THE FREEDOM TO THINK OR WHY BOOK BANNING IS BORING

By Emily Romero
“if I truly like to think of myself as having a growth mindset then I have to support that with experiences and ideas that challenge me to be a critical & creative thinker and to engage with a variety of people and materials.”

BURNING ÚLTIMA: RUDOLFO ANAYA AND THE IMPACT OF BOOK BANS ON DEMOCRACY

By Vanessa Baca
“June 28 marks two years since Anaya, widely regarded as the Godfather of Chicano literature, died.”

BEYOND THE MACABRE: EDGAR ALLAN POE AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HORROR

By Chrysta Wilson
“Edgar Allan Poe’s status as the father of contemporary horror is so fully entrenched in the American psyche that his portrait is instantly recognizable to people who have never read his work.”

LÁGRIMAS: POEMS OF JOY AND SADNESS

By Nasario García
“I was fascinated by rural life in the desert where the landscape, the sky, the animals, the birds, and the people brought both happiness and sorrow to my heart, but at the same time each one inveigled my imagination.”

INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH

By Ann Bentley
“What do you think of when you hear ‘book club’? Middle aged women discussing the latest literary fiction or, maybe chick lit, novel, while drinking wine of course. Or maybe you think of retirees, discussing the latest John Grisham or C.J. Box novel. You probably don’t think of inmates discussing the plot line of any novel; much less bring up the plot device of ‘the hand of God’ also known as ‘Deus ex machina.'”

HEMINGWAY

By Michael Privett
“For me, the Hemingway work that stuck was The Old Man and The Sea. I was stunned at its raw emotion, specifically Hemingway’s ability to depict a man fiercely at war with the natural world. I struggled with the symbolism; was the fish really a fish, or a metaphor? Did the boy represent the hubris of youth and the Old Man, God?”