Welcome to Lisgar Collegiate Institute's

Book Club Promoting Tolerance and Understanding

 

Lisgar Library has been having a book club since early March. We have been reading about issues relating to equity and cultural awareness in Canadian society. Members of the club will report here on what we have been reading and talking about. For information about the club please contact Peter Russell at:

 

 

 

 Get Great Ideas for Books about Building a Tolerant and Understanding Community!

 

March 23, 2011 - Readings from Cory Doctorow's For the Win using the Library's e-readers.

 

April 6, 2011 - Readings from Rana Abdel-Fatah's Does My Head Look Big in This? and Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters' Bifocal.

 

April 13, 2011 -  Readings from Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes.

 

April 20, 2011 - Readings from Wanda Robson's Sister to Courage (sister of Viola Desmond). 

 

April 27, 2011 - Readings from Afua Cooper's The Hanging of Angelique.

 

May 4, 2011 - Peter Russell Reports on Maybe Tomorrow by Boori Monty Pryor and Meme Mcdonald

 

May 11, 2011 - Peter Russell Reports on How The Chinese Created Canada by Adrian Ma

 

May 18, 2011 - Read "Panache" by W.P. Kinsella and reviewed The Good Garden Edition of Chutes and Ladders

 

May 18, 2011 - Read "Panache" by W.P. Kinsella and reviewed The Good Garden Edition of Chutes and Ladders

 

June 1, 2011 - Read excerpt from No Foreign Land:  The Biography of a North American Indian by Wilfred Pelletier and Ted Poole

 

September 29, 2011 - Lisgar Culture Club Meeting Summary:

 

Subject: Interesting Interview Questions - During the meeting we broke into groups and brainstormed interesting interview questions we could ask Lisgar students for our upcoming "Books of Life" project.

 

Book: Prisoner of Tehran

 Author: Marina Nemat

 Quick Summary of Background and Excerpt from Chapter 11: By early 1980 the Iranian Revolution was in full force and the ultra-conservative, Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Khomeini was making sweeping changes described by author Marina Nemat as a "sinking into darkness". Evidence of the drastic changes to Iran witnessed by Nemat include the hejab becoming mandatory, women having to wear long, dark coloured robes, and all kinds of make-up being banned for being "satanic". When the new regime began to tamper with one of the things she loved the most--her education;--Marina became fed up with the government littering the curriculum with Islamic revolution propaganda; she was driven to fight for her right to learn, starting by walking out of her calculus class. Soon the whole class and then the whole school followed her to strike but any efforts of resistance were later crushed, not only by the threat of retaliation from the ruthless Revolutionary Guards but by the young Marina's own name being added to an infamous government list, that could only mean trouble.

 

Discussion Points:

* Marina Nemat may feel there's a connection to her situation and other struggles for human rights

* Standing up for freedom of education

* Mom told her to "wait it out" (referring to the revolution), but if you just sit and wait for change to come it may never happen

* Struggle between religion and politics (people with political power are using religion to validate controversial actions), how much should religion and politics intertwine?

* Marina is accused of attacking religion, but really attacking the government's own opinions. Her freedom of speech is being violated.

* Marina is not fighting against Islam, but against those who have used it to restrict her freedom of choice.

 

 Quote: " My brother and his wife had left the country shortly after the revolution and had immigrated to Canada. They had realized that there was no future for them in the Islamic Republic. Not too long after their departure, the government of Iran denied Iranians the right to immigrant to other countries. I liked the name "Canada"- it sounded far away and very cold but peaceful. My brother and his wife were lucky to be there. They could live a normal life and worry about normal things. My parents had thought of sending me to stay with my brother, but it couldn't be arranged. I had to stay and take my chances." (Nemat)

 

Word of the Week:  khanoom: (Farsi) form of address; Mrs., madam. 

 

October 13, 2011 - Subject - Creating Interesting Interviews

 

During this meeting we discussed the purpose of our school interviews:  to find interesting stories about the lives of Lisgar students that someone would enjoy reading. From the questions we brainstormed in the last meeting we came up with a list of 24 sample questions that we will test out in "mock" interviews that we will be doing in pairs, for the next two weeks until our next meeting. By then we would've each finished a write-up of the practice interviews which will present to the rest of the group. From there we will see which questions did or did not work out for the benefit of the project and then we will prepare a set list of standard questions to use to conduct actual interviews with various students in Lisgar.

  

Here's a list of the sample questions that you could use to do your interview with your partner:

 

1. What’s your attitude towards school? (Why?)

2. What do you think is the best/worst thing about school?

3. What do you like or dislike about the location of the school?

4. What’s your most prized possession?

5. What clubs/extra-curricular/sports/hobbies are you involved in?

6. How do you feel about the school’s diversity?

7. Do you feel that you are accepted by your peers? If so or if not, why?

8. What do you do in your spare time?

9. Do you have access to the Internet at home?

10. Do you think technology is a big part of your life?

11. What’s your first language?

12. Do you spend a lot of time with your family?

13. What things do you do to maintain your culture?

14. What’s your daily routine?

15. What kinds of things do you do with your friends and family?

16. What’s your favourite class at school and why?

17. If you could do one thing different with your life what would it be?

18. If you had one wish what would it be?

19. Do you have a role model or someone you look up to? If yes, who?

20. Which person would you like to be, either living or dead?

21. What is the thing that drives you to get up in the morning?

22. What do you think people in other parts of Canada think of you?

23. What do you think of people living in other part of Canada?

24. What is your favourite or least favourite memory of a first day of school?

   

 

If you have any questions or concerns, or if you weren't present at the last meeting but would still like to participate, please email Peter at the address provided above.  

 

Word of the Week: diversity: 

1. the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness.

2. variety; multiformity.

3. a point of difference.

  

 

October 27, 2011 - Subject - More on the "Books of Life" Project

 

During this meeting Mr. Grose talked to us about what he learned at the workshop he went to in Toronto for the Books of Life Project. For the book exchange Lisgar will be partnered up with Rideau Highschool and North Park Collegiate Vocational School in Brantford. At the conference it was said that the initial goal of Books of Life is to make Ontario more aware of First nations, Inuit and Metis communities in Ontario. We then decided that our book (or books) could include Aboriginal influences that we see here in the immediate community that surrounds our school in the form of photographs, and research about the actual First Nations community that historically inhabited the land that our school is built on, as well as stories about our lives as Lisgar Students.

 

The ultimate deadline for our book is May 30 ^th!  Meaning we don't have a lot of time left to work on this, so we decided to get going on conducting interviews with other Lisgar Students that will be featured in the book. We'd like you to find someone else in the school (not in the Lisgar Culture Club) who you could interview for the book and then have the interview typed and ready for our next meeting Thurs. Nov. 10.

  

Remember:

*email me your typed interviews

 

* tell who ever you're interviewing before you interview them, that you cannot guarantee their interview will make it into the final edited version of the book

 

* we will be using the same list of 24 questions that was sent in the last email (check the last email or the Culture Club page on the library website for the list of questions)

 

* feel free to pick, choose, and edit the questions as you please

 

* you do not need to ask all of the questions and you are not limited to asking just the questions from this list

 

* Start looking for First Nations influences in our community. Take a picture. And email your pictures to me along with your interviews.

 

This is when the real work begins, so thank you for all your help and well see you next week!

 

-Peter

 

(if you have any questions, concerns or feedback about the interviews or the Books of Life Project, don't hesitate to email me at any time)

 

Thursday, November 10, 2011 - Subject - "L" is for Lisgar

 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - Subject - Reviewing the Alphabet

 

Thursday, November 24, 2011 -"L" is For Lisgar Update

 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - Subject - Visit by Marina Nemat

 

Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Subject - Where Are the Children?

 

Thursday, December 15, 2011 - Subject - "L is For Lisgar" and Black History Month

 

Thursday, December 22, 2011 - Subject - Work Continues

 

Thursday, January 12, 2012 - Subject - Professor Abdoulaye Gueye Discusses Black History Month Contest 

 

Wenesday, February 8, 2012 - subject - Black History Month Activities

 

Thursday, February 16, 2012 - Subject - Planning for Black History Month Assembly 

 

Monday, February 25, 2012 - Subject - Black History Month Presentation by the Honourable Senator Donald Oliver and Black History Month Assembly

 

Thursday, February 29, 2012 - Subject - Black History Month Assembly Review

 

Thursday, March 22, 2012 - Books of Life - Explorations

 

Thursday, March 29, 2012 - The Eighth Fire:  "Indigenous in the City"

 

Thursday, April 5, 2012 - Editing "L" is for Lisgar

 

Thursday, April 7, 2012 - Editing "L" is for Lisgar

 

Thursday, April 19, 2012 - Editing "L" is for Lisgar

 

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - Ottawa's Anishnabe Scout by Hamilton MacCarthy

 

Thursday, May 3, 2012 - Readings from No Foreign Land by Wilfred Pelletier

 

Thursday, May 10, 2012 - Subject - The Coyote and A Warrior Spirit by Morningstar Mercredi  

 

Monday, May 14, 2012 - "L" is for Lisgar has been returned from the printer.  Click on the image to download the PDF.