Setting the stage for the events, professor emeritus
Dr. Phyllis Lang will lead a book discussion, show excerpts from the film and DVD on
Tuesday March 18th at the Waynesville library branch at 7 PM in the library auditorium. Dr. Lang says, “I am amazed at how My Antonia continues to be timely, ninety years after publication.”
Dr. Lang moved to western North Carolina in the late 1970s. Born in northeast Nebraska, Dr. Lang moved to western North Carolina in the late 1970s. She edited The Arts Journal, a magazine which covered the visual, literary and performing arts in North Carolina. In the late 1980s she returned to college teaching at UNC-Asheville directing the Honors Program and in taught in the Mass Communications Department.
The Friends of the Library have planned two subsequent evenings of panel discussions on Immigration: “Historical Immigration” and “The Realities of Immigration Today”. On
Tuesday April 1st at 7 pm, Dr. Mark Gibney, UNC-Asheville Professor of Political Science, will be the primary panelist discussing Historical Immigration. Dr Gibney has authored numerous journal articles and books. His current courses at UNCA are Individual Rights and Civil Liberties and International Law. He is a respected international human rights expert. In 2006, Gibney was named winner of the International Human Rights Award by the Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina.
On
Monday April 7th at 7 pm, Craig White from the
Center for Participatory Change presents “Immigration and the Realities Facing Today’s Immigrants”. CPC helps people recognize their own power, work together and transform their communities. White joined CPC in 2000. His background is in social work and he has worked with organizations in rural areas throughout North Carolina and Appalachia.
These evenings will offer opportunities for the public to discuss issues of economics and ethics related to immigration today. The data presented will be based on today’s immigrants in western North Carolina. The programs will be held in the Waynesville branch public library in the auditorium at 7PM. They are free and open to the public.
The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, is administered in WNC by Together We Read. For more information, please visit www.haywoodfriends.org or http://togetherweread.org/ .