Culture Feed

Louisa May Alcott’s Life and Work Discussed at Broward County Libraries!

Alcott midtwenties 1858 

Louisa May Alcott is recognized around the world for her novel Little Women, but few know Alcott as the bold, compelling woman who grew up in the innermost circle of the Transcendentalist and antislavery movements, served as a Civil War army nurse, and led a secret literary life writing pulp fiction. Louisa May Alcott was her own best character and her life was her own best plot.

Alcott_hardcover The Broward County Library’s public programs shed light on Louisa May Alcott by exploring her life and the historical and cultural context that inspired her remarkable body of work. Alcott’s childhood was characterized by chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprooting due to her father’s utopian experiments. Despite her family’s financial hardships, Alcott experienced a rich intellectual life influenced by family friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller. When slavery threatened the nation, the Alcott home was an Underground Railroad stop for fugitives; during the Civil War, Alcott wanted to fight, but as a woman she could enlist only as a nurse.

To support Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, a documentary film co-produced by Nancy Porter Productions, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET New York’s American Masters, Broward County Library will present six programs from May through September 2011. The six series program will re-introduce audiences to Louisa May Alcott’s story. Louisa May Alcott programs in libraries are sponsored by the American Library Association Public Programs Office with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional sponsors are the Florida Center for the Book, the Broward Public Library Foundation, the Friends of the Fort Lauderdale Libraries and WPBT2.

The six programs are located at the following libraries in Broward County:

Saturday, May 7th, 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center at Nova Southeastern University, 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Gallery 2nd Floor

Louisa May Alcott: Through Her Eyes. A community-wide library event focusing on the life, works, and ALCOTT_DVD cover times of Louisa may Alcott. View film clips from the documentary film, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women with commentary by Nova Southeastern University Scholar Dr. Christine Jackson.

Wednesday, June 8th, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Main Library, 6th Floor, 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Louisa May Alcott Wrote That?  Reading and Discussion of Louisa May Alcott’s lesser know works with Scholar Dr. Christine Jackson of Nova Southeastern University. The project scholar will facilitate a discussion exploring these short works, which together help display the range of Alcott’s writing and exemplify her strong and dynamic connections to the culture in which she lived. Copies of her stories will be available at the program.

Tuesday, August 9th, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

South Regional/ Broward College Library, 7300 Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines

Louisa May Alcott: Literary Phenomenon and Social Reformer

Scholar led program with Dr. Chrisitine Jackson of Nova Southeastern University focusing on Louisa May Alcott as a self-trained and successful professional writer. The discussion will center on how Alcott used her writing to advance many of her era’s ideas for social reform, such as Abolitionism and women’s rights.

Thursday, September 15th, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Main Library, 6th Floor, 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Reading and discussion of the biography – Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women.

A scholar-led discussion by Dr. Christine Jackson of Nova Southeastern University of the biography; documentary film clips will be presented during the discussion.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

West Regional Library Auditorium, 8601 West Broward Blvd, Plantation, Florida

Film Screening and Discussion – Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. Discussion led by scholar Dr. Christine Jackson of Nova Southeastern University.

Thursday, September 22nd, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Main Library, 6th Floor, 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Make your personal Louisa May Alcott journal with writer and artist Susan Buzzi. Susan Buzzi will talk about Louisa May Alcott as a young writer and have teens decorate and design their own journals.

WPBT2 will broadcast the documentary Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women during the libraries program series. The first presentation of the 1-1/2 hour documentary is May 1st at 6:00 pm on WPBT2.2 Create (Comcast 202).


Join WPBT2 for An Evening with Dave Grusin on May 12th at 8:00 pm.

Dave grusin blog pic 
 
 

Arturo Sandoval Dave Grusin, 10 time Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-winning composer, conductor and pianist has scored some of the most entertaining and enduring films in the past half-century.  An Evening with Dave Grusin, (available on CD, Blu-ray Disc and ROBA iPad App), is a groundbreaking live program that captures him conducting and performing with a host of stars and backed by the University of Miami Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. 

The musical selections feature Dave’s award-winning film scores for On Golden Pond, Tootsie, ThePatti Austin Fabulous Baker Boys, Goonies and more.  Additionally, Dave celebrates the music of great American composer George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Henry Mancini’s Moon River and Leonard Bernstein’s music for the Broadway hit, West Side Story.  Dave is joined by guest artists: Patti Austin, Jon Secada, Monica Mancini, Gary Burton, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres and Sammy Figueroa. 

_MG_1497 The concert was part of the 2009 JAZZ ROOTS: a Larry Rosen Jazz Series, conceived to be as much about education as it is about music.  As one of the Adrienne Arsht Center’s largest and most dynamic outreach efforts, the JAZZ ROOTS series provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes performance and educational component to local jazz high school students during each show

Grusin’s album is, set for release on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, on April 26, 2011, is a collection of 12 songs from the performance. The groundbreaking ROBA Interactive iPad app for the project will also be available that day, and includes over 300 pages of photos, videos, audio options, artist interviews, “making of” footage, and more


 


Miami-Dade Public Library System presents Art of Storytelling Festival on April 30, 2011 from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm.

AOS2 Storytellers from around the world will take center stage in downtown Miami  
as Miami-Dade Public Library System celebrates its eleventh annual Art of Story Telling International Festival Day.

A magical adventure awaits as celebrity storytellers, from around the world AOS1 join the cast of the Bit’s ‘N Pieces Puppet Theatre, Mother Goose on the Loose, Niall de Burca, magician Robert Hermens, the Bahamas Junkanoo Shakers, Geeta Dias: Bollywood Indian Dancers, School of Rock, the Hip Hop Kids and many others! Also back by popular demand is the teen zone-an area just for ‘tweens and teens which features anime, manga and video gaming competitions, plus activities around popular books and lots of cool surprises!

AOS3 This FREE event is open to people of all ages and takes place at the Main Library - 101 W Flagler Street in downtown Miami. It begins at 10:30 am and ends at 4:00 pm.


WPBT2 premieres Independent Lens: Wasteland on Tuesday April 19th at 11:00 pm.

Wasteland Filmed over nearly three years, Lucy Walker’s WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his home country of Brazil, and to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest garbage dump located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There Muniz photographs an eclectic band of catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, and works with them to “paint” their portraits using Wasteland3 garbage. The resulting collaboration with these inspiring characters provides profoundly moving evidence of the transformative power of art and its impact on the human spirit.


WPBT2 premieres American Master: John Muir in the New World on April 18th at 9:00 pm.

 

Muir Nearly a century after his death, John Muir is remembered and revered as the father of the environmental movement and the founder of the Sierra Club. It was this Scottish American who believed that it was our responsibility as citizens to protect our natural surroundings. And, by example and by passion, he taught us how to care for our wilderness treasures. Through his tireless advocacy and his writings, he almost single-handedly preserved the Yosemite Valley of California and was the force behind the creation of the National Park Service. Filmed throughout the majestic landscapes in which Muir traveled, this documentary places our nation’s most important wilderness assets in a cultural and social context. Muir’s story could not be a timelier reminder of America’s unique and, ultimately, threatened eco-systems.

The documentary also goes into Muir’s private affairs, as well. There is discussion on how he met his wifeSequia tree   Louie. Through his relationships one can see how Muir placed his studies on nature above everything else. He postponed his wedding and often would be on naturist adventures while married to Louie. His devotion to nature was shown through his daily actions and his perseverance to preserving the Yosemite Valley.


WPBT2 will premiere a four part series, Black in Latin America, a film by Henry Louis Gates Jr. on April 19th at 8:00 pm.

BLA Join Henry Louis Gates Jr. as he unveils the history of African presence in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. In this four part series Gates witnesses the presence of the African culture through art, music, cuisine, dance, politics, and religion. He also witnesses the palpable presence of anti-black racism in the previous countries. 

Episode one:
Tuesday April 19th at 8:00 pm.
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA: Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided: In the Dominican Republic, Professor Bla2 Gates explores how race has been socially constructed in a society whose people reflect centuries of inter-marriage, and how the country's troubled history with Haiti informs notions about racial classification. In Haiti, Professor Gates tells the story of the birth of the first-ever black republic, and finds out how the slaves's hard fought liberation over Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire became a double-edged sword.

Bla3 Episode two:
Tuesday April 26th at 8:00 pm.
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA: Cuba: The Next Revolution: In Cuba, Professor Gates finds out how the culture, religion, politics and music of this island are inextricably linked to the huge amount of slave labor imported to produce its enormously profitable 19th century sugar industry, and how race and racism have fared since Fidel Castro's Communist revolution in 1959.

Episode three:
Tuesday May 3rd at 8:00 pm.
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA: Brazil: A Racial Paradise?: In Brazil, Professor Gates delves behind the façade of Carnival to discover how this ‘rainbow nation’ is waking up to its legacy as the world’s largest slave economy.

Episode four:
Tuesday May 10th at 8:00 pm.Bla5
BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet: In Mexico and Peru,   Professor Gates explores the almost unknown history of the significant numbers of black people — the two countries together received far more slaves than did the United States —brought to these countries as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, and the worlds of culture that their descendants have created in Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, the Costa Chica region on the Pacific and in and around Lima, Peru.

 


 


When the Odds Are Against You...It Helps to Dream a Little.

40619_142373779134114_119005534804272_197647_2297286_n
Visa Dream is a touching film following a couple striving to do things the proper way so that they can visit their family in the United States. People who grew up all their lives in the US often don’t realize some of the challenges people face in order to visit this country. Close to 6 million tourist visas are issued by the US worldwide every year. This documentary shows the lifestyle, the emotions, and journey of a couple that goes through this very process.

The stakes are high. Ramon and Aurora, (the older couple applying for the visa,) have not seen their kids for 16 years. And just because they apply for a visa and have an interview, does not mean they are guaranteed the approval for it. Basically, it comes down to a “yes” or “no” from an immigration officer, as their relatives anxiously wait to hear the answer.

The film includes interviews with their family members, various visa applicants, comments from private visa consultants who work filling out paperwork on a daily basis, as well as an interview with a United States Consular Officer. A consular officer actually does the interview with foreigners desiring to obtain a visitors’ visa, to determine their eligibility.

Visa Dream airs Thursday, April 14 at 11:30pm on WPBT2.

 


WPBT2 premieres a new series, Ashes to Ashes, beginning April 14th at 9:30 pm.

Ashes to ashes Ashes to Ashes, the follow up to fan-favorite Life on Mars, sees DCI Gene Hunt and his sidekicks back on our screens. But this time, it’s the 80s calling. Alex Drake, a DCI who uses psychological profiling rather than brute force to nail her men, finds herself in a London of New Romantic pan-sexuality, Two Tone ska and rolled-up suit sleeves after a horrific car accident. And whilst she gets to grips with the self-styled Sherriff of Manchester's 'unorthodox' methods, Gene has to wrestle with the fact that not only does he have to show Alex (a bird!) some professional respect, he also sort of fancies her.

Ashes to Ashes allows us to peek behind the bluff exterior of the hugely popular DCI Hunt, whilst givingAshes to ashes2  viewers access to a very different, tumultuous world, where poll tax riots, androgynous fashion and angular pop sit side-by-side with Charles'n'Di commemorative plates.


WPBT2 Broadcasts BBC One Live Coverage of the Royal Wedding on April 29th at 3:00 am.

William and kate 

WPBT2 invites you to be a guest at one of the most eagerly anticipated events of our century, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  WPBT2 will air the live BBC One coverage of the wedding on April 29 at 3:00am.  Coverage of the wedding begins 3 hours ahead of the wedding service, which allows viewers to watch the excitement and anticipation build up around Central London as well as other key locations such as St. Andrews and Kate's home village of Bucklebury.

Kate_wills_101023x3_william_b-gr_12 A team of presenters will be stationed around Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and The Mall. They will watch all the preparations as they unfold, report on all the movements and speak to members of the crowd who have traveled from all over to witness this little piece of history. Hear from guest experts, for example, Royal historians and correspondents, fashion experts and possibly some guests who are attending the wedding service.

In this transmission watch the journey of all the members of the Royal Family and Prince-william-and-kate-middleton-engagement-photo-230x300 the bride as they make their way to the Abbey. See the arrivals of all the key guests and watch the full coverage of the wedding service. Following the service, viewers will see the full procession back to Buckingham Palace and then reflect on how the wedding has made an impact all over the United Kingdom and possibly around the world. This programme will end just after William and Kate and close members of the Royal Family make the historic balcony appearance.


WPBT2 premieres Looking for Lincoln on April 12th at 8:00 pm.

Lincoln This documentary follows one of the country’s best and enigmatic presidents. It is presented and written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles, and considerable disagreement over how our 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C., and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day – relic hunters, re-enactors, and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.

The program gives an in-depth look at the famous almost mythological president. It discusses Lincoln’s Abe-lincoln childhood and his depression stage of his life. Furthermore, it explains Lincoln’s relationships with women and how he ended up with Mary Todd. It illustrates how Lincoln believed that there was strength in intelligence and he was not afraid to ask for help by enlisting his ex-opponents to be apart of his presidential cabinet.  He truly believed it would be the best for the country to succeed, as would freeing the slaves. President Abraham Lincoln left a mark on this country with more than just freeing the slaves and it shows in the documentary.