City Info Weekly - 2010/02/24 (Archive)

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Important Upcoming Meetings:

Longview City Council Workshop on 15th/Tennant Way intersection alternatives on Feb. 25 following the regular meeting at 7 p.m. at Longview City Hall Council Chambers, 1525 Broadway.

• View Memo

Lake Sacajawea Preservation Plan AND the RA Long Park Master Plan/Civic Center Traffic Plan will be presented at a March 4 Workshop at Longview City Hall Training Room, 1525 Broadway at 6 p.m.

• View the park plans web page

Heart & Sole Run

Bring the entire family to the Heart & Sole 5K/10K Run/Walk on Saturday, February 27, to improve your health through physical activity.  Day-of-event registration and packet pickup will be available beginning at 8 a.m.  The run/walk begins at 9 a.m. from the Elks Memorial Building, 2121 Kessler and goes around Lake Sacajawea Park. There is a free mini K run/walk for kids 12 and under. Proceeds from the event benefit teen recreation programs. This event is a collaborative partnership of Longview Kiwanis and Longview Recreation.

More information: Register online at www.mylongview.com/reconline. The cost to run or walk is $15 per person.

Longview Public Library Family “Swap Meet” happens on Feb. 27

Saturday, Feb. 27, children are invited to bring their books, movies or CDs for a special program exploring the fun of swap meets, flea markets, and street fairs in Hispanic-American culture.  A storytime begins at 2 p.m. by the Lower Floor Fireplace in the Children’s area.  Enjoy The Market / El Mercado, by Lois Ehlert, read by Toni Miner and Edith Bautista.  After the story, children will receive play money and can “shop” for treats and craft materials.  Learn how to make candy flowers and other crafts, listen to salsa music, and actually swap used books, movies, and music!    The stories continue as well, with Estela’s Swap by Alexis O'Neill, Grandma and Me at the Flea by Juan Felipe Herrera, Made in Mexico by Peter Laufer, and To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda.

The bi-lingual program is for families who speak English, Spanish or any language and is a regular library event on Saturdays from 2-4 p.m.  Upcoming programs include the movie Sandlot on March 6, a baseball storytime and game on March 13 with the theme “Cactus League Spring Training,” and G Force on March 20. 

More information: Contact the Longview Public Library at 442-5300.  Looking for additional family programs at Longview Public Library?  Don’t miss Family Crafts & Stories on Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m.!  All programs are free to the public, and no registration is required.

NW Voices Welcomes Author Jamie Ford as part of Altrusa’s Celebration of Literacy

Help celebrate Altrusa’s Celebration of Literacy Week on March 2 with a pair of Northwest Voices events featuring best-selling author Jamie Ford.  The first is a workshop to be held at LCC in room ADC-143 at 3 p.m.  The second is a reading at the Longview Public Library at 7 p.m.  All events are free and open to the public. 

Ford’s first novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is the One Book/Cowlitz Reads title for 2010.  This is the fourth year that Northwest Voices has partnered with Altrusa to bring a book and its author to Cowlitz County as one of the highlights to a week of events celebrating literacy in our community.  Besides being a New York Times Bestseller, Hotel has been translated into 19 languages though Ford writes that he’s “still holding out for Klingon (that’s when you know you’ve made it).” 

Ford is the great grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung who emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1865 where he adopted the western name “Ford,” thus confusing countless generations.  He is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and a survivor of Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp.  He grew up near Seattle’s Chinatown and now lives with his wife and children in Montana.

Northwest Voices is funded by the Longview Public Library and Lower Columbia College, Friends of the LPL, LPL Foundation, LCC Foundation, and LCC’s ASLCC.

More information: Contact the Longview Public Library at 442-5300.

Project READ in Urgent Need of Tutors

The Project READ adult literacy program at the Longview Public Library needs several caring, accepting, and patient volunteers willing to share at least two hours a week to help an adult learn to read or improve reading skills, learn English, improve writing, basic math, or to prepare for the GED or citizenship exam.  Currently, there are 18 individuals on the waiting list needing help in reading, English, math, and citizenship and GED preparation.  Those wanting to improve reading skills can read at a 3rd, 4th, or up to a 6th grade reading level.  Those needing to improve English skills come from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Bulgaria, Somalia, Iran, Cambodia, and Korea.

Project READ matches volunteer tutors with adult learners to work in one-on-one or small group settings.  Sessions are typically twice a week for one hour.  Volunteers are asked to make a six-month commitment, but most choose to stay longer!  The Project READ staff provides resources, direction, tutor training, and ongoing support.  The next tutor training will take place in March.  Share your love of learning.  Make a difference.  Become a volunteer tutor at Project READ.

More information:  Please call Elizabeth Partridge at 442-5321 for more information and to see if this opportunity is right for you.

Teens:  Become a Library Computer Instructor for  Teen Tech Week!

To celebrate Teen Tech Week, the Longview Public Library will offer five classes taught by teens the week of March 9-13.  Teen Tech Week is sponsored by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services division and promotes library databases, computers, CD’s, movies, audiobooks and other technology for students in middle and high school.

Become a Computer Instructor and earn Community Service credit!  Sign up now for an orientation session on March 2, 4 – 5 p.m., in the Longview Public Library Board Room.  Snacks included.  Interested instructors must sign up by March 1.  Registration for instructors must be done online on the library’s website.   The Teen Tech Week Workshops are coordinated by Christien Risner, a Kelso High School student doing his Senior Project Internship at the Longview Public Library.   His background in computers includes 13 years of experience, and more recently, has taken classes in Video Communications, Web Design, and Computer Technology.  He has also been a Teacher’s Aide for computer classes.

More information:  Check out the Teen Tech Week schedule and register at  www.longviewlibrary.org.  

Questions about Longview programs or services?  Don’t forget to check with ASK Longview!