Main Events
Conference 2005
* KEYNOTE SPEAKER: The keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and UNH professor of English Charles Simic. He will give a talk entitled “Language, Identity and Immigration,” based on his memoir A Fly in the Soup Friday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Church in Portsmouth. Please come at 6:30 to join us for refreshments. If you are unable to attend other parts of the conference, you should still come to this talk. Professor Simic’s poetry is widely admired, and this is a rare opportunity to hear a powerful and engaging speaker.
* ORAL HISTORY RECORDINGS: Throughout the two-day conference, the Center for the Study of Community recording room will be available for recording life stories. On Saturday, we will move the recording equipment to the Community Campus. Over the past year, dozens of people have enjoyed recording their family history or personal memories in our recording room at Strawbery Banke Museum. As part of this conference, we are able to conduct eight interviews. The recording room is ideal for people who would like to record the life story of a family member or neighbor. We can accommodate interviews with one person or multiple people. We can record formal interviews or informal conversations. Participants will receive an audio CD of their recording that they can play on their home stereo. Since these interviews require some advance preparation and there is limited availability, we ask that you register as soon as possible. If this opportunity interests you, please let us know when you register for the conference. Also, please indicate if you need assistance with translation. We have the capacity to conduct interviews in most any language. I expect that fluent speakers of Canonese, French, Indonesian, Italian, Russian, and Spanish will be present, but if you have a need for assistance with another language, please let us know.
* MEMOIR WORKSHOP: On Friday, September 23 from 2-4:00 PM, Jan Marx will offer her hands-on workshop on memoir writing. Jan has been teaching this class in Portsmouth and the Bay Area of California for several years. She has taught two courses at the Center for Study of Community in recent years. I have found that the workshop is well-designed to accommodate everyone from English professors to inexperienced writers. Because space in this workshop is limited, pre-registration is required. Please indicate interest in the workshop when registering for the conference.
* IMMIGRATION HISTORY TOUR OF STRAWBERY BANKE: On Friday, September 23 at 4:00 PM at Strawbery Banke’s Tyco Visitor Center (TCV) we will offer an immigration history tour of Strawbery Banke Museum. Over the past two years, the archaeological, curatorial, and interpretative staff at Strawbery Banke have researched the immigration history of Portsmouth and the Puddle Dock neighborhood, and this tour is a result of their efforts. Before becoming a museum, Strawbery Banke was a diverse, thriving neighborhood for over three centuries. Each new generation brought waves of new comers from around the world and their history is preserved and presented at Strawbery Banke Museum. Strawbery Banke presents important information about key concerns of today. Space is limited, so please register for this tour as soon as possible.
[Participants in the oral history interviews, memoir workshop, and immigration history tour may enter the Strawbery Banke Museum free of charge!]