Hi Graham Thanks for letting us all know the outcome of our attempts to save the Kensal Rise library and the Dollis Hill House. It was a sad business. I am a librarian as well as a "Twainiac" so I felt a double blow. I have just retired from the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut, which Mark Twain himself established in 1908 ; a library much beloved by the community it serves. Perhaps an apt memorial could be taken from a letter Twain wrote to the Millicent Rogers Library in 1894, "A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the truest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it alone, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them". Thanks for all your efforts in this battle; the war has not been lost. Heather Morgan. ----- Original Message ----- From: Graham Durham Date: Saturday, January 21, 2012 6:38 am Subject: Sad days in London and Detroit To: [log in to unmask] > I would like to thank all on the Forum who joined our twenty > year fight to = > save Dollis Hill House in NW London.Sadly the House where Mark > stayed in 19= > 00 was demolished today - the same local authority(Brent) has > also closed= > Kensal Rise library which Twain opened during this stay. > We also note that campaigners in Detroit are battling to save > libraroes inc= > luding the Mark Twain library.( see Fox News-Detroit)=20 > Clearly the barbarians are amongst us - can anyone find a > suitable epitaph = > from Twain ? > Graham Durham - London=20 > > > > Date: Fri=2C 20 Jan 2012 10:28:51 -0500 > > From: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: Bard College invites teachers of American literature > to the 2012= > IWT Curriculum Conversation > > To: [log in to unmask] > >=20 > > N.B.: I am posting this on behalf of Bard College. Please > direct queries = > to > > the e-mail address at the end of this message. Kevin B. > >=20 > > ~~~~~ > >=20 > > The Institute for Writing & Thinking at Bard College invites > teachers of > > American literature to the 2012 IWT Curriculum Conversation: > >=20 > > Mark Twain=92s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Facing the > Challenge of > > Teaching an American Classic > >=20 > > Despite the controversy it has provoked since its publication > in the Unit= > ed > > States in 1885=2C Huckleberry Finn has nonetheless been a > cornerstone in = > the > > secondary and college curriculum for generations. In this=2C > the fourth a= > nnual > > IWT Curriculum Conversation=2C writing-to-learn practices are > the startin= > g > > points for a rigorous reading of Huckleberry Finn=2C for > multiple reading= > s > > through the lens of other texts=97fiction as well as > nonfiction=2C litera= > ry as > > well as historical=97and for looking closely at how the text > teaches stud= > ents > > about irony=2C history=2C language=2C and thinking. Join us to > learn inno= > vative > > approaches to reading and teaching what Toni Morrison calls > =93this amazi= > ng=2C > > troubling book.=94 > >=20 > > Friday=2C March 16=2C 2012 > > 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. > > Bard College > > Annandale-on-Hudson=2C New York > > Fee: $140 (includes morning coffee=2C lunch=2C and anthology of > > cross-disciplinary readings) > >=20 > > For online registration and full details about this and other > Institute> programs=2C visit: www.writingandthinking.org or > contact Judi Smith at > > [log in to unmask] or 845-758-7484. > = >