Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Brooke Carbaugh

I am a senior English Secondary Education major at Hope College with a minor in history secondary education. I grew up in Central Pennsylvania and other than the Big Read I am involved with Residential Life and the Education Technology Team on campus.

What’s your role on the Big Read team?

 My role on the Big Read Lakeshore team is communicating with the teachers that work with our program. I help send out information about teacher meetings, resources, and how many books each teacher would like for their classrooms. Additionally, I manage the blog by writing posts or setting up a schedule of what will be posted and when.

What did you learn from the program?

Through my role, I have fostered my love of reading and seen how much literature matters. I get to work with the teachers and hear about the impact that simply getting a book can have on a student. I have enjoyed learning from our authors and reading alongside the community. Also, I learned the value of working with people that you admire.

What’s your favorite book (and why)?

At the moment, my favorite book is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I love that the book is both a murder mystery and about the human connection with nature. My favorite book before that was Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan because I love a good memoir, especially one with some twists and turns.

Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Shelly Arnold

Shelly has been with Hope College since 2003. Her main role is the office manager for the Center for Ministry Studies. She earned a second post-secondary degree in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree from Hope majoring in history with an art history minor. 

What’s your role on the Big Read team?

Shelly began working part-time with Big Read Lakeshore in 2017 providing administrative support and now works primarily with budgetary details.

What did you learn from the program?

Even though the basics of carrying out the program is the same, each year is very different from the previous. All the hard work is worth it in the end when you learn so much more beyond the pages of each book through speakers’ stories and artistic interpretations. The written word comes alive, reaching out in ways you wouldn’t have imagined.

What’s your favorite book (and why)?

She has many favorite books, but most recently it was a Big Read selection, Station Eleven, read prior to the COVID pandemic.

Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Nancy Gately

Next up in our series, we have Nancy Gately. Nancy is a fifth-year senior majoring in English for Secondary Education with minors in History for Secondary Education, K-12 English as a Second Language, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Nancy is also a Holland native and is a fan of a good cup of coffee. 

Q and A with Nancy:

What’s your role on the Big Read team?

 I have been working for the Big Read for two years now, and my role can be described as anything and everything having to do with libraries and non-profits. I’m the point of contact for libraries and non-profit organizations. In the summer, I ensure they still want to participate in the program. In the fall, I finalize the events that the libraries and non-profits are hosting, and in the winter, I gather the attendance information for all events. 

What did you learn from the program?

Through my role, I have learned the importance of a good email. Being the point of contact for so many libraries and non-profits has made it so that I am sending many emails throughout the day and answering many emails. Though by sending good emails, specifically, those that are clear, to the point, but also kind, make it so all the people I am in contact with know what is going on, and I can build a good relationship with them so that the Big Read can keep as many library and non-profit partners as possible. 

What’s your favorite book (and why)?

I have many favorite books. While it is not really a book one author that I always find myself coming back to, and would consider a favorite is John Grisham. I love the court scenes that he writes and how the pace of his books is fast, yet the storyline is not that predictable. 

Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Addie Wilcox

We’re starting a new series to feature all of our workers behind the scenes that make the Big Read and Little Read Lakeshore happen. Come back each Monday to learn more about our team members, what they learned from working for the program, and their favorite books!

Introducing Addie Wilcox

Addie is a sophomore at Hope College majoring in Secondary English Education, Creative Writing, and Classical Studies.

Q&A with Addie

What’s your role on the Big Read team?

This year, I was responsible for all things Greek mythology. This meant that I worked a lot with the podcast by getting interviewees, coming up with the questions for the podcast, and also editing it. I helped at all the events by taking pictures, introducing speakers like our kick-off speaker Dr. Maiullo, getting speakers ready, running around with a mic for audience members to ask questions, etc. Additionally, I wrote multiple blog posts relating to Greek mythology and even one Op Ed for the Holland Sentinel. If you saw any poster for the Big Read and Little Read events, I created those as well!

What did you learn from the program?

 I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on Greek mythology before, but after hearing each interviewee on the podcast, I learned so much more about it as well as how Greek mythology transfers to, and informs, modern society. Throughout the program, I was forced to think about the historical context of different Greek myths which is something I had not considered before, so my grasp on ancient history improved. I also learned how to create, produce, and edit a podcast which is something I had never been exposed to before.  

What’s your favorite book (and why)?

My favorite book is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I love how the main characters are female victims of a patriarchal society who come up with a way to combat the system and decide to live the life they want despite the consequences. I also love Hawthorne’s use of motifs and symbolism throughout the book. 

Takeaways from Circe

Part of the joy of the Big Read Lakeshore program is reading a book on your own and then learning about the book from different perspectives. 

One of my biggest takeaways from the programming around Circe was how ingrained storytelling and myths are in culture. Every civilization has stories and oral traditions to pass down that help them make sense of the universe. Even if these traditions are different, having these stories links cultures together. 

Another thing I learned from programming was to pursue your passions. Madeline Miller was interested in Greek mythology from a young age and studied classics, Latin, and Greek extensively. Eventually, this study and a lot of research led her to become a popular author. Her passion for Greek mythology was evident in her talk and she created a relevant version for our time. 

Miller’s retelling of this story stuck with me as well. It was interesting to hear how reading The Odyssey inspired her to retell the story of Circe. She read numerous primary sources that mention Circe to piece together another version of the story. This illustrates the importance of looking at a different perspective and retelling stories that are relevant to modern times.

Connecting An American Sunrise to Circe 

This November marked my second year working for the Big Read Lakeshore. As a future teacher, the Big Read and Little Read Lakeshore programming has taught me a lot about the importance of reading and what it means to read in community. My first year working with the Big Read program and reading An American Sunrise helped prepare me to read Madeline Miller’s Circe. 

One connection I see between An American Sunrise and Circe is the focus on different perspectives and revisionist history. I did not learn about boarding schools and other aspects of Native American history until a course in college because that version of the story was left out of the history. Similarly, Circe’s version of the story was not included in the original Odyssey, so this book gives a new version of the story. This emphasizes the importance of looking at things from different perspectives other than your own. 

Another similarity between these two programs was the opportunity to learn from intelligent women that were passionate about their subjects. Both Joy Harjo and Madeline Miller have been teachers and authors. They studied and perfected their craft and are now able to share this gift with audiences like our community. 

Lastly, readers were able to get a broader picture of our book by bringing in speakers to approach things from all different perspectives. Last year things were approached from a poetry and a historical perspective. This year the program thought about Greek Mythology as a retelling from another point of view, her origins in the Odyssey, comic strips, and as a musical performance. 

What We Learned from Matt de la Peña

Photo Credit: Heather Waraksa

Matt de la Peña visited Hope College’s campus on November 9. He spoke to 400 elementary students in the morning, a college English class, and to the public in the evening. His message was funny and inspiring since it touched on why readings matters, a topic that is near and dear to our program. 

During his visit, participants learned that anyone can be an inspiration to others. In college, a professor gave de la Peña a book (he later revealed it was The Color Purple) and told him the book made her think of him. He gave himself until the end of college to read it and eventually in his senior year he read it on a basketball trip. The book touched him and he continued to read books like this title. 

Later on, de la Peña’s dad asked him to read the book he just finished and this eventually led to his father, who didn’t read often to become a book lover and go back to school to be a teacher. 

De la Peña shared that he didn’t expect to be a writer early in his life, but he gravitated towards these classes in college and discovered a passion for it. A few of his professors submitted an application on his behalf to graduate schools in creative writing and he was accepted to two of them. 

Now de la Peña travels the country to speak about his books and inspire others to follow their passions. 

From this message, the audience learns that simple things like recommending a book to a student does matter and can even change the trajectory of someone’s life. This happened in both de la Peña’s and his dad’s cases. The Big and Little Read Lakeshore believes that reading matters and Matt de la Peña certainly illustrated this when he spoke as part of our program.

Mythic: Kruizenga Art Museum

Each year the Kruizenga Art Museum (KAM) curates an exhibit based on the chosen Big Read Lakeshore book. This year the exhibit is based on Greek Mythology, specifically, characters included in Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. 

This photo was taken at the Big Read Lakeshore book discussion with KAM where Charles Mason explained aspects of the Mythic exhibition.

Charles Mason, the curator at the KAM, mentioned that he thought about a few different things when selecting artwork for this exhibit. 

One thing that inspired this exhibit was the Homeric language and the relationship between texts and images. Each reader tends to create a different mental image of something based on their reading of a text. This means that different styles in the exhibit represent the different interpretations of Greek myths. 

Inspiration for the exhibit was also taken directly from Madeline Miller’s book Circe by weaving together characters from her story into the exhibit. Some of these pieces include depictions of the Minotaur, Jason, and others. Miller gave cultural relevance to her retelling of Circe, so this exhibit contains different modern approaches to these characters as well. 

The Kruizenga Art Museum continues to feature this exhibit until December 17 and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Come check out the artwork!

Greek Democracy: A System Worth Copying?

It’s no secret the United States government system is based on Greek democracy; however, we need to ask the question, “is it a system worth copying?” To answer this, we need to examine both the pros and cons of the current and original democratic system.

The US government system is often described as a republic or indirect democracy; this means elected officials represent the people. In the Classical Age (480-338 BC), democracy became a firmly established form of government, Athens being the first of the Greek city-states to implement such a system. In Greece, the government was a direct democracy where the people, or demos, voted and participated in every aspect. The Athenian democracy was divided into four sections: assembly, council, magistrates, and law courts. 

In the fifth century, the assembly, or Ekklesia, would meet forty times per year; ordinary citizens heard reports from magistrates and city officials on any civic matter. These meetings were open to any Athenian citizen, and any citizen could share his opinion. There were also multiple boards of magistrates to survey the civic affairs of a city. Before 487 BC, these magistrates were elected from the top two social classes, but after 487, candidates were submitted to be chosen by random selection. This allowed ordinary citizens, not just the aristocracy, to participate. 

The council, or Boule, was comprised of 500 ordinary citizens, fifty men from each of the ten tribes. They were not elected, but rather appointed by lot. Each tribe would select their fifty representatives, called councilors, that would only serve for one year and then were out of the running for the next ten years, allowing almost every man to serve at least once in his lifetime. All of these non-elected positions truly represented the common man, not just the aristocracy like many systems before. 

Considering the notions surrounding democracy today, many people think the Athenian and Greek democracies fully represented everyone perfectly. It did not. While important to acknowledge all the benefits of a democracy, especially a direct democracy, we also need to acknowledge the shortcomings. 

One of the shortcomings is exclusion from the demos. Only a small percentage of the Athenian population were actual citizens: native-born free Athenian men over the age of twenty. This excludes a large portion of different groups of people, namely women and slaves. In modern society, we acknowledge that minority groups need to be represented in government to truly understand “the people” and their opinions. Not only were these groups not represented, but they were also marginalized. Women and slaves were viewed, and therefore treated, as inferior beings that only served a particular purpose, determined by the citizens (men). 

The image of the unseen, silent, doting, and waiting wife comes from ancient Greece. Athenian women from citizen families were viewed as a way to continue the family legacy by producing legitimate heirs. Non-Athenian women were either prostitutes or concubines, and much like the wives, were defined by their relationship to men. Even the myth surrounding the creation of women reflects the male attitude towards the female race. Zeus creates women as a punishment from men because Prometheus gave them the gift of fire. Women, therefore, are man’s affliction.

A slave was a body, not a mind, and therefore could be punished and treated accordingly. Physical torture was permitted because slaves were viewed as less than human, and therefore could not rely on their intellect—they either had none or they forfeited it when they became a slave. This is the clearest reflection of the power dynamics in Athenian society. 

In contrast to American slavery, the Greeks did not determine status on skin color but rather on Greek and non-Greek. This started towards the end of Persian Wars when the Greeks portrayed their enemy, the Persians, as weak in body, mind, and spirit, and this idea then spread to other cultures and peoples until “non-Greek” or “others” were viewed as inferior to the Greek male ideal. 

The only reason we have the Greek legacy of high culture thought and reason is due to slavery. The majority of agricultural workers in Attica were slaves. Therefore, Greek men were able to engage in subjects such as philosophy, poetry, and other high culture pursuits because slaves were doing all the menial labor that would have distracted from such leisures. 

Without a doubt, Ancient Athens and Greece provided a template for modern government, but we have to recognize it came at a price: the dignity and freedom of those subservient to citizens.

Author Spotlight: Matt de la Peña

This Wednesday, November 9th, the Big Read will have the joy of hosting author Matt de la Peña at Hope College at Jack H. Miller at 7:00 pm for our Author Event.  Matt de la Peña’s book The Last Stop on Market Street is the featured Little Read book for 2022.  To preview this much anticipated visit, let’s deep dive into Matt de la Peña.  

Photo Credit: Heather Waraksa

  Matt grew up in National City, a community of San Diego.  On his childhood in National City, de la Peña said in an August 2022 interview with the San Diego Union -Tribune: “[w]e struggled at times, but so did everyone around us, and you got the sense that the community was looking out for you. National City left a huge impression on me. It has found its way into many of the books and essays I’ve written.”  His family would then move to Cardiff-by-the-Sea, another neighborhood near San Diego, which de la Peña described as being “quiet and sleepy”.  In the same interview, de la Peña credits the two contrasting neighborhoods for helping merge his writing voice.  

While being an esteemed author now, Matt de la Peña has stated his struggle with reading as a child.  In his formative education years, he was written off as a student who “couldn’t read” and didn’t finish a book until after high school.  De la Peña had his literature epiphany after a college professor made a deal with him to read a specific book in its entirety before his graduation.  In an article with NPR titled “Sometimes the ‘Tough Teen’ is Writing Stories”, de la Peña revealed that he started and completed this novel during a trip for a basketball game.  He was astonished to have finished a book, and within two days.  The book had struck de la Peña emotionally and the words on the pages stayed with him.  The book: The Color Purple by Alice Walker.  This led de la Peña to discover works by Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston.  

De la Peña understands the importance words have on people, especially children.  It pays to have everyone represented in literature.  In 2012, de la Peña visited a school in Tucson, Arizona after a student and the school librarian raised money to cover his speaker fee.  The student had just finished Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Peña.  In a 2012 article with the New York Times titled “Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona”, the state legislature of Arizona had upheld a law that aimed to remove Mexican- American studies from the curriculum as law makers determined the subject matter to be “anti-white”.  This made books like de la Peña’s Mexican Whiteboy illegal to teach in the classroom, even as the book promotes cultural identity with its usage of “Spanglish” and the tension children feel being bi-ethnic or biracial.  His visit continued, but had deeper political meanings during a time in 2010 where Mexican-American studies were being targeted and curriculums restricted.  In the article, de la Peña is quoted at the event to have said: “If you are Mexican-American, embrace it.  If the classes are offered, take them; if not, try to get them back.”  Much to the surprise and joy of the students attending the event, de la Peña donated his speaking fee to supply each student with a copy of Mexican Whiteboy.   According to the New York Times article de la Peña stated, “I want to give back what was taken away.”  

Matt de la Peña is an advocate for literature and its ability to allow individuals to connect to the underlying message.  When talking about his book Love, de la Peña has said he wrote it for the kids who are not sure who they are yet, and that the confusion is okay.  Mexican Whiteboy offers connection to those like the main character who are half-white, half- Mexican in a community that try to push those into one box or the other.  Literature is at its most influential when it’s in the hands of the readers.  In his work, we see how de la Peña uses his craft to allow readers to identify with the words on the page and then feel inspired to act from there.  It’s our joy and pleasure at the Big Read and Little Read to host Matt de la Peña this week and to offer a platform to share with our community the importance of reading that de la Peña continually supports.