Health & Fitness
Patch Blog: Photos From Library's Reading Project
Community members—including Mayor Cacciotti, Mayor Pro Tem Philip Putnam, and Councilmember Bob Joe—participated in the event, which will be shown on South Pasadena on Channel 19 and Channel 99.
What went down: The 2012 South Pasadena Public Library “Farewell to Manzanar” city-wide reading project is concluding. The South Pasadena project is part of Cal Humanities’ “California Reads” grant subtitled “Searching for Democracy.”
The project, which started in South Pasadena at the beginning of February, featured a book discussion program with co-author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston on March 1 that attracted an audience of more than 200 and a screening of the “Farewell to Manzanar” feature length film with an introduction and a Q&A by Jeanne Houston on March 2 that drew more than 250.
Who Participated: On March 12, a “Farewell to Manzanar” read-in with a legion of community members reading the entire book from start to finish was conducted in the Library Conference Room.
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The effort featured 57 readers and was kicked off by Superintendent of Schools Joel Shapiro who read the Foreword. He was followed by Mayor Pro Tem Philip Putnam who started Chapter 1. Next up was Interim City Manager Sergio Gonzalez and the Read-In continued until Mayor Michael Cacciotti read the last 3 pages many hours later.
Along the way, Councilmember Bob Joe and award-winning author Ron Koertge took their star turns.
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Readers representing such local organizations as the City of South Pasadena, the Friends of the Library Board, the Library Board of Trustees, the Unified School District, , , the , , and the office of Assemblyman Anthony Portantino read their pre-assigned pages as well.
Interspersed between them were representatives from many local businesses: , , , , , the , and .
In addition, two entire families read back-to-back as did a mother and her young son. The entire proceedings were filmed by Cesar Rodes of CR Engineering. The Read-In will soon be edited and shown repeatedly on Channels 19 and 99 in South Pasadena, as will highlights from the Book Discussion and Film Programs. A DVD of the proceedings will also be available for checkout from the South Pasadena Public Library.
Special thanks: are due to the Library’s “California Reads” Project Partners: The Japanese American National Museum, East West Players, Pacific Asia Museum, Rafu Shimpo, Altadena Presbyterian Church, the , the , J-Pal Club, , and the Bissell House Bed & Breakfast. Thanks also to the , , South Pasadena Patch, Pasadena Weekly, KPCC-FM, and Russell DeVita (BrooklynBoy Design).
