Dear Diary,I had quite an exciting day today. Leslie, my co-resident invited the Library Residents from Purdue to campus for a network opportunity. It was really great. They said they learned a lot from all of the librarians who offered advise and we shared our common experiences as Residents. It was a beautiful day outside and we spent a lot of time in the restaurant which is always a crowd pleaser.
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I left the lunch to attend a forum provided by G. David Moss whose speaker described an almost indescribable existence wherein she said there are roughly a million people in a square mile and there is no sanitation and this leads to what t is known as Flying Toilets. There is an interesting article on flying toilets available by clicking on that term.
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But then I returned in time to spend the rest of their time here with the residents. I briefly attended a lecture on God, the Government and the Ghetto. I met a fellow NEW Outreach Librarians from Purdue and I am looking forward to starting what I will call the Outreach Librarian Association (O.L.A.) Yay! We are both the first ones in these roles and have similar target audiences and similar ideas of community outreach we are interested in. I told her I'd been trying to find Hoosiers doing Prison Outreach and she was interested. I told her so far I've only talked to one who is at the Indiana State University, Dr. Laura Bates.
In Wabash Valley Correctional Institution in Indiana. The "Shakespeare in the SHU" (Security Housing Unit) program was highlighted in an MSNBC Investigates report on the prison that aired last year and repeats regularly. Dr. Laura Bates founded a program whose purpose is to have a segregated population there "come to terms with their crimes" by reading, discussing, and rewriting Shakespeare. At the time of the documentary, the prisoners were working on Macbeth, which one inmate describes as exhibiting "parallels that correlate with urban life." These segregated prisoners rewrite the play, and then observe and comment as another group of prisoners enact the revisioned text. It seemed an intriguing approach.MSNBC Investigates"Lockup: Inside Wabash"Narrator: John Seigenthaler
Under the guidance of Laura Bates, assistant professor of English at Indiana State University, inmates from the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility at Carlisle will perform scenes from the Shakespearian tragedy "Macbeth," time-honored tale of the politically ambitious title character and his strong-willed wife and co-conspirator, Lady Macbeth.
The program is designed to improve vocabulary and reading skills, improve self-esteem, increase awareness of emotional health, and increase respect for others and a growing awareness of the benefits of honesty in communication. Along with Bates, Diane Kondrat of Interaction Theater, a non-profit organization that develops interactive theater programs for at-risk youth and adults, has been working with the inmates as facilitator for the dramatic portion of the play.
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So, now I need to develop my outreach ideas but since technically I don't start that position until July 1st, I need to focus on my current work load which is far from waning. I love Notre Dame! I learn so much being here. Speaking of which, I need to get back to work.
