Pasadena Public Library’s annual One City, One Story program is designed to broaden and deepen an appreciation of reading and literature in the community, engage participants in dialogue and bring Pasadenans together by promoting greater understanding of differing points of view.
This year’s selection is Mudbound by author Hillary Jordan. Hillary Jordan’s debut novel Mudbound received the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, a prize founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit, as well as the 2009 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was named one of the Ten Best Debut Novels of the Decade by Paste Magazine.
AUTHOR EVENT
Conversation with author Hillary Jordan
The author will join Library Director Jan Sanders in dialogue as they discuss her experience first
envisioning and then writing Mudbound. A question and answer session from the audience will follow.
Saturday, March 26, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
Pasadena Convention Center Ballroom, 300 E. Green St.
SPECIAL EVENTS
· Exhibition: Photographic Interpretations of Mudbound
Created by Michael Kluch’s Pasadena High School photography class.
March 1 to 31
Central Library, North Entrance and Great Hall, 285 E. Walnut St.
· USO Show: “One for the Boys”
Theatre Americana, formed as part of President Roosevelt’s WPA program salutes our veterans.
Music of the ‘30s and ‘40s, along with contemporary pieces, will take audiences on a sentimental
journey through the history of the camp shows.
Saturday, March 5, 11 a.m.
Hastings Branch Library, 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
- more -
One City One Story, page 2
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· Demonstration: Southern Cooking
Old Town Cooking School’s Deb Swartz will demonstrate Southern cooking with traditional Southern recipes and a sampling of treats.
Saturday, March 5, 11:30 a.m.
Allendale Branch Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave.
Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m.
Linda Vista Branch Library, 1281 Bryant St.
· Film: The Tuskegee Airmen
Special showing of the film portraying the 332nd Air Force squadron. In World War II it was honored for keeping casualties low and bombers safe. The squadron also made history because its members were the first African American pilots to take to the skies for America. Few, however, knew of their accomplishments nor how they managed to serve in the face of the rampant racism they endured. (1995, PG)
Saturday, March 5, 2 p.m.
San Rafael Branch Library, 1240 Nithsdale Rd.
· Lecture: Race, Resistance and Power in Post-World War II Mississippi
Presented by Dr. Rita Roberts professor of History and Africana Studies at Scripps College. Dr. Roberts teaches courses such as The Modern Civil Rights Movement, Slave Women in Antebellum America, Civil War and Reconstruction, and Women, Religion and Antebellum Reform. She is the author of Evangelicalism and the Politics of Reform in Northern Black Thought, 1776-1863, published in fall 2010 by Louisiana State University Press.
Thursday, March 10, 7:30 p.m.
Central Library, Donald R. Wright Auditorium, 285 E. Walnut St.
· Workshop: Write Your Own One City, One Story
Discover writing techniques to write your own story and the compelling techniques that author
Hillary Jordan used when writing Mudbound. Presented by Laurie Richards, Extended Learning
Institute writing instructor, California State University, San Marcos.
Saturday, March 12, 1 to 3 p.m.
Lamanda Park Branch Library, 140 S. Altadena Dr.
· Panel Discussion: Pasadena Stories (1940 - 1955): World War II and its Aftermath
A panel of Pasadena residents, moderated by Larry Wilson, public editor of the Pasadena Star
News, will share their experiences during World War II and the post-war period of late ‘40s and
early ‘50s. This program is a collaboration between the Pasadena Museum of History and the Pasadena
Senior Center.
Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m.
Pasadena Senior Center Auditorium, 85 E. Holly St.
· Workshop: Knowing and Growing the Land: Mudbound in the Arboretum Library
Learn how to find information on gardening and plants at the Arboretum Library. Presented by
Susan Eubank, Arboretum librarian. Call (626) 821-3213 for reservations.
Saturday, March 19, 2 to 3 p.m.
Los Angeles County Arboretum, Library, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia
- more -
One City One Story, page 3
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· Panel Discussion: Race in Los Angeles: The Forties.
World War II was a defining moment in our nation's history - in the mud fields of Mississippi as well as the concrete jungles of Los Angeles. A panel of neighborhood eyewitnesses of this
decade will discuss the LA Zootsuit Riots, segregated barrios, the incarceration of Japanese
Americans and the Bronzeville era, and African Americans in the military.
Tuesday, March 22, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Pasadena City College, Creveling Lounge (Campus Center), 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.
· Book Discussion: The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander, will discuss her new book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness in which she argues that systemic racial discrimination in the United States has resumed following the Civil Rights Movement’s gains, implicit but legalized and of devastating social consequences, with the domestic War on Drugs and other government policies. Alexander considers the scope and impact of this current law enforcement, legal and penal activity to be comparable with that of the Jim Crow laws of the 19th and 20th centuries. This event is co-sponsored by the Flintridge Center.
Wednesday, March 23, 6:30 p.m.
La Pintoresca Branch Library, 1355 N. Raymond Ave.
· Discussion: Author Experiences
Mudbound author Hillary Jordan will share her experiences as an author with students at Pasadena
City College followed by a question-and-answer session. Public welcome.
Friday, March 25, 10 a.m. to noon
Pasadena City College, Creveling Lounge (Campus Center), 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.
Dr. Morgan Kousser, professor of History and Social Science at Caltech, and Dr. Christopher Hunter, assistant professor of English at Caltech, will join Mudbound author Hillary Jordan in a conversation about post-WWII Mississippi as a state and a state of mind made for human drama. Discover how Faulkerian voices resound in the novel, echoing the South’s blood-soaked past and portending a future yet to come.
Friday, March 25, 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Caltech, Baxter Lecture Hall (Building 77), 1200 E. California Blvd.
Community Book Discussions
Wednesday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. Hastings Branch Library
3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
Saturday, March 5, 10:30 a.m. Allendale Branch Library
1130 S. Marengo Ave.
Saturday, March 5, 1 p.m. Pacific Asia Museum
46 N. Los Robles Ave.
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One City One Story, page 4
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Followed by a free Museum Docent Tour. Reservations required: (626) 449-2742 x31
Saturday, March 12, 1 p.m. La Pintoresca Branch Library
1355 N. Raymond Ave.
Wednesday, March 16, noon to 1 p.m. Huntington Hospital
Huntington Hospital Research Conference Hall
734 Fairmount Ave. (across from the Huntington Hospital
Outpatient Center). Parking: east parking structure just north of
Research Conference Hall
Bring a sack lunch. Beverages and cookies will be provided.
Thursday, March 17, 4:30 p.m. Santa Catalina Branch Library
999 E. Washington Blvd.
Friday, March 18, 2 p.m. Villa Parke Branch Library
363 E. Villa St.
Saturday, March 19, 2 p.m. Linda Vista Branch Library
1281 Bryant St.
Wednesday, March 23, 4 p.m. Hill Avenue Branch Library
55 S. Hill Ave.
Thursday, March 24, 4 p.m. San Rafael Branch Library
1240 Nithsdale Rd.
Monday, March 28, 11 a.m. Lamanda Park Branch Library
140 S. Altadena Dr.
FILM SERIES
Central Library will host this series featuring cinematic images of racial issues raised in the 2011 One City, One Story selection Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. On Wednesday, March 23, at 3 p.m. following the showing of “A Soldier’s Story,” Dr. Melvin Donalson, professor of African American and Film Studies at California State University, Los Angeles and author of Black Directors in Hollywood and Hip Hop in American Cinema will discuss this month’s films.
Wednesdays at 1 p.m.
Central Library, Donald R. Wright Auditorium
285 E. Walnut St.
- more –
One City One Story, page 5
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· March 2 • To Kill A Mockingbird (1962, NR)
Lawyer Atticus Finch defends an innocent black man against rape charges but ends up in a maelstrom of hate and prejudice. Meanwhile, with help from a friend Finch's children Jem and Scout set their sights on making contact with a reclusive neighbor.
· March 9 • Places in the Heart (1984, PG)
Edna Spalding is a young widow living in Depression-era Waxahachie, Texas, who's determined to eke out a hardscrabble existence farming cotton on her land.
· March 16 • The Color Purple (1985, PG-13)
Celie is a Southern woman whose correspondence with her sister in Africa helps her escape an abusive husband and a life of bitter circumstance.
· March 23 • A Soldier’s Story (1984, PG)
Set in Louisiana at the end of World War II racial tensions flare when Capt. Davenport, a U.S. Army attorney is sent to Fort Neal to investigate the murder of a black sergeant. There he finds a mystery more complex than he’d imagined.
· March 30 • Great Debators (2007, PG-13)
When African American poet Mel Tolson creates a debate team at historically black Wiley College in the 1930s, he pushes the team to a level of excellence that allows them to take on Harvard University. But despite public success, personal clashes ferment as the father of one of Tolson’s students begins to resent his son’s loyalty to his coach.
When African American poet Mel Tolson creates a debate team at historically black Wiley College in the 1930s, he pushes the team to a level of excellence that allows them to take on Harvard University. But despite public success, personal clashes ferment as the father of one of Tolson’s students begins to resent his son’s loyalty to his coach.
Family Programs
· Southern Stories
Presented by Storyteller Sunny Stevenson.
Tuesday, March 8, 3:30 p.m.
Santa Catalina Branch Library, 999 E. Washington Blvd.
Santa Catalina Branch Library, 999 E. Washington Blvd.
Wednesday, March 9, 10:30 a.m.
San Rafael Branch Library, 1240 Nithsdale Rd.
· Southern Jazz Program
Join us in swaying and clapping your hands to a mix of jazz vocals from the 1940s sung by local mezzo-soprano Gigi Johnson, accompanied by Bob Balbert on piano. They will share those great old songs and the stories behind them.
Wednesday, March 30, 3:30 p.m.
Hill Avenue Branch Library, 55 S. Hill Ave.
For more information, visit www.onecityonestory.com or call (626) 744-7270.
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