Huckleberry Finn and Racism
By Fran Kaye
For the last decade, controversy has swirled around Mark Twain's novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Specifically, the book has been attacked as racist. This program discusses objections to the book; places it in its political, social and linguistic context; and concludes with strategies that readers can use to better understand Huck Finn.

Intercultural Communication
By Janet Lu
This presentation covers bilingual education issues and discusses how language, both verbal and nonverbal, plays a significant role in helping people develop a mutual understanding and solve problems that are created by language barriers. It examines how education plays a role in teaching people to respect others who are different and have different skin colors. Lu addresses issues of multiculturalism and shares personal experiences. Lu prefers to speak within a 60-mile radius of Lincoln.

James Whitcomb Riley, the Fiddling Children's Poet
By Deborah Greenblatt
Using Riley's own words, Greenblatt weaves a whimsical glimpse into the world of this famous Hoosier poet. This show, performed in character and in costume, features musical settings of Riley's poems composed by Greenblatt, as well as portions of Riley's lectures (he toured with Edgar Allan Poe) and letters (he corresponded with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

Leslie and Julia Stephen: A Victorian Man and Woman
By Evelyn Haller
In this presentation, Leslie and Julia Stephen, parents of Virginia Woolf, represent Victorian man and woman. A man of enormous energy and achievement, Leslie was an outstanding Alpine climber who wrote a book on the subject. Later, he was editor of The Cornhill Magazine, founder and editor of The Dictionary of National Biography and editor of The Men of Letters series of literary biographies. Julia wrote and published a book as "Mrs. Leslie Stephen" entitled "The Care of the Sick in the Home," a subject about which she had extensive knowledge. Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron was Julia's aunt, and this program is illustrated with her images. 

Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit
By Wally A. Seiler
The great American humorist Mark Twain turned to lecturing as a method of making money. His lectures competed with other forms of entertainment, but he always drew a large audience. His secret was the wonderful stories he told, some true and some fabricated. In this presentation, Twain look-alike Seiler recounts some of Twain's best-loved writings as he might have presented them on the lecture circuit.

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
By Spencer Davis
In 1952 "Invisible Man" won the National Book Award upon publication and is today recognized as one of the most important novels of the last half century. This presentation is intended to highlight Ellison’s use of African-American popular culture and his indebtedness to W.E.B. DuBois and James Weldon Johnson. The presentation includes passages for discussion and concludes with a question-and-answer period.