Coming to California

The Fresno County Public Library is hosting a Story Jam on October 21 at the Bitwise theater at 2:00 PM. The theme of this Story Jam is coming to California. You are invited to come tell your personal story about your journey to California. For more information or to register to tell your story please click here.

California the Journey Story Jam - Until You Walk a Mile is the final event in the California the Journey series. The other events in this series were Taste the World - Community Potluck, Tell Us Your Story, and The Art of the Journey.

Come join us, October 21 at 2:00 PM in the John W. Dodson Theater at Bitwise 700 Van Ness Ave, to tell your story or to hear the stories of others . We hope to see you there.

#Yum

Last month, we wrote about our Taste the World – Community Potluck event.  We hosted this potluck at the Reading & Beyond Mosqueda Community Center on Saturday, April 29^th.  We had over 20 dishes at our event.  Here is a small sampling of the foods that were brought for all to share:

Zweiback

Cardamom Bread

Sopes Station

Kalua Pork

Southern Greens with Turnips

Noodles          

Swedish Butter Cookies

Pure de Papas (mashed potatoes)

Apple Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

Before: Tres Leches Cake

After: Tres Leches Cake

At each dish was a handy Potluck Pal sheet we found at www.eclecticaffinity.com.  The designer was thrilled to let us use them for our event.  These Potluck Pal sheets listed allowed us to neatly list the ingredients of each dish to help eaters decide what to try and what they would want to admire from afar.  

Story for the Kalua Pork

Participants were also encouraged to share their stories or the history of their dishes.  Some brought their story already prepared and others
used our blank-pages cut-out to share their stories.  It was great to see and try dishes from so many different places. 

This event was the first of a series as a part of the California Center for the Book’s program: Community Conversations about Immigration.  We want to thank our sponsors for the event, too.  Reading & Beyond was incredibly gracious is donating the use of their wonderful banquet room at the Mosqueda Community Center.  And the Friends of the Fresno County Public Library were instrumental in providing support for this event.

For part 2 of this series, “California: The Journey,” check out the New Americans page on our website.  If you’re interested in submitting a story (or a recipe etc), just follow the directions listed there.  Keep an eye out for Part 3 of the series, an Art Hop night at the Betty Rodriguez branch in September.

Taste the World - Community Potluck

As someone who moved to Fresno from back East, I often asked people this question: what do you like best about Fresno?  And more often than not, the answer that comes back has something to do with the food.  It makes perfect sense.  The culinary offerings in Fresno are as diverse as the community.  What better way to celebrate this than with a Community Potluck?!

The Fresno County Public Library is hosting an open Community Potluck at Reading & Beyond’s Mosqueda Community Center at 4670 E Butler Ave on Saturday, April 29^th at 2:30pm.  For two hours, the community is welcome to share their favorite home-cooked meals.

Let’s all gather and break bread together, sharing stories, histories and recipes!

Here’s what you need to know:

• Pre-registration is required. 
• Click on the Potluck banner on the library’s homepage to fill out the form or call the Wow! office at 559-600-9699.
•  An ingredients list must be provided (this is to classify the dishes to avoid allergy issues)
• Warming dishes will be provided for dishes not in a crock-pot. 
• All serving tools will be provided.
• Coffee, punch and lemonade will be provided, or bring your own beverage.
• No alcohol permitted
• There will be door prizes. 
• Each dish will gain you an entry for a drawing, held this coming Fall, for a personal library of 20 titles.

 Everyone has a story to tell about how they or their family came to be in California.

California: The Journey is a four-part series of programs.  The first program, Taste the World, is our Community Potluck, graciously sponsored by Reading & Beyond and the Friends of the Fresno County Public Library.  The series is a part of California Center for the Book's Community Conversations About Immigration program.

The second part of the series is Tell Us Your Story.  You can submit anything written that has something to do with where you or your family is from.  Share a recipe, a narrative of your journey to California, a description of your hometown…whatever you want to share with us.  These stories will then be gathered and posted on the FCPL website on the New Americans page.  Stories can be posted anonymously.  Submissions are being accepted now and posting will begin at the end of April.  

To submit a story, please:

•  send it in an email to WoWlibrary@fresnolibrary.org,
• mail it to ATTN: WoW Office, 2420 Mariposa St., Fresno, CA 93721,
• or drop it off at any Fresno County Public Library branch in an envelope addressed: ATTN WoW.
• Please include your name and a telephone number or email address (for drawing entry). 
•  Please make a note if you want your story to be published on our website anonymously.
• Please remember this is for all ages, so please use appropriate language
• The Library reserves the right to not publish or post entries.