Pleasantville draws an appreciative audience

Young and old alike look forward to watching the movie.

Audience members settle in with fresh, hot buttered popcorn (courtesy of Oberlin Public Library reference librarian Marleen Watling) and listen to opening remarks from Oberlin College professor of English Nick Jones (below) before viewing Pleasantville on Wednesday, Jan. 5.  The public library was a great venue for the film - thank you to OPL library director Darren McDonough for preparing the space!

Nick Jones addresses the audience prior to the film showing.

Pleasantville resonated with themes in Fahrenheit 451 on several levels, from the disturbing book burning scene to mob mentality censoring freedom of expression.  My favorite scene has to be when Reese Witherspoon's character (Mary Sue, at that moment) chooses to put on reading glasses and focus on D. H. Lawrence, rather than head out for yet another joy ride to Lovers' Lane.  Her awakening to a deeper emotional state through reading excellent literature is not unlike Montag's development by reading forbidden texts.

We hope to see such a pleasant crowd again at the next three films during our Big Read Film Fest.  See you Wednesdays at 7pm in January - come early and enjoy the popcorn!  Oberlin Public Library community room.

January Film Series "Censorship, Media Control and Falsehood at the movies"

The Oberlin Community Big Read Film Series

Censorship, Media Control and Falsehood at the Movies

___________________________________________________________

Four Fantastic Films that Follow up on Features of Ray Bradbury's
Future Fiction, Fahrenheit 451

­­­­­­­­­Wednesdays   •  7:00 pm  •  Oberlin Public Library  •  Free  •

Fun  •  Thought-provoking  •  Free popcorn!

January         5	Pleasantville	Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire are 1980s teens who find themselves living in the complacency of a 1950s TV show. Things begin to change!
January 12	Good Night and Good Luck	George Clooney directs and acts in this docu-drama about the courageous TV anchorman Edward R. Murrow resisting authority in the Cold War.
January 19	The Truman Show	Jim Carrey and Laura Linney star in a 1998 fantasy comedy about a perfect small town life that turns out to be a media fraud.
January 26	Wag the Dog	Hollywood spin artists invent a war to win a presidential election. A 1998 comedy with Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, and Anne Heche.

The Big Read is funded by the NEA in cooperation with the IMLS and Arts Midwest, and sponsored by Oberlin College, Oberlin Public Library and the Oberlin City Schools, 2010/11.

A day with Sam Weller, biographer of Ray Bradbury

On Nov 10, Oberlin welcomed Sam Weller for a day of events.  He met with Oberlin High School juniors and seniors, a group at Oberlin College, and gave a talk in the evening at Oberlin Public Library.

 

Members of the Planning Committee with Sam Weller (Alison Ricker, Jean Heller, Sam Weller, Eva Greenberg, Marleen Watling, Jennifer Starkey, Nick Jones)

 

Kira McGirr, staffing the book signing table, joined by Sam Weller

Sam Weller, showing a cover image of his biography of Ray Bradbury "The Bradbury Chronicles"

Sam Weller, Official Biographer of Ray Bradbury, to visit Oberlin

Sam Weller, author of The Bradbury Chronicles and Listen to the Echoes, will be in Oberlin

• Wednesday, October 10.  Join us at one of the public venues, for the opportunity to meet Ray Bradbury's biographer, listen to a lively talk, and have your copy of one his books signed by the author. 

12 noon, in Wilder Hall, Oberlin College Campus.  Room 101.
Brown bag lunch, with book signing in Wilder lobby after the talk.  Cookies and cider provided.

6:30 pm, at Oberlin Public Library
Book signing from 6:30-7 pm, talk begins at 7 pm in the Community Room.

All are welcome!

Poem Remembering May 10, 1933: Book Burning in Berlin

  BERLIN:  BIBELPLATZ [Bebelplatz]

                                                           Remembering May 10, 1933

                                                 The plaza of the Alt Bibliothek.

A girl with backpack

peers through a window 

in the pavement -- 

into a small floodlit room below.

                                                 White shelves line four walls.  

                                                 Empty.

                                                 Close by, a plaque 

                                                 recalls a night of bonfires

                                                 fueled by volumes

                                                 with forbidden words,

written by forbidden hands

and a quote from Heinrich Heine -

Who burns minds

May soon burn men.

Heinrich Heine, poet and essayist, 1797-1856  

“Das war ein vorspeil nur, 

dort womain bucher

Verebrennt

verebrennt man am end 

auch menschen.”

Thank you to Thelma Morris for sharing this poem with us.  Thelma wrote the poem after visiting the plaza in Berlin, site of the burning of some 20,000 books by the Nazis. 

Check out these banned books!

Banned Books Exhibit
Now through Oct 31
Oberlin College Library
Mudd - Academic Commons

Come check out some banned books from the library's collections. Literally!  Please come, and take a banned book home with you!

A message for Oberlin from Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury himself sent along some words for Oberlin.  He expressed his regret that he could not attend, but he sent a message: "Give them my thanks, and send them my love". 

Big Read Kickoff Location: The First Church, Meeting House

When: THIS SATURDAY - Oct 2, 4:00pm
Where: Meeting House, The First Church (corner of Main and Lorain Streets)

No, we won't be burning actual books.

But participants will be invited to create a facsimile of a favorite book to burn in the fire, to dramatize the effects of book burning, suppression of information and the silencing of intellectual discourse in any society.  The burning may take place off-site, given that we have moved the even to our rain location in light of the rain and wind forecast for Saturday.

Free books to the first 125 participants.

Speakers: Readings from Fahrenheit 451 by President Krislov, Oberlin City Manager Eric Norenberg, and Oberlin City Schools Superintendent Geoffrey Andrews; Remarks from Molly Raphael, '67, ALA President-Elect.

Rain location:  Meeting House, The First Church, corner of Main and Lorain Streets.

Stop by our table at Oberlin Goes Back to School

We will be promoting the Big Read at the Oberlin High School today, during the Back to School activities, from 4:30-6:30.  Stop by and SIGN UP to be part of a discussion group!  Free books to discussion group facilitators, plus handy reader guides and other helpful material.

Promoting the Big Read at Family Fun Fair

Many people learned about the NEA Big Read and our choice of Fahrenheit 451 during Oberlin's Family Fun Fair on August 7.  Jaqui Willis and Alison Ricker (left and right, respectively, in photo below) chatted with passersby and helped children and adults alike play our "match the quote to the book" game, as a way to promote reading in general.

Thanks to the Oberlin Public Library Friends of the Library for providing the prizes for our game!  Thanks also to the Oberlin Bookstore for allowing us a spot in front of the store - a great corner in the shade, with a lot of foot traffic.

The hats, colorful cups, and water bottles were favored by prize winners.  Thanks, Friends of the OPL!

Jaqui checks the source of a quotation for a visitor.