Steve Schneider, director of new programs and special projects for the College of Arts and Humanities, once again secured a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to make 2009-2010 the second consecutive year that The University of Texas Pan American implements The Big Read program. The program promotes community events nationwide aimed at restoring reading and literacy to the core of American culture.
On March 22 during The Festival of International Books and Art (FESTIBA), The Big Read program on campus will feature a keynote panel to discuss Editor Jorge F. Hernandez’s anthology, “Suns Stone and Shadows: 20 Great Mexican Short Stories.”
Profound, universal and encompassing Mexico’s undoubtedly ruthless history with nods to increasing Westernization and resistance, it is no wonder why The Big Read this year geared itself toward compiling literature reflective of Mexico’s enduring struggles by publishing “Suns, Stone and Shadows.” It is a response to the bicentennial of the Mexican War of Independence (1810) and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution (1910-17).
“We wanted something to better understand their culture,” Schneider said. “Given the significance [of this year], it was timely and important to make it the focus of discussion.”
According to a 2004 survey titled “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America,” the NEA found that trends in leisure literary reading were declining among at an accelerated pace. The trend was higher among American youth.
The Big Read, a response to such findings, was implemented nationwide in selected cities and towns in 2007 through grant funds.
“Reading is such a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation,” said Schneider, a published poet who plans to keep the competitive grants coming. “When we are fluent readers, it opens up pathways in the brain and stimulates it so that we are alive to the world. When we lose the ability to read, we lose the potential of our brain,”
With the partnership of the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library in Edinburg, Schneider and others involved in the project, like Library Director Letty Leija, are able to host community discussion meetings to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas gained from reading books annually appropriated by the NEA.
During last year‘s Big Read, 600 copies of Rudolfo Anaya’s “Bless Me Ultima” were distributed through local libraries and Region 1 public schools working with Schneider.
Nearly 30 community discussion groups are set up around the Rio Grande Valley, all to promote literacy and reading.
“By having this available, we are not only sharing quality literature, but communities can also share their views and interpretations [of the readings],” Leija said. “They can get something different from every story.”
This year the project is spanning borders.
“We are doing programming with communities in Mexico, with the Biblioteca at San Miguel de Allende,” Schneider added. “We send out [anthologies] in English and Spanish along with student and teacher guides.”
The guides are supplementary and further highlight the historical, social and cultural realities that influenced and helped the writers mold their fictional tales of real-life struggle and strife during the beginning years of modernization in their beloved country.
THE ANTHOLOGY
In the introduction to “Sun, Stone and Shadows,” Hernandez, who will be joined by two other prominent Mexican authors and critics in the panel (Eduardo Parra and David Toscana), explains the uneasy task of considering cuentos, or stories, to accurately reflect the anthology’s intention: an insight to “Mexico’s varied faces… tales of urban themes, as well as [those] that reflect the voices and ways of the fields and harvests.”
In an attempt to portray Mexican life during the first half of the 20th century, fictional accounts from 20 internationally acclaimed writers are presented, and the work is heavily influenced by the oppressive and revolutionary events that took place before during the period 1887-1939.
The stories were edited and put together for this year‘s Big Read, said Schneider, addressing the uniqueness of the anthology. “Literature and arts are the windows of culture… it opens up new worlds, so we wanted something that would recognize Mexican culture in its historical context.
“It’s such a beautiful program for UTPA and the RGV because it places reading at the forefront,” he added. “We’re at a time in our [American] culture when literacy reading is declining, so we are doing this to bring that back to our community.”
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