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October 3, 2022
Thank you for joining the Mary Ann Key Book Club in a collective effort to read, learn, discuss, and foster the change we need to see in our community.
Thursday, October 6, 7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom
Join columnist Myron Medcalf and Dr. Tarshia Stanley in a discussion of “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler.
Registration required
Collaborator: Star Tribune
Sponsor: Friends of the Hennepin County Library
Share your feedback
Tell us your thoughts as you read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler. Share your feedback, reflections or questions. Responses and questions may be shared with Myron Medcalf and library staff, and quotes may be shared with readers through our newsletter.
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, activist, and the author of “See No Color” and “Dream Country” young adult novels that won Minnesota Book Awards in 2016 and 2019. Gibney is faculty in English at Minneapolis College, where she teaches writing. A Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow, her new novel, “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption” explores themes of transracial adoption through speculative memoir (Dutton, 2023).
Join Shannon Gibney in an in-person discussion of the book at Sumner Library, October 13, 6:30 p.m. Registration required
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Meet Minister JaNaé Bates (she/her)
She is the communications director for Faith in Minnesota and ISAIAH – multi-racial, multi-faith, state-wide vehicles for people and communities of faith, Black owned barbershops and childcare centers. She has been instrumental in the implementation of the “Race Class Gender Narrative” framework in both Minnesota and across the U.S. As a co-creator and co-writer on the award-winning animated series MINE, JaNaé has leveraged grassroots organizing and strategic communications with the genius of artists and other social justice organizers, to create the world that she prophetically and politically casts a vision for daily.
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JaNaé is a womanist theologian and Fulbright scholar. She has nearly two decades of academic and professional experience in ministry, social justice, politics and communications.
Join JaNaé Bates in an in-person discussion of the book at Webber Park Library, October 12, 1-2:30 p.m. Registration required.
Minister JaNaé Bates' reflections
The story of “Parable of the Sower” had a profound impact on me - both theologically and socio-politically. The themes of racial inequality, the climate crisis, dismantling of democracy, unchecked and rampant capitalism, and the ways in which religion and faith - along with a healthy critique of both - are core to our own collective current story. This was simultaneously a cautionary tale and an inspirational labor.
The timing of which I read “Parable of the Sower” couldn’t have been more divine. I read the pages of this book intently as I lay in my sickbed with COVID for the first - and prayerfully last - time while on the beautiful island and in the incredible sovereign country of Cuba. I‘d felt ill and tested positive on day 2 of my 10 day stay, thus requiring me to quarantine for 9 days. This took place only days after I hosted a statewide premiere of an animated web series that I co-wrote with artists and activists. The story of MINE, like “Parable of the Sower,” is as an afro-futurism piece that’s both a critique of political handling of the climate crisis and also a hope infused consideration that what we currently see doesn’t have to be our future.
Reflecting on the brilliant, heartbreaking and vibrant storytelling of Octavia Butler, I couldn’t help but make the connection to my then, current, Cuban environment and situation. There I was, benefiting from universal healthcare in a country committed to caring for everyone on their land through ensuring access to quality and free healthcare, food, childcare and education, while simultaneously dealing with a blockade placed on them by my own country, making it necessary to preserve, reserve and be judicious about the use of everything, from water to electricity to toilet paper. “Parable of the Sower” is a story of resilience in the face of external and internal conflict, a conflict that all of us must wrestle with now, to mitigate pending futures we haven’t yet created.
Meet Maya Washington
She is a filmmaker, author, performing artist and educator whose work has garnered fellowships and awards. She holds a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Southern California, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. Her sports documentary and debut memoir by the same name, “Through the Banks of the Red Cedar,” is about her father Minnesota Vikings and Spartans football legend Gene Washington and the desegregation of college football at MSU.
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Her recent work includes directing episodes of History Channel's "I Was There" and Fox's "The Killer Next Door," from production company Committee films. Maya’s award-winning narrative short films CLEAR and White Space. White Space aired on network television and was nominated for a Black Reel Award in addition to others. Her work in the community includes creative support for George Floyd Global Memorial and Emmett Till Legacy Foundation.
Maya Washington's reflections
The state of the world in 2022 often leaves me weary in the way that Lauren describes in “Parable of the Sower”: “I can take a lot of pain without falling apart. I’ve had to learn to do that. But it was hard, today, to keep peddling and keep up with the others when just about everyone I saw made me feel worse and worse.”
Revisiting the ecosphere of Butler’s characters and their struggles in the not-so-distant future, living in the years 2024-2027, as we in the Twin Cities, and within the state of Minnesota, we witness a time of universal upheaval at home, in our nation, and around the globe that carries the weight of the author’s prophetic voice decades after the book’s release. We, too, are grappling with the ideas of community, self-preservation, and how to navigate the jagged landscapes of our fragile lives or imagine a future where human life is not at odds with itself or the planet.
Centering a Black teenager’s journey as an empathic and resilient hero is a perspective that is much needed for our youth— and for those of us who aren’t so young— that speaks to both Octavia Butler’s craft and intuitive understanding of the inherent obstacles to the survival of the human species. As we plant ourselves in the world of “Parable of the Sower,” perhaps we might find solace, if not solidarity, pondering the words of Bankole upon burying his relatives. “Human beings will survive of course. Some other countries will survive. Maybe they’ll absorb what’s left of us…You know, as bad as things are, we haven’t hit bottom yet.”
Afrofuturism: The Search for Black Genius
Saturday, October 22, 1-3 p.m.
Webber Park Library
In this interactive workshop, we will examine the role of Afrofuturism in contemporary media in dismantling problematic tropes about Black people. We will discuss Afrofuturist thought and theory and the integral role of Afrofuturist ideology in our search for Black, Brown and Indigenous Genius. Led by Stephanie Chrismon. Collaborator: More Than a Single Story. This program is funded with money from the Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Registration required
Prince: Way Back Home
Saturday, October 22, 2-3:30 p.m.
Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall
Join Prince’s cousin Charles “Chazz” Smith and the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Elliott Powell as they discuss why and how Black Minnesota matters when we think and talk about Prince. Their conversation will highlight the Black geographical spaces and Black historical forces in Minnesota that were foundational to Prince’s life and career and showcase how North Minneapolis influenced his music, philanthropy, and politics. This program is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Seating in Pohlad Hall limited to first 235 attendees.
Find more information here: Prince: Way Back Home
Parable of the Sower’s Lessons and Inspiration: Writing Dystopian Stories of BIPOC Characters in the Era of Climate Change
Friday, November 4, 2-4 p.m.
East Lake Library
We journey with Lauren and her evolving Earthseed community through the challenges of surviving the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. Explore how Butler’s writing of these characters might inform our own work centering fictional BIPOC characters navigating the apocalypse of our time – climate change. Led by Shannon Gibney. Collaborator: More Than a Single Story. This program is funded with money from the Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Registration required
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