The NEA Big Read brings communities together by reading the same book. Thanks to a grant from the NEA, the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts is now hosting our 11th Big Read program for Camden, South Jersey, and the Rutgers-Camden campus. To pick up your FREE COPY of our NEA Big Read book, stop by the Robeson Library or the RCCA Stedman Gallery.
Stay tuned for more updates on Big Read book discussions and other programs taking place Spring 2024!
Explore Sitting Pretty – The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
“Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.
Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life.
Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.” https://rebekahtaussig.com/portfolio/sitting-pretty/
This spring, the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts will participate in NEA Big Read for the 11th time with Sitting Pretty. The two-month celebration features a lecture series, art installation sites, storytelling programs, and more. A copy of Sitting Pretty or an age appropriate companion book will be given to each patron at select events.
For more information on The Big Read or to have your own book group, contact RCCA-Info@Camden.Rutgers.edu
THE BIG READ CALENDAR OF EVENTS
February 14th, 11 am to 1 pm at the Campus Center of Rutgers Camden.
Valentine’s Day Book Tabling Event
Join us for FREE Book Giveaways and a bookmark making activity.
Starting March 6th at the Robeson Library of Rutgers Camden.
Come visit our interactive display and enjoy FREE Book Giveaways at the Robeson Library. Add your insight to the discourse of the writing prompt provided. Writing samples will be shared anonymously via RCCA’s social media sites.
Join us Saturday, March 2nd as we partner with the Salvation Army Kroc Center during the Horizon Healthy Living Fair
130 N. Broadway Camden, NJ 08102
Join us on April 1st and April 4th at 10 am and 12 pm. You can’t miss Tall Tales with Kyle J – Everyone’s favorite storyteller, Kyle Jakubowski will weave his delightful word magic and captivate pre-school aged children through interactive storytelling. Program is appropriate for ages 3 to 6. This event is free and when you attend you will receive a FREE copy of My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay by Carrie Best. Space is limited – email RCCA-Info@Camden.Rutgers.edu to register.
Come join us for a FREE Book Giveaways at the Robeson Library and book discussion group. Add your insight to the discourse of disability with University personnel who will guide you in a talk about the essays by Rebekah Taussig.
