We’ll begin our 2010/2011 program for our next book, Listening is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life by the StoryCorps Project, in August.

Stay tuned!

If you are a Parkland instructor, please also encourage your students to take the survey. They will find a link to it on their Angel page.

Thank you!

Since 2003, over 50,000 interviews have been recorded and shared by the StoryCorp Project. Some of the most remarkable stories – of everyday people – are included in Listening is an Act of Love. The book is divided into the sections of: Home and Family, Work and Dedication, Journeys, History and Struggle, and Fire and Water. Fire and Water are stories about September 11th and Hurricane Katrina.

Here at Parkland, we are going to be facilitating the recording and sharing of our own stories. We’ll also be looking at ways that oral history and storytelling can be used in the classroom. We’re excited about the possibilities!

J2D2 Graphic Novel

J2D2 = John Jennings and Damian Duffy = creators, scholars, and curators of comics, hip hop, and new media art, and authors of the horror science fiction graphic novel, The Hole: Consumer Culture.

FRIDAY, APRIL 23

11:00 – 11:50 Library International Lounge:  Talk/presentation on the craft of graphic novels and the use of graphic novels as political engagement. Everyone welcome!

12:00 – 1:00 Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning – D116: Presentation/discussion on teaching strategies for using graphic novels in the classroom.  Please register by email to: CenterForExcellence@parkland.edu

John Jennings, illustrator and designer, is an associate professor of graphic design at UIUC.
Damian Duffy, writer and letterer, is a PhD student at UIUC.

Their new book, Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture, will be coming out in June.

Sponsored by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Parkland Reads.

Poster for Events

Monday: “Beyond the Veil”
Speaker: Yusra Al-Shawaf
Time: 12-1pm
Location: Women’s Resources Center (On the corner of Wright and Green above Freestar Bank)
Description: A Muslim woman describes life growing up wearing hijab and the implications thereof.

“Common Ground Among the Abrahamic Faiths”
Speaker: Dr. Jerald F. Dirks
Time: 7-9pm
Location: 120 Architecture Building
Description: Dr. Jerald F Dirks, a former Methodist minister who seeks to increase understanding across faiths, presents the commonalities between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Tuesday: “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet” (documentary screening)
Time: 7-9pm
Location: 223 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright Street
Description: This documentary tells the story of the seventh century prophet who changed world history in 23 years, and continues to shape the lives of more than 1.2 billion people. The film takes viewers not only to ancient Middle Eastern sites where Muhammad’s story unfolds, but into the homes, mosques and workplaces of some of America’s estimated seven million Muslim to discover the many ways in which they follow Muhammad’s example.

Wednesday: “Islam Q&A with student discussion”
Time:7-9pm
Location: 119 MSEB, 1304 W. Green St.
Description: You can ask anything and everything, and there will be room for discussion! Expand your knowledge, fight ignorance, and quench your curiosity by taking out a couple hours of your evening and attending this panel.

Thursday: “Women in Islam”
Speaker: Imani Jaafar-Mohammad
Time: 7-9pm
Location: 217 Noyes Laboratory
Description: There are many misperceptions about Muslim women in today’s society. This presentation will provide an overview of the Islamic approach to gender equity and women’s rights. Religious practices, such as the headscarf, will also be discussed. The presentation will also address common stereotypes surrounding the religious beliefs and cultural practices of Muslim women.

Friday: “Mosque Open House”
TIme: 1-2:30pm
Location: CIMIC 106 S. Lincoln Ave Urbana, IL 61801
Description: As part of the Muslim Student Association’s Islam Awareness Week, you are invited to CIMIC, the Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center to see how Muslims worship! Get a chance to ask the questions you haven’t had a chance to ask! Email ikram1@illinois.edu if you are interested.

“Unveiled” (play)
Performer: Rohina Malik
Time: 7-9pm (doors 6:30pm)
Location: ARC Auditorium
Description: Racism. Hate crimes. Love. Islam. Culture. Language. Life. Five Muslim women in a post-9/11 world serve tea and uncover what lies beneath the veil in this compelling one-woman show.

Description from the Fictionville Studio (Producer) website:

The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place, especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on. The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the margins by attending a one-of-kind rehabilitation center in uptown Tehran. Forget about the Iran that you’ve seen before. With a virtually invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories: Samira struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music.

This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage girls.

Discussion afterward led by Profs. Noreen Sugrue, Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, & Dr. Ritu Saksena; Chair: Prof. Hadi Salehi Esfahani.

Sponsors: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Spurlock Museum, Program for Women and Gender in Global Perspectives, Persian Cultural Association (UIUC), & Parkland Reads.

Poster for Event

Please join us for a screening of the film, “Women of Islam: Veiling and Seclusion.” 50 minutes.

When: Monday, April, 12, 2010 at 11:00 am
Where: C118

A description of the film from the Women of Islam website:

The mainstream media would have us believe that the veil is always an imposition, an oppressive requirement of Islam.

Filmaker Farheen travels across the Muslim World to find out why some Muslim women take the veil while others don’t.

This film reveals what no other work on this subject has done before. It looks at the practice of covering from diverse perspectives in different Muslim societies.

This film took two years and six months to complete, and combines footage from Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and USA into a 50 minute work.

Co-sponsored by Muslim Students Association, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Illinois Network on Islam and Muslim Societies.

On Wednesday evening, March 3, from 7 – 8:15 pm, Parkland Reads will be showing the film, “Jihad for Love,” in C118. There will be an informal discussion afterwards for all interested. This event is open to the public. We hope you will join us!

A description of the film from Amazon.com:

“A JIHAD FOR LOVE is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. In a time when Islam is under tremendous attack from within and without, A JIHAD FOR LOVE is a daring documentary filmed in twelve countries and nine languages. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is loudest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option.

The film travels a wide geographic arc presenting lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film’s characters show for it.”

Co-sponsored by Parkland Ally Team, Parkland LGBT Network, Parkland Library, Parkland Office of Student Life, UIUC Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UIUC LGBT Resource Center, UIUC Women’s Resource Center, Illinois Network on Islam and Muslim Societies.

After four hours of quite spirited cooking, the first dish served was Ash-e-Reshteh – Persian  Spinach and  Noodle Soup

Next up was a green bean stew, called Marag Fasoolya. (Cardamon and Lime: Recipes from the Arabian Gulf, by Sarah Al-Hamad)

We were then completely blown away with Trid, chicken and onion pies. Five large onions were cooked for an hour and then the chicken and onion mixture was folded artfully into phyllo dough and baked.  (The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, by Claudia Roden)

Next came the Gormeh Sabzi ba Mahi, Iranian fish stew. (Middle Eastern Cookery, by Arto de Haroutunian)

Supporting players were Salad Shiraz, a tomato and cucumber salad and Borani-ye-Esfenjag, a spinach and yogurt salad. (Middle Eastern Cookery, by Arto de Haroutunian)

Finally, served with Persian tea, was ‘Igaili, a cardamon-saffron cake. It was an aromatic wonder! (Cardamon and Lime:  Recipes from the Arabian Gulf, by  Sarah Al-Hamad)