For the 5th year in a row, the Morongo Basin celebrates the annual Big Reads Community-Wide Reading Event which started on March 2nd and goes to April 1st.
After receiving a $20,000 Big Reads grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the 5th year, Arts Connection will be holding another month of free public programs and activities centered around the themes of the memoir-in-essays Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by author and disability advocate Rebekah Taussig. The book will be available for free at various Morongo Basin locations.
Taussig was left paralyzed from the waist down after surviving a malignant cancer that attacked her spine when she was only 14 months old. Through a series of thoughtful, conversational essays, Taussig interrogates conceptions of kindness and charity, dependence, and independence. She grapples with the myth of ableism and the concept of feminism, chronicles the struggles of finding accessible affordable housing and celebrates the dimensions of identity formed through community, self-exploration, affinity, and partnership.
The 2024 Morongo Basin Big Reads kicked off last Saturday at Copper Mountain College with a keynote lecture by Kate Zancowitz and performance by Linda Sibio, a free book giveaway, artist-led activities, and art exhibition. Other key programming throughout the month will include five book discussions, a presentation on anti-ableism and inclusion within arts programming, free writing, zine making and performance workshops, and programs for local school aged youth.
For more event information and free giveaway locations for Taussig’s book Sitting Pretty, please visit bigreadmorongobasin.com.
