Secret Delivery

Artist: Michele Mitcavish
Napa County , California
"Secret Delivery"
Fused and Cut Glass Mosaic
2008


"I wanted to take a dreamy approach to my interpretation of the book, "The Mailbox". While I was reading the book, I started to make notes of things that jumped out at me in the story. As wisps of the book's images ran through my imagination, I drew them onto the box. I also incorporated some of the key phrases from the text into the imagery. Then I began cutting and melting the glass. The rhododendrons, flames and green envelope (inside) were all fused in a glass kiln and then filled in with hundreds of pieces of cut glass for the areas of color. After the glass was adhered, I completed the grouting to make sure the mailbox could weather the outdoors. I find working in the medium of mosaic gives me the freedom to visually pull the different elements together to create a complete story."

The Mailbox was the book choice for 2008 Napa County Reads. On November 7th, 2008, Arts Council Napa Valley, the Napa County Office of Education, the Napa County Board of Supervisors, artists, and community members celebrated the Napa County Reads program at an auction and benefit at Artesa Winery. The book was the inspiration for 28 artful mailboxes designed by local artists and auctioned off at the event. The proceeds benefitted Napa County Reads, a literacy program sponsored by the Napa County Office of Education.

2009 Book Choice: The Mailbox

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer has been selected as 2009’s Mountain View Reads Together book. This is the first book chosen that was written for a younger audience.

Gabe is a 12 year old who has moved from foster home to foster home and is eventually adopted by a reclusive uncle, a Vietnam Veteran. As the book begins, the boy returns home from school to find the uncle has died unexpectedly. Not wanting to return to foster care, he decides to keep the death a secret. He is aided in this by a mysterious person who communicates with him by leaving messages in the mailbox.

The 178 page book is written for grades 4 and up but should appeal to adults as well. It is a good one for families to discuss. It addresses the lingering effects of the Vietnam War on participants, the plight of a 12 year old orphan who longs for a family, the importance of pets, the value of reading, and a caring community--all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.

The author, a Mountain View resident, is a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford and an anesthesiologist at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

Watch for upcoming details about the November 2009 series of Mountain View Reads Together. More details will be on the Library's website.

Women in Islam (Nov. 24)

L to R: Ameena Jandali and Sumbul Ali-Karamali

Ameena Jandali is a founding member of Islamic Networks Group. She has delivered hundreds of presentations in schools, colleges, universities, churches, and other venues on Islam and related subjects, and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. She currently team teaches a class on Islam at San Francisco City College. She received her M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and B.A. in History from the University of Illinois.

Sumbul Ali-Karamali is a local author who earned her B.A. from Stanford, her J.D. from U.C. Davis, and her L.L.M. in Islamic Law from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. She was a teaching assistant in Islamic law at the University of London and was a research associate at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law in London. For excerpts, reviews, and information about her first book, The Muslim Next Door, please visit her website at www.muslimnextdoor.com.

This was the final program for 2008. Raffle tickets had been given out throughout November whenever an evaluation form was turned in. The drawing was held and four prizes donated by our sponsors were awarded: gift certificates from local bookstores East West Bookstore and Books Inc., a Talk Cinema Palo Alto subscription, and a Flip Ultra video camera from Pure Digital. The winners will be contacted by phone.

Thank you so much to the many people and organizations involved in putting on this year's program! Thank you to those of you who made it out to events, connected with the community, and shared your thoughts and opinions. It takes all of us to make Mountain View the vibrant community it is.

"Change Your World" Youth Contest

On Saturday, November 22, the winners of the MVRT Change Your World contest were recognized at a program at the Mountain View Public Library. The prizes and refreshments were sponsored by the Mountain View Los Altos Challenge Team and the Friends of the Library.

1st place, Grades 3-7
Natalie Lillie reading from her book Natalie's Lice Aren't Nice
Natalie, age 12, turned a difficult personal experience into a positive lesson for others with her book, “Natalie’s Lice aren’t Nice.” Natalie wrote the book to show other children that they don’t need to be embarrassed about this very common problem. Her book offers a realistic and entertaining story as well as guidelines for avoiding an infestation and recovering from one. The book is in the process of being translated into Spanish. Natalie received a 1st place award of $250.00 in the 3-8th grade category.

2nd place, Grades 8-12
Alexander Gonsalves -- Disha Trust: India
Alexander volunteered at the Disha Charitable Trust, a school for mentally challenged children when visiting Panaji, a city in Goa , India . He wants to do something to help the children at the school. Alexander will be starting a drive for books and art supplies to be sent to Panaji. He won a prize of $150.00 as the second place winner in the high school category.

1st place, Grades 8-12
Akash Nigam -- Kick, Lead and Dream
Akash, the $250.00 1st place winner in the high school category, loves soccer and cares about people who have not had the advantages he has enjoyed. He put those passions together to create “Kick, Lead and Dream” a summer soccer camp for at risk youth in Mountain View. Akash has enlisted many others in his vision-- from fellow students (to serve as coaches) to the support of local organizations including Police Action League (PAL) and Mesa de la Comunidad. The program has been so successful that Akash has been asked to replicate it in Sunnyvale .

L to R: Sharlene Gee, Alexander Gonsalves, Akash Nigam, Natalie Lillie, Karin Bricker

Copies of the advance uncorrected proofs from Penguin: Listen to the Wind (a picture book) and Three Cups of Tea (young reader's edition for grades 3-6). Final copies of the books will be available for sale in January 2009.

Words N2 Action at MVHS (Nov. 18)

At the Words N2 Action fair at Mountain View High School on Nov. 18, organizations described what they did and shared their needs for volunteers. Students contacted and coordinated the following organizations to participate:
Community School of Music and Arts, Green Citizen, Magic, Tri-City Breakfast Program, Sierra Club, Pathways Hospice, City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley, American Red Cross, Special Olympics -- Silicon Valley, City of Mountain View, Ronald McDonald House, and Reading Partners.

Jennifer Jordan (11/12); Red Rock (11/13)

Jennifer Jordan

Kate Reid (from Call of the Wild) and Jennifer Jordan

Scenes from the discussion at Red Rock.

"Back to School"; Margo McAuliffe and Kenyan girls school

Excerpted from the PBS site below:

Back to School is the second installment of Time for School, the multi-year project launched in 2003 when Wide Angle profiled seven children in seven countries – Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania – starting their first year of school, often despite great odds. Returning in 2006, we find that some are already hanging onto their enrollment by a thread.

For more information on the PBS "Wide Angle" documentary, "Back to School," click here.

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Excerpted from the kenyahelpkenya site at the end:

Kenya Help: Building a High School for Girls in Kenya

"You don't need me to come here to teach math. What you need is for me to go home to raise money for the girls' high school". Those were the words, spoken in September 2005, by Margo McAuliffe, retired high school math teacher from Menlo Park, California. Thus began the journey from a bare plot of ground in Naivasha, Kenya to the opening of St Francis Xavier Girls Secondary School (or just St. Francis Girls) to the first class of students in February 2007.

Fr. Daniel Kiriti dreamed of a school for the girls of his Naivasha parish, be they Catholic or not. He wanted a school for the bright but poor girls whose only hope was a secondary education. Its mission would be to empower young women, to build their self-confidence and instill a sense of owning their destiny and that of their community and their country.

For more info on Margo McAuliffe's Kenyan girls school project, go to kenyahelpkenya.org.

Celebrate Pakistani Culture

Sunday, November 9, in the Mountain View City Hall Rotunda.