One Community, One Book: 2008 Selection
OCOB News: Ishmael Beah Lecture to air on UITV
Dates and Times: Monday, December 8 at 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and on Wednesday, December 10 at 2:00 am on UITV
Details: Author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah spoke about his life in Sierra Leone as a child soldier and his activism for the rights of children on Wednesday, October 29. To see this lecture again or for the first time, tune into UITV on your local channel.A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier By Ishmael Beah
About the Book
A Long Way Gone is a gripping story of a child’s journey through hell andback. There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words. In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a riveting story. At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion. This is, at last, a story of redemption and hope. (Text taken from official website.)
About the Author
Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. He moved to the United States in 1998 and finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School in New York. In 2004 he graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in political science. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and many other NGO panels on children affected by the war. His work has appeared in VespertinePress and LIT magazine. He lives in New York City. (Text taken from official website.) Beah will speak at the First United Methodist Church in Iowa City on October 29 at 7:30pm. This event is co-sponsored by UICHR and the UI Lecture Committee.
OCOB Expands in 2008
This year marks a significant change for One Community, One Book. With support from the UI Office of the Provost, the UICHR will provide copies of a special printing of "A Long Way Gone," including a welcome letter from UI President Sally Mason, to all incoming first year undergraduate students at the UI, approximately 4,300 students. Additionally, the UI Department of Rhetoric in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will integrate this year's selection into the courses taught to satisfy the general education requirement in rhetoric. Other events, both curricular and extra-curricular, will help integrate the program into the university's fall semester and expand the common book program to all UI students, including an on-campus lecture by the author. Planning is ongoing for activities to engage both students and community members.
Ishmael Beah Lecture
Date and Time: October 29, 7:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church
Details: Mr. Beah, author of A Long Way Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier, is a world renowned activist on children’s rights. He will be visiting campus as part of the program and in conjunction with the UI Lecture Committee series. The lecture is open to the public.
Helpful Resources on Sierra Leone:
For information on the history of Sierrra Leone, please visit this website: http://www.cryfreetown.org/
For additional information on history and culture in Sierra Leone, as well as photographs, please visit this website: http://www.sierra-leone.org/
"One Community, One Book" Related Events
Discussion Forums
September 18, 11:30 am-1 pm, UIHC Patients’ Library, 8th JCP Solarium
September 30, 6:30 pm, North Liberty Community Library
October 7, 7:00 pm, Barnes & Noble Booksellers Coral Ridge Mall
October 8, 7:00 pm, West Liberty Public Library
October 11, 10:00 am, Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
October 14, 8:00 pm, Hillcrest Residence Hall, Riverview Lounge
October 15, 3:30 pm, Regina High School Library
October 16, 6:30 pm, Solon Public Library
October 17, 11:00 am, Iowa City Senior Center, Room 208
October 21, 3:30 pm, West High School/City High School/UI Retirees Association at West High School
October 21, 8:00 pm, Currier Residence Hall, Van Oel MPR
October 22, 3:30 pm, Oaknoll Retirement Residence, E. 6th floor Benton Street Lounge
October 22, 8:00 pm, UI Main Library, 2nd Floor Study Lounge
October 23, 12:00 pm, Coralville Public Library
October 23, 3:00 pm, Iowa Medical Classification Center (not open to the public)
A discussion guide prepared for the community forums is now available.
Film Series
War Dance
This film tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose lives have been torn apart by civil war in Uganda, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. While attending a school established for displaced children, they participate in a music and dance education program. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance festival in their nation's capitol, their historic journey is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to for the first time experience a sense of triumph over the brutal realities of their lives.
English; Soundtrack in Acholi and English with English subtitles; 107 Minutes
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 1, 7:00 pm, Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
This film is sponsored by the UI Center for Human Rights and the African Studies Program; Introduced by Father Richard Okumu
Africa: War is Business
This program explores the role of international business interests in fomenting rebellion and arming renegade military forces across the African continent.
English; In English and undetermined languages with English subtitles; 53 minutes
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 8, 7:00 pm, Pappajohn Business Building W151
Sponsored by the UI Tippie College of Business
Ezra
This film tells the story of Ezra, a young boy kidnapped and forced to become a soldier with a rebel faction in the Sierra Leone Civil War. Ten years later, he is brought before a truth and reconciliation commission and made to revisit and understand his crimes so as to begin the process of psychological healing.
In English; 105 Minutes
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 15, 7:00 p.m., Iowa City Public Library Meeting Room A
Sponsored by the UI Center for Human Rights and the African Studies Program; Introduction by Professor James Giblin
If you would like to participate, or if you have questions about One Community, One Book, please contact Joan Nashelsky or Pat Schnack.
For Students
We're sure that you have questions as we embark on the expansion to campus of this community book project. To help answer them, we've put together an FAQ that tackles some of the issues you may be wondering about, such as "When will I get the book?" and "How will the book be incorporated into my classes?"
Sponsors
UICHR, Humanities Iowa*; UI Charter Committee on Human Rights; University Book Stores ; the UI Alumni Association; Hancher Auditorium; International Programs; the International Writing Program; the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; University of Iowa Departments of English and History; Iowa Book LLC; UI Libraries; Iowa City Human Rights Commission; the Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Solon and West Liberty public libraries; Hills Bank & Trust Company; Midwest One Bank; West Bank and Prairie Lights Books. City High School , West High School and Regina High School are also participating.
*This program is supported by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.