The Kalamazoo
Public Library would like to extend
its heartfelt gratitude to the
Kalamazoo community for its
enthusiastic support of this year’s
county-wide Reading Together program. In this third year of Reading Together, we have seen
greater-than-ever participation from
diverse segments of our local
population and from a huge number of
local organizations and community
groups. Neighborhood associations,
churches and synagogues, local
businesses, schools and colleges,
governmental agencies, book clubs,
civic groups, and libraries of all
sizes joined together to create
amazing opportunities for people from
all walks of life to come together to
discuss James McBride’s The
Color of Water.
Reading Together
would not be possible without the
financial sponsorship of the Kalamazoo
Community Foundation’s Better
Together Initiative, whose aim is to strengthen
bonds between citizens that can enrich
our lives and improve our community. We at the Kalamazoo Public
Library are extremely grateful for the
opportunity to partner with the
Community Foundation over the past
three years to create our community
reading program, which is notable
around the nation for its clear focus
on bringing people together across the
boundaries that separate them.
This year marks
the first time that Reading Together
has been able to host the author of
the selected book. James McBride’s two-day visit was made possible by the
generous support of a number of local
organizations, including: the Irving S. Gilmore
Foundation, Kalamazoo College, the
Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the
Kalamazoo Public Library, the Portage
District Library, and the Friends of
the Kalamazoo Public Library, in
addition to support from almost every
public and academic library in the
county. We are also grateful to the
Douglass Community Association, Fresh
Fire AME Church, Kalamazoo Public
Schools’ Chenery Auditorium, and
First Baptist Church for providing
excellent venues for his public
appearances.
McBride’s visit
to Kalamazoo County kicked off six
weeks of book discussions and public
events. Over 100 events were linked to
this year’s Reading Together
programming, and we are grateful for
the enthusiasm and hard work of many
local partners, including, among many
others, Better Tomorrows and Davenport
University, the Portage District
Library, WMU’s Lewis Walker
Institute for the Study of Race and
Ethnic Relations, the YWCA, the
Southwest Michigan Black Heritage
Society, the Fetzer Institute, and
ISAAC and Galilee Baptist Church. Appreciation is also due to
WMU’s Waldo Library, the Comstock
Township Library, Friendship Village,
First United Methodist Church, First
Presbyterian Church, and St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church, all of whom hosted
public events.
One notable
example of the collaboration that
marked this year’s Reading Together
program was the “Many Paths, One
People” community-wide march on
April 9. Co-sponsored by Great Lakes
PeaceJam, the Walking Together
initiative, and Reading Together, this
celebration of everyone’s place in
the human family was headlined by
visiting Nobel Peace Prize winner Máiread
Corrigan Maguire, who led the 500
marchers with Mayor Robert Jones and
State Representative Sandy Lipsey.
I would be remiss
if I did not lift up the hard work and
dedication of two Reading Together
committees. Last October, thirty community
leaders gathered for several hours of
lively discussion and debate, as the
selection committee confronted the
challenging task of choosing from a
list of over 60 titles that had been
submitted for consideration as this
year’s Reading Together book. Since the completion of that
selection process, a steering
committee comprised of educators,
religious leaders, librarians, heads
of civic and community organizations,
and representatives of local
businesses and governments has met
monthly to create and implement
programming that has brought local
experts to the table to share their
insights into the issues—racial and
religious identity, family resiliency,
personal challenges, family violence,
family history, the power of love and
forgiveness—that spring from James
McBride’s memoir. For the work of both of these committees, I would like to
express my deepest gratitude.
Finally, we
invite county residents to submit
their suggestions for future community
reading selections to readingtogether@kpl.gov. Thank you, Kalamazoo.
Joan
C. Hawxhurst
Reading Together Coordinator
Kalamazoo Public Library
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