Our Community Reads 2022 starts Feb. 4

COMMUNITY NEWS

Our Community Reads: Film Night starts Feb. 4

This season, Friends of Aptos Library has chosen “Red Letter Days” as the book and events represent collaboration with Friends groups in Capitola and La Selva Beach.

The goal of these events is to create a shared experience that will increase appreciation for community libraries and for 24 local bookstores; foster pride in the varied experiences that our area offers; and the enrichment — culturally, intellectually, and emotionally — that comes from the joy of reading! • All events will be free and open to the public. • Attendance at in-person events will be limited due to Covid restrictions and require preregistration. • Masks will be required for inperson events.

For up-to-date details on registration, locations and links to online events see: https://www. friendsofaptoslibrary.org/our-community-reads-2022.html •••

Friday, Feb. 4: Capitola Film Night ~ Good Night and Good Luck Hosted by the Friends of the Capitola Library, 7 p.m. via Zoom.

This 2005 film recounts CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow’s courageous challenge to Sen. Joe McCarthy. The obstacles faced by Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly can be seen in contemporary American politics and journalism. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (George Clooney), and Best Actor — a remarkable performance by David Strathairn as Murrow.

Brad Kava ~ Journalism chair at Cabrillo College, long-time reporter with the San Jose Mercury News, and publisher of Growing Up in Santa Cruz, will lead a Q&A session at the end.

Tuesday. Feb. 8: From McCarthyism to Today: Demagoguery Then and Now With Isebill “Ronnie” Gruhn at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Setting the stage for the era in which Red Letter Days takes place, Professor Emerita Ronnie Gruhn will describe world events during the 1950s and developments leading up to current day. She will define the various “isms”(authoritarianism, socialism) that are often misused in today’s political discussions and explore the similarities, if any, of the McCarthy era to today.

Gruhn arrived at UC Santa Cruz in 1969 as a member of the Political Science department and an affiliate of Stevenson College. Gruhn served at UCSC over four decades. She twice chaired the Political Science department (1973-1975 and 1980-1981) and today is a lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learner Institute.

Thursday, Feb. 10: La Selva Beach Book Discussion Group Led by Margie Bowles, Red Letter Days is the book chosen for discussion. 10:30 a.m. a: La Selva Beach Library.

Thursday, Feb. 12: Red Letter Days Art Project With Jo-Neal Graves and Sharon Ferguson, local artists and art educators, 1-3 p.m. at Capitola Library, George Ow Room.

With Jo-Neal Graves and Sharon Ferguson, local artists and art educators, 1-3 p.m. at Capitola Library, George Ow Room.

Participants will use collage to create an individualized book cover design drawing on authentic images from the McCarthy Era. Jo-Neal Graves and Sharon Ferguson participate in Santa Cruz Open Studios sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Arts Council.

Tuesday, Feb. 15: Invasion of the Communist Body Snatchers: The Supreme Court, Weird Science Comics, and the Red Scare With Michael Pebworth and Nick Rowell at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Cabrillo College political science professor Nick Rowell will focus on an analysis of two Supreme Court decisions about protected speech and the Communist Party as it relates to American presidential candidates.

“Red Letter Days” page 12

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Michael Pebworth, Cabrillo College history professor, will address 1950s science fiction and horror comic books and their critiques of the Red Scare and Cold War. This event should not be missed!

Nick Rowell earned his PhD in political science at the University of New Mexico in 2012. He teaches US government, comparative politics and international relations at Cabrillo College. His research focuses on analysis of Latin American politics, especially interactions between civil society and the state. His teaching emphasizes the civic engagement required to sustain the health of democracies.

Thursday, Feb 17: La Selva Beach Film Night: Trumbo Introduction by Robert Strayer, La Selva Beach Community Church, 7 p.m.

In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Academy Award nominee Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood’s top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. Trumbo (directed by Jay Roach) recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice of the blacklist, which entangled everyone from gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) to John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger. The film also stars Diane Lane, John Goodman, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Robert W. Strayer, Ph.D., taught African, Soviet, and world history for many years at SUNY College at Brockport, New York. Since moving to California in 2002, he has taught world History at UC Santa Cruz, CSU Monterey Bay, and Cabrillo College. He has written many books, including Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? (1998), The Communist Experiment (2007), and Ways of the World: A Brief Global History (now in its fifth edition). He has also been published in the Journal of World History, and has served as co-editor of the McGraw-Hill series, Explorations in World History.

Thursday, Feb. 24: Red Diaper Babies: Growing Up During the HUAC Years of the 1950s Bettina Aptheker, Julie Olsen Edwards and Dena Taylor at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Growing up closer to home than the London scenes depicted in “Red Letter Days,” three “red diaper babies” discuss how their lives were impacted by the McCarthy era and the House Un-American Activities Committee. They will share lessons learned that they have carried into the present.

Bettina Aptheker: distinguished professor emerita, Feminist Studies Department, UCSC.

Julie Olsen Edwards: Cabrillo College Early Childhood faculty (retired), writer, Anti Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, consultant, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture .

Dena Taylor: Cabrillo College program manager (retired), author, poet. Dena’s most recent books are Tell Me the Number Before Infinity: the story of a girl with a quirky mind, an eccentric family, and oh yes, a disability (co-authored with Becky Taylor) and Exclamation Points: collected poems.

Monday, Feb. 28: What’s Black and White and Red All Over? With Claudia Sternbach, 7 p.m. via Zoom.

We will focus on the hunt for communists in the world of writers and filmmakers in the 1950’s, in particular on the role of women in that time period, and the hidden meaning in the popular TV series Robin Hood.

Claudia Sternbach, former Santa Cruz Sentinel columnist, is the author of three memoirs: Now Breathe, (Whiteaker Press), Reading Lips (Unbridled Books), and her most recent, Dear Goldie Hawn, Dear Leonard Cohen, released by Paper Angel Press in December 2021. She has often published in The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Chicago Tribune. She is former editor-in-chief of the literary journal Memoir.

Thursday, March 3: Trivia on Tap Steel Bonnet, 20 Victor Square, Scotts Valley. 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Hosted and moderated by Jenn Hooker, librarian with the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Trivia on Tap will feature questions selected from Red Letter Days, challenging teams of no more than six persons to answer 30 questions.

You can get snacks at Steel Bonnet, or at outlets in the same complex, or make food at home and have a picnic-style meal while you ponder the questions. Winners get the grand prize of a $25 gift certificate to the Steel Bonnet. n

“Cabrillo Strings” from page 9

Auditions for Festival Strings (beginning note-readers) and Cabrillo Strings (intermediate-advanced) will be on Friday, Feb. 25, 3:45-4:15 p.m. with a rehearsal following.

Festival Strings will meet 4:15-5:45 p.m. and Cabrillo Strings will meet 4:15-5:55 p.m.

Students must provide their own instruments and bring pencils & music stands. Covid-19 distancing will be followed.

Students and parents must wear KN94, N95, KN95 or double mask that includes a surgical mask outside and inside the music building except when alone.

A concert is planned at 7 p.m. April 29.

For those interested in participating in or making contributions to this program, call (831) 479-6101 or visit https://www.cabrillo. edu/cabrillo-youth-strings. You may register through Cabrillo Extension, 479-6331, or extension.cabrillo.edu before the first class. n