{"id":497,"date":"2015-07-27T16:51:16","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T20:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=497"},"modified":"2015-07-28T09:24:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-28T13:24:32","slug":"monday-missive-july-27-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2015\/07\/27\/monday-missive-july-27-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – July 27, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"books<\/a>The Enduring Power of Books<\/b> — As I was flying back to Charlotte last night, I reflected on my week in New York City.\u00a0 Over the course of the week, I focused much of my attention on researching Theodore Roosevelt’s personal library at his Long Island home, which is called Sagamore Hill.\u00a0 However, I also took advantage of some of the unique cultural opportunities available in the city.\u00a0 I went to the Morgan Library where I saw their exhibition titled “Alice<\/i>:\u00a0 150 Years of Wonderland.”\u00a0 I also <\/i>saw Matilda:\u00a0 The Musical, <\/i>which is based on Roald Dahl’s last children’s novel, also titled Matilda.\u00a0 <\/i>In reflecting on these experiences, I realized that they all relate to the enduring power of books.<\/p>\n

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When viewed collectively, the books in Roosevelt’s personal library have the nearly magical power of making Roosevelt come alive.\u00a0 Roosevelt’s presence comes through clearly when one sees the 8,000 books that he collected and, in many cases, read.\u00a0 His books reflect his passions, his personality, and his personal history.\u00a0 Because these books are shelved in the same book cases that he and his family used so many decades ago, the arrangement of the books also speaks to his tastes and intellectual proclivities.\u00a0 One can see how he grouped books, how he favored certain books by giving them prime bookshelf space, and how he displayed his books with other objects that had meaning for him.\u00a0 Roosevelt was an avid reader, and his library captures this important side of his life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the books that Roosevelt enjoyed and often quoted in his correspondence was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, <\/i>so it seemed fitting that I was able to see the Alice <\/i>exhibit during my week in New York.\u00a0 As I viewed the exhibit, I marveled at how many other people were also there to see the exhibit.\u00a0 During the two hours I spent at the Morgan Library, scores and scores of children and adults came to see the Alice <\/i>exhibit, and they took their time examining the various items on display.\u00a0 The popularity of the exhibit underscored for me the power that certain books have among readers.\u00a0 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland <\/i>came out exactly 150 years ago, but it still has the power to captivate readers of all ages.<\/p>\n

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My wife and I saw Matilda <\/i>on the last night of our visit to New York, and we both enjoyed it immensely.\u00a0 The musical is quite true to Roald Dahl’s story.\u00a0 As those of you who have read this story already know, Dahl’s tale is a celebration of books and reading.\u00a0 In the story, Matilda is a brilliant girl who loves to read, much to the chagrin of her crass and neglectful parents.\u00a0 Matilda turns to books to cope with her difficult life at home and school.\u00a0 Through her reading, Matilda finds the power to endure and eventually overcome the obstacles that face her.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, Roosevelt never read Matilda, <\/i>but he too had a difficult childhood although for different reasons.\u00a0 He suffered from severe asthma as a child, and it was not until his teenage years that he had the stamina to engage in the strenuous physical activities that he so much enjoyed as an adult.\u00a0 Like Matilda, the young Roosevelt turned to books to help him overcome the limitations that constrained his childhood.\u00a0 His passion for reading can be traced back to his childhood, and throughout his life he continued to love the books that he had enjoyed as a boy.<\/p>\n

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There is a lot of power in books, I thought to myself as the plane reached cruising altitude.\u00a0\u00a0 And then I pulled out a biography of Roosevelt and read until the plane touched down in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

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Kudos<\/b>\u2014 As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department.\u00a0 Here is the latest news:<\/p>\n

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Boyd Davis<\/b>, Jackie Guendouzi and Margaret Maclagan have just published “Expanding expectations for narrative styles in the context of dementia,” Topics in Communication Disorders <\/i>35: 237-257.<\/p>\n

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Allison Hutchcraft <\/b>recently read her poetry as part of The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative’s Reading Series in Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n

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Upcoming Events and Deadlines<\/b>\u2014\u00a0Here are some dates to keep in mind:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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August 3<\/span><\/span> \u2014 Last day of classes for the second summer session.<\/p>\n

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August 10<\/span><\/span> \u2014 Grades due for all classes taught during the second summer session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Quirky Quiz Question<\/b>\u00a0\u2014 During my visit to Sagamore Hill, the recent PBS documentary The Roosevelts:\u00a0 An Intimate History <\/i>was playing continuously in the gift shop.\u00a0 Who was the director of this documentary?<\/div>\n
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Last week’s answer: Owen Wister<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
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One of Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite novels was The Virginian.\u00a0 <\/i>Who wrote this novel?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Enduring Power of Books — As I was flying back to Charlotte last night, I reflected on my week in New York City.\u00a0 Over the course of the week, I focused much of my attention on researching Theodore Roosevelt’s personal library at his Long Island home, which is called Sagamore Hill.\u00a0 However, I also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-missive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":504,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions\/504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}