Pathways

Vol. XXXII No. 2

Summer 2008 Issue

OHC recently supported a project that told the story of James M. Cox and his legislative legacy during the Progressive Era of American political history. The project was created by the United Theological Seminary’s Center for the Evangelical United Brethren to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Governor Cox’s death. The project presenters covered their subject from several perspectives including a major exhibit, a smaller traveling exhibit, scholar presentations, a PowerPoint program, and a wreath laying and memorial ceremony. The exhibit and public programs focused on Governor Cox’s efforts to improve Ohio’s schools and prisons, limit child labor, provide ﬁnancial support for widows and orphans, and enact a worker’s compensation law that favored workers rather than employers and the insurance industry.

On May 1, a portion of the exhibition “James M. Cox: Ohio’s Progressive Governor” opened in the Ohio Statehouse, located in the corridor between the Governor’s office and the Statehouse press office. Displaying the exhibit at the Ohio Statehouse provided a unique opportunity for members of the public to learn about and appreciate one of Ohio’s most signiﬁcant leaders. Governor Ted Strickland attended the opening and toured the exhibit, showing great interest in the various artifacts and display panels.


	The Ohio Humanities Council has a long-standing commitment to literature-based programming. As part of its organizational planning process in 1998, the Council chose to develop a program called Booked for the Day, which was designed as a reading-and discussion series for working professionals. Since that time, Council has expanded its literature-based programming to include the The Art of Association, Justice Talking: The Meaning of Service, and Literature and Medicine. Booked for the Day OHC staff most recently presented a pilot Booked for the Day program with a group of primary school teachers at a K-12 rural charter school, Bridges Community Academy in Tiffin. Long-time “Booked” facilitators Georgina Dodge and George Kalbouss helped plan the three-hour program for teachers. OHC hopes that this program will lead to a series of Booked for the Day seminars for teachers that would be similar to the reading and discussion programs OHC has co-sponsored with the Ohio State Bar Association for legal professionals. This annual series, also called “Literature and the Law,” dates back to the spring of 2000.

	Literature and Medicine OHC will present a pilot Literature and Medicine series that will take place this fall and winter at Rainbow Babies and Children’s University Hospital in Cleveland. Program Officer Jack Shortlidge and literature professors Georgina Dodge and Patrick Mullen met recently with our liaison from the Cleveland hospital, pediatric resident Aparna Bole, to select the short stories and poems that the participants will read in the program. The selections come from Imagine What It’s Like, A Literature & Medicine Anthology
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Reading and Discussion continued
(University of Hawai’i Press, 2008), which every
participant will receive. The first program in the series will take place at the Rainbow Hospital on the evening of September 22. Our overall goal is to learn from this pilot literature and medicine program and to then encourage other Ohio hospitals to participate. The Literature and Medicine program is based on a model first developed by the Maine Humanities Council in 1997. Health care professionals in scores of hospitals and community health care facilities in more than 20 states have taken part since the program was first piloted in Maine.

OHC staff and program facilitators are looking for new groups to partner with for OHC’s reading and discussion seminars. Besides this year’s programs scheduled for teachers and health care professionals, OHC has sponsored reading and discussion seminars over the past eight years in partnership with the Ohio State Bar Association, the National Park Service, the Columbus Foundation, and the Shawnee Mental Health Center in Portsmouth. Staff is interested in hearing from any organization that would like to partner with OHC for The Art of Association or Booked for the Day. We also seek partners for future Literature and Medicine discussion programs.

Justice Talking
This spring brought a close to the 2007-2008 Justice Talking: The Meaning of Service series for AmeriCorps members. Justice Talking is a program for service volunteers featuring discussions that use short philosophical and literary texts on the nature of service and volunteerism.

Throughout the past year, OHC trained more than 50 program managers, who conducted 113 facilitated text discussions with nearly 560 AmeriCorps members across Ohio. OHC staff and program facilitators met with AmeriCorps program managers to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of the series. The exemplary nature of the program is perhaps best expressed by the member who wrote: “For me, Justice Talking has affirmed that every word and action is purposeful and has impact. Justice Talking has provided a way for me to think a lot more about why I serve and what place my service has in the bigger picture.” OHC is currently working with the Ohio Community Service Council to develop a 2008- 2009 series in order to continue training program managers. Bill Hall, OCSC Director of Programs, reports that Justice Talking has been an essential tool for reducing burn-out and for increasing retention rates for members.

OHC’s AmeriCorps Program Wins the STAR Award

   The Ohio Humanities Council was honored to receive the 2008 STAR Award, presented by the Ohio Community Service Council (OCSC). The STAR Award is the highest honor bestowed by OCSC. “There are many outstanding award programs that honor tremendous service and impact of volunteers in local communities,” said Susan Rogers, OCSC Chair. “The STAR Award is unique because it recognizes those whose efforts have strengthened, supported or expanded volunteerism and service statewide.”

   Since 2003, OHC has partnered with OCSC to bring the humanities – through civic dialog and civic reflection – to the national service community. The process has enriched hundreds of Ohio AmeriCorps members, allowing them to develop new and deeper understanding of their service activities, their communities, and each other. By participating in OHC’s Justice Talking series, AmeriCorps members across the state have benefited from the unique experiences gained during group reading-and-discussion programs. The collaboration was undertaken with the hopes that Ohio’s communities would be strengthened through the AmeriCorps members’ enriched service experiences, which would help them individually and the state collectively.

   OHC is proud to receive this award, and we look forward to continuing this important collaboration with AmeriCorps.

   Facilitating text-based discussion sessions is incredibly pleasurable to me because it allows me to indulge in two of my favorite things: good reading and good conversation. What could be more fun than reading a great text and then talking with other readers about the significance of that text to our lives? The literature that we read provides a platform from which we can consider our similarities and differences, our interactions with colleagues and clients, our relationships with friends and family, and our responsibilities to ourselves and others. That may sound a bit lofty, but the world within a good text mirrors the real world that we live in and often offers a fresh perspective. I enjoy helping others navigate through readings that provide insight or direction for addressing current issues. I must also confess that I learn a great deal about myself in the process; facilitation does not put me outside of events but instead allows me to witness diverse reactions and solutions to situations.

   Good facilitation requires engagement with an entire process, and I enjoy all aspects of it. Selecting the right reading for the group is important, as is choosing topics that will resonate during discussion. Setting the tone and pace of the discussion establishes the mood for the group, and good people management skills help to ensure participation from everyone. But I think the most important quality that a facilitator brings to the discussion is enthusiasm, which cannot be faked. I truly love learning about other people and, through our discussions, I discover new things about different occupations, geographical locations, customs and traditions, and so much more. I establish relationships with people that may not continue into the future through direct contact, but that will continue through the connection we made in the moment. Ultimately, it is these very real human connections that we make with each other that give every discussion its greatest significance.

   Georgina Dodge is Assistant Vice Provost for the Office of Minority Affairs (OMA) at The Ohio State University. She heads the Collaborative Diversity Initiative, which helps coordinate diversity efforts across campus and with the community. Prior to joining OMA, she served in OSU’s Department of African American and African Studies and in the Department of English. She has a Ph.D. in English from UCLA, and her scholarship focuses on multiracial literatures and immigrant autobiography.