Our fall MOOC: The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art taught by folklorist William Ferris, friend of Eudora Welty, James Thomas and B.B. King.
We love this MOOC, and you can easily do it on your own at your own pace, start and finish whenever you wish. But if you want to share the experience, come to our Sunday afternoon get-togethers. We will have additional documentary footage, audio recordings and, of course, coffee.
1. Introduction to the American South - September 13
"Reflecting on geography, the diaspora, the mythic and the global South as ways to approach the contested memory of the region."
2. Oral Tradition - September 20 is the day of the Folk Festival, just up the hill from the library, so we will probably postpone this session until later in October.
"Considering the content and form of the stories, toasts, dozens, auctions and religious sermons and what they reveal about Southern Culture."
3. Southern Artists - September 27
"Understanding the distinction between folk art traditions and the high art of the academy with examples of basket-weaving, quilt-making, sculpture, painting, and photography."
4. Southern Writers October 4
"Examining the lives and works of great Southern writers and looking at how specific stories, music, and art are referenced and provide structure for literary forms such as the novel and the short story."
5. Roots Music October 11
"Exploring Southern music and its roots in work chants, fife and drum, and one-strand on the wall music."
6. The Blues October 18
"Focusing on this distinctive form of music, so intimately defined by sense of place, class, race, and tradition."
Remember we have a lot of local ties to Southern arts and music. The House of Musical traditions is uptown. The Takoma Park Folk Festival and the Takoma Park Jazz Festival are annual events. And in the library we have all sorts of books and music with ties to this MOOC: the autobiography of B.B. King, collected photographs of Eudora Welty, works by Richard Wright, Alice Walker and William Faulkner, selected stories from the Southern Review, and on and on and on.