Monday, June 29, 2015

Designation of Cesar Chavez Days


 

                    KNOW YOUR LIBRARY


Written by Joanne Forman for Taos Public Library……….….July 2015


 

   REMEMBERING A GREAT AMERICAN


   Spearheaded by Taos Town Councilor Judi Cantu, and chaired by prominent Taoseno Arsenio Cordova, August 1 and 2 have been designated CESAR CHAVEZ DAYS.

        Why should we care?

     Elves do not plant, grow and pick the crops.

     While our fruits and vegetables nowadays come from all over the world, much of our produce still comes from California, and the San Joaquin Valley of that state was the beginning of an epic struggle among farmworkers for justice, equity, a living wage and to be treated like human beings.

     Some Taosenos wonder why we should care. Do you eat? Care.

     And some have never heard of the man who is certainly to be ranked among great Americans; along with others, the creator of the only lasting farmworkers labor union in American history.

      Read up! As usual, your Taos Public Library has books ready to help you with this history.


     Our children in particular will not know about this great American unless we tell them, in our schools and at home. Parents can start the process with books from the Children’s Library. These include (all are illustrated):

     Cesar Chavez by Consuelo Rodriguez. JbCha

     Cesar Chavez by Joeming Dunn. JbCha

     Cesar Chavez by Eric Braun. JbCha

     Cosechando esperanza. By Kathleen Krull. JspBcha. (also in the adult section: Sp 331.88.Cha

     An Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez by Rudolfo Anaya. J881.1A

     For the grownups an excellent (this writer can attest to its accuracy, as she knew many of the participants and witnessed some of the incidents) introduction to the earlier days of the struggle is

SAL SI PUEDES (“Get Out If You Can” a reference to a very poor barrio in San Jose, Calif.)

      An important part of Cesar Chavez was his absolute commitment to non-violence. This is well examined in CESAR CHAVEZ AND THE COMMON SENSE ON NON- VIOLENCE. 331.88Cha.

      (For more on Cesar Chavez, Amazon has a list of 45 books!)

 

….WHERE ARE THE BOOKS???

       Sometimes, when the catalog tells us a book is on the shelf in the library—it isn’t. What has happened? Well if it’s not mis-shelved (which is extremely rare, due to the competence of our volunteer shelvers) it means it has disappeared. This is a problem in every library in the nation, and Taos is not exempt. While outright theft is pretty rare (that’s why the beeping machine goes off if you try it) we speculate that in most cases a book was properly checked out—but then became lost—or so overdue the patron forgot about it or is afraid of a whopping fee. Take heart! The maximum fee for an overdue book is $5. IF you have, say, ten books overdue—you have a problem. Consult the librarian; something can probably be arranged.

If you’ve lost or damaged a book, ‘fess up; you will have to pay for it, but again, talk with the librarian. They’re all very human!

August: TAOS HISTORY

September: ACEQUIAS: A UNIQUE INHERITANCE

October: PETS

      

      What subjects would you LIKE to see reviewed? E-mail me at:

 jofo@ kitcarson.net

 

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