5.22.2009

EXCITING PROGRAM COMING UP!


SUNDAY, MAY 31, 1:30 pm

Cesar Chavez Library


COMMUNITY STORIES:

THE STRUGGLE IN THE FIELDS



















Hear personal stories of the unionization struggles in Salinas from 1960-1985: The farmworkers movement and Cesar Chavez, growers, and the farmworkers themselves.


(Spanish translation available)



*If you can't make it on May 31 you can still be a part of Salinas Stories. Tell us your story by leaving a comment to this post below. With just a couple of clicks you can add your name to this permanent record, and be a part of an historic voyage into the amazing, and revealing, life, culture, and stories of Salinas! We may even read it on May 31! With your permission, of course!

Brought to you by the little library that could, the Salinas Public Library, roaring back to celebrate 100 years of life and liberty in Salinas, California, the National Steinbeck Center, known world-wide as the premier place for all things John Steinbeck, and the Institute of Museum & Library Services, whose mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas!


5.19.2009

Conversacion: Libres – La Casa en Mango Street


La Casa en Mango Street (The House on Mango Street)

by Sandra Cisneros (En Español)


THURSDAY, MAY 21, 6:30–8:00 pm
Cesar Chavez Library

Esperanza Cordero, coming of age in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, uses poems
and stories to recollect her life on Mango Street. Join one of our librarians for a fun conversation about this book, and whatever it may inspire in you!


5.16.2009

Story the Map!


MAPS WORKSHOPS FOR FAMILIES

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2–4:00 pm John Steinbeck Library

Create living art out of your life in Salinas in this
mixed media workshop in which participants will decorate maps with their own stories. Community maps will be shown in libraries.


5.14.2009

EL TEATRO CAMPESINO COMES TO THE CHAVEZ!




SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2:00 PM!

CESAR CHAVEZ LIBRARY!


El Teatro Campesino comes to the Salinas Public Library! Come on out this Saturday for a lively, interactive time with members of this legendary theatre company!


Bring the whole family and celebrate El Teatro’s years of achievement since its first performances in the fields in 1965, on the back of flatbed trucks. A great time will be had by all!



5.13.2009

MOVIES IN THE CHAVEZ!

Coming to Cesar Chavez Library on 5/14/09 at 5:00PM for FREE, a screening of the HBO film "WALKOUT", and a chance to talk with teacher Sal Castro after the film, whose experience as a young Chicano teacher in East L.A. affected AMERICA, and the way it looked at it's Latino population from 1968 on. Click here to read an article From the May 12 issue of the Monterey Herald, and check out the May 14 issue of The Californian for another article on Sal Castro. So consider yourself invited, and come on out to get some inspiration from someone who's truly "been there"!

*****************************************************************
A film with a powerful message that resonates 38 years after the events it depicts occurred, Walkout is the stirring true story of the Chicano students of East LA, who in 1968 staged several dramatic walkouts in their high schools to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.


Aided by a popular and progressive young teacher, Sal Castro, Paula Crisostomo and a group of young Chicano activists battle parents, teachers, bureaucrats, the police and public opinion to make their point.


Along the way, the students learn profound lessons about embracing their own identity and standing up for what they believe in.


Set in 1968, a tumultuous year that shook America to its foundation, Walkout is a vivid reminder that people can change the world.



MOVIES IN THE CHAVEZ is a new movie series that will happen from time to time at Cesar Chavez Library in Salinas, CA.

5.11.2009

CONVERSATION:BOOKS - AMY TAN


& TUESDAY, MAY 12, 6:30–8:00 PM


Conversation: Books – The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan


Four young Chinese women born in America and their mothers born in feudal China explore their difficult mother-daughter relationships. Join us for another in our series of book talks where we use books as the starting point for enlightening conversations.


It doesn't matter if you've read the book or not because you'll find out about it when you come, though you might want to check it out when we're done!


El Gabilan Library


FREE!


5.05.2009

Upcoming "BRACERO STORIES" film screening


MAY 9, 2009

3:30-4:30 PM

Cesar Chavez Library


· FILM:

“BRACERO STORIES”


This documentary film explores the Bracero Program through interviews with people on all sides of the controversial U.S.-Mexican government program which granted temporary work contracts to millions of Mexican laborers from 1942-1964. Bilingual, with subtitles.

5.01.2009

MAY 2009: CONVERSATION:BOOKS ONLINE

&

MAY 1-31, 2009


CONVERSATION: BOOKS ONLINE


The Spook Who Sat by the Door

by Sam Greenlee


An explosive, award-winning novel in the black literary tradition, "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" is both a satire of the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 1960s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of black militancy.


Dan Freeman, the "spook who sat by the door," is enlisted in the CIA's elitist espionage program. Upon mastering agency tactics, however, he drops out to train young Chicago blacks as "Freedom Fighters." As a story of one man's reaction to ruling-class hypocrisy, the book is autobiographical and personal. As a tale of a man's reaction to oppression, it is universal.


Post your thoughts about this wild ride through America's racial politics at the link below! Could it really happen?


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