The Big Read in San Juan County

The Big Read is a nationwide initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.  The Utah Arts Council will build on its enduring presence in San Juan County as it fosters the Big Read from September through December 2007.  Our Big Read Project in San Juan County reflects our committment to one of Utah’s most remote and challenging, yet historically and culturally rich areas. 

The Big Read in San Juan County is presented in partnership with The Blanding Public Library, The Gerrity Memorial Library at Hill Air Force Base, Whitehorse High School, Monument Valley High School, San Juan School District faculty book club, and San Juan School District Utah PTA Parent Center. 

The San Juan community has committed to reading Bless Me, Ultima by Rodolfo Anaya.  Participation will vary at each of the sites.  At certain locations local and visiting writers have signed on as moderators for book club meetings and discussions.  Whitehorse High School will create multidisciplinary projects, including visual art and theatre vignettes based upon the novel.  Monument Valley High School will involve visual arts, language arts, library, theatre, and business education faculty in the project.

Scheduled Events:

1. August 13, 2007: San Juan County School District's "Opening Institute" session, Big Read organizing and orientation meetings with San Juan County teachers.

2. October 10, 2007, Big Read Kick Off at Gerritty Library at Hill Air Force Base
Mexican American music by Luis Jimenez
Traditional healing discussion by Rosemary Skinner

3. October 30, 7 p.m.: Blanding Public Library, Weekly Big Read Book Group Discussion of "Bless Me, Ultima": Fila Harris, poet and writer, will give a talk about the curandera tradition in Mexican American life. She will share family photos and heirlooms, and herbal cures from her mother and grandmother, who were curanderas.

4. November 6, 7 p.m.: Blanding Public Library, Weekly Big Read Book Group Discussions of "Bless Me, Ultima": Fila Harris will give another talk about folklore from the Chicano tradition. She will share her recent research on the folk tales of La Llorona & other mythical figures.

5. November 7, 2007, Big Read Finale at Gerritty Library at Hill Air Force Base
Mexican American literature and cultural diveristy discussion.

6. Friday, November 9, 2007, Whitehorse High School, Montezuma Creek
Frybread Freedom Festival
contact: Kim Schaefer, (435) 678-1887
This festival included Big Read panel discussions, student art and musical performances and food.

7. November 13, 7 p.m.: Blanding Public Library, Weekly Big Read Book Group Discussions of "Bless Me, Ultima":
Teacher and writer Patricia Karamesines will give a talk on the nature of magic as it appears in "Bless Me, Ultima."

8. November 20, 7 p.m.: Blanding Public Library, Weekly Big Read Book Group Discussions of "Bless Me, Ultima": Utah State University Folklorist Barre Tolkien discusses traditional healing in various cultures and extended family relations and how they play out in "Bless Me, Ultima."