Fruita for Equality is a collaboration to support equality, inclusivity, and diversity through meaningful conversations and action in the community.
December 2021
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Mesa County Libraries to close for Christmas and New Year's holidays |
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All Mesa County Libraries locations will be closed Friday and Saturday, Dec. 24 and 25, for the Christmas holiday. Library locations also will be closed Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, for New Year's Day.
The library’s website will operate during the holidays, and patrons will be able to place holds, renew materials, and use eResources such as Mango Languages, the OverDrive Digital Library, and Kanopy.
A complete list of library locations and hours is available here.
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Communication and Compromise |
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In the December meeting of Fruita for Equality, we discussed experiences we’ve had where there’s been a disagreement over a decision where a number of people had strong opinions. Several examples were shared. As the discussion progressed, we found a common point for the scenarios where a compromise was reached. We discovered that communication and active listening skills were useful in reaching a compromise.
For our readers, the committee wonders if you’ve had similar experiences? How do you work through disagreement and maintain dignity for everyone involved?
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Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration |
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Members of Black Citizens & Friends provided updates regarding the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in January. Events are planned throughout the week, including a film screening, speaker, and ceremonial march.
David Combs and Natalie Kegans of the local community group Black Citizens & Friends will talk to kids about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a way that they will be able to understand and enjoy.
Join us at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11, at the Fruita Branch Library or at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13 in the Central Library Children's Center.
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Living Room Conversations |
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In lieu of the January committee meeting, interested members will have the opportunity to participate in a Living Room Conversation. The topic of the conversation will be healthy public speech and conversation. We expect the exercise to last about an hour.
If you’re interested in facilitating a Living Room Conversation yourself, information about the process and a selection of topics can be found here: https://livingroomconversations.org/
Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be in February; please continue reading for the meeting details.
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The Fruita for Equality Committee announced their 2022 meeting schedule. Meetings will start at 5:30 p.m. The meeting dates are as follows:
February 28
March 28
April 25
May 23
June 20
July 25
August 22
September 26
October 24
November 28
December 19
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The February Fruita for Equality meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, at the Fruita Branch Library IdeaLab or virtually via Zoom.
Agenda:
- Committee Mission, Priorities and Goals
- 2022 Planning
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Community Resource Guides |
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Several members of the committee mentioned that it can be difficult to know what resources are available for people within the community.
To help raise awareness of the resources available within the Grand Valley, please take a moment to visit the Library’s eResource page.
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Mesa County Libraries offer
Mirrors and Windows Reading Experience
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Participate in the Mirrors and Windows Reading Experience to explore the stories of our diverse world.
Discovering the experiences of others will help you connect with your neighbors in Mesa County.
Complete this reading experience by earning badges. For each badge, you will select and explore a title, reflect and/or share how the materials you chose sit with you. Each badge you earn will allow you to discover new stories or connect with stories similar to your own.
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Book/Media recommendations |
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Just before the dawn of the new millennium, a curator at a New Jersey museum of natural history receives an unusual invitation from a celebrated fashion designer. She shares the curator's fascination with the hidden forms of the animal kingdom -- with camouflage and subterfuge -- and she proposes that they collaborate on an exhibition, the form of which itself remains largely obscure, even as they enter into a strange relationship marked by evasion and elision.
Seven years later, after the death of the designer, the curator recovers the archive of their never-completed project. During a long night of insomnia, he finds within the archive a series of clues to the true story of the designer's family, a mind-bending puzzle that winds from Haifa, Israel, to bohemian 1970s New York to the Latin American jungle. On the way, he discovers a cast of characters whose own fixations interrogate the unstable frontiers between art, science, politics, and religion: an aging photographer, living nearly alone in an abandoned mining town where subterranean fires rage without end, who creates models of ruined cities; a former model turned conceptual artist -- and a defendant in a trial over the very nature and purpose of art; a young indigenous boy who has received a vision of the end of the world.
Reality is a curtain, as the curator realizes, and to draw it back is to reveal the theater of obsession. "Natural History" is the portrait of a world trapped between faith and irony, between tragedy and farce.
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This film documents the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police. |
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About Fruita for Equality |
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Have a question about Fruita for Equality?
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A NOTE TO READERS
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