During Hispanic Heritage Month we celebrate the many contributions of Hispanic people to America. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover the 30-day period from September 15 through October 15.
September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the Independence Day of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, all of which declared independence in 1821. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively.
The San Mateo County Library has produced three programs to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month: Frida Kahlo at the MOMA, Salsa Dancing with Magdalena Mendez, and Salsa Making.
Please note the following schedule:
Join San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) docents for slide talks exploring the work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, whose work is now on view at the museum through September 28th. Kahlo began painting in 1926, while recovering from a near-fatal bus accident, and soon became captivated by the medium's expressive possibilities. Kahlo's folkloric style, influenced by Mexican popular art, and her fantastical imagery earned her recognition among the Surrealists, but her intriguing persona and unmistakable originality propelled her beyond the confines of a specific movement to become a leading figure in modern art. The MOMA exhibition, commemorating the centennial of the artist's birth, brings together paintings that span her career, along with a selection of her own collection of photographs, most of which have never been on public display.
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:00 PM — Belmont Library
Monday, September 15 at 7:30 PM — Foster City Library
Monday, September 22 at 7:00 PM — San Carlos Library
Friday, September 26 at 7:00 PM — Half Moon Bay Library |
Mendez has been teaching since 1996, understands the needs of her students and is known for making anyone at ease and comfortable. Because of these wonderful qualities, she can bring out the dancer in anyone.
Her dance career has taken her to various cities around the country and has given her the opportunity to work with the greatest talents in the dance industry. She has worked in New York City, Seattle, Miami and, now lives and works in The Bay Area. She is well versed in all Ballroom and Latin Dances and enjoys teaching all levels of dance.
Friday, September 19 at 7 PM — Half Moon Bay Library
Friday, September 19 at 7:00 PM — Belmont Library
Friday, September 26 at 7:00 PM — East Palo Alto Library
Friday, October 3 at 7:00 PM — San Carlos Library
Friday, October 10 at 7:00 PM — Pacifica-Sharp Park Library
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Hot Salsa Making Class
Celebrate Latin culture by learning how to make some really, really good salsa at this salsa making class.
Saturday, September 20 at 12:30 PM — Half Moon Bay Library
Hot Salsa Competition
Bring your most flavorful salsa to the competition. Judges will award the winner a beautiful molcajete. Come to sample even if you don’t have a salsa to enter. It will be a tasty evening!
Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 PM — East Palo Alto Library
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Welcome to the third annual One Book, One Community: San Mateo County Reads. One Book, One Community (“OBOC”) is a county-wide reading program held annually to build community, call attention to reading and literacy and create a meaningful dialogue about books and reading. In 2006, OBOC promoted The Kite Runner and hosted its author Khaled Hosseini in conversation with Dr. Barbara Petzen, outreach coordinator for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. In 2007, OBOC promoted Daughter of Fortune and hosted its author Isabel Allende in conversation with KQED’s Michael Krasny. Both programs featured dozens of free community activities related to the themes raised by these inspiring novels.
This year’s book is What is the What by Dave Eggers. Eggers will kick off the month-long program on October 1st at 7:30 PM by appearing with KQED’s Michael Krasny at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center. This kick-off event will feature audience Q and A as well as book signings by both Eggers and Krasny.
See the schedule below for additional related programs, free and open to all:
Yolanda Rhodes decorates folktales and stories from Sudan and Africa with song, miming and the evocation of characters through movement.
Monday, October 6 at 4:00 PM — Atherton Library
Thursday, October 16 at 4:30 PM — East Palo Alto Library
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Birds, Beasts and Trees of East Africa
Dr. Arif Gamal, a Sudanese environmentalist and adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, leads a slide-show tour of his last visit to East Africa, from ecological and spice farms in Uganda and Zanzibar to his encounters with birds and animals in the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti of Tanzania.
Friday, October 24 at 7:00 PM — Pacifica-Sanchez Library |
Contemporary Artists Respond to Darfur
Demetrie Broxton, Education Program Coordinator at the Museum of the African Diaspora presents contemporary art of Sudan and Sudanese refugees. This slide show focuses on art which responds to the Darfur conflict and works which have been banned by the Sudanese government.
Monday, October 27 at 7:00 PM — Atherton Library
Wednesday, October 29 at 7:00 PM — San Carlos Library |
Diversity and Identity in Sudan
UC Berkeley professor Martha Saavedra discusses the ethnic and political struggles in Sudan. Saavedra has been Academic Coordinator for the Center for African Studies, providing resources on Africa to the greater community since 1993.
Wednesday, October 8 at 7:00 PM — San Carlos Library |
Exile as a Story of Our Times
San Francisco State University professor Sarah Manyika compares stories of African exile including What is the What by Dave Eggers. Manyika has contributed stories to Women writing Zimbabwe and Fathers and Daughters and has written the novel In Dependence.
Friday, October 17 at 7:30 PM — Pacifica-Sanchez Library |
A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan
Director Kim Shelton shows her film tracing the extraordinary journey that three young Sudanese orphans recorded in their own words using digital video cameras. A Great Wonder explores the concepts of loss, faith, community and freedom as it bears witness to the spirit that drives these young people to rebuild their lives. This screening/discussion has been made possible by the United Nations International Film Festival.
Tuesday, October 21 at 7:00 PM — Belmont Library |
The Prospect for Peace in Sudan
Santa Clara University professor and Chair of Economics Michael Kevane presents a slide talk on the prospects for peace and development in Sudan including economic challenges such a low literacy rates and oil-revenue conflicts.
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:00 PM — Millbrae Library
Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 PM — Belmont Library
Monday, October 20 at 7:00 PM — San Carlos Library |
Songs of the Dinka Tribe
Hope with Sudan – a scholarship program for Sudanese refugee youth – presents a musical performance of traditional songs from the Dinka tribe of Southern Sudan.
Sunday, October 5 at 2:00 PM — Atherton Library
Saturday, October 18 at 1:00 PM — San Carlos Library
Wednesday, October 22 at 7:00 PM — Belmont Library
Sunday, October 26 at 1:00 PM — Half Moon Bay Library |
Sudanese Refugee Experience
Bay Area Sudanese refugees discuss their experiences in Sudan and the United States. Presented in cooperation with San Jose-based Hope with Sudan, which mentors and provides scholarships for Sudanese “Lost Boys and Girls” in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wednesday, October 15 at 7:00 PM — Woodside Library
Saturday, October 25 at 1:00 PM — San Carlos Library |
 Six-year-old Achak (aka Valentino Achak Deng) is separated from his family during a raid by the Muhaleen. A campaign is on to rid southern Sudan of Africans both for religious and financial reasons. Young Achak watches as his village is burned and his neighbors, family and friends are murdered or kidnapped. Unsure of whether his mother and father are alive, he runs away and begins a 13-year struggle across the desserts of Sudan and into and out of refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. Along the way, he meets up with other young boys (dubbed “Lost Boys”) who have escaped similar circumstances. Together, they face lion attacks, land mines, starvation, exhaustion and even more attacks by the Muhaleen. This semi-fictionalized story is told (through the writer Dave Eggers) by the young man himself resettled in Atlanta, Georgia, and facing a host of new heartbreaks and challenges in America. |
