Students in University of Maine at Farmington award-winning director Jayne Decker’s Honors class are inviting campus and community members to join them on Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 12-12:30 p.m., on the UMF campus, in their first public performative work in the stand against censorship.
Farmington’s “READ-OUT” event invites anyone interested in participating to bring their chosen book and simply read from it at specially designated areas on campus. Any book is welcome. Reading will begin at noon and be aloud, courteous, simultaneous and last for about 30 minutes.
Specially designated areas for reading include the campus green in front of Mantor Library and the sidewalks in front of the Olsen Student Center. (In case of inclement weather, please bring an umbrella.)
Like many similar events across the country, UMF’s READ-OUT has been created to empower readers everywhere to stand against the banning of books and in defense of freedom of expression.
Students from Decker’s, “Banned Books, a Performative Work,” Honors class are hoping the READ-OUT will bring a new level of awareness to the importance of language, even when everyone doesn’t agree with it.
“As educators, we want our students to be curious, to search beyond the surface in engaged and meaningful dialogue, to question and consider,” said Decker. “Curiosity is a foundation of learning, and this course explores what happens when the fundamental right to read becomes something we need to defend. We have an incredible group of Honors students in this class, and we invite others to read with us on the 19th at noon. We believe the act of holding a book in our hands is precious and reading aloud is its own powerful song.”
Over the years, books have been banned for many reasons, including disagreement with their language, sexual, religious, political, racial or historical content. The list is extensive and includes Charlotte’s Web, The Giving Tree, Beloved, Between the World and Me, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Lorax, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Grapes of Wrath, Harriet the Spy, James and the Giant Peach, Where the Wild Things Are, The Diary of Anne Frank and even the American Heritage Dictionary.
According to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans, more than 1,500 individual book titles were banned in the U.S. from July 2021 to June 2022.
The final project for the class is “Banned Books – a Performative Work,” a staged reading performance that the students are creating on Thursday, Dec.1, at 7 p.m., in the Emery Community Arts Center Performance Space.
More Information on the UMF Honors Program
The University of Maine at Farmington Honors Program brings students and faculty together in a community committed to inquiry and discussion. It is designed for students in any major who are highly motivated and intellectually curious. Students in the program participate in small, seminar-style interdisciplinary courses and a variety of specially planned lectures, projects and field trips. Honors courses stress independent thinking, research and writing skills and oral expression. Skills developed through Honors study can apply to any field of study and provide especially good preparation for professional careers and further study.
Original source can be found here
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