Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Kin,
This month marks the East Side Freedom Library’s eighth anniversary! We opened in June 2014 with a program presenting the history of Juneteenth. The story of the struggles of enslaved people to secure their freedom, and the relationship of that story to the struggles for racial and economic justice in contemporary America, marked our very emergence as a space for the researching, writing, telling, sharing, and learning stories, particularly those stories which have been swept by the dominant culture into the shadows of our community’s consciousness.
We invite you to join us in this journey, to add your stories to the mix we continue to brew at 1105 Greenbrier Street and online. In this e-newsletter you will find information about the rich and diverse programs we are curating, from our front lawn to cyberspace.
Would you like to write some of your stories? Talented, committed teachers are convening two writing workshops. Alison Morse will focus on our relationships with our clothes and with the people who make our clothes, as a prompt for her workshop and reading, “Stories We Wear.” Our colleague Clarence White will offer access to his favorite tool, the typewriter, in a workshop which will make percussive music as well as poetry.
Would you like to engage stories told by our creative neighbors? A team from the Brownbody Black artistic company will discuss their upcoming “Tracing Sacred Steps” production. Keith Christensen and Mike Alewitz, will discuss how they have used visual art for decades to engage the critical political issues we have faced and to inspire action to address those issues. Acclaimed vocal artist Katia Cardenas, in collaboration with Minneapolis’ Pangea World Theater, will bring a talented team of singers and musicians for two performances of “The Burning Truth Project,” with the goal of a turning our lawn into a space to share and reflect some of the many thoughts, lessons and feelings we have been holding as a community since summer of 2020. Poet Mai Neng Vang will discuss how her newly published collection of poetry, Desjiab: From My Liver to Yours, is intended to mark a path to “the healing that is so necessary for us to reconcile with the generations of trauma and hurt that our ancestors, mothers, sisters, aunties have endured.”
A compelling telling of a good story can often be supported with some well-chosen beverages. We are excited that managers and workers from the Fair State Brewing Cooperative will tell us the story of their unionization and their efforts to create a company which not only is a good place to work but also a contributor to making their community a better place to live. They will be offering us samples of their excellent beer while we listen to their stories!
Whatever your favorite — or imagined — path to telling your story might be, our June programming should offer your something of value. We invite you to not just come and consume others’ stories, but to share your stories with us and with each other.
Love and Solidarity,
Beth Cleary and Peter Rachleff
Co-Executive Directors