New Commons Project
at the University of Maine at Farmington
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October 2019
The New Commons Film Series: DAWNLAND
The New Commons Film Series presents the 2018 Emmy-nominated documentary DAWNLAND, a powerful exploration of the US government's forcible removal of Native American children from their homes. As recently as the 1970’s, one in four Native children nationwide were living in non-Native foster care,…
Find out more »Keynote Event: Cheryl Savageau, Poetry Reading
The New Commons Project proudly presents a poetry reading by Cheryl Savageau, author of the Pulitzer-nominated poetry collection DIRT ROAD HOME (the New Commons selection for October 2018). Savageau’s poetry retells Abenaki stories, often focusing on the unrecognized lives of women and the working…
Find out more »Sabine Klein, “Norridgewock: Massacre and Memory”
Join Dr. Sabine Klein (Associate Professor of English at UMF) for a critical discussion of the deaths of approximately 80 Abenaki during a British massacre in Norridgewock, Maine in August 1724.
Find out more »Panel Discussion on THE SIMPSONS
THE SIMPSONS has been a powerful force in American culture for over 30 years, blending satire on current events with the humorous pastiche of famous television, literary, film, and musical works. This panel discussion of members of the UMF community (featuring Dr. Steven W.…
Find out more »November 2019
Bread & Puppet Workshop
This special workshop will focus on the performance techniques of the world-renowned Bread & Puppet Theater. All students who participate in the workshop will also participate in the Sunday performance. Saturday, Nov. 9th 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Workshop Part 1 4 -6 p.m.…
Find out more »Bread and Puppet Theater Presents: The Essential Furthermore
The Essential Furthermore draws on the German peasant rebellions of the 14 and 15 hundreds to address the need for insurrection against the status quo of planetary ecological collapse, and hostility to the refugees created by natural and human-made disasters. The show demonstrates the…
Find out more »Keynote Event: Jonathan Gray, “Television of Homeric Proportions: 16 Reasons THE SIMPSONS Succeeded”
Join Dr. Jonathan Gray (Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Watching With The Simpsons: Television, Parody, And Intertextuality) for an analysis of the ways by which THE SIMPSONS' radical comedy impacted television history and audiences.
Find out more »The New Commons Film Series: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
After hundreds of television episodes, THE SIMPSONS embarked on a feature-length film in 2007 appropriately titled THE SIMPSONS MOVIE. Following Homer's redemption and touching on issues like political corruption and environmentalism, THE SIMPSONS MOVIE is a perfect introduction to the Springfield universe for the…
Find out more »The New Commons Film Series: I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
The New Commons Film Series presents I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, an Oscar-nominated 2016 documentary highlighting James Baldwin's observations on American history and racism. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is inspired by Baldwin's unfinished 1970s work Remember This House.…
Find out more »James Baldwin Symposium
Join Guy Mark Foster (Baldwin scholar and Associate Professor of English at Bowdoin College), Stefania Heim (poet, scholar, translator, editor and educator), Julian Randall (poet with MFA from the University of Mississippi), and Ian Davis (scholar of transnational modernisms, race, gender, and sexuality) for…
Find out more »Poetry Reading with Stefania Heim, Julian Randall, and Kristen Case
The New Commons Project presents a poetry reading by award-winning authors Stefania Heim (poet, scholar, translator, editor and educator), Julian Randall (poet with MFA from the University of Mississippi), and Kristen Case (Associate Professor English at UMF).
Find out more »December 2019
Keynote Event: Jericho Brown, “The Cultural Import of James Baldwin and The Tradition”
Scholar and poet Jericho Brown (Associate Professor and the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University) will discuss his own work, as well as situate James Baldwin's writing within a linage of creative African American cultural criticism. He is is the recipient…
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