Trio of Programs at the Jesup Focus on Justice, Equity, and Race
BAR HARBOR—The Jesup Memorial Library has a slew of discussions and presentations in the upcoming two weeks starting with an information session and discussion with Downeast Restorative Justice today, Wednesday, February 8, at 6 p.m..
Downeast Restorative Justice’s information session and discussion will explore the philosophy and action of restorative practices, restorative justice, and transformative justice. This session will also be an opportunity to hear about our regional programs in schools, our processes with referrals from law enforcement or the courts and our trainings and partnerships.
Downeast Restorative Justice will be offering a follow-up training series on February 18 and 21 for anyone interested in a deeper understanding or for anyone who would like to be more involved.
For further information on where and when the follow-up training sessions will be held please go to: http://downeastrestorativejustice.org
This event is a hybrid program and registration is required to attend either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/justice or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.
Racial Disparities in Maine Healthcare
On Thursday, February 9, at 7 p.m., the library hosts “Racial Disparities in Healthcare in Maine: A Conversation with Hibo Omer,” executive director of the New Mainers Public Health Initiative (NMPHI).
New Mainers Public Health Initiative (NMPHI), is an ethnic-based organization in Lewiston, Maine. Fluent in French, Somali, Amharic, Oromo, and Adere, Mrs. Omer has extensive experience as an interpreter and cultural broker in Lewiston. She has led weekly workshops for over a decade on taboo topics such as cancer, women's health, and autism through the Women's Health and Developmental Delay Awareness program at NMPHI. Her passion is promoting health literacy and encouraging healthy choices among new Mainers. In her spare time, Mrs. Omer enjoys spending time with her family, cooking traditional Somali and Ethiopian dishes with healthy alternatives, and working as a Public Health and Diversity Consultant for the NH-ME Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program. She previously served as Program Director at NMPHI, focusing on Health Literacy and the inclusion of children with disabilities.
This presentation will delve into the racial disparities in healthcare in Maine, highlighting how these disparities affect the health outcomes of communities of color. Attendees will learn about the root causes of these disparities and explore potential solutions for addressing them. This presentation aims to raise awareness of the issue and inspire action toward creating a more equitable healthcare system in Maine.
This event is a hybrid program and registration is required to attend either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/cardon or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.
A Radical American Life
On Thursday, February 16 at 7 p.m. Lydia Moland will discuss her book, Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life.
Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life tells the story of what brought Child to this moment and the extraordinary life she lived in response. Through Child’s example, philosopher Lydia Moland asks questions as pressing and personal in our time as they were in Child’s: What does it mean to change your life when the moral future of your country is at stake? When confronted by sanctioned evil and systematic injustice, how should a citizen live? Child’s lifetime of bravery, conviction, humility, and determination provides a wealth of spirited guidance for political engagement today.
By 1830, Lydia Maria Child had established herself as something almost unheard of in the American nineteenth century: a beloved and self-sufficient female author. Best known today for the immortal poem “Over the River and Through the Wood,” Child had become famous at an early age for spunky self-help books and charming children’s stories. But in 1833, Child shocked her readers by publishing the first book-length argument against slavery in the United States—a book so radical in its commitment to abolition that friends abandoned her, patrons ostracized her, and her book sales plummeted. Yet Child soon drew untold numbers to the abolitionist cause, becoming one of the foremost authors and activists of her generation.
Lydia Moland is professor of philosophy at Colby College. Her scholarship in German philosophy, including Hegel’s Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism, has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ACLS, and the American Academy in Berlin. Her work on Lydia Maria Child has appeared in the Paris Review, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and on National Public Radio.
This event is co-sponsored by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops and copies of Moland’s book will be on sale that night as well as at any of their stores or online at shermans.com.
Please register to attend this hybrid program either in person or on Zoom. Register at jesuplibrary.org/events/moland or email eventsignup@jesuplibrary.org.