[CALIBK12] Fwd: [HBTALK] HB Reads - 7 p.m. tonight at HBHS gym

[Richard K. Moore]

Reports from this morning's student assembly are that George and Merle were a smash hit.

The rain has topped.

Join us!



 


Richard K. Moore, InfoSherpa
Huntington Beach, CA
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At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It’s an enormous force for good. -- Barack Obama
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-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Adams Urashima 
Subject: Re: [HBTALK] HB Reads - 7 p.m. tonight at HBHS gym



































Hi all –



 



   An update:  Despite
white-out blizzard conditions in the Bering Sea and in Nome,
Merle Apassingok, from the tiny Yu’pik
village of Gambell (on St. Lawrence Island) arrived
safe and sound last night.  He had asked “how big is your town?”
and I’m sure he is a bit amazed by the view out his window this
morning!  Huntington Beach
and the ocean—pretty great view!  



 



   Please give them a warm
welcome and join us in the Huntington Beach High School gymnasium tonight at 7 p.m.



 



   This is a unique opportunity
to both meet author George Guthridge—who
taught in the village of Gambell—and someone from an ancient culture of
the Americas,
Merle.  Merl
e, like many Native Alaskans, provides for his family as a
traditional subsistence hunter, in order to survive the harsh arctic conditions
in the Bering Sea.  



 



   Below is information about HB
Reads book, George and Merle.  You can read more at www.HBReads.org.  In particular, you
may want to read through the “postcards” and look at the photos from
Yu’pik carver Richard Wisecarver (look
for these on the left side of the home page).



 



   Stop watching the DOW and
worrying about your 401k!  Tonight, come to a free event and connect with the one thing that will get us
through hard times:  good people.  



 



See you tonight!



Mary



 



Author and former “kid from
nowhere” speak in Huntington
  Beach March 5



 



            By
seaplane and airplane—traveling over 3,500 miles to Huntington
Beach—author George Guthridge and one of the former “kids from nowhere” will talk about
their life in a Yu’pik village at a free, public event March 5, at
Huntington Beach High School.  



 



Merle, one of the author’s former
high school students featured in this year’s book selection by Huntington
Beach Reads One Book, is traveling to our community from a tiny Yu’pik
village on St. Lawrence Island, in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska.  While a 
student of the author,
Merle challenged Guthridge by saying “Maybe
you can last the whole
year…maybe.”



In “the kids from nowhere,” Guthridge
recounts his first year in the village
 of Gambell.  His
introduction to Yupik life reveals a people caught between ancient ways and an
intruding contemporary world.  With humor, Guthridge reveals the wry wit
and intelligence of students others had underestimated.  



           
The Guthridge family adapts to harsh weather, lack of plumbing, racism, death
and the twilight of Arctic winters.  In this quiet culture where raised
eyebrows mean “yes” and stoic faces don’t always mean a lack
of interest; Guthridge learns to redirect his teaching to connect the lesson
with the Yupik way.  In turn, his students—who call themselves
“the kids from
nowhere”—begin to reveal profound insight about
their lives and the outside world, while achieving what no one thought was
possible.



“Time,
(they) taught me, cannot be measured by clocks or calendars.  Life’s
benchmarks, I came to realize, are luck and love, the migration of whales, the
changing of weather,” says Guthridge.  “How can I tell you how much I learned from those
students, and how deeply I still love them after all these years… those
students are grown now, with children of their own, yet I will always think of
them as my kids…”


=0
A            Today,
Merle continues to live in the village
 of Gambell, coaches the
local basketball team—a favorite sport in Gambell—and works as a
grant writer.  His life continues to blend the traditional Yu’pik
subsistence way of life with the demands of today’s world.



The public is invited to this rare
opportunity to meet someone from the Yu’pik world and the author who came
to love them.  No reservations or tickets are required.  HB Reads
recommends early arrival to ensure convenient parking in the high school
parking lot (enter lot off Main
  Street).



 



Learn more about the Yu’pik
culture and “the
kids from nowhere” at www.HBReads.com. 
Meet George and Merle at 7 p.m., Thursday,
March 5, at the Huntington Beach High School gymnasium, 1905
  Main Street (near the intersection of Main Street and Yorktown Avenue).



 



 



















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