A Ballerina’s Tale
Suzy Morris – Technology Training and Support Services
“A Ballerina’s Tale” shows the struggles and successes of Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. The film explores themes around race as well as body image.
Misty started ballet lessons at 13 – which is considered old by traditional standards. I think that is what shines in Misty, she’s not a traditional ballerina – her home life was economically unstable at times, she’s African American, she has a curvy muscular body, she doesn’t fit the ballerina mold…but along the way she had amazing mentors lift her up and she herself had the determination to follow her dream. At a young age, Misty had to learn to navigate stereotypes, micro aggressions, and self-doubt. She not only became the first Black principal dancer of the American Balley Theatre in New York but she has also written two books as well as founded The Misty Copeland Foundation, which provides afterschool programs for children, ages 8 to 10, that combine affordable ballet training, in the communities where they live, alongside health and wellness, musicianship, mentoring and general tutoring components.
Available on YouTube.
The Imitation Game
Movie based on the book ‘The Enigma’ by Andrew Hodges
Ginny Ariaz, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
This movie is set during WW2 and focuses on the team who crack the Enigma machine that the Nazi’s used to encode messages. The movie focuses on Alan Turning who is gay and the head mathematician on the project. He recruits Joan Clarke to his team, but has to assign her to the female clerk team in order to satisfy her parents. Both Turning and Clarke face hardships and work together to find a mutually beneficial solution and continue their work.
The movie really depicts the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community and women in the 1950s. Despite their brilliant minds and the incredible work they were capable of, society wanted to limit and ostracize Turning and Clarke. I was fascinated by the story and highly recommend it. Not to mention it was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won Best Adapted Screenplay.
Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV
Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho
Seana Wagner – Director, Communications & Special Projects
In the past few years, we have been learning together as a country that knowing how to have difficult conversations from opposite sides of issues is vital to the strength of our community. Emmanuel Acho’s videos are a valuable part of that discourse. Emmanuel Acho is the host of the groundbreaking video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” (now “Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho”). He is also a New York Times bestselling author, an Emmy-winning television broadcaster and a former linebacker for the NFL. Acho has a voice of compassion and understanding that he uses to talk about a wide variety of difficult topics.
Available on YouTube.
The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America
Author, Deepa Purushothaman
Yuliana Moreno, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
A deeply personal call to action for women of color to find power from within and to join together in community, advocating for a new corporate environment where we all belong—and are accepted.
Innocent Voices
Author, Luis Mandoki
Manuel Pineda, Early Childhood Services
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980’s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
I wanted to share to show what we lived in my country through the Civil War.
Solito
Author: Javier Zamora
Susan Stewart, Research and Professional Development Center
Solito is the story of a 9-year-old boy who immigrates by himself from El Salvador to San Rafael, CA (~3,000 miles) to join his parents who fled during a period of civil unrest. In the audiobook, you hear the story in the author’s own voice…which makes the vicissitudes of the journey all the more tangible. Through the beautiful writing, this book opened a window into immigration in a more robust and personal way for me.
Hijab Butch Blues
Author: Lamya H
Susan Stewart – Research and Professional Development Center
A memoir at the intersection of faith, immigration, sexuality, race, and gender. The author drew me into their experiences as a queer, muslim from another country. They have an uncanny way of guiding me to see them at a visceral level. My awareness of how others’ experience in the world is different than mine has been heightened through Lamya’s story.
Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain
Author: Shirley Ann Higuchi
Marin Brown, Early Childhood Services
A memoir of a young girl navigating the complicated terrain of the Japanese American experience, Shirley patched together Setsuko’s story and came to understand the forces and generational trauma that shaped her own life. Helped me to realize the he pain in our collective American past.
Voices of Children Documentary
Author: World Forum Foundation
Patty Salcedo, Research and Professional Development Center
The filmakers write, “We see children as current citizens of the world. As active and capable community participants, their perspectives can inform our thinking about rights.” This 25-minute film featuring young children around the world will lift you up and perhaps bring you down as you observe them exploring, investigating, and learning about their world. I am prompted to envision unity rather than inclusion and exclusion as well as the rights of all children to thrive.
Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America (Voice of Witness)
Author: Steven Mayers (Editor), Jonathan Freedman (Editor)
Lori Hill, Technology Training and Support Services
Solito, Solita is a written collection of oral histories of fifteen young refugees from Central America, told in their own voice, as they recount their reasons for leaving their home country and the unimaginable trials they encounter on their long journey to the US. This important book will shape the way you view those that have been forced to flee the violence in their country and their incredible resilience in navigating a new world.
The Student and Community Opportunities Sub-Committee Living Undocumented
Author: Netflix Documentary
Lindsey Estes, Sr. Site Supervisor, Bellevue School, SR
“By following eight families who live in six different states, hail from six different countries, and have varied problems with their immigration status, Living Undocumented goes inside the experience of life as an undocumented immigrant in the United States with unprecedented intimacy.”
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Author: Malala Yousafzai
Barbara Thorsen, Community Programs
While this book has been out for about 10 years, it’s as inspiring as ever! The bravery and steadfastness of Malala and her convictions never gets old. A must read (or re-read!) An amazing book to share with young people.
GoodReads DEI Book Club List
Barbara Thorsen, Community Programs
25 Children’s Books About Diversity
Barbara Thorsen, Community Programs
Assessment, Evaluation & Sustainability
Exhibits at the de Young museum
Lacey Boatman, College & Career Readiness
Exhibits at the de Young in San Francisco (free General Admission every Saturday for Bay Area residents) are moving, inspiring, and thought provoking. Current exhibits include: Lee Mingwei: Rituals of Care. “Transforming ordinary actions like writing, sweeping, mending, or breathing into rituals of care, Lee Mingwei’s works encourage us to find beauty and solace in the small acts that define everyday life.” Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World features the work of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi whose images serve as a link between the Meija era (1868-1912) and the feudal military rule that preceded it. Nampeyo and the Sikyátki Revival features an installation of pottery from renowned American Southwest Tewa-Hopi potter, Nampeyo (ca. 1860 – 1942) as well as ceramics made by ancestral Hopi artists.
The Imitation Game
Movie based on the book ‘The Enigma’ by Andrew Hodges
Ginny Ariaz, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
Link: Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
https://www.netflix.com/title/70295172?source=35
https://www.amazon.com
https://tv.apple.com
This movie is set during WW2 and focuses on the team who crack the Enigma machine that the Nazi’s used to encode messages. The movie focuses on Alan Turning who is gay and the head mathematician on the project. He recruits Joan Clarke to his team, but has to assign her to the female clerk team in order to satisfy her parents. Both Turning and Clarke face hardships and work together to find a mutually beneficial solution and continue their work.
The movie really depicts the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community and women in the 1950s. Despite their brilliant minds and the incredible work they were capable of, society wanted to limit and ostracize Turning and Clarke. I was fascinated by the story and highly recommend it. Not to mention it was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won Best Adapted Screenplay.
A Million Miles Away
Yesenia Sandoval-Chavira, Community Programs
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HcUuiLzR8
Inspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, anabout migrant worker turned astronaut. A Million Miles Away follows him on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station. With the support of his family, José’s drive & determination culminates in the opportunity to achieve his seemingly impossible goal.
As the only Mexican American engineer at Livermore labs in the 1980s, José faces classic but still cutting discrimination – he’s relegated to a windowless office with broken lights, assigned menial copying tasks. The secretary assumes he’s the new janitor. He must do twice the work to get half the recognition.
Link: Available on Amazon Prime
https://www.amazon.com
The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America
Author: Deepa Purushothaman
Yuliana Moreno, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
A deeply personal call to action for women of color to find power from within and to join together in community, advocating for a new corporate environment where we all belong—and are accepted.
Innocent Voices
Author: Luis Mandoki
Manuel Pineda, Early Childhood Services
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980’s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
I wanted to share to show what we lived in my country through the Civil War.
“Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho”
Author: YouTube Video
Seana Wagner, Communications and Special Projects
Description: In the past few years, we have been learning together as a country that knowing how to have difficult conversations from opposite sides of issues is vital to the strength of our community. Emmanuel Acho’s videos are a valuable part of that discourse. Emmanuel Acho is the host of the groundbreaking video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” (now “Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho”). He is also a New York Times bestselling author, an Emmy-winning television broadcaster and a former linebacker for the NFL. Acho has a voice of compassion and understanding that he uses to talk about a wide variety of difficult topics.
A Ballerina’s Tale
Author: Apple TV, Amazon
Suzi Morris, Technology Training and Support Services
Trailer: https://youtu.be/6Y2h6fz2XzQ?si=Km991kk4Tdo-PEgq
Misty started ballet lessons at 13 – which is considered old by traditional standards. I think that is what shines in Misty, she’s not a traditional ballerina – her home life was economically unstable at times, she’s African American, she has a curvy muscular body, she doesn’t fit the ballerina mold…but along the way she had amazing mentors lift her up and she herself had the determination to follow her dream. At a young age, Misty had to learn to navigate stereotypes, micro aggressions, and self-doubt. She not only became the first Black principal dancer of the American Balley Theatre in New York but she has also written two books as well as founded The Misty Copeland Foundation, which provides afterschool programs for children, ages 8 to 10, that combine affordable ballet training, in the communities where they live, alongside health and wellness, musicianship, mentoring and general tutoring components.