Mesa Community College at Red Mountain, in partnership with New Frontiers for Lifelong Learning, is hosting a Living Library on Saturday, April 30 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Saguaro Building, located at 7110 E. McKellips Road. The event is free and registration is open to the public.
The Living Library is fashioned after the Human Library, a worldwide movement for social change. It is a unique event that brings together people who have special interests, beliefs, or experiences to speak with people from different backgrounds and share their personal story. The project is designed to challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue between human books and their readers.
In this innovative program, participants can check out living books in a small group setting. The event will cover such diverse experiences as life as a gay black man with HIV, a white female Muslim, and a formerly incarcerated addict in recovery, among others.
Readers will be able to select three books. Each session will be 50 minutes and the event will culminate with time to network and partake in refreshments.
Participants are encouraged to arrive 10 minutes before the event begins to check in.
“There are few transformational events like this that occur in one’s life, where in a matter of minutes, we can be taken to a new level of collective awareness and deep connection. That is how peace comes to our life and our world,” said Margaret Joy Weaver, chair of Sedona International City of Peace.
Peter, a reader and social worker added, “The human library indeed gives community members one more channel to understand another side of people, who often rely on newspapers and whispered rumor. They might not have a chance to engage in an equal dialogue in a safe environment.”
To register, please go to tinyurl.com/RMLivingLibrary22. For more information, call (480) 461-6266, or contact Paula Osterday at (480) 236-3173 or via email at pmosterday@gmail.com