RINCON LATINO: RESENA LITERARIA

"CHINA: EL IIMPERIO DE LAS MENTIRAS" ES EL SEGUNDO DEL AUTOR FRANCES GUY SORMAN QUE VISLUMBRA LA AGONIZANTE REALIDAD DE LA CHINA ACTUAL! ESTE LIBRO ES EL FRUTO FINAL DE UN ANO ( EL ANO DEL GALLO ,2005 ) VIVIDO ENTRE SUBLEVACIONES RELIGIOSAS, REBELIONES DE OBREROS, PROTESTAS ECOLOGIASTAS Y ROCES ENTRE EL AUTOR Y LAS AUTORIDADES.

ESTE LIBRO DESTACA ENTRE UNA REALIDAD IMAGINADA DE TURISTAS Y SINOFILOS; Y OTRA BASANDOSE EN UNA PLENA REALIDAD REPLETA DE VERDADES DOLOROSAS. POR EL MOMENTO, HAY DOS EJEMPLARES DONADOS POR UN CLIENTE BONDADOSO MUY AL TANTO A LA ACTUALIDAD POLITICA Y PSICOLOGICA. DONACIONES COMO ESTA SON UN DESTELLO CULTURAL DE NUESTRA COLECCION!

The Carmen Miranda Film Festival: A Recap

"Look at me and tell me if I don't have Brazil in every curve of my body."
-Carmen Miranda

Did you know that it wasn't until two years before her death in 1955 that Carmen Miranda was granted a Brazilian passport? Did you also know she once hosted 200 Brazilian sailors at her Beverly Hills estate, and that she was insistent that wherever she went, her band had to follow? Colorful, irrepressable, incomparable, Miranda's story was told at the Central Library Wednesday night August 22 to a packed house of 75 patrons.

The discussion was led by Fred Dobb, professor of education at San Francisco State University and expert in Latin cinema. Dovetailing his charming lecture were several clips, each representing a distinct stage in Carmen's entertainment career. In attendance were representatives from area groups, promoting Latin culture.

Dobb's presentation marked the latest installment in the Central Library's continuing series on contemporary Latin culture and cinema. Stay tuned for upcoming shows, both by checking GrandCENTRAL and looking at the Sacramento Public Library's Library Newsletter.

Introducing Le book

Have a Laugh!

THE HISTORY OF JAZZ AT CENTRAL LIBRARY!

Part of Sacramento Public Library's 150 year anniversary, Central Library is presenting "Looking at Jazz: America's Art Form," a two-month musical tribute to what is universally recognized as America's greatest musical contribution. The series will showcase local talent week after week highlighting different jazz styles such as Swing Jazz and Latin Jazz. All programs are free to the public and are sure to be the talk of the town throughout the next few weeks! So come and enjoy the celebrate not only one of Sacramento's oldest public institutions but also one of America's most treasured art forms.


In addition, Sacramento Public Library also features a beautiful jazz documentary entitled: "A Great Day in Harlem." This documentary is featured on the library's digital Overdrive site under the "Browse Video" box under "Documentaries." Check it out and relive history!

COMMUNITY OUTREACH SERVICES: WHOLE FOODS MARKET " BACK TO SCHOOL " EVENT.

Well, Outreach Volunteers were at it again! Just can't stay out the that beautiful limelight! On August 11,volunteers Lisa Christensen and Jose Esparza (not pictured) were at the Whole Foods Market Back to School event library promoting services to the public. The library was accompanied by other Sacramento area youth service providers such as the Sacramento YMCA, People Reaching Out, North Area Teen Center, Child Protection Education of America .Outreach volunteers spoke to the public about the libraries many youth services such as Live Homework Help and the highly - popular SPL Teens program. The response from the public was great with much interest focusing on online services . And much praise was directed at SPL's Youth Services department located at Central Library in downtown Sacramento. As the Digital Age continues, we have seen computer usage at SPL's 27 libraries increase, and our customerscontinued interest and demand for more online services increase tenfold.

Another service not traditionally associated with Community Outreach is SPL's downloadable eBooks and eVideos Overdrive site. Here parents can download books and video to aid in the education of their children.

SPL's Community Outreach Services are constantly doing something in the community, so check us out and enjoy what the Sacramento Public Library is doing to make Sacramento's quality of life that much better!

Book Review: Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers

Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers, Earl Swift, Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

I've not seen a single episode of television's CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), but I'd guess that if one took the show out of its sexy LA and/or Miami confines and mixed in a Texas-sized mud pie, poisonous reptile, unbearable humidity, and a million or so fire ants, you might come close to understanding the worldwide quest of the U.S. Military's Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI), an organization tasked to find and identify the nation's lost soldiers. Telling the tale is Earl Swift, a Virginia journalist, who journied to Laos in 2001 to surveil the group and their hunt for a crew of missing Army aviators, whose helicopter went down near the Vietnam/Laos border in 1971.

The engine of Swift's story is human interest. In not much time, you know the crew. From the spitshined complexion of the chopper commander to the muscle car-loving door gunner, the author brings you into their quirky, homey, chain-smoking world. Then he rips them from you; Their steel machine crashes and they are gone. But, at this point, you're in, part of the search team, walking just behind Swift down some dusty Degar hunting trail, and you'll accept even the slightest form of proof: a helmet, a manufacturing i.d., bullet casing.

At the beginning of the account, Swift asks us if it's worth it: spending $100 million a year to find our fallen sons and fathers. By the time the collective fate of Jack Barker, Johnny Chub, Johnny Dugan (see photo above) and Will Dillender is decided, you have your answer.

Book Review: Disgrace

reviewed by V. K. Ehrenreich

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

The hero of Disgrace is a real “b_ _ _ _ _ _.” The Booker Prize winner, J. M. Coetzee provides us with a portrait of the new Afrikaner who is forced to interact with blacks on an equal often humiliating basis. The balance of power is in flux in the new South Africa. What galls Communications Professor David Lurie is the knowledge that a black man (actually 3 blacks) can rape his daughter and get away with it. What escapes Lurie is the similarity between his alleged rape of his young female student and the violent act of the black youths.

The dynamics of the rapes differ in the “how”. On a rainy day in Cape Town, Lurie invites his young student into his house. Under the spell of Eros, the professor partakes of his dessert from a limp, passive student. When the girl’s boyfriend threatens Lurie and tells the girl’s prominent family, the prof loses his job and seeks refuge in his disgrace at his lesbian daughter’s Eastern Cape flower farm/ dog kennel. On a Wednesday morning, three black youths ask to use Lucy’s phone; once inside they lock Lurie in the loo (bathroom) and partake of Lucy’s desserts. Under the spell of hatred, the three blacks plunge their violent disturbing revenge for centuries of abuse into the limp, passive Lucy. Is passion out of lust more acceptable than passion out of hatred?

Lurie nearly manages to redeem himself in his determination to protect his daughter from the “bywoner” (tenant farmer) Petrus. Having knowledge of the planned rape/theft and the rapists, one of whom is his nephew, Petrus is eager to annex Lucy’s property to his small farm. Although not overtly stated, Petrus believes the land belongs to the blacks and he is reclaiming what belonged to his people before the invasion of the whites. Again the dynamics are in the “how”. Petrus is very polite with his long pipe and smile but his deeds are those of the greedy white man. Symbolically, the lives of the two races are inextricably linked in the child Lucy now carries. While seeking to dissuade Lucy from accepting Petrus’ offer of protection and marriage, Lurie is helpless to protect his daughter in the new South Africa. The only explanation/redemption for Lurie’s initial act of disgrace lies in his belief that, “Every woman I have been close to has taught me something about myself (p 70).” Lucy complains to her egocentric father that everything is about “you”. She is right on.

Coetzee, J. M., Disgrace, 1999, New York:Viking.

Veronica Ehrenreich holds a MFA in Film and a MLIS. She taught Film Studies at California State University, Sacramento, and is an on-call librarian at Sacramento Public Library and California State University, Sacramento.

J. M. Coetzee has won several literary awards for his fiction and non-fiction works. Coetzee is the only writer to have won the Booker Award twice.