Courage and Community: A Resource List

We are building a resource list of books, magazines, articles, websites, blogs, podcasts, mainline films, indie films, and other forms of communication that speaks to the issues of personal courage and creating and encouraging community. What have you read, seen, heard that you would like to suggest?

Here are a few examples:

Film
Lilies of the Field (1963) this Academy Award-winning film allows us to see both personal courage and the creation of community. The film is in black and white and in some ways it explores themes of black and white as well.

Slumdog Millionare (2008) This Golden Globe Award-winning film follows a young man from the slums of Mumbai, India, who appears on a game show and exceeds people’s expectations, raising the suspicions of the game show host and law enforcement.

And Then Came John (1987) This short documentary film chronicles the way that John McGough, born with Down syndrome, became a well-regarded artist, musician, and beloved member of his community.

Non-Fiction
The Unsettling of America, by Wendell Berry (1971) Farmer, poet and author Wendell Berry describes the cost of losing the values and knowledge inherent in family farming to agribusiness. His descriptions of farming communities highlight the idea of community.

Riding the Bus with My Sister, by Rachel Simon (2002) This perceptive chronicle shows how much Simon, a creative writing professor at Bryn Mawr College, had to learn from her mentally retarded sister, Beth, about life, love and happiness.

Fiction
The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay (1996) This bestselling novel is chock full of wisdom and characters from all walks of life who exhibit personal courage.

Websites
Inclusion Press Access to all sorts of informational tools to help people think about welcome and inclusion

Capacity Works Beth Mount is a national consultant working with programs throughout the United States to support others to see capacities in people with disabilities. Her groundbreaking work related to Personal Futures Planning promotes the positive futures and images of people with disabilities throughout the world, and consequently demonstrates that all of us count and all of us fit somewhere.

Now it’s your turn… What have you read and seen that offers a lesson about courage — good old fashioned personal courage — and about community — that experience of being among people who know one another and help one another?

Send us your suggestions and write a description of why you think the material is useful.