Sjodin's Blog

Now referred to as the Human Library this was Moscrop's second annual event of this nature. Huge thankyous to all the volunteers who made this day an intriguing success for our students. Close to 400 students visited the library today with open minds and keen interest,to check out 27 volunteers from diverse walks of life. Guest "books" included the titles: MLA/Politician; Black Woman/Survivor of Breast Cancer; Gay Law Student/Farmer/Figure Skater; Ex-Gang Member/Severely Bullied as a Student;Interior Decorator from West Vancouver; Afro-American/Actor; and many more! These guest volunteers reported that our students were wonderful individuals with many thoughtful questions. Please feel free to post your comments. 

"Did I say how magnificent the assistants were? ... insightful, curious, genuine, fun to hang out with... each with their own fascinating story... especially given that every continent of the planet, and many of the world's religions and cultures, skin colours, and traditions, were represented." * read more of this feedback by visiting the comments on the first Living Library post. Moscropians - you rock!

We had 32 "Books"visited by over 300 Moscropian "Readers" at our first Living Library event. Many of the guests offered appreciation to our students for the myriad of respectful and intelligent questions. So far, feedback from many has been resoundingly positive. Overall, there is a general plea for more; more days, more "books", more time. Many staff and students have come forward with offers to organize our next one! I am in the process of reviewing the debriefing forms filled out by both volunteers and readers, and am eager to share this feedback with you. For now I will say that it was intriguing to see how quickly word spread throughout the school about the transformation of the library. Students who were not scheduled to visit the event were lining up at the door and working to find their way in. I was pretty sure too, to have seen faces reappearing throughout the day, hopeful at a chance to "read another book." I am pondering over wh...

This Friday students from several classes are invited to visit the Moscrop Library that will be transformed into a Living Library for the first time. What does this mean? Courageous and interested volunteers from the surrounding community will be here "on the shelves" as "Living Books", each person with a title that reflects some aspect of his or her identity or life experience, an aspect where there exists some element of stereotyping or prejudice of within our culture and society. Admittedly, it is difficult to grow up without internalizing at least some of the misinformation or generalizing we see and hear about people who belong to one group or another. Media often distorts, confusions go unchallenged. On this day students and staff are invited to check out a "living book", to "take out a prejudice ", "face a stereotype", or simply learn about another by exchanging curiosity and discussion. Each one of these courageous Books l...