Friday February 19, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Listening In: Open mic jam – Word share – Wisdom clips 

The Eddy invites you to celebrate International Mother Language Day by reading a brief text in the first language you learned. This may be a poem, an aphorism, a famous quotation or passage. Or just join us to listen in. We aim to share the multilingual voices of our New Paltz community and honor the abundance of cultural wisdom we hold.

Already, people have signed up to read in Czech, French, Mandarin Chinese, Hebrew, Dutch, Creole, and German!

All students, employees, staff, faculty, administrative divisions/groups invited to participate by listening or presenting.

Liberal Arts & Sciences newsletter article about the 2021 event here.

Join us via this Zoom link. 

How to participate as a Reader (5 minutes max):   

• Introduce yourself.    
• Read, recite, or perform the text live or in a pre-recorded format in your mother language. 
• Translate, if you like, and briefly explain your choice of text.   
• Provide a slide of the text or another image (optional).
• If you would like to participate from a campus computer at the Dorsky Museum, please indicate this on the registration form.
• You are welcome to read without registration as time allows.

Please see Andrea Frank’s example video here

Another example by Mary McLaughlin, American Sign Language.

Marinella Garatti – Italian via video

Here is a recording of the entire event:

Register to Read a text

or simply show up!

A celebration of the Lunar New Year will begin at 4:15 p.m. at the same link

Dr. Chuanxin Weng (Adjunct Professor, Art History) “Palace Women and Children Celebrating the New Year: A Painting at the Freer Gallery.”

Qiong Liu (Adjunct Professor, Asian Studies) “History of the Changing Traditions of the Lunar New Year.”

Co-hosts: Asian Studies, Center for Student Engagement, Center for International Programs, Creative Writing Program, Deaf Studies, The Eddy, English Department, Executive Committee of the college faculty senate, International Student Union, Department of Literatures, Languages & Cultures,  Sustainability Faculty Fellows Learning Community, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Office of Veteran and Military Services, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Faculty Fellows,  School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Faculty Development Center. 

The Eddy at New Paltz is an emergent initiative for connecting, co-creating, learning, and innovative teaching across disciplines for students, faculty, staff, and community partners. We envision the Eddy as an integrative space in which a paradigm based on radical care, as opposed to harm, is brought into being through transdisciplinary exploration, dialogue, and action. Our goal is to develop models for innovative and future-oriented education rooted in sustainable and equitable practices.

Eddy Info & Proposal Questions?  Please email Andrea Frank (Art Dept) via (eddy@newpaltz.edu) or (franka@newpaltz.edu)

Questions about the United Nations International Mother Language Event?  Please email (facultycenter@newpaltz.edu) 

Zoom Meeting Information:Linkhttps://us04web.zoom.us/j/74143274656?pwd=MUE0TmR6VEdvVlU3VVNZTmNCRkFYQT09International Mother Language Day readers

• Cesar Barros – Spanish, “el alarido” by Rodrigo Lira (Chile)
• Anat Shiftan – Hebrew, “Each of us Has a Name” by  Zelda
• Paul Fenouillet – French, “Ma Vie” Henri Michaux (Belgium)
• Aya Kikuta – Japanese 
• Michelle Woods – Czech, “Vlastní životopis” / “Autobiography” by Jaroslav Seifert (about his mother)
• Francoise Dunefsky – Dutch, “Poortje in Sopron” by Stefan Hermans
• Yongli Li – Mandarin Chinese, Shanghai dialect
• Aurora De Armendi – Spanish, “Amor America” by Pablo Neruda

• Gwen Lloyd – Creole 
• Emely Jorge – Spanish, “Paisajes de Estados Unidos” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio
• Lisa Mitten – Dutch
• Melissa Paniagua – Spanish
• Yuying Zhang- Chinese, The Ballad of Mulan
• Mary McLaughlin – American Sign Language video

• Marinella Garatti – Italian via video, “L’Infinito” by Giacomo Leopardi
• Christiana Fortune-Reader (with baby Juniper!) – German, Joseph von Eichendorff, “Wuenschelrute”
• Anne Galperin – Hindi
• Ilgu Ozler – Turkish by Nazin Hikmet

Google doc for planning two New York Times language related stories.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/world/europe/silbo-gomero-canary-islands.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/nyregion/rare-languages-seke-vlashki-wakhi.html