Bob Krist Presents Photos of Africa

On October 20, professional photographer, Bob Krist, took the New Hope-Solebury community on a multi-media tour of Africa. Krist has taken photos for many travel publications, including National Geographic Traveler and Smithsonian. The presentation, held at the New Hope-Solebury Upper Elementary School, was hosted by Read the World. Read the World is a community reading initiative promoted by New Hope-Solebury High School, the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury and the New Hope-Solebury Education Fund. The mission of the program is “one community, exploring cultural diversity, one book at a time” and this year’s focus is Sub-Saharan Africa.

Krist presented photographs and videos from regions throughout Africa, and entertained the audience with interesting stories about each of the regions. He also spoke about Playpumps which provide clean drinking water to people living in Sub-Saran Africa. He and his wife, Peggy, have raised enough money to install a Playpump in Malawi through the Jonathan D. Krist Foundation. The foundation was established to honor the memory and charitable deeds of their son, Jonathan.

This presentation was the fourth in a series of Read the World events. The final event, on October 27th, will feature the author of Chanda’s Secrets, Allan Stratton. More information about Read the World can be found at http://www.nhs-read-the-world.com/.

Voices of Africa

On Tuesday evening, Read the World hosted Voices of Africa - an internationally acclaimed all-women's a cappella and percussion ensemble.  It was a terrifically fun night for students of all ages as well as many parents and community members.  Nana, the leader of the group, involved everyone in the audience in the performance.  Every single participant was either singing, drumming and ringing bells to make beautiful, African music.

Schmoop! (There it is)

Shmoop has now introduced a new subject - Music! Shmoop has already been a great resource for Literature and History. Written by university professors and by teachers, Shmoop aims to make "writing and learning more fun and relevant for students in this digital age".

Though the music database is just beginning to evolve and therefore has limited songs, the information is extensive, entertaining and enlightening. For each lyrical line, the Shmoop editors give a "quick thought" and "deep thought". In fact, you can listen to the song as the editorial notes pop-up at the appropriate place in the song.

Incidentally, I knew that Paper Planes by MIA was a violent song, but Shmoop provided some real eye-opening information about the meaning and the artist's biography.

African Art Sampler

On October 6, the New Hope-Solebury community program, Read the World, hosted An African Sampler at the Free Public Library of New Hope and Solebury . Dr. Jill Furst of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Commonwealth Outreach lecture program gave a fascinating introduction to the richness of African visual arts. She spoke at length about the culture of Nigerians and answered various questions from the audience.

Next on tap for our Read the World program: Voices of Africa on Oct. 13, 7pm in the HS Gym. Join us for a wonderful evening with this internationally acclaimed all-women's a cappella & percussion ensemble.

"Read the World" Enjoys an Evening of Sudanese Food

On October 1, the New Hope-Solebury community program, Read the World, hosted an evening of Sudanese food in the New Hope-Solebury High School Library. High school instructional assistant and Sudanese native, Sawsan Ahmed, presented Mulah Bamia, a popular Sudanese dish of okra and meat. People were invited to sample this and other dishes, and spoke to Ms. Ahmed about her background and culture.

Other upcoming events are
· Voices of Africa: An internationally acclaimed all-women's a cappella and percussion ensemble on Tuesday, October 13, 7:00pm in the High School Auditorium
· Bob Krist of National Geographic takes us on tour of Africa through his wonderful photographs on Tuesday, October 20, 7:00pm in the High School Auditorium
· Allan Stratton, author of Chanda’s Secrets, discusses his experiences in Africa on Tuesday, October 27, 7:00pm in the High School Auditorium

Read the World is a community reading initiative promoted by New Hope-Solebury High School, the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury and the New Hope-Solebury Education Fund. The mission of the program is “one community, exploring cultural diversity, one book at a time.” This year the focused region is Sub-Saharan Africa and four books have been selected as recommended reads: Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton, What is the What by Dave Eggers, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and Brothers in Hope by Mary Williams. More details can be found at www.nhs-read-the-world.com.

Play Monopoly With Real World Streets - Monopoly City Streets, Google Maps Style

• Play Monopoly With Real World Streets - Monopoly City Streets, Google Maps Style

  Remember playing the Monopoly Board Game when you were a child? Now you can play with real streets using Google Maps.

  tags: games

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Read the World Blog

We now have a Read the World blog for folks to respond to the selected books! Some suggested questions are listed for each book, but feel free to make any comments you wish.

We have a FABULOUS line-up of Read the World events in October. Our first presentation will be An Evening of Sudanese Food on October 1 at 7:00pm in the High School Library. Our teacher assistant, Sawsan Ahmed, will be presenting a traditional Sudanese dish and discuss the Sudanese culture.