Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
On Wednesday, February 14, Tackling T.I.N.A. hosted the first of three public conversations scheduled this Spring. Themed around the idea of “Storytelling as a Strategy for Change,” Lehigh students and faculty joined together with Bethlehem community members to imagine how narrative frames and cultural myths shape our social and political realities. Led by graduate students…
With the ease of access afforded by e-readers, many folks choose to turn away from actual books these days. Although some studies suggest a decrease in digital obsession, real books have, largely, been replaced by their sleek, interactive, and convenient cousin. This innovation provides consumers with vast options for their next read at the simple…
For the students of The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, or Charter Arts for short, “the campus is the community.” Located in the heart of Southside Bethlehem, Executive Director & CEO of Charter Arts Diane LaBelle says that the school truly focuses on partnerships and involvement with the South Bethlehem community. While…
Our Speaker’s Background In early November, Lehigh University’s Zoellner Hall filled with students, professors, and local Bethlehem residents, all anticipating Javier Ávila’s one-man show, “The Trouble With my Name.” An English professor at Northampton Community College and recent recipient of Pennsylvania’s Professor of the Year Award in 2015, Ávila has touched the lives of many…
This past Wednesday, Lehigh students, faculty, and alumni had the opportunity to meet and listen to alumni Jeffrey L. Diamond’s book discussion. Since graduating from Lehigh in 1972, Diamond has gone on to lead an outstanding media career as a producer, journalist, and author. From Lehigh to the Media Industry I had the opportunity to…
If you hear the name “Jane Austen,” several images likely pop into your head: ballroom dancing, long Regency-era dresses, and unflinchingly polite manners. You might associate her with modern day conservatism or think of her as the foremother of romantic comedies. Such ideas are not, in a sense, incorrect. In fact, you have over 100…
On September 22, Lehigh University hosted Jane Austen at 200, a free public symposium that brought together over seventy people to celebrate the writer and her works. The event was planned during the bicentennial of the author’s death to consider both the long legacy of critical conversations surrounding her novels and life and imagine future…
“Days after 9/11, an avowed ‘American terrorist’ named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into a Dallas mini-mart and shoots Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladeshi immigrant, maiming and nearly killing him. Ten years after the shooting, Bhuiyan wages a campaign against the State of Texas to have his attacker spared from the death penalty. The True American…
For the past six months, Bethlehem residents have been gathering at the Church Street Bethlehem Area Public Library to talk Jane Austen. As my colleague Dr. Laura Kremmel and I wrote a few months ago, we are taking the opportunity to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death (or, to consider a less morbid occasion,…
2017 marks the 200th anniversary of beloved British author Jane Austen’s death, as well as the publication of her two final novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. To celebrate, the Bethlehem Area Public Library and the Lehigh University English department are partnering in a discussion series. Each month, a group of community members and Lehigh students and…