The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona with Tome Gnome, Tucson Spotlight, and an excellent panel of local experts to host the Solutions-Focused Community Book Club!
This book club aims to bring together interested community members from all walks of life to bond over a shared desire to make our community better for all – and be inspired by a shared reading experience!
When: November 6, 2024 | 5:30 to 7:30 PM MST
Where: Community Foundation Campus
Book: The Stonewall Reader edited by New York Public Library
Fragrance can be an access barrier! To help make the Solutions-Focused Community Book Club accessible to participants for whom chemicals or fragrances are an access barrier, we request that you come fragrance-free. Please refrain from wearing any scented products or washing with them. This includes clothing that has been laundered with fragranced detergent or fabric-softening products.
Please RVSP using the form below. Light refreshments will be provided.
The Stonewall Reader edited by New York Public Library
June 28, 2019, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library’s archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume to coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation movement of 1969.
About the Panelist
Vera is the Creative Director for, and part owner of, Southwest Solutions – an award-winning marketing materials company. She is a heart-first professional who’s known for her creativity, aversion to small talk, and appreciation of good vocabulary and clever marketing materials. She studied Linguistics and Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, and after stints in a variety of industries that converged into a unique perspective on business and humans, she joined the team at SWS. She never knew she’d love her industry so much, but every business or organization has a unique brand story to tell, and when she realized promotional products & custom apparel don’t have to be boring (nor do they have to be straight-to-the-trash-swag) she was hooked! In her free time, Vera serves as the President of the Tucson LGBT Chamber of Commerce (AKA the Gaymber)- cultivating a safe space for queer folks in business as well as a space of learning for allies, who are tremendously important to the LGBTQIA+ community. She believes Inclusive Business is Good Business, and because she knows the LGBTQIA+ community is a vital part of America as business owners, employers, employees, and consumers, she works tirelessly to support our local LGBTQ+ and allied business community. When she doesn’t have her SWS or Gaymber hats on, you’ll find her being active, tending to too many houseplants, reading, and hanging out with her wife and their cats.