| $25 East-West Bookstore gift certificate | 436260 |
| $25 Books Inc. gift certificate | 436030 |
| iPod Shuffle | 436039 |
| iPod Shuffle | 436107 |
We were very fortunate that AudioVision was able to describe "Silent Beats" for the visually impaired in the audience. If you haven't yet seen the film, click on the link to the right. Imagine "being the eyes" for someone else, trying to describe what you see without interpreting it so that the visually impaired person can self-interpret. It almost seems impossible! Several sighted people listened in to the description. 
In the discussion that followed, people shared their reactions to the film, talked about the description, race relations, first impressions, the usefulness and drawbacks of stereotypes, and many other topics. The Chinese translator mentioned how translating the drop of sweat requires one to decide if it's from exertion, anxiety, or nervousness. 
Nancy Pearl is a real person, a librarian, who made it to "action figure"-dom (available from accoutrements.com). From the back of the packaging: "Accomplishments: Director of Library Programming and the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library. Nancy is best known for the, 'If All Seattle Read The Same Book' project. This idea of one city reading the same book at the same time has been imitated in cities around the world."
The meeting room at the Computer History Room was filled to capacity, mostly with local chess club members and their families. We were welcomed by Computer History Museum's Vice President of Public Programs, Karen Tucker. By a show of hands, the majority of the room had never visited the museum. Huff Elementary chess coach, David Floyer, played a demonstration game of speed chess with Math Olympiad teacher and Chess Prep owner, "Mr. G" (Dan Gertmenian). Afterwards the two debriefed and discussed their moves and strategies. With only five minutes for a game, Mr. G said we have to look for patterns. Rapid decisions are based on intuition and experience. "Go with it!"
We then moved to the large room where the "Mastering the Game" exhibit resides (very appropriate). Everyone then had a chance to try a rousing game of speed chess. Even a half hour after the official two hour activity, it was hard to put away those last two chess boards.
The group started with doing the Gender-Career exercise discussed in the book (pp. 77-81). 
Panelists represented three different types of MV employers: non-profit Community School of Music and Arts, the oldest organization of the three (almost 40 years); Tellme Networks, a tech start-up with hundreds of employees; and Mercury Interactive, the host, with 26 worldwide offices and ~3000 employees. Catherine Tornbom, Interfuse Associates, facilitated the panel. The purpose of the panel was to explore the theory of "thin slices" as it relates to interviewing potential employees (Chapter 3, specifically pages 34-39). 
Fifteen or so people joined the discussion of Blink at Books Inc., Sunday afternoon. Most had read the book, or had nearly finished; but a few attendees were curious about the Mountain View Reads project. We had a spirited and far ranging discussion, drawing from life experiences in the classroom, the Red Cross, and sales, along with other areas; and I think that everyone who attended contributed something that enriched the talk. Although touching on most of Malcolm Gladwell’s points, our conversation centered on the chapters in Blink dealing with bias, stereotypes, and, especially, the IAT, or Implicit Association Test. We considered the different strategies put forward by Gladwell for overcoming, or at least questioning, our biases, and tied them in to our own experiences: from helping school children make positive associations with their backgrounds, to deepening our own experiences with diverse cultures, to taking advantage of other peoples’ unexamined associations, such as dressing the part of an authority with a hardhat and vest for the Red Cross. The chapter on the IAT is one of the most challenging and disturbing in the book, and I found it refreshing to have such a frank conversation that didn’t shy away from difficult emotions.
Then came the triangle taste test. First James taught how to taste coffee (like wine tasting!). Each cup was inside another cup to hide if it had "V" (for Verona ) written on the bottom. The triangle test is like that old Sesame Street game -- "One of these things is not like the others." Given three cups of two coffees only about 5 of the 15 people could distinguish Verona from Yukon , so that jells with what Gladwell says in the book (1/3rd of people can distinguish Coke from Pepsi in a triangle test.)
A few people well beyond their teens showed up at the teen workshop because circumstances caused them to miss the adult workshop. The discussion was stimulating -- how often do a sixth grader, the student's parent, and an unrelated 70+-year old born in another country share stories about conflict and why it might have occurred? The parent reflected back to a time after college; the sixth grader remembered a story from second grade.
30 people gathered at the police department on Saturday at 10AM. People said they liked the real-life scenario, Q&A and discussion. 
Unfortunately, Chief Vermeer had a schedule conflict. Captain Freeberg filled in most capably (and on his day off). He tied topics in with the book and was able to answer questions referring to Blink subjects and scenarios. Those who hadn't read the book had no problems still finding this activity interesting; those who filled out surveys all indicated that they planned to read it.
Immediately after the police event, the Spanish-language activity for kids took place at the library. Maynard clearly had their attention with his expressive reading. Big smiles, eyes showing delight, and laughter all indicated the kids were having lots of fun.
This brand new project kicked off yesterday with two activities: (1) a Read Aloud at noon at the library and (2) a mixed program at Google. Mayor Nick Galiotto and MVWSD Superintendent Dr. Maurice Ghysels were among those who spoke at the kickoff. 
The highlight of the Google event was the playing of "Silent Beats" and an opportunity to hear from and ask questions of the writer/director, Jon Chu. He said his feature film directorial debut will be "The Prom," to be released in 2008. 