This past spring, Silicon Valley Reads brought Santa Clara County residents together with six books around the theme of “Connecting” that really resonated through public programs, even if they were held online. Next year’s selections should be just as meaningful, with a trio of books that focus around the theme of kindness, resilience and hope.
“This year’s theme will allow us to engage in conversation about the transformative power of kindness, highlight our remarkable capacity for resilience, and build hopefulness for our future,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan, who chairs the community engagement program with San Jose Library Director Jill Bourne and Santa Clara County Library Director Jennifer Weeks.
Three nonfiction books were selected that highlight different aspects of the theme, and you’re welcome to read one or all of them. They are “See No Stranger,” by Valarie Kaur, a Sikh activist, filmmaker and civil rights lawyer; “Enough About Me,” by Richard Lui, a news anchor who left his job to help care for his ailing dad in San Francisco; and “A Dream Called Home,” by Reyna Grande, who immigrated to the United States when she was 9 and found her way to UC Santa Cruz.
Bourne said the diversity of the authors and their stories is reflective of the Silicon Valley community. “People will identify with these memoirs, and if they can’t relate personally, they can learn from them,” she said.
Of course, Silicon Valley Reads’ community advisory board — and that includes me — knows people also love to read fiction, so there are also three recommended titles that embody the theme as well: “The Girl With the Louding Voice,” by Abi Daré; “The Authenticity Project,” by Clare Pooley; and “The Story of Arthur Truluv,” by Elizabeth Berg. Companion books for children and teens will be selected soon, as well.
The complete schedule of events — some in-person, some virtual — will take place in February and March and will be posted at www.siliconvalleyreads.org in January.
OUTDOOR TYPES: Green Foothills will honor former Santa Clara County Supervisors Blanca Alvarado and Rod Diridon Sr. at its virtual Nature’s Inspiration celebration on Oct. 3. The nonprofit advocacy group has been protecting open space in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties since 1962, and its honorees have been dedicated to public service and environmental protection for most of that history.
“I have worked with Green Foothills throughout the decades, beginning in the 1960s with its founders including Wallace Stegner, the Duveniks, and the Varians,” Diridon said. “Their leadership has guaranteed a viewshed, watershed, and peace of mind for our children’s children.”
Alvarado, meanwhile, praised Green Foothills’ work to preserve the Coyote Valley south of San Jose and said it has impacted environmental policy not only for the public sector but for businesses, too.
The 5 p.m. event will include a 15-minute short film about the honorees with Doug McConnell of NBC Bay Area’s “OpenRoad” TV, and there’ll also be performances by Aztec dance troupe Calpulli Tonalehqueh, spoken-word poet Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour and the Grammy Award-winning Indigo Girls. Tickets are available at www.greenfoothills.org/tickets.
HEALTHY ANNIVERSARY: Time sure flies when you’re working to keep a community healthy. Just look at the Health Trust, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a virtual event Oct. 6.
The Health Trust has its origins as a community benefit foundation created in 1996 when the Good Samaritan Hospital system, then a nonprofit, was sold to HCA. It had $52 million in assets and a mission to improve the well-being of residents in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. And it really has made a difference on that front, providing more than $2 million every year in community grants, keeping people fed and connected through its Meals on Wheels program and creating a robust HIV/AIDS services program.
The virtual celebration, which starts at 3:30 p.m., will be hosted by NBC Bay Area’s Damian Trujillo — who, coincidentally, is marking his own 25th anniversary with the San Jose station — and will include remarks by founding board chair Dave Henderson, current chair David Neighbors and CEO Michele Lew. Register for free at healthtrust.org/25thanniversary.
PUMPKINS ABOUND: It’s that time of the year, and while I don’t mean pumpkin spice season, I am talking about pumpkins.
The Bay Area Glass Institute and its artists have started a monthlong tour of their glass gourds, which kicked off this weekend with the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch at Palo Alto Art Center (Oct. 2-3). The pumpkins will next sprout at Santana Row on Oct. 8-10, and then the patch will take root at History Park — where BAGI is now headquartered — for a longer stay, Oct. 15-No. 21.
If you’re looking for pumpkins that are less breakable, you need look no further than the return of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy’s Pumpkins in the Park on Oct. 9 at Discovery Meadow. It runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes a pumpkin patch, a giant slide and food trucks.
And while the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival isn’t happening this year — boo! — nothing is getting in the way of the 48th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in the picturesque Coastside town on Oct. 11. Last year, Travis Gienger’s 2,350-pound pumpkin — nicknamed “The Tiger King” — proved to be the heaviest pumpkin weighed in North America in 2020. We’ll see if that gets beat this year. Get details for this year’s contest — which will be streamed on Facebook Live — at weighoff.miramarevents.com.