‘Big Read’ events in October look at survival
- Jan Cook
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – In “Station Eleven,” the Big Read novel by Emily St. John Mandel, physical survival looms large after the Georgia Flu kills billions of people across the world.
Without modern commerce, medical treatment, and transportation, people are on their own for food, medicine and so many other things we take for granted.
All during October the NEA Big Read in Lake County will feature “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel.
The NEA Big Read is a communitywide reading program where community members are all encouraged to read and discuss the same book.
The public is invited to join the Lake County Library’s Big Read to discuss Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel that examines life and death, faith and fate, music and drama, arts and technology, and power and control.
The Big Read will highlight the physical side of survival in a series of events covering medical questions, survival skills, and food.
Dr. Karen Tait of the Lake County Public Health Department and Tammy Carter of Sutter Lakeside Hospital tackle medical issues.
On Wednesday, Oct. 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Lakeport Library learn how your local Public Health department detects and takes action to prevent the spread of disease and what everyone can do to help.
Dr. Tait will present this free program. “Surviving the Apocalypse: Fact and Fiction” will be the topic on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library when Tammy Carter of Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s Infectious Disease Division helps sort out fact from fiction while discussing the pandemic that forever alters civilization in “Station Eleven.”
In a world without commercially available food, people will need to rely more on wild food than we do.
The culinary program of the Lake County Campus of Woodland College will prepare and sell “survival-camp food,” a delicious venison stew at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Come for lunch and a presentation featuring “Station Eleven.” A Shakespeare skit and an activity that focuses on “more than survival” will follow lunch.
The campus is located at 15880 Dam Rd. Extension in Clearlake. For information call Pamela Bordisso at 707-995-7914.
To wash down their wild food and avoid diseases found in impure water, people could well turn to brewing their own beer.
Two local breweries, O’Meara Brothers Brewing Co. at 901 Bevins St. in Lakeport and Kelsey Creek Brewing Co. at 3945 Main St. in Kelseyville have created “Station Eleven” brews in honor of the Lake County Big Read.
No longer able to pop into the local store and buy what they need or call the neighborhood repairperson to fix broken things, people would have to relearn old skills to survive.
On Saturday, Oct. 7, will be the Forgotten Skills Fair at the Courthouse Museum from 1 to 5 p.m. 255 N. Main St. in Lakeport.
Local artisans will demonstrate old skills such as spinning yarn, washing clothes on a washboard, butter churning, pottery making, and flint knapping, just like the survivors in “Station Eleven.” This event is free.
Free copies of the book will be available at all four Lake County Library branches and at Big Read events in October while supplies last.
Free versions of “Station Eleven” are available for download on the library’s online catalog as well as print and audio copies.
Learn more about the book selection and planned events, and sign up for the Big Read email updates on the website www.lakecountybigread.com.
Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.