Ivy Tech Bloomington Library

Ban THIS! - - Fahrenheit 451

2012-01-30T10:28:00.001-05:00

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, was originally published in 1953 and has been printed numerous times since then. In this novel about a dystopian society, firemen don't put out fires - - they burn books!

Ban THIS!

2012-01-27T12:43:00.001-05:00

This blog is a special service learning project of Professor Starr's American Literature class. The students have studied the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Statement and will be blogging this semester about challenged books such as Fahrenheit 451, The Color Purple, and many more. They are eager to discuss this literature and the freedom to read! Your comments are welcome! Please note that this board is moderated, so your comments will not appear immediately. Although anonymous posts are permitted, names would be appreciated. Thank you!

Remnant Trust: Literature of the Old Testament

2011-12-12T09:37:00.002-05:00

Remnant Trust -- ENGL 245, Fall 2011 on Prezi

Remnant Trust: Frankenstein

2011-12-05T11:26:00.001-05:00

Frankenstein is a monster who is confused with what purpose he was created. He doesn’t understand why he is around, just to be ignored. He even compares himself to a child and his creator to a father but doesn’t understand why his “father” would disown him. He says things, such as how humans are like fire. Fire can cook food and keep him warm but when he touches it, he gets burnt. Likewise, humans seem so good to each other, but are so mean to him. He says he could feel like both “Adam” and “Satan” after he found the Paradise Lost book, because Victor Frankenstein wanted nothing to do with him.

Our culture doesn’t see the monster as such a bad thing. Our culture has made cereal brands, costumes, books, and movies over him. There are at least one hundred films available retelling the monsters’ story. Some examples are “The Frankenstein Symphony” By Francis Dhomont and Christopher Isherwood’s modern version of Frankenstein, titled “Frankenstein: The True Story.” You can even go on the web and find hundreds of things that have to do with him. You don’t even have to search to web to find him. Go into the grocery store and look at the cereal brands or even watch the children or adults during Halloween because you would be surprised on how big this monster really is! -- Written by ENGL083-36N Group 4

Remnant Trust: Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale

2011-11-02T11:07:00.002-04:00

The story of the Wife of Bath’s Tale has a reoccurring theme that represents how you can be loyal but your actions do not always make you noble. The Wife of Bath’s Tale is about a knight that breaks the law and the Queen tells him that he will not be beheaded if he searches for a year and a day to find what women most desire. Then the Knight finds an old lady in the search and she tells the Knight what he wants if he promises her his hand in marriage. Later on in the story the old lady notices that he is a jerk, not noble, and she gives him a long lecture about how being rich and rude will not get him anywhere in life. The old lady helps him realize that looks and money will not amount to how loyal she can be. She even tells him that loyalty is more than money in the end.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale is important to Western Literature because it undermines royal marriages. Nobility was thought of as having more power and money than everyone else and that they could rule the city. In that time period, peasants were not allowed to marry someone with noble blood. The Wife of Bath’s Tale was the first major story that was written in Middle English. When reading this story we feel as if it is close to being a big business, how each employee is trying to become the top seller. All top sellers convince consumers to buy the product. The top seller in The Wife of Bath’s Tale is the old lady, she convinced the Knight to marry her in return for gaining the answer of what most women desire.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale is a feminist story, and is both empowering and insulting towards women. The story is empowering because the Queen wants the Knight to find out what women most desire. In reality, all women do not have one thing that they desire and because of that, this story is insulting. As the old lady suggests, we women would like to have control over our husband, but that is a snippet of what we desire. The Wife of Bath’s Tale reminds us of the movie Mean Girls because it is about popularity, money, looks and the power of women. The story also deals with popularity because the knight is too noble for the old lady, money because the knight does not want to marry her; she is poor, and looks because the old lady is not beautiful. The power of women because during the story the queen is in charge of the punishment and tells the knight to find the one thing women most desire. If the knight finds what women most desire, then he will not be beheaded. -- Written by ENGL083-36N Group 3

Remnant Trust: Social Change

2011-10-17T10:39:00.002-04:00

Students in Angela Zizak's Sociology class this semester are studying documents from the Remnant Trust Collection that concern social change. Read their thoughts and comments here:
http://socialchangemovements.blogspot.com/

Remnant Trust: The Allegory of the Cave

2011-10-11T12:09:00.001-04:00

      The Allegory of the Cave is a symbolism of how Plato saw the world. The story is about prisoners trapped in this cave for all of their lives. They are chained to a wall, only able to see what is in front of them. In front of them is a wall with a glowing light. The glowing light is from a fire behind them on a ledge. People walk across this ledge with objects in their hands. The fire casts shadows on the wall for the prisoners to see. To the prisoners, this is their reality world. Then a prisoner is freed, he hurries to get out of the cave. When he walks outside he is blinded by the sunlight. He takes in all the beauty and truth that is around him. He runs back to the cave to share his visions with the other prisoners, but of course they don’t believe him and call him crazy.
      This is an allegory; it uses symbolism to tell a story where something represents a bigger idea. Basically it makes you think of the point and brainstorm to but the pieces together. In this story, the cave represents the physical world it’s convinced the prisoners that there was no other means of life. The shadows represent what they experienced in the physical world of the cave. The prisoners represent the people of the physical world who were hindered from the real world. The sun represents the real world for which they were withheld from.
      The importance to western literature to us was not all the time you fit in (the in crowd) and you weren't accepted. Like today I think they call them cliques, groups of people that hang out or lifestyles, financial statues meet a certain criteria.
      When you think about it a lot of movies could be based off of this, but the one that comes to mind is the Matrix. When people enter the matrix they are put into a world that they cannot control. The Matrix is a computer generated world that is operated by one person. People inside only know what others make them see. Like the men in the cave, they could only believe what was in front of them. Also like the men in the cave, the people in the matrix didn't know what to believe when they found out that they were being told lies about their life.
      To us the central idea is that humans have limited perspective. Though we may think that what we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and experience is real, it may not be true because we are chained from perceiving what’s behind us, beyond us, or beyond our five senses. -- Written by ENGL 083-36N Group 2

Remnant Trust: The Iliad

2011-09-21T09:12:00.006-04:00

The section of the Iliad we read had many “universal truths.” They are love, war, greed, immaturity, for lack of a better term “a pissing contest among males,” but the most important themes in this story are the pride and power one fights for. The Trojan War had been going on for nine years already, it all started when Helen of Troy left her husband for Paris. This story is ancient yet we are still reading into it. One probably wonders, why is this story still around and why are we still reading into it? We still read this story because the Iliad is still very important to western literature. It reflects the way people are today and how times have evolved. For example, Agamemnon and Achilleus were fighting over power, just like today with Democrats and Republicans; they all choose to fight over the little things in life, which are easy to compromise.

As you know the Iliad is initially about two men fighting over power. The fight between Agamemnon and Achilleus all started when Agamemnon takes Chryses’ daughter and refused to give her back. Though he agreed to give her back if he had to, so his people wouldn’t perish form the plague that Apollo created. Agamemnon then told the Achains he wanted something in return. Achilleus stated, “How shall the great-hearted Achains give you a prize now? There is no great store of things lying about I know of.” Agamemnon then told Achilleus that he would take his girl, Briseis. Achilleus then gets angry and states that Agamemnon does not deserve his great prizes, simply because he does not fight with his people, and Achilleus works hard for his people but does not get anything in return. After that event Achilleus considers killing Agamemnon, then Athene descended from above and states, “Keep clear of fighting, though indeed with words you may abuse him and it will be that way.” So he did just that, Achilleus approached Agamemnon and then said, “You wine sack, with a dog’s eyes, and with a deer’s heart. Never once have you taken courage in your heart to arm with your people for battle.” That is there way of calling one a coward, which is one of the worst things you could possibly say to man then.

One sees the theme of pride and power everywhere, but a really good place to see these themes are in movies and television shows. One example of a movie / play we thought really fit this theme is Romeo and Juliet. One would notice that Romeo and Juliet have a forbidden love, but only because their families were fighting over power, and they kept fighting until their loved ones got hurt. That’s when they realized what they were fighting over was ridiculous and they finally made peace. The song, Louder Than Words, by Jonathan Larson quotes, “why does it take an accident before the truth gets through to us…why do we follow leaders who never lead, why does it take catastrophe to start a revolution.” As you see these examples show how power and pride affect everyone around you. Though one might think they aren’t harming anyone, someone or something always gets destroyed or hurt. -- Written by ENGL 083-36N Group 1

Remnant Trust Blog Fall 2011

2011-09-12T15:53:00.002-04:00

Instructor Eleanor Moss' Reading Strategies for College class is proud to present a blog for the Ivy Tech Library highlighting some of the books in the Remnant Trust Collection. The Remnant Trust Collection is a hands-on exhibition of original and historical documents written on the topics of religion, liberty, politics, government, and dignity. This rare collection of documents is on loan to Ivy Tech and will be displayed in the Ivy Tech Library throughout the fall semester. The Remnant Trust is a public educational foundation.

We will be discussing the literary and cultural importance of four works, Homer's Illiad, Plato's Republic, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Please join our conversation! Please note that this board is moderated. Comments will not appear immediately. Although anonymous posts are permitted, names would be appreciated. Thank you!

Banned Books Blog Spring 2011

2011-01-13T14:24:00.011-05:00

This blog is a special service learning project of Professor Starr's American Literature After 1865 class. The students will be blogging about challenged books such as Pudd'n Head Wilson, Slaughterhouse Five, Howl, and many more. They are eager to discuss this literature with you! Your comments are welcome! Please note that this board is moderated. Comments will not appear immediately. Although anonymous posts are permitted, names would be appreciated. Thank you!

Common Reading Contests

2009-01-08T15:24:00.002-05:00

Ivy Tech students, faculty, and staff can win some nice prizes by entering the Common Reading Speech and/or Essay Contests going on now. For more information or to submit an entry, visit the Ivy Tech Bloomington Common Reading website at http://thecenter.ivytech.edu/read

Authors, Speak Up!

2008-09-24T12:48:00.004-04:00

From 2000 to 2007, the American Library Association received reports of 3965 attempts to have books removed from library shelves. Research suggests that for each challenge reported, there are as many as four or five which go unreported. (Get details at their website: www.ala.org/bbooks)

If you were an author, how would you feel if someone tried to have your books removed from library shelves?

Please share your comments here. Thanks!

Banned Books Week 2008

2008-09-23T15:27:00.002-04:00

The American Library Association has designated September 27th through October 4th as "Banned Books Week" for 2008. Stop by the Library and take a look at our "Banned Books" display featuring books and authors that have been challenged at numerous libraries throughout the country over the years. Perhaps you have read some of these books. If so, please leave a comment, and let us know your thoughts about the book.

If you cannot stop by, visit www.ala.org/bbooks for a list of the most frequently challenged books and authors.

Feel free to leave comments here.

O"Bannon Institute

2008-04-22T10:21:00.003-04:00

Books written by and about current and previous O'Bannon Institute speakers are currently on display in the Library, room A200. Featured authors include Paul Begala, George McGovern, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Birch Bayh, and more.

Also included in the display is a biography of Frank O'Bannon written by Andrew Stoner with a foreward by Judy O'Bannon.

The display will continue throughout the month of April.

Feel free to post comments here about these notable publications.

National Library Week 2008

2008-03-14T12:49:00.006-04:00

April 14th - 19th is the 50th Anniversary of National Library Week, a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries to schools, campuses, and communities nationwide. First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is recognized by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April.

Our Library is celebrating National Library Week with a drawing to give away celebrity posters from the Indianapolis Colts Blue Ribbon Literacy Campaign, a promotion to encourage Hoosiers of all ages to spend more time reading. Stop by the Library in room A200 to fill out an entry form.

Have libraries contributed to your success? Have you read any good books or seen any good movies from your library lately? Please share your comments below.

American Literature

2008-03-13T16:08:00.001-04:00

I just finished The Chocolate War, a young adult novel, by American author Robert Cormier. I actually listened to the book on CD, which is narrated by Frank Muller, but has an introduction by the author who explains how he came to write the book. His own teenage son had decided not to participate in a fund-raising candy sale at his school. Cormier says that he and his wife supported their son’s decision and that no repercussions actually happened. But, Cormier says he began to think about what COULD have happened, and the idea for The Chocolate War was born.

In the book, new student Jerry Renault refuses to participate in the annual chocolate sale at his private prep school. Although he tries to stand his ground, he suffers both physically and psychologically at the hands of cruel, intimidating bullies. And in the end, he decides that it wasn’t worth it to “disturb the universe.” The ending is hard to accept because we so desperately want the “good guys” to win, but it is in fact very true to real life. The good guys don’t always win.

Read more about Robert Cormier here: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chocolatewar/context.html
The book was also made into a movie which I have not seen but understand that it varies from the book in some key areas but remains true to the spirit of the original text.

The Chocolate War appears on the American Library Association’s Frequently Challenged Book List at #4, just ahead of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which came in at #5. See the list here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

Please share your thoughts and opinions on this book -- or any others by American authors -- by adding a comment below.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

2008-01-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

During the month of January, the Ivy Tech Bloomington Library, Room A200, is featuring numerous books and videos on Martin Luther King, Jr. Stop by and check them out!

Monday, January 21, 2008, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day -- a "Day On Not a Day Off" for many people. Please share your volunteer experiences here by adding a comment.

Freedom to Read

2007-09-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

Every year, there are hundreds of attempts to remove books from schools and libraries. Celebrate YOUR freedom to read and the right to choose your book during the American Library Association's Annual "Banned Books Week," Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, 2007.

Consider these quotes from ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom website:

"Not every book will be right for every person, but the right to choose what we read is a freedom we cannot afford to take for granted." -- Judith Platt, Director of the Association of American Publishers Freedom to Read program

"It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers." -- Judy Blume, Author

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." -- Ray Bradbury, Author

Celebrate your freedom to read by posting comments here.

Banned Books Week

2007-09-25T19:30:00.000-04:00

The American Library Association has designated September 29th through October 5th as "Banned Books Week" for 2007. Stop by the library and take a look at our "Banned Books" display. Or, visit www.ala.org/bbooks for a list of the most frequently challenged books and authors. Have you read any of these books? Feel free to leave comments here.