These are the details for The 2010 Big Read Tee Shirt and Short Story contests. The novel RLC has chosen is “The Maltese Falcon,” a 1920s crime fiction novel written by that era’s undisputed official on fictional crime writing, Dashiell Hammett. (It’s also a pretty cool movie starring Humphrey Bogart). The prize for each winning entry is a $100 gift card.
Tee-Shirt: The tee-shirt design contest is open to anyone. Design entries must be themed around a mystery concept and include the words “The Big Read.” The winning design will be placed on one side of the shirt in Pantone 187C.
Tip: The less ultra-fine detail the better for a one-color tee design. Think background and foreground only. The shirt will most likely be off-white.
Tee-shirt entries must be submitted no later than 4 p.m., Jan. 22, to the RLC Learning Resource Center at 468 N. Ken Gray Parkway in Ina, IL 62846. Entries can also be submitted via e-mail to wests@rlc.edu. The winning design will be presented at the kick-off celebration, Feb. 24, along with a $100 gift certificate to the winner.
Short Story: Open to high school students in RLC District #521. Short story entries must be submitted no later than 4 p.m., Feb. 19, via e-mail to wests@rlc.edu. Stories must be mystery fiction using a local area as the setting. 1,000 words or less.
A little about The Big Read…
Administered by the National Endowment for the Arts - in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest - The Big Read is meant to address the national decline in literary reading. Partners, such as RLC, are able to choose one title from a list of great novels that they would like to promote for readership in their respective communities.
Questions? Contact Sandy West at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1249 or e-mail her at wests@rlc.edu. Good luck!
No time to get the a book discussion event, no problem. We welcome you to thise online book disucssion. Here are a few questions asked during a regular book disucssion event. Please comment on any you would like.
How do you think American Childhood has and hasn’t changed since the 1840s?
Between Tom and Huck, who’s more of an outlaw and who’s a conformist?
Have you been enjoying your reading of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”? Have you gotten to the part in the book where Tom decides he likes Becky Thatcher instead of Amy? Maybe you’re farther than that. Have you reached the point in the book where the boys decide to start a gang and run away to do pirating?
Rend Lake College kicked-off The Big Read on 2/4/09 during the school’s homecoming. The crowning of the Faculty/Staff King and Queen, Nick LeMay and Barb Hampton, was during the half-time of the women’s game. All nominated faculty/staff members dressed in the theme of “Tom Sawyer.” The official kick-off announcement was made by Interim President, Charley Holstein, during the Pre-game of the men’s basketball game. Please take the oppoportunity and share your thoughts on The Big Read Kick-Off.
The LRC has added 2 new databases to the Electronic Library. The databases are:
Credo Reference - This database allows you to research 391 reference titles with a single search. The titles cover such topics as business, history, law, literature, medicine, religion, and many more.
Grove Music Online - This database allows you to search three major reference sources: The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Grove Music Online, and The Oxford Companion to Music. It includes biographies of musicians, composers, and performers as well as basic and in-depth information about music.
Plan to use these databases for your next research project. Only RLC students and staff have access to these databases which can be found on the Electronic Library. If you have difficulties with access, contact mandrell@rlc.edu.
Research is a major part of a college career. Good research skills can save you time and in the long run increase the level of your writing. Learn more about how to research by attending one or all of the 45 minute workshops held in LRC 130, March 3, 10, 24, and 31at noon and 5 pm each day. Students will learn how to choose a topic, search, locate, and evaluate information, post a comment to a blog and wiki, and create a citation for a works cited or reference page. Plan to attend and give your research skills at boost! Please RSVP to mandrell@rlc.edu if you will be attending.
Boaz Lalang’s Olympic journey ended this morning. Finishing ninth in a race where the top eight advance, Lalang failed to qualify for the 800m men’s final after crossing the finish line just 0.02 seconds behind the second place runner in his heat - Canadian Gary Reed.
A release is available at www.rlc.edu/pressroom with more details.
We should all be very proud of Lalang - Rend Lake College’s greatest athlete.
