November 12, 2014 at 3:29 p.m.
ArtStart hosts community read book discussion group
ArtStart hosts community read book discussion group
By Kayla Thomason-
The book tells the true story of Enrique, a 16-year-old immigrant trying to find his mother who had moved to the United States. The book depicts his journey over the course of a year.
The group quickly focused on the desire Enrique had to be with his mother.
"If you can't - in the face of this - (if your) heart doesn't get touched by that longing that for every parent for a child and every child for a parent, you know, that's just human," said Laura Ehmann, program director for ArtStart.
The topic then shifted to immigration issues and how dangerous it is for the thousands of children who are trying to find their families in the U.S..
"I didn't know that they ride on top of freight trains - these children - and lots of them lose their lives, their legs, they are preyed upon by bandits all through Mexico," said Rebecca Niese. "I didn't know any of this, I knew that children are arriving here but I didn't know how and the dangers and the sacrifices."
She said Enrique made the journey eight or 10 times. He kept getting sent back by Mexicans and as soon as he would get home he'd head back out again traveling thousands of miles on top of freight trains, according to Niese.
"I didn't realize how Mexico doesn't want these Central American immigrants and so they catch them and send them back again and again and again," she said.
ArtStart members were pleased with the turnout and how the discussion went.
"I'm very happy [with the turnout]," Ehmann said. "It's more important that we offer [the program] than the numbers. Yes, you want people to come but it's important that these things are offered in the community."
She loved that the discussion wasn't strictly about what happened in the book but expanded to issues discussed in the story.
Jan Leschke enjoyed the evening.
"The discussion is going really great, the moderator is fantastic," Leschke said. "People in this day and age need to be - should be - treated much better."
"[The discussion is really interesting I'm just really glad that the community is doing this because it's an issue that it's really timely, it's really important, not a lot of people know much about the issues and I was really excited that they were doing this book," Niese added. "I think this is a good event, I'm really grateful to the people that arranged it and that we should do more of this."
The book discussion group was born out of ArtStart leaders' desire to offer unique programming.
"We just want to create an atmosphere of a lot of different cultural opportunities for those that want to participate whether it's two people or 60 people," said Judi Linder, events coordinator for ArtStart.
ArtStart may have more book discussions in the near future. They also provide guests with snacks and complimentary beverages.
"There's people moving here from all over the world and people from bigger cities expect this kind of thing and when they don't have it they miss it and so this kind of thing is good for everyone," Leschke said.
Visit www.artstartrhinelander.org for a list of upcoming activities at ArtStart.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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