Capturing Emotion in Graphic Memoir

A Talk by Tom Hart

Thursday, March 21 from 7-8:30pm

EA 1011, IU South Bend

Graphic Storytelling: IU South Bend Students and Professors Share their Comics
Thursday, February 28, 2019
4:00-5:15 Fireside rooms (adjacent to the Grille)

This panel will feature students Frankie Spring (ENGLISH MAJOR), Amy Gardine (ENGLISH M.A. STUDENT), Miguel Canda (FINE ARTS MAJOR) as well as faculty members John Thompson and Jeff Horwat. The panelists will share their comics and discuss their work. Kelcey Ervick, Director of the Pub Hub, will moderate. The event is part of NEA Big Read St. Joseph County.

Comics and Storytelling: IU South Bend Students and Professors Share their Comics

Thursday, Feb. 28                 4-5:15pm              Fireside Room, Admin Building, IU South Bend

Everybody says “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Do artists/authors agree?

Not Yet Dead Talks (TEDx Indiana University South Bend)

Friday, Mar. 8                       7-8:30pm              Education & Arts 1011, IU South Bend

There may be extra candles on the birthday cake or little lines and grey hairs that appear on the reflection in the mirror, but aging can be done well with a little planning and the right attitude (and support). Discover ideas and begin conversations based on five short talks by local experts in elder care.

DIY Memories Smashbook

Saturday, Mar. 16                2:30-4pm              Bittersweet Branch, MPHPL

Photographs play an important role in life by connecting us to our past and reminding us of people, feelings, stories, and experiences.  Learn how to make a reflective memoir in this introductory workshop.

Capturing Emotion in Graphic Memoir

Thursday, Mar. 21                7-8:30pm              Education & Arts 1011, IU South Bend

New York Times bestselling author and Eisner-nominated cartoonist Tom Hart has written poignant and insightful books and comic strips for dozens of years. Hart examines what makes a graphic memoir great, and shows how to do it.

Caregiving and Communication

Tuesday, Mar. 26                 6:30-7:30pm        Spencer Gallery, Mishawaka Branch, MPHPL

Elder care professionals will be holding a workshop on communication and caregiving.

Green Burials (Sustainability & Innovation Series)

Wednesday, Mar. 27           7-8:30pm              Wiekamp 1001, IU South Bend

Do you have a carbon footprint after you’re gone? Reasons for choosing a “green burial” may range from lowering costs, reducing environmental impact, or leaving a particular legacy. Pat McGann, of McGann Hay, explains a more eco-friendly option for caring for the dead.

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Book Discussions

Tuesday, Mar. 12                 6:30-7:30pm        Centre Township Branch, SJCPL

Tuesday, Mar. 19                 6:30-7:30pm        River Park Branch, SJCPL

Monday, Mar. 25                 10:30-11:15am    Mishawaka Branch, MPHPL

Monday, Mar. 25                 6:30-7:30pm        Main Branch, SJCPL

Wednesday, Mar. 27           1:30-2:30pm        Scoobies Subs, Mishawaka

Thursday, Mar. 28                10:30-11:15am    Harris Branch, MPHPL

Thursday, Mar. 28                6:30-7:30pm        Francis Branch, SJCPL

Selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2014, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is a memoir that provides a brutally honest look at the struggle of a daughter’s role as caregiver to aging parents.  Author Roz Chast brings the book to life and eases the heaviness of a morose topic through her book’s unique design – cartoon panels and journaling.  Join us for an exploration of the book’s themes including aging, caregiving, and coping.

In partnership with the Mishawaka Penn Harris Public Library and REAL Services, Inc., IU South Bend announces the next NEA Big Read title:

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, written by Roz Chast, a longtime cartoonist for the New Yorker, is a “tour de force” (Elle), “remarkable” (San Francisco Chronicle), “revelatory” (Kirkus), “deeply poignant and laugh-out-loud funny” (New York Times), and “one of the great autobiographical memoirs of our time” (Buffalo News). A finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Books for a Better Life Award, the memoir tells the story of Chast’s parents’ final years through cartoons, family photos, found documents, and narrative prose. “So many have faced (or will face) the situation that the author details, but no one could render it like she does” (Kirkus). “Anyone who has had Chast’s experience will devour this book and cling to it for truth, humor, understanding, and the futile wish that it could all be different” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). “I want to recommend it to everyone I know who has elderly parents, or might have them someday” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

The 1960s will be explored by Tom Murphy, Ph.D., History Professor, IU South Bend, in his presentation “John Wayne’s America & Its Discontents.” As with many other decades, cultural changes skyrocketed during the ‘60s. The legacy of World War II, the presence of the Cold War, and the Civil Rights and other social justice movements were just some of the issues that shaped Americans’ thoughts and decisions in this decade. These factors determined our response to the Vietnam War, both in the war zone and at home.

Do you still have 1960s’ bellbottoms or a photograph of your shoulder-length hair? Come early if you have these or other 1960s’ items or photographs you’d like to donate to The History Museum.

The talk is Thursday, November 16 at 7pm at the History Museum.  Tickets are $10/general; $5/members and can be purchased online by clicking here. Reservations are required.

Did you know that the Studebaker Museum has a vehicle in their collection that was used in the Vietnam War and then brought back to the states? Come learn more about the local automobile industry’s involvement in foreign wars (and get a good taste of the local brewing industry’s product) at this month’s History on Tap — 6pm on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at South Bend Brew Werks.

Part of the Big Read St. Joe project is to share the history, the art, and the memories of soldiers with the community. We have put together an exhibit at the Schurz Library on the campus of IU South Bend, But a community is more than a physical space, and this exhibit is now visible virtually everywhere. See the artifacts at this online exhibit site: http://bigreadstjoe.omeka.net/. And let us know what you think.

For more material culture available to peruse online, see the National Museum of American History and the Vietnam Center and Archive.

The IU South Bend student paper, The Preface, has a nice review of the exhibit currently on display at the Schurz Library lobby. Read it here.  The exhibit is also mentioned in the South Bend Tribune. See it soon for yourself.  

[excerpted from Inside IU]

Indiana University professor emeritus Ron Osgood was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968, but his time in the Navy didn’t fully shape his understanding of the war.

That came some four decades later, when Osgood began production on his 2010 PBS documentary “My Vietnam, Your Iraq.” This year, he released his follow-up documentary, “Just Like Me: The Vietnam War — Stories From All Sides.”

“The war for me was somewhat abstract. It wasn’t political,” he said. “I was just more interested in getting out of the Navy and learning a skill, the craft I was learning in my job, which was TV production.”

Osgood sought to share multiple perspectives of the war through “Just Like Me” after interviewing an American soldier for “My Vietnam, Your Iraq” who realized the parallels between his own life and that of a Vietnamese soldier who was killed.

Stream Osgood’s documentary “Just Like Me: The Vietnam War – Stories From All Sides” for free on WTIU’s website through Oct. 14. The documentary will air at 3 p.m. Oct. 15 on WTIU.

In this excerpt from a conversation, Gina M. Pérez, author of Citizen, Student, Soldier: Latina/o Youth, JROTC and the American Dream, and Zoë H. Wool, author of After War: Weight of Life at Walter Reed, discuss the moral, political, and personal stakes of US militarism.

And this is one of the most challenging things about doing this kind of research. Throughout the process, I have thought a lot about how many anthropologists, including Catherine Lutz, Hugh Gusterson, and Roberto Gonzalez, have both called on anthropologists to engage with questions of militarism, but have also warned about the distinctions between an anthropology of the US military and an anthropology for the US military. As anthropologists, we are constantly confronted with the real lives and people we work with while simultaneously using our ethnographic practice to critique militarism and military power. As I was doing my research, I developed an incredible amount of respect for the young people I worked with, as well as the JROTC instructors, and developed a deep appreciation for how savvy they are and the incredible amount of work they are doing intellectually, emotionally, politically, and socially in navigating all these institutions, their schools, JROTC, their churches. And these young people are pragmatic because they recognize that things are pretty much stacked against them at every level. Talking to students made me realize how important ethnographic engagement is because, in the end, it is much more complicated and much messier than people might like us to believe.

Read the whole thing here: http://www.americananthropologist.org/2017/09/19/ethnography-and-the-militarization-of-the-american-dream-a-conversation-between-zoe-h-wool-and-gina-m-perez/.