When: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:30 PM-1:30 PM Where: Pacific Room at TidesThe Thoreau Center is hosting a screening of the recently released film Amreeka. This film chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle.By writer-director Cherien Dabis in her feature film debut, Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home.National Geographic Entertainment will release Amreeka in September 2009. Amreeka is a First Generation Films-Alcina Pictures-Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production, presented by E1 Entertainment in association with Levantine Entertainment, Rotana Studios and Showtime Arabia.Amreeka made its world premiere in dramatic competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and played as Opening Night of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Amreeka made its debut internationally in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
Book Discussion: A Sand County Almanac
and Sketches Here and ThereWednesday, November 4, 2009In the library
12:30p to 1:30p
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Come join your friends and co-workers and share your thoughts about Aldo Leopold's classic and influential work of nature writing, A Sand County Almanac. Forester, wildlife ecologist, environmental philosopher, and educator, Leopold articulated ideas in this writing that have come to be at the core of conservation ethics today. A call for a fundamental reform in humankind's relationship to the land, it is a beautifully and forcefully written account of his own encounters with wild nature and a celebration of its richness.Please let us know at library@thoreau.org if you are interested in attending and/or if you need help finding a copy.
(And yes, since we are doing this at lunch time, you will be allowed to eat in the library - just be careful around the couch)
When: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:30 PM-1:30 PM.
Location: Pacific Room at Tides
Join the center for a film screening of Money-Driven Medicine. This film provides the essential introduction Americans need if they are to become knowledgeable participants in healthcare reform.
Produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and based on Maggie Mahar's acclaimed book, Money Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much, the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare system, how it went so terribly wrong and what it will take to fix it.
The Catcher in the Rye . . . I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings . . . Captain Underpants . . .
What do these books have in common? They have all been the targets of efforts to have them banned from libraries. While you might have heard recently about popular controversies over the Harry Potter series, you might not know the full extent to which such challenges continue to occur in America today. Or that And Tango Makes Three, the heartwarming tale of two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who start a family together, has been the most challenged book in the country for three years running. These challenges come from individuals, groups, and public authorities who work to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label views “controversial” and books “objectionable”, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society. Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, including 513 in 2008. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four are to material in public libraries. OIF estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded. While some books have been restricted, in most cases the efforts of librarians, teachers, parents, students, and other members of the community have ensured that the works remain fully accessible.
Banned Books Week, September 26 to October 3, is an annual celebration of the freedom to read freely and the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and it stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. It commemorates that most basic right of a democratic society, the right of intellectual freedom, and reminds us not take this freedom for granted. The Whole Earth Library is joining thousands of libraries and bookstores around the country in recognition of the week with a special display. Do you have a favorite book? Chances are that someone has tried to ban it somewhere. We are setting up a banned book wall in front of the library and encouraging you to stop by all week and write a quote on it from a banned or challenged book. Find out what books have been challenged by visiting the ALA's Frequently Challenged Books page and its list of Banned and Challenged Classics. Or try the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression Banned and Challenged Book List. Also be sure to visit the Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 Map for a striking visual display of the problem. If you don't have a copy of your favorite banned book at hand consider visiting the Project Gutenberg site for free ebooks or The Open Library can help you track down other online copies as well as physical ones. On Friday, October 2, we will also be providing some snacks by the book swap area so you can mingle and share your banned books experiences. So come on by! And if you haven’t yet, sign up to become a member of the library. It’s FREE.
Growing Resilience
Community Resilience Toolkit Launch Party!
WHEN: Wednesday, September 16, 6-8:30 pm
WHERE: Women's Building, 3543 18th St., SF (Only blocks from the 16th St. BART station)
In response to worsening energy, climate, and economic crises, Bay Localize is equipping organizers in our region with the tools they'll need to build strong communities. Join them for "Growing Resilience," a launch event for their long-awaited Community Resilience Toolkit!
The Toolkit is a workshop facilitation guide for leading groups to think holistically about how to build ecological, economic, and social resilience in their communities while decreasing reliance on fossil fuels. It offers Bay Area-specific fact sheets, resources, and actions in six key sectors: food, water, energy, transportation, jobs, and civic services.
Come hear dynamic speakers, see live performances, dance to eclectic selections, take part in interactive Toolkit sessions, and enjoy tantalizing local food and drink! For more information and to RSVP please visit the Bay Localize web site.
Growing Resilience is cosponsored by Movement Generation and Transition US. Thanks to Atlas Cafe, Bi-Rite, City Slicker Farms, Kaia Foods, Produce to the People, Rainbow Grocery, Straus Family Creamery, Valencia Whole Foods, and the Women's Building for their generous contributions.
Sustainably Speaking: Energy in California, Challenges and Solutions, Locally and Globally
Presenter: Journalist Peter Asmus, author of Introduction to Energy in California, U.C. Press
Thursday, September 17, 12:30PM to 1:30PM
Pacific Room at Tides, in the Thoreau Center
Join us as Peter gives us an introduction to California’s energy resources, challenges and solutions, locally and globally.
Peter will sum up the history of California energy development, then outline key challenges, and then go into solutions, focusing on the potential of ocean energy (he recently authored a 100 page plus report on the topic) and the evolution of the "locavolt" movement taking root in his own backyard in Marin County.
Peter Asmus has been covering energy issues for over 20 years. Previous books include Reaping the Wind and Reinventing Electric Utilities, both published by Island Press. His articles on energy have been published in leading newspapers such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. He has served as a consultant to the California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board.
