I recently posted a blog about a grant RFP from the Lorax Challenge, (see What the Suess?!? A Grant RFP for the Lorax Challenge). While hunting for the proper spelling of "Thneed", I came across a Wikipedia article detailing the history and social impact of the story and the Lorax himself.

In said article, there was an interesting tidbit about The Lorax being a banned book. The Lorax? A banned book...seriously? I clicked a link to the Dixie State College Library website and was surprised, not to mention mildly amused, by the selections included in the list. Some of the reasons given are just downright silly, if not absurd. (Or in the case of Fahrenheit 451, painfully ironic)

This sent me on a tangent. After a little webferreting, I thought I would share a few of my favourite banned books and the "explanations" of why they are banned. This list is also available on the HumBook blog.
Riddle me this: What is/are your favourite banned book(s) and why was it/they banned?

Enjoy.

From Dixie State College Library

Fahrenheit 451
by: Ray Bradbury
Banned for being "dangerous", this book is set in the future, when all books are banned and people called 'firemen' enforce the laws against them. 451 degrees is the temperature that paper catches fire.

To Kill a Mockingbird
by: Harper Lee
Banned as recently as August 2001, in Oklahoma for "racially charged language."

James and the Giant Peach
by: Roald Dahl
A frequently banned author, this book was banned in a Florida elementary school because "it promotes the use of drugs, tobacco, and whiskey."

Of Mice and Men
by: John Steinbeck
Second most banned book in the U. S. in the 1990s. Banned for "racist language" in Florida and "vulgar language throughout" and "profanity" in Georgia.

A Wrinkle in Time
by: Madeline L'Engle
L'Engle is one of the 1990's most-challenged children's authors. This book was banned because it "challenges religious beliefs".

The Joy Luck Club
by: Amy Tan
Published in 1990, this book was banned because it "conflicted with the values of the community."

The Color Purple
by: Alice Walker
Banned from high schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the 1990s as "X-rated smut".

The Catcher in the Rye
by: J. D. Salinger
Banned because of "profanity, reference to suicide, vulgarity, disrespect, and anti-Christian sentiments" in 1991.

The Bridge to Terabithia
by: Katherine Paterson
Another Newbery Award winner, banned because of "anti-religion, language, and discussion of death."


From Forbidden Library

1984 . George Orwell. Harcourt. Challenged in the Jackson County, Fla. (1981) because the novel is "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter." Big Brother doesn't want people reading such things.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank. Modern Library. Challenged in Wise County, Va. (1982) due to "sexually offensive" passages. Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee (1983) called for the rejection of this book because it is a "real downer."

The Color Purple. Alice Walker. Harcourt. Challenged as appropriate reading material for an Oakland, Calif. High School honors class (1984) due to the work's "sexual and social explicitness" and its "troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality." This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was finally approved for use by the Oakland Board of Education after nine months of debate. Banned in the Souderton, Pa. Area School District (1992) as appropriate reading for tenth graders because it is "smut."Removed from the Jackson County, W.Va. school libraries (1997) along with sixteen other titles.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl. Bantam; Knopf; Penguin. Removed from a locked reference collection at the Boulder, Colo. Public Library (1988), where it had been placed because the librarian thought the book espoused a poor philosophy of life.

A Light in the Attic. Shel Silverstein. Harper. Challenged at the Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wis. (1985) because the book "enourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Removed from Minot, N.Dak. Public School libraries when the superintendent found "suggestive illustrations." Challenged at the Big Bend Elementary School library in Mukwonago, Wis. (1986) because some of Silverstein's poems "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient."

My Friend Flicka. Mary O'Hara. Harper; Lippincott. Removed from fifth and sixth grade optional reading lists in Clay County, Fla. schools (1990) because the book uses the word "bitch" to refer to a female dog, as well as the word "damn."

Where the Sidewalk Ends. Shel Silverstein. Harper. Challenged at the West Allis-West Milwaukee, Wis. school libraries (1986) because the book "suggests drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for legitimate authority, rebellion against parents." Challenged at the Central Columbia School District in Bloomsburg, Pa. (1993) because a poem titled "Dreadful" talks about how "someone ate the baby." On the other hand, this book does present the negative consequences of not taking the garbage out.

The Bible The holy book of Christianity, it was claimed in Minnesota that its "lewd, indecent and violent contents are hardly suitable for young students."

A big "thanks" to Julie Douglas, MHC'S Family Programs Specialist, for passing on this great reading list from Read Aloud America. It lists a great variety of "Read-Aloud" books, categorized by age. These range from Toddlers and Infants all the way up to 9-12 Graders. There is also a list of timeless Family Favorites.

In addition for children's and adolescent titles, RAP offers a list of books for Adults readers and a great section on Resources for Parents and Teachers. The RAP Book List offers a wide range of books, covering an even wider range of subject. There is something for everyone. It is well worth a look!

Read Aloud America was founded in Hawaii in 1995 by Jed Gaines. It is a nonprofit 501(C)3 organization that promotes literacy, encourages a love of reading in adults and children, and increases children's prospects for success in school and life.

A grant RFP from the American Library Association, recently listed in the Philanthropy News Digest.

The American Library Association, in partnership with Spark Media, a Washington, D.C.-based production and outreach company, has announced an innovative library outreach program to enhance and increase the nationwide impact of Spark Media's documentary film, "Soul of a People: Voices from the Writers' Project." Major funding for the program has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The film and library outreach program is designed to acquaint public, academic, and special library audiences with the story of the largest cultural experiment in U.S. history — the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration — told against the backdrop of the Depression and 1930s America.

Click Here for more information

Click Here for the complete RFP

An announcement from the Philanthropy News Digest about the Jack Miller Center's Post-Doctoral Fellowship program. This program is for those who have recently earned doctoral degrees in the humanities or social sciences.

The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History, a Philadelphia-based educational organization, has announced a new post-doctoral fellowship program, established with a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor.

The fellowships will be available on a national basis to students who recently earned doctoral degrees in the humanities or social sciences and are dedicated to strengthening the teaching of America's founding principles and history at the undergraduate college level. Fellowships have recently been established at Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Texas at Austin.

"These fellowships are of immense value to young scholars for a whole host of reasons, not least of which is they give them the time to turn their dissertations into publishable manuscripts or a series of articles in peer-reviewed journals," said Dr. Michael Andrews, vice president for academic programs at the center. "[Scholars also] gain valuable teaching experience and the opportunity to work with some of the leading scholars in the country — a very desirable credential as they enter the academic job market."

Click Here for more information and the full press release

Philanthropy News Digest posted an announcement about AT&T's new program focused on America's "dropout crisis".

AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have announced a four-year, $100 million initiative to help address the high school dropout crisis while strengthening student success and workforce readiness.

The AT&T Aspire initiative will provide grants to schools and nonprofit organizations working to help students graduate from high school and become better prepared for college or the workforce. In partnership with Junior Achievement, the program will offer a job-shadowing program for a 100,000 students nationwide, while underwriting research on how practitioners — teachers, principals, superintendents, school counselors, and school board members — perceive the dropout issue. It also will provide support for dropout prevention summits in all fifty states to be led by the America's Promise Alliance.

According to America's Promise, nearly a third of U.S. high school students — roughly seven thousand a day — drop out before graduating. And according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, students who are unprepared to enter college cost the U.S. economy more than $3.7 billion per year in lost earnings and remedial education costs.

"In the United States, 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year. This has implications for individuals and for our nation's global economic leadership," said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. "AT&T Aspire is about supporting the great work already underway to help our kids succeed in school, and helping students see the connection between education and their best future."

The full press release and more information are available on AT&T's website.

RFP for the Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education competition, from the Philanthropy News Digest.

The Asia Society and the Goldman Sachs Foundation have announced the 2008 Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education. Up to five winners will be selected to receive up to $10,000 each as well as an all-expense paid trip to New York City in November 2008 to receive their prize.

The 2008 competition asks students to create an in-depth written essay or multimedia feature examining a social or economic issue that has relevance to them in a global context. In the essay category, students will compare and contrast how the issue affects their community and a community abroad, as well as create recommendations for what lessons the two communities could learn from each other. In the multimedia category, students will explore how a global problem or challenge affects their life as an individual, as a member of their local community, and/or as a global citizen.

Click Here to read more Click Here to go directly to the RFP

Grant RFP for middle and high school student newspaper projects, from the Philanthropy News Digest.

The Newspaper Association of America Foundation encourages middle and high schools to partner with professional newspapers in their communities and seek funding to start, relaunch, or revitalize student newspapers, whether online or in print.

All public and private schools serving grades 7 through 12 and working in partnership with daily or nondaily professional newspapers are eligible to receive Student/Newspaper Partnership Grants from the NAA Foundation. Schools are also encouraged to seek a university or a college as an additional partner. Funding priority is given to startup student newspapers. However, grant applications to relaunch or revitalize former or current programs also will be considered. The NAA Foundation especially welcomes grant applications from urban, rural, or minority-majority schools.

Click Here to read more Click Here to go directly to the RFP

Grant RFP for music and dance ensembles, from the Philanthopy News Digest.

USArtists International is committed to ensuring that the impressive range of expression and creativity of the U.S. performing arts is represented at international festivals abroad. The program is managed by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation,with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Trust for Mutual Understandingfor engagements in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.

The program works to strengthen the creative and professional development of U.S. artists by providing support for their performances at significant international festivals. Grants are available to U.S. dance and music ensembles that have been invited to participate in international festivals.

Click Here to read more
Click Here to go directly to the RFP

The Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) announces Read First! – an action-packed, month-long, community-based program that engages people in reading to young children. The program’s goal is to promote community-wide awareness and participation in discovering the joy of reading to children and appreciating the significance of storytelling in children’s lives.

“Family reading lays the foundation for a child’s future learning and promotes strong parent-child bonds. It’s a gift that pays off for a lifetime”, says MHC executive director Michael Bouman. MHC believes that by working to create a culture of family reading in the community, the number of children who are read to regularly by a caring adult will increase markedly.

Applications for participation have been mailed to libraries, civic groups, schools and child care organizations in communities throughout the state of Missouri. Participating communities will have opportunities to host reading celebrations and workshops, storytelling events, and other creative activities designed to engage families in reading – all with the support of MHC.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and State of Missouri as well as through grants and donations, the Missouri Humanities Council’s mission is to enable families and communities throughout the state to broaden their appreciation of history, literature and the ideas that shape our democracy.

To learn more about Read First! or the Missouri Humanities Council, contact Julie Douglas at 800.357.0909 or Julie@mohumanities.org.

From the April 13, 2008 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Independence is celebrating the birthday of its favorite son, Harry S Truman, our nation's 33rd president, on May 3.

Visitors can explore Truman's home, ponder his decisions in his presidential library and visit his favorite haunts.

The Dream Factory Tractor Parade will have a caravan of up to 200 tractors, which will converge on Independence Square at 7 a.m. and remain on display until 10 a.m. They will leave for the day, and return again at 4 p.m.

Saturday also will mark the opening of the city's Farmers Market.

In honor of Truman's "The Buck Stops Here" motto, tourism sites will offer dollar admission all day. They include the Puppetry Arts Institute, Harry S Truman Home Historic Site, Vaile Mansion, Truman Library and Museum, National Frontier Trails Museum, Chicago and Alton Depot, 1859 Jail, Marshal's Home Museum and the Bingham-Waggoner Estate.

Call 1-816-325-7111 or visit visitindependence.com.

From our friends at the Philanthropy News Digest. Enjoy.

William T. Grant Foundation Announces Annual Competition for Scholars Program

The William T. Grant Foundation dedicates the majority of its funding to support empirical studies that advance theory, as well as policy and practice, to improve the everyday settings of youth between the ages of 8 and 25 in the United States.

The William T. Grant Scholars Program is designed to facilitate the professional development of early career scholars who have some demonstrated success in conducting high quality research and are seeking to further develop their skills and research program. Applications are invited from promising early career researchers who want to tackle questions important to theory and either policy or practice for improving youth settings. The foundation is interested in applicants trained across a range of social, behavioral, and health sciences.
Link to Complete RFP

Open Society Institute Launches Fellowship Program

The New York City-based Open Society Institute has announced the launch of a new fellowship program to enable individuals from around the world to pursue projects that inspire meaningful debate and help shape public policy.

The Open Society Fellowship program will award a total of $2 million during 2008 to scholars, journalists, activists, and others working in four areas: national security; citizenship, membership, and marginalization; authoritarianism; and new strategies and tools for advocacy and citizen engagement.

Link to Complete RFP

McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation Accepting Applications for Academic Enrichment and Teacher Development Grants

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation was created in recognition of the struggle educators often face in bringing truly exceptional teaching to their students. The foundation awards grants to those projects and/or initiatives with significant potential to augment the educational experiences for youth of all backgrounds.

The foundation is now accepting applications for its Academic Enrichment Grants and Teacher Development Grants.

Link to Complete RFP

National Storytelling Network Invites Applications for Applied Storytelling Award

The National Storytelling Network invites applications for the fifth annual Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling.

The award focuses on the transformational properties of storytelling and aims to increase understanding of the ways storytelling can promote change in individuals and communities.

The award provides a grant of $5,000 for a project that will be completed in calendar year 2009. The grant will support a model storytelling project that is service-oriented, based in a community or organization, and to some extent replicable in other places and situations. Many different sorts of projects can be considered for the award, including community, organizational or institutional programs, curricular activities, short residencies, and projects combining complementary art forms.

Link to Complete RFP

ASCAP Foundation Announces New Grant Guidelines

The ASCAP Foundation is a publicly supported charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. As part of this mission, the foundation annually provides grants to nonprofit organizations engaged in educational programs for aspiring songwriters and composers.

Link to Complete RFP

Ms. Thorpe's obituary, from the Park Brothers Funeral Service website.

Grace Frances Thorpe was born on December 10, 1921, in Yale, Oklahoma, and departed this life on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, in Claremore, Oklahoma, at the age of 86.

Grace was the daughter of Olympic gold medal winner, James Francis Thorpe and Iva Margaret (Miller) Thorpe. She was given the Sac and Fox name No Ten O Quah which means "Wind Woman." Grace's bloodline also included the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Menominee tribes.

She proudly served her country in the United States Army during World War II as a WAC Corporal in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan.

She then received a B.A. degree in Indian Law from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, a paralegal degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., was an Urban Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and completed MBA course work at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Grace was a legislative aide to the US Senate Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., a conference coordinator of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C., a congressional liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives American Indian Policy Review Commission in Washington, D.C., director of Return Surplus Lands to Indians project; and was a personnel interviewer for General Douglas MacArthur at his headquarters in Tokyo during the occupation of Japan.

Grace was also the director for the National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans (NECONA), for the "Jim Thorpe Athlete of the Century" campaign. She was also a tribal judge and health commissioner of the Sac and Fox Nation in Stroud, Oklahoma. She was a powerful speaker and a well-known activist.

She was a lifetime member of the VFW Post 1118 in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Grace lived life to the fullest and embraced death as she did life. She loved to be outside and enjoyed feeding the ducks and singing songs to her grandchildren.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, one brother, and one half-brother.

Survivors include her daughter, Dagmar Thorpe Seely of Bloomington, Indiana; granddaughter, Tena Malotte and her fiancé, Tenug Woodward of Shawnee; great-granddaughter, Aspen; half-brothers, William Thorpe, Richard Thorpe, and John "Jack" Thorpe.

A graveside service will be held at the St. Leo Cemetery in Cushing, Oklahoma on Friday, April 4, 2008 at 10:00 AM officiated by Father Paul Amaliri. Military honors will be provided by VFW Post #1118 and the Sac and Fox Nation..

Interesting study by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, funded by the Mott Foundation.

Community organizing can make major contributions to improving student achievement among young people from low-income and underserved neighborhoods, according to findings from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR) at Brown University.

A preview of results from the six-year, Mott Foundation-funded exploration of the contributions of community organizing to school improvement, was unveiled this week by a panel of experts at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in New York City. Approximately 200 participants attended the session, which featured Kavitha Mediratta and Seema Shah, co-authors of the new study, along with Charles Payne from the University of Chicago, Jeanie Oakes from the University of California-Los Angeles and Christine Doby, a program officer for the Mott Foundation.

Click Here to read the full article.

Gale/Library Media Connection TEAMS Award to Honor Teacher and Media Specialist Collaborations

The Gale/Library Media Connection TEAMS Award recognizes and encourages the critical collaboration between the teacher and media specialist to promote learning and increase student achievement.

All K-12 public and private schools in the United States and Canada are eligible to enter. Examples of the types of collaboration that will be considered include using large-print books to improve student reading scores; increasing literacy among struggling readers; improving information literacy; using nonfiction materials in classroom libraries to support reading; and integrating electronic and print reference resources into classroom learning.

Link to Complete RFP

Funding Exchange Announces New Guidelines for Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media

The Funding Exchange's Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media supports media activism and grassroots organizing by funding the pre-production and distribution of social issue film and video projects as well as the production and distribution of radio projects made by local, state, national, or international organizations and individual media producers.

The fund invites applications for projects of all genres that address critical social and political issues, combine intellectual clarity with creative use of the medium, and demonstrate understanding of how the production will be used for progressive social justice organizing.

Link to Complete RFP

Great article from the March issue of the The Rome Group's newsletter, Insights.

Salaries, Work-Life Concern Tomorrow’s Leaders
A national survey of nearly 6,000 young nonprofit staff has found that almost two-thirds of them are worried that low salaries, lack of mentorship and poor work-life balance may prevent them from advancing to positions of leadership in their agencies. The report underscores the need for nonprofits to focus more on succession planning. To read Ready to Lead: Next Generation Leaders Speak Out, click here.

A healthy smattering of grant opportunities, listed chronologically by deadline, to kick off your weekend. A few of the RFPs were posted in previous blog entries, but deserve another look.

National Film Preservation Foundation Accepting Applications for Avant-Garde Masters Grants
The National Film Preservation Foundation invites applications for the Avant-Garde Masters Grants. These cash preservation grants, made possible through the generosity of the Film Foundation, support laboratory work to preserve significant examples of America's avant-garde film heritage. The grants are available to nonprofit and public archives...
Deadline: April 4, 2008 (Registration)
Posted: February 29, 2008

ProLiteracy Offers Reading Materials for Literacy Programs
ProLiteracy is entering the thirteenth year of the National Book Scholarship Fund, a project that supplies books and materials to local adult basic education and literacy programs. The resources available through NBSF are from New Readers Press, the publishing division of ProLiteracy.
Deadline: April 14, 2008
Posted: March 19, 2008

Entries Invited for Young Native Writers Essay Contest
The Young Native Writers Essay Contest is a writing contest for Native American high school students and is designed to inspire honest portrayals of the richness of Native American life and history. The contest is a program of the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation.
Deadline: April 15, 2008
Posted: March 6, 2008

Turnaround Management Association Invites Nominations for Teaching Awards
The Turnaround Management Association, an international nonprofit association dedicated to corporate renewal and turnaround management, is accepting applications for the 2008 Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes teachers who have changed the lives of students and communities in which they live...
Deadline: May 1, 2008
Posted: March 1, 2008

Arts Writers Grant Program Announces New Application Process for Book Proposals
Professional writers seeking entry into the contemporary visual arts program will submit a letter of inquiry for book proposals; an editor's letter of interest/intent to publish is no longer required....
Deadline: May 5, 2008 (Letter of Inquiry)
Posted: March 21, 2008

National Endowment for the Arts Invites Entries to Design Rosa Parks Statue for U.S. Capitol
An award of $250,000 will be given to an American artist to create a bronze statue and pedestal to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building's National Statuary Hall....
Deadline: May 30, 2008
Posted: March 21, 2008

Open Society Institute Seeks Proposals for Documentary Photography Distribution Grant
The Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project is offering a grant to documentary photographers who have already completed a significant body of work on issues of social justice to collaborate with a partner organization and propose new ways of using photography as a tool for positive social change...

Deadline: June 20, 2008
Posted: March 7, 2008

American Library Association Offers Grants for Love and Forgiveness Reading and Discussion Program
The American Library Association Public Programs Office, in collaboration with the Fetzer Institute's Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, is now accepting applications for Let's Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness, a theme-based reading and discussion program.
Deadline: July 15, 2008
Posted: February 29, 2008

A Room Of Her Own Foundation Invites Applications for Literary Gift of Freedom Award
A Room Of Her Own Foundation is dedicated to helping women artists achieve the privacy and financial support necessary to pursue their art. Toward this end, the foundation annually provides an award of $50,000 to a woman writer.
Deadline: October 31, 2008
Posted: March 17, 2008

Airborne Launches Teacher Trust Fund to Support School Art and Music Programs
Airborne, Inc., maker of the cough and cold herbal supplement, has established the Airborne Teacher Trust Fund, a nonprofit charitable corporation, to fund art and music programs in elementary and middle schools that are in jeopardy of being lost due to budgetary cuts or limitations.
Deadline: Rolling

Missouri Made Quilts, 1850–1940 is a marvelous exhibit currently on display at the St. Louis Art Museum. The exhibit in on view through June 1, 2008, in the Carolyn C. and William A. McDonnell Textile Gallery (100). A brief description, and link to full article, is included below.

Featuring nine quilts made in Missouri, this beautiful exhibition complements Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection. Missouri Made Quilts focuses on work created from the mid-19th century through the first revival of quilt making in the early 20th, and it shows the continuing influences of technology. The styles of quilts produced during this period also reflect social, economic, and political changes.

One of the most significant changes was the role of quilting in many women's lives. As the century progressed, quilts changed from being personal narratives documenting marriage, childbirth, and friendships to socially acceptable vehicles for expressing ideas on social issues. With no voting rights, women used quilt making and other needlework to support reform movements including abolition, temperance, and suffrage.

Click Here to read more...

A big thanks for Cheryl Tarbox, MHC's Fiscal Officer, for bringing this event to our attention.

Former foster child, Ashley Rhodes-Courter, will discuss and sign her memoir, Three Little Words, on Saturday, April 5th at 4 p.m. at a wine and cheese reception at Left Bank Books in the Central West End.

Following the event, CASA supporters are invited to dine at area restaurants, Dressel's, Duff's and Sapphire Pan Asian, which will be donating a percentage of their proceeds to CASA.

Left Bank Books will donate a percentage of each copy of Ashley's book purchased to CASA. The bookstore also donates a percentage of proceeds from every book sold to supporters who use the Left Bank link from CASA's website (below).

To learn more, visit
www.casastlcounty.org

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and noted critic will discuss American art

WASHINGTON (March 18, 2008)—John Updike, Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, poet, internationally-known author and critic, will deliver the 2008 Jefferson Lecture, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced today. The annual NEH-sponsored Jefferson Lecture is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Updike will present the 37th annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. In "The Clarity of Things," Updike will examine the connection between America's art and its ideas by posing the question, "What is American about American art?" Updike's lecture will complement the Endowment's new Picturing America initiative (PicturingAmerica.neh.gov), which brings great American art to schools and public libraries to help citizens learn about the people, events, and ideas that have shaped our nation's history.

Click Here to read the full article

A new RFP, from Philanthropy News Digest, for women writers.

A Room Of Her Own Foundation is dedicated to helping women artists achieve the privacy and financial support necessary to pursue their art. Toward this end, the foundation annually provides an award of $50,000 to a woman writer.

The foundation's 2009 Literary Gift of Freedom Award will be given to an American woman writer who is a U.S. citizen and will be living in the U.S. during the grant period.

Acceptable genres for this grant are poetry, playwriting, creative nonfiction, and fiction.

Visit the foundation's Web site for complete program guidelines. (Please note: The program requires an application fee.)

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

A big thank you to Patricia Zahn for passing along this announcement from the ALA Public Programs Office.

The National Endowment for the Humanities, in collaboration with the American Library Association, is offering a new free resource that is designed to promote the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. “Picturing America” is available to public, private, parochial, and charter schools and home school consortia, as well as public libraries.

Participants will receive a set of 40 high-quality reproductions representing a diverse selection of American art, including Emanuel Leutze’s painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, Martin Puryear’s wood sculpture Ladder for Booker T. Washington and panels from Amish quilts. The program – which is intended to enhance the study of American history, social studies, language arts, literature and civics – also offers an illustrated teachers resource book and a comprehensive Web site at http://PicturingAmerica.neh.gov with additional information about the artwork. Applications are being accepted through April 15 for fall 2008 delivery.

*********************
ALA Public Programs Office
www.ala.org/publicprograms
publicprograms@ala.org
800.545.2433 x5054

From our friends at the Philanthropy News Digest. Enjoy.

The Mid-America Arts Alliance is accepting applications for the Latino Culture Project.

The Latino Culture Project seeks to help presenters find connection points to Latino populations in their communities and educate their existing audiences about Latino culture.

The applicant organization must be located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, or Texas, and must be legally incorporated as a not-for-profit organization with IRS 501(c)(3) status or a unit of a state, local, or tribal government.

To be eligible, projects must: occur between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009; include at least one performance open and promoted to the general public; and feature professional performing artist/ensemble that are Latino, or of Latino descent. The professional artist/ensemble needs to reside outside the applicant's state and metropolitan area.

The maximum award will be for $3,000 each.

Applications may be submitted beginning March 1, 2008. (Early submissions increase the possibility of funding). Applications should be received at Mid-America Arts Alliance 60 days prior to the start of the project.

Visit the Mid-America Arts Alliance Web site for complete program information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

WETA, Washington, DC, the third largest producing station for PBS, has launched AdLit.org, a new site for parents and educators of kids in grades 4-12. AdLit.org is a source for adolescent literacy material for parents, practitioners, and all people who want students to be better readers and writers. The site includes articles, information for the classroom, tips for parents, book recommendations, author interviews, a blog, and a free monthly e-newsletter called Word Up! The site includes a section on English language learners and a section en Español.

http://www.adlit.org/

• Live coverage of Steve Jobs and Apple at WWDC
  Engadget is on hand to live blog WWDC. Need I say more? OK, how about the possibility of Google.Mac? Or final Leopard feature set? And what's this I hear about an iPhone?
• Gizmodo's New Liveblog for Apple WWDC 2007 Steve Jobs Keynote
  Gizmodo rolls out a brand new liveblogging system with comments for WWDC 2007 Steve Jobs Keynote at WWDC 2007 - check it out.

• TechSoup's NonProfit Second Life Extravaganza
  Anshe Chung Studios in China has been quietly building an amazing Second Life space, managed by TechSoup, for non-profits. A site featuring multiple bloggers with offices in this space has popped up chronicling this group's experiences. Soon this empty space will start to bustle with Linden citizens for Social Good. Take a look.

• Are you smarter than a fifth grader?
  From the editor of the tightened up "Do you know" ppt presentation making the viral rounds...