Book Notes: EWU prof to read from ‘TV’

If you’re a typical American, you watched an average of four hours and 35 minutes of television per day last week.

And you’ll probably do the same thing this coming week.

Some families, though, don’t watch television at all. Those are the kind of families that participated in TV-Turnoff Week – a national movement, sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group Center for Screen-Time Awareness, that ends today.

Barbara Brock consulted some 500 of those families to write her book “Living Outside the Box: TV-Free Families Share Their Secrets” (Eastern Washington University Press, 120 pages, $17.95 paper).

A professor of recreation management at EWU, Brock surveyed not just families but more than 1,200 individuals from across the country who live without televisions.

Here’s a brief summation: Families that turned off their televisions actually found time to communicate.

” ‘Living Outside the Box’ is an empowering example of what each one of us can do, for ourselves and for our families, by the following the examples set by those who have walked this path before us,” wrote Robert Kesten, executive director of Center for Screen-Time Awareness.

“Though still very techno-savvy, this population of TV-free Americans made a choice that favors family and community – something we all might want to emulate,” says Seattle author and television producer John de Graaf, co-author of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic.”

“Taking back even half of our television time to get involved with good leisure would produce a much more vibrant and interesting society.”

Brock will share what she found during a reading at 1 p.m. today at Auntie’s Bookstore. The event, which will take place in the Liberty Cafe – as do most of the store’s readings these days – is free and open to the public.

Slam time

Seven poets emerged from Wednesday night’s round of the Spokane Poetry Slam series, which has been ongoing since October.

That competition at the Caterina Winery set the lineup for the series finals on May 16. According to slam organizer Daniel Harrington, the top four from that competition will represent Spokane in the National Poetry Slam, which will be held Aug. 7 through 11 in Austin, Texas.

Wednesday’s finishers were: 1, Zack Graham; 2, Meghan McDonald; 3, Chris McConnell; 4, Hannah Vogel; 5 (tie), John Kephart and Candace Green; 6, Steve Peterson.

Vogel, a junior at Sandpoint High School, placed first in the Sandpoint Poetry Slam and the Get Lit! Teen Poetry Slam.

For writers only

Want a chance to earn $1,000 plus publication in The Writer magazine? Then enter its 2007 short-story contest.

Submissions must be original and previously unpublished, and written in English by an author who is 18 or older. Explicit sex and violence are prohibited, and all manuscripts must be 2,000 words or less and accompanied by a $10 entry fee.

Three top winners will earn $1,000, $300 and $200, respectively, and will be published in the magazine.

Entries must be postmarked by June 30. For further information, go to www.writermag.com.

To obtain an entry form by mail, sent a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Guidelines, c/o The Writer, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612.

Christian views

The uniquely named Book and a Beer Book Club – which will discuss “Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith” by Rob Bell at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Empyrean Coffee House (see below) – calls itself a “book club that reads and discusses books that challenge us to live out a life inspired by Christ, in our current post-Christendom age. All are welcome and encouraged to join in on the conversation.”

For more information, call the Book Parlor at (509) 328-6527.

Book talk

“Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers, 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Old Country Buffet, 5504 N. Division St. Guest speaker: Joei Carlton Hossack (“Alaska Bound and Gagged”). Call Barbara Cagle at (509) 233-8051 or e-mail donbarcagle@air-pipe.com.

“Gay and Lesbian Book Group (“Distant Echo,” by Val McDermid), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

“Book and a Beer Book Club (“Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith,” by Rob Bell), 7 p.m. Wednesday, Empyrean Coffee House, 154 S. Madison St.

“Valley Readers Group (“The Remains of the Day,” by Kazuo Ishiguro), 7 p.m. Thursday, Valley Hastings, 15312 E. Sprague Ave. Call (509) 924-0667.

The reader board

“Barbara Brock (“Living Outside the Box: TV-Free Families Share Their Secrets”), 1 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore.

“Rich Leon (“North Idaho Trail Guides”), slide show, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore (second-floor auditorium).

“Christina Crawford (“Daughters of the Inquisition”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

“Nicolette Stasko (“Glass Cathedrals: New and Selected Poems”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

“Patricia A. Hicks Ruiz (“Roberto Listens”), book presentation, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday during the Newport, Wash., Rhubarb Festival. Call (509) 447-9277.