposium entitled "Haitian Creole: A Language's History, Culture, and
 Legacy."

 For more information and an updated listing of events please see
 onebookonenewpaltz.org

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