The One Book One College Book discussion series at Illinois Valley Community College is adding Science Fiction to the series this Fall and more ambitious projects centered around the current book theme. The first project by One Book volunteers happened last week when a native pollinator garden was planted at the main entrance of the college. The plot is filled with native wildflowers and grasses that illustrate the importance of the ecosystem and how humans contribute to its survival and deterioration. “We’re effectively changing a landscape! We’d never done anything on this scale before,” said College Librarian Jayna Leipart Guttilla, who is as excited by the garden activity as by the prospect of exploring and connecting to futuristic worlds in the sci-fi novel.
Garden and lifestyle practices preserve habitats where wildlife and pollinators like bees and butterflies that are vital parts of a healthy environment and economy can thrive. The message of rebirth and hope tempered by the underlying environmental threat ties in naturally to a study of Octavia Butler’s post-apocalyptic novel, “Parable of the Sower.” Butler’s tale of global climate change, economic crises and social chaos reached store shelves in 1993 but seems particularly pertinent amid today’s headlines, Guttilla said.
Butler’s message is that “we need to think about the community over the individual and that change is inevitable and a part of the natural cycle of our lives. So it’s important to be resilient in the face of destruction and scary change and to learn to manage it, whether it’s climate anxiety or personal anxiety,” Leipart Guttilla added.
She believes the garden sustains OBOC’s mission to establish a safe haven for the community to speak about difficult issues. Racism, prescription drug addiction, and working poverty and how the community responds to and is affected by them have been the past topics.
A bench made from sustainable materials and boulders moved from the East Campus will add man-made and natural seating to create an inviting space to feel safe and relax, regroup and reflect, she said. Visitors can also admire the garden from inside the building through large windows overlooking it.
English instructors and a biology instructor expect to weave the season’s theme into their class discussions, Leipart Guttilla said. Butler’s life and work are fertile ground for examination and exploration, Leipart Guttilla added: she fostered a cultural movement known as Afrofuturism, and her unique perspective on change and control was shaped by being Black and a woman.
One Book’s 2023-24 season kicks off at campus Spirit Day on September 13, 2023, and activities continue throughout fall and spring. A garden open house is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 18. As another tie-in to the program and the garden, packets of mixed wildflower seeds designed by Leipart Guttilla and filled by Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota – which supplied the garden’s plants and design — will be distributed on campus, to the community upon request through the OBOC web site, and through area Little Free Libraries. For more information on OBOC and the garden, visit https://libguides.ivcc.edu/onebookonecollege.
