Category Archives: Library Events

Women’s Studies Film Festival – Fall 2014, at Pecan

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The STC Women’s Studies Group is hosting a series of documentary films.

On Nov. 13 at 6:00 pm they will be showing Sound of Torture (2013). The film is about a Swedish journalist named Meron Estefanos gets a disturbing tip. She’s given a phone number that supposedly belongs to a group of refugees being held hostage in the Sinai desert. She dials the number, and soon dozens of strangers are begging her to rescue them. How can she ignore them?

On Nov. 19 at 6:00 pm, they will show Maria in Nobody’s Land (2010). The film is an unprecedented look at the illegal and extremely dangerous journey of three Salvadoran women to the US. Doña Inés, a 60 year old woman, has been looking for her daughter for years and is following her to the US. Marta and Sandra, escaping domestic abuse and poverty, decide to leave their families behind to travel to America.

Movies will be held at Building D– Aud at the Pecan Campus.

For more information contact jclark@southtexascollege.edu.

 

 

WWI Centennial – Emilio Zamora “The WWI Diary of Jose de la Luz Saenz”

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The year 2014 marks 100 years since the start of World War I.  Join us in commemorating the Mexican-American participation in the Great War.

Dr. Emilio Zamora will join us to discuss the WWI diary of José de la Luz Sáenz and help us commemorate the centennial of WWI. He is a Professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.

Published in Spanish in 1933 and now edited and translated by Dr. Zamora, the diary recounts the author’s war experiences and those of his fellow Mexican Americans. The book is the only WWI diary ever published by a Mexican American.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

6:00 PM –
Pecan Library
Build – F   Rainbow Room
3201 W. Pecan Blvd., McAllen, TX

For more information contact 872-6485 or egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu.

Family Reading Night – Oct. 22 @ 5:30

Family Reading Night 2014

Want to find some fun entertainment for the entire family? Your local library is a good place to start. And you can get to know your South Texas College Mid-Valley Campus Library at its annual “Family Reading Night” on Wednesday, Oct. 22 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The free event, which is open to the public, is held in conjunction with Reading Week.

“We want to help children develop a love of reading and to encourage Valley parents to read with their children,” said Lillian Carrillo, Mid-Valley Campus Librarian. “Our college’s libraries are a gateway to the community, and we hope that participants will not only take advantage of these fun activities, but also learn more about some of the great services that the college has to offer.”

The night’s festivities include South Texas College Ballet Folkórico, book distribution by South Texas Literacy Coalition, entertainer Teensy Weensy the Clown, face painting and a variety of arts and crafts activities for the entire family offered by The Storybook Garden, and Mayor Sánchez Public Library. As an added bonus, fun opportunities will be featured by the college’s Library Art Gallery, Center for Mexican American Studies, CADD, Civil Drafting, & Construction Supervision Program, Design & Building Technology Department, Mid Valley Psychology Club, Jerry the Jaguar, and a special photo booth.

While on campus, attendees have the opportunity to use the library’s free services, view artwork on display in the Library Art Gallery, or sign up for a Community Library Card, which allows community members to check out books at any of STC’s libraries for free.

The library is located at 400 N. Border in Weslaco. For more information about the event contact Lillian Carrillo at 956-447-6663.

“Cesar’s Last Fast” screening with director – Nov. 3

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Join us for a special screening of the film Cesar’s Last Fast with the director of the film Richard Perez.  The director and film screening will be on Monday, November 3rd at 1:00 pm at the MidValley campus, and at the Pecan campus library at 6:00 pm.

Cesar’s Last Fast is a multi-platform feature documentary film about the private sacrifice and spiritual conviction behind Cesar Chavez’s struggle for the humane treatment of America’s farm workers, and the impact Chavez’s legacy has on today’s generation of organizers fighting for farm worker rights. The film is built around powerful, never-before-seen footage of Chavez’s 1988 “Fast for Life,” a 36-day act of penance for not having done enough to stop growers from spraying pesticides on farm workers. The story of this water-only fast is the film’s dramatic arc into which the filmmakers interweave the historic events that defined the life mission of America’s most inspiring Latino leader and the struggles confronting today’s farm workers.

Monday, November 3

1:00 PM –
MidValley Library
Auditorium
400 N. Border, Weslaco, TX
6:00 PM –
Pecan Library
Build – F   Rainbow Room
3201 W. Pecan Blvd., McAllen, TX

For more information contact call 872-2070.

Tim Z. Hernandez to visit STC – Oct 2

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South Texas College’s Center for Mexican American Studies and Library will have a special visit from author Tim Z. Hernandez on October 2nd, 2014 at 4pm in the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, which is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd in McAllen. There will also be a book signing immediately following the event. Admission to each event is free and open to the public.

Tim Z. Hernandez is an award winning author and performance artist.  He teaches at the University of Texas – El Paso and has been featured on NPR and other news outlets.

His novel Mañana Means Heaven is a love story of impossible odds. It tells the story of Bea Franco, the real woman behind famed American author Jack Kerouac’s “The Mexican Girl.” Set against the backdrop of California in the 1940s, deep in the agricultural heartland of the Great Central Valley, the book reveals the desperate circumstances that lead a woman to an affair with an aspiring young writer traveling across the United States.

“We are honored and fortunate to be able to host such a celebrated author as Tim Z. Hernandez at South Texas College,” says CMAS coordinator Victor Gomez.“His book is inspired by the Jack Kerouak story from On the Road however, it is also the sweeping story of sacrifice and love.”

For more information call 956-872-6485.

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Upcoming Summer Exhibits at the Library Art Gallery

The South Texas College Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery once again is excited to bring the annual summer Ceramic Showdown!! This time we are bringing you the talents of ceramicists Fred Spaulding and Jennifer Quarles!

Spaulding earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut. He is currently Associate Professor of Art at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, TX. Quarles earned her Master of Fine Arts from Texas Women’s University. Since 2002, her work has been featured in both regional and national exhibitions.

The Ceramic Showdown opens June 2, 2014 with a reception held on Thursday, June 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Visual Arts and Music Gallery and the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. A two-day ceramics workshop takes place June 13 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. and June 14 at 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Art Building (Bldg. B) Ceramics Lab, Room 113. Art talks will take place Saturday, June 14 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the same location. Exhibition will be on view through Friday, Aug 8.

And there’s more…

We will also be featuring a collection of digital prints made by South Texas College art students on the library’s first floor from June 19 – Aug 8. “Although digital art and photography are fairly new genres in the realm of fine arts, they have gained popularity among artists and photographers because of the freedom and limitless possibilities they provide,” says Phyllis Evans, STC Assistant Professor of Art and Pedro Perez, STC Art Instructor.

Lectures and receptions are always free and open to the public! Please see the flyer below and be sure to share it with your friends and family.

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National Library Week @ STC 2014 Open House

 The South Texas College Library joins libraries nationwide in celebrating National Library Week, a time to highlight the value of libraries, librarians and library workers.

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other resources. Often the heart of their communities, libraries are deeply committed to the places where their patrons live, work and study. Libraries are trusted places where everyone in the community can gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich and shape the community and address local issues.

“Service to the South Texas College community has always been the focus of the library,” said Noemi Garza, Director of Library Public Services. “While this aspect has never changed, libraries have grown and evolved in how they provide for the needs of every member of their community.”

The South Texas College Library is celebrating National Library Week by hosting Open House events at each campus library. The events are free and open to the public.

On April 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Technology Campus Library located at 3700 W. Military Hwy. in McAllen, attendees will enjoy a screening of the movie Gravity, as well as a scavenger hunt, games, and prizes.

On April 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the college’s Mid-Valley Campus Library located at 400 N. Border in Weslaco, events will include the showing of Frozen, pictures with college mascot Jerry the Jaguar, a contest, and a Pursuing Education Fair.

On April 23 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Starr County Campus Library located at 142 FM 3167 in Rio Grande City, activities include the showing of Gravity, a scavenger hunt, games, mariachis, and a community fair.

On April 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Nursing and Allied Health Campus Library located at 1101 E. Vermont in McAllen, attendees will be treated to the showing of Gravity, as well as a scavenger hunt, games, and prizes.

On April 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Library located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen, festivities will include an information fair, a scavenger hunt with prizes, and the showing of Gravity.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

For more information visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu or call 872-8330.

April 1 – “Forgotten Dead” Presentation by Dr. William Carrigan

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Mob violence in the United States is usually associated with the southern lynch mobs that terrorized African Americans during the Jim Crow era. However, the book Forgotten Dead, uncovers a mostly unknown chapter in history, the lynching of persons of Mexican origin or descent.

Dr. William Carrigan, one of the co-authors of the book Forgotten Dead, will visit South Texas College and The University of Texas Pan-American. Carrigan will visit UTPA on March 31 at 5 p.m. and conclude his trip to the Rio Grande Valley at STC’s Pecan Campus Library on April 1 at 6 p.m.  STC’s Pecan Campus Library is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd in McAllen. Both events are free and open to the public.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Carrigan to South Texas and invite our community to attend this event that is so relevant to our area,” STC History Instructor Christopher Davis said. “His presentation will definitely change the way we think of our history.”

For over eight decades lynch mobs murdered hundreds of Mexicans, mostly in the American Southwest. Racial prejudice and economic hardships helped fuel the actions of the mob, and much of the violence happened at a time of tension along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

The book relates the numerous acts of resistance by Mexicans, including armed self-defense, crusading journalism and lobbying by diplomats who pressured the U.S. to honor its rhetorical commitment to democracy. It also contains the first-ever inventory of Mexican victims of mob violence in the U.S.

The event is part of a Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle lecture series and is sponsored by the STC History Department, STC Library, UTPA History Department and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information about event at STC, please contact Esther Garcia at 956-872-6485 or via email at egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu, or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/blog/.

Sandy Lessig “Through Their Eyes” Sandy Lessig – March 26 at 6pm

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Originally from Indianapolis, Sandy Breisacher Lessig grew up with a father who was a Holocaust survivor from Breisach, German. She is the creator of “Through Their Eyes”, an interactive video presentation of a survivor and his adult child.

Sandy Lessig will present a video presentation, “Through Their Eyes” that allows her father to share his story of life in Germany under the rise of Nazism and Hitler. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

The event will be held at the Cooper Auditorium on Wednesday, March 26 at 6:00 pm. It is free to attend and open to the public.

This event is being held in conjunction with the Common Reading Program for 2013-2014.