(Seguin) — The Big Read Seguin is well on its way throughout the community. If you have not yet dived into one of the featured books, then you still have time to pick up a book and join in on the multiple community discussions going on. That’s according to Dr. Dan Flores, the university librarian at Texas Lutheran University.
Flores says for weeks, TLU and fellow Big Read partners, including Teatro De Artes Juan Seguin, the Seguin Public Library and Pecantown Books and Brews — have stayed busy sharing the featured book titles of the first ever Big Read program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
“Just to reiterate that TLU was very fortunate. We received a very generous grant. We have partners at the Seguin Public Library, Pecantown Books and Brews, the Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin and we know a lot of other people who are working with us. We’ve got four churches that are working with us and the Seguin Art League and then there’s a lot of folks that are not officially on there but they are supporters. They are people out in the community talking it up,” said Flores.
Flores says along with reading, a series of book discussions are also taking place around town.
“Right now, we have some book clubs that are going on. We have one here at the (TLU) Blumberg Library. So, folks can come down here. They can be a part of it. We’ve got two more discussions that are coming up that people can come in and talk with our librarians. So, those opportunities are happening here also at the Pecantown Books. They have three more opportunities I believe, the 25th and the 28th I think are the next ones that are coming up for Pecantown Books so there’s always something going on,” said Flores.
Local churches have also gotten involved in the Big Read. Flores says while they realized that the program would grow beyond the walls of its partners, they didn’t know churches would play the important role that they have been playing in this community wide program.
“If you find that you are out at one of the churches, there’s Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Emmanuel Lutheran Church or there’s a couple of Methodist churches involved, Wesley Harper and La Trinidad (Methodist Church), they all have books to distribute and some of them have book discussions going on kind of – I don’t want to say under the radar because they are always doing so many exciting things at all of these churches but we might not know about it unless you go in and talk to them so it’s exciting. I just found out that Emmanuel’s has another book discussion coming up and we didn’t know about it but things are happening spontaneously and that’s what makes it so, so exciting,” said Flores.
The program officially launched in late September with the book La Marcha: Stories of Resilience in the 1966 Texas Farm Worker’s March.
From there, Flores says the book titles continued to be distributed. He says the next event is scheduled for next week.
“So, the next big event that we are having here at TLU is a discussion on the 26th with The Wilcox Ranch and that’s Lola Wilcox Moore. That’s one of the heirs of the Wilcox Ranch and you may know this, this is one of the oldest and most amazing stories. This has to do with the Freedmen’s Ranch down in Jakes Colony, not too far from Seguin and like a lot of the stories that we are looking at — it’s a story of resilience. This is a ranch with a long history and one of the few black owned ranches left in the area, but they have an amazing story to tell, and Lola Wilcox Moore is going to provide that for us with a virtual connection and we will meet here in the Wupperman Little Theatre on Oct. 26,” said Flores.
Flores says the Big Read “aims to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses and new discoveries and connections in each community.”
“This is what is so great about the NEA Big Read, we want folks to read and have discussions so I led a discussion just the other night at La Trinidad and we had folks that were just talking about how they connected with Sarah Smarsh’s story (Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth) and what is amazing is this is a Latino church, a Hispanic church – folks that grew up here spent most of their lives here in Seguin and they are connecting to this little German Catholic farm girl from Kansas – connecting to her story. So, if you think about it, this story has something for everyone. It might seem so far away from Seguin but when you get into the story, you will say ‘gosh, I know people like that.’ This kind of story resonates with my own community in many ways so that’s what makes these stories good. It creates a lot of conversation,” said Flores.
Still with plenty of book titles on the schedule, the reading experience will culminate with a celebratory finale at the Central Park Gazebo on Saturday, Nov. 12.
A complete list of all titles and events plus discussions can be found on the library’s page at seguintexas.gov or on the TLU website at tlu.edu.