Faces of Family Series Opens September 11

A new program offered this fall by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities blends popular movies, free food and an opportunity to talk about what family means to us and to our communities.

The fall series in Lusk at the Niobrara County Library will use technology to connect library participants with inmates at the Wyoming Women’s Center for a shared discussion of the films.

“Popular film creates an engaging, shared space to bring together community members from different backgrounds and family experiences,” said Victoria Foth Sherry, WCH program coordinator. “Fictional movie characters offer us the opportunity to put a ‘face’ on issues affecting our community and to discuss them in a nonjudgmental way.”

Faces of Family begins with John Q, on Monday, September 11, 2006. The 2001 film starring Denzel Washington as a working father who fights back when his son falls through the cracks of the health care system. Next, on September 25 comes A Home of Our Own (1993), with Kathy Bates as a single mother who comes to appreciate the value of community as she builds her family a home in Idaho.

October 9 will feature White Oleander which follows a young girl’s journey from foster care to independence after her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) lands in prison. The series concludes on October 23 with The Education of Little Tree, the tale of an orphan who finds a loving home with his white grandfather and Cherokee grandmother in Depression-era Tennessee.

Each program begins with a free meal, followed by the movie screening and audience discussion. The series will be held at the Niobrara County Library at 6 p.m. on Monday, September 11, September 25, October 9 and October 23. Discussion leaders will be Don Hodgson and Cristina Colling.

Faces of Family is presented in partnership with the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Our Families Our Future is cosponsoring the statewide series. Major funding is provided by the We the People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.