蜜柚直播

Diaz was born near the banks of the Colorado River and raised on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation in western 蜜柚直播. She was a high school basketball superstar who later led Old Dominion University to the Final Four as a freshman point guard. She played professional basketball in Europe. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. She identifies as Mojave, Latina and queer.

We see all these things in her award-winning collection,

Most of all, though, we see 蜜柚直播, which is why 鈥淟ove Poem鈥� will be the featured text when begins next weekend.

Organizers are encouraging us to read the book and take part in an upcoming gathering to discuss Diaz鈥檚 poems and the topics they explore.

The series will open with the kickoff event Saturday, Jan. 14, from 9 a.m. to noon at , 946 W. Mission Lane.

The program will be free and open to the public, with a variety of activities celebrating the power of storytelling and poetry when sharing cultural histories.

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Big Read 蜜柚直播 is a community all-read being presented by the University of 蜜柚直播.

Collaborators include the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Education at UA, the Pima County Public Library, Literacy Connects, Make Way for Books, and other literary groups throughout 蜜柚直播.

The core group of planners at UA includes faculty members Sandra Soto, Carol Brochin, Leah Dur谩n and Kathy Short.

Big Read gatherings have been scheduled in libraries, schools and other local gathering spots through April.

Diaz herself will take part in the 蜜柚直播 Festival of Books on March 5. She will be on the 蜜柚直播 stage at 1 p.m. She will also do a reading on the Western National Parks Stage at 4 p.m. In addition, the will be hiding copies of 鈥淧ostcolonial Love Poem鈥� that day around the UA campus.

Short, Director of the Worlds of Words Center at UA, was pleased to see 鈥淟ove Poem鈥� on the list of eligible books from the National Endowment for the Arts.

鈥淚f this is to be a community all-read, we wanted to choose something that could connect all of us 鈥� including our children,鈥� she said. 鈥淧oetry is one genre that can be intergenerational; kids can come with their grandparents.鈥�

Brochin likes the fact Diaz is an 蜜柚直播n who writes about issues that resonate now more than ever.

鈥淣atalie represents a lot of what our state is today,鈥� Brochin said. 鈥淪he talks about things we should be talking about, too: sustainability, indigeneity, community. What can we do about these things in our own community?鈥�

Clearly, Diaz鈥� perspective is unique. Not only was she raised on the Fort Mojave Reservation, she has returned to the Mojave Valley to live.

鈥淧ostcolonial Love Poem鈥� covers a lot of ground, from the bitter history of Native displacement to the many challenges facing her people today. Diaz footnotes history, science, nature, dependency, mental health and Native American mysticism. Three of her poems are about basketball.

The one theme that flows throughout the collection, though, is water. In 鈥淭he First Water is the Body,鈥� Diaz describes the Mojave belief that the waters of the Colorado River flow through members of the tribe from the day they are conceived until the day they die.

In 鈥淗ow the Milky Way Was Made,鈥� she imagines herself lifting fish and animals out of the river and placing them in the sky to relieve the suffering caused by polluted water.

The collection closes with 鈥淕rief Work.鈥� In it, Diaz and her partner submerge themselves in the river. When they emerge, they feel 鈥渃lean, and good.鈥�

鈥淲ater and the future availability of water are probably the most important issues we have in our state today,鈥� Brochin said.

For children who might not be ready to tackle the adult themes addressed in Love Poems, planners of Big Read 蜜柚直播 have selected a companion text: a Caldecott Award-winning picture book by author Carole Lindstrom and illustrator Michaela Goade.

It, too, offers an Indigenous perspective on water. In Ojibwe culture, women are the protectors of water and men the protectors of fire. The Earth is threatened by the Black Snake, which many now interpret as the oil pipelines across native lands.

On the book鈥檚 final page, readers are invited to sign an 鈥淓arth and Water Protector鈥� pledge.

Big Read 蜜柚直播 will be our third NEA all-read in the last 11 years. In 2015-16, Literacy Connects sponsored a Big Read honoring Edgar Allan Poe. In 2011-12, Kore Press presented 鈥淟ove Letters to Emily Dickinson.鈥�

Footnotes

awards dozens of Big Read grants each year to organizations interested in offering all-reads to their communities. This year鈥檚 awards were for $20,000 to purchase books and stage Big Read programs.

Big Read 蜜柚直播 is one of 62 all-read programs being held this year across the United States. Two are being offered in 蜜柚直播. The Graham County Library in Safford is featuring by Andrew Krivac.

Author Tom Miller was remembered as a man who opened doors wherever he went at a memorial service Monday morning at Hudgel鈥檚 Funeral Home. Miller, whose books introduced us to the people of Cuba, Latin America and the American Southwest, died Dec. 19 at the age of 75. Smiling friends used the word 鈥渃urmudgeon鈥� a couple of times. 鈥淐antankerous鈥� was heard. But Miller鈥檚 occasional gruffness could not hide a big heart and total acceptance of everyone he ever met. 鈥淭here were no unimportant people in his world,鈥� one said. 鈥淗e respected everyone, and wanted his stories to do them justice.鈥�