March is our Big Read Month in Columbia, and we are so pleased to support the reading of all things Edgar Allan Poe for the next few weeks. And how appropriate that I write this blog from the city so connected with Poe - Baltimore. What other city is so enamored with their author that their NFL team is named for a short story by the pioneer of gothic and horror novels - The Ravens! Their Raven mascot is even named Poe - how cool!
Let me start by preaching a bit about the Big Read and why the South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance is involved. We support anything that advances workplace skills and learning...and reading is certainly a basic workplace skill - perhaps the single most important one in the workforce. We take this skill for granted, yet employers will very specifically identify reading for information as required and necessary! In 2000, an American Management Association survey of midsized and larger businesses found that 38% of job applicants taking employer-administered tests lacked the reading and math skills needed in the jobs for which they applied. And, like any other acquired skill, you must practice the skill to stay sharp and improve. Fits our mission of providing the support for the South Central Tennessee workforce to take better care of their families by increasing their skills and therefore their wages.
And, how long has it been since you just picked up a good book and read for leisure? Studies for years have shown that Americans in all age categories are reading for leisure less and less, at an accelerating pace, and this is why the National Endowment for the Arts established the Big Read. We have participated from the first year, and "Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" joins the list of our previous Big Read Selections: To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee (and my all time favorite book!); The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. We have had wonderful and creative partners in this venture - Columbia State Community College, the Maury County Library, the Giles County Library, Martin Methodist College, and the Lawrence County Library. Patricia Lymon keeps us all straight and sees that the books get distributed to the counties. And this year we will be visiting Lewis County with an event as well as Lawrence, Giles and Maury.
Watch our SCTWA Facebook page for events in Maury, and the NEA Big Read website calendar (www.neabigread.org/events/). There are so many chances to nab one of our free books and readers guides - we are providing 3,000 copies of Poe's writings through the grant! And, we want you to come up with ideas to help us celebrate and draw attention to picking up a good book to read! How about organizing a Read-A-Thon at midnight of the Tell-Tale Heart? Or a showing of old Vincent Price movies at a community center? Or a discussion led by authors of their mystery writings? We welcome your volunteering to organize an event.
Let me close by advertising one very special event at the end of March. On Friday, March 26th at 7:00 pm, join us at Rippavilla Plantation for a special evening of Poe - A Journey Through the Mind presented by Will Stutts. Tickets are $20, includes Wine & Hors d'oeuvres prior to the performance and a reception with Mr. Stutts following the performance. Profits benefit Project Learn, the literacy provider in Maury County. Call 931.375.4201 to reserve your seat. This performance is in a small intimate setting, and is one of the highlights of our Big Read season!
So much more coming in the next few weeks....please leave me thoughts of your favorite Poe stories and poems!
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