By the People for the People.
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NEW Summer Hours & Celebrations!
Libélula Books & Co. (NEW!) Hours:
MONDAY | 11:00AM to 6:00PM |
TUESDAY | 11:00AM to 6:00PM |
WEDNESDAY | 11:00AM to 6:00PM |
THURSDAY | CLOSED (special events only!) |
FRIDAY | 11:00AM to 6:00PM |
SATURDAY | EXTENDED HOURS! 11:00AM to 7:00PM |
SUNDAY | 11:00AM to 6:00PM |
June is packed with exciting moments: Libélula Books turns 3, Billi Books turns 2, and Moo turns 1! Stay tuned to find out how you can join us in celebrating all these birthdays!
Recycled Troll’S BACK 2 MY CAVE Exhibition
Local artist Recycled Troll hosted their latest gallery on Logan Ave. with guest artists Richard Hernandez, @needmore_walls, @gatosismo_, and TOMB. Complete with drinks, music from local DJs Fito Gomez and JuiceBox, and live poetry, Recycled Troll takes you through their latest imaginative journey. Hidden behind sheets of long blue tarp mimicking a waterfall, viewers enter to find a small space lit by blacklight. Graffiti canvases and abandoned street signs take up the surrounding walls while carnivalesque trolls create small scenes in the center of the room. As viewers approach, they find green, blue, and purple splattered paint, tiny fairy lights, soft moss and plants, and glass bubbles bordering adorned and altered Troll dolls. The main artist states that the gallery represents the “cave of their mind, their inner world” as they map their creativity onto the popular figurines.
“This is everybody’s story”: BLACK BARRIO LOGAN & A Legacy of Resistance
Last month saw the final evening of Black Barrio Logan, an incredible exhibition created by local photographers Romel Wallace and David Colon. Listening to Krystina Fernandez and CHECKA spin classic souldies and jazz funk, viewers enjoyed the large-scale photos as they browsed a curated reading list.
Walking into the exhibition, one couldn’t help but feel that a single photographer captured these moments; this feeling speaks to the power of how multiple photographers can come together to create one unified perspective, exisiting as one body of work. In his introduction, Wallace introduces his great grandmother’s story: she moved to Barrio Logan in the 1960s during the Second Great Migration, a period where Black and brown folks were seeking economic freedom and liberation. Wallace, quoting Ana Brown, sought to depict the “living murals of Chicano Park.” With Polaroids of his great-grandmother, aunts, and mother, Wallace displayed his maternal family’s legacy in the community as the context for the stories of young people in the Logan community today. To Wallace and Colon, it was important to capture and archive these stories; the photos stood as a backdrop that Wallace tells through his own family history in Southeast San Diego.
“I grew up in that yellow house off Logan and Sampson, my dad lived there, and my auntie too, and I remember being there back in 1992… Jim Crow told us to follow the red lines… We are the living murals of Chicano Park”
Sitting snugly in the Future is Color Studio on Logan Ave., guests also heard from urban studies scholars Shalem Aboody-Lopez and Eric Hansen, learning about urban planning, redlining, gentrification, displacement, and what listeners can do to learn more about these issues as well as take action.
Chicano Park Mural Restoration Underway!
The Chicano Park Steering Committee continues the mural renovations into June, breathing new life into Chicano Park. Restoring the original murals and designing new ones has been an ongoing project since late 2023 led by a team of talented designers, architects and installers, and artists. Cesar Ploneda has been capturing the process through his photography. Check out the “before and after” photos on his account, and spend the summer strolling under the bridge to see our brilliantly renewed Park.
Upcoming Events
AUTHOR VISIT: Giovanna Gonzalez
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Author Giovanna Gonzalez will be joining us to talk about their book CULTURA & CASH: LESSONS FROM THE GIRST GEN MENTOR FOR MANAGING FINANCES & CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS. Hear more about their writing & ask your questions!
This event is FREE!
BOOK LAUNCH: Fish Songs by Shel
Saturday, June 8, 2024
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Join us to celebrate the launch of shel's third book of poetry FISH SONGS, as well as a reading by the author! It will be a night of poetry, writing prompts, somatic exploration, & a community sharing space/open mic.
*Masks are provided and required.
Shel (they/them) is a Black/Asian/non-binary poet and herbalist. They host virtual writing circles for BIPOC, and were born and raised on Kumeyaay land (San Diego).
You can find more about the author via their Instagram @yin.hours.
Fish Songs weaves love letters to chosen family, ghosted diasporas, and talking landscapes. These poems dance with dreams as a place of seeding intention for collective liberation, and invite the readers into a space of gratitude, wonder, and reflection.
OUCH! That Feels Good?: A Queer-Centered Workshop on Consent, Boundaries, and Kink Safety Practices*
Libélula Books & Co. Three Year Birthday Party
AUTHOR VISIT: Sabia Wade
BOOK LAUNCH: Barrio Rising by María Dolores Águila
North Park Book Fair
Everything in the shop is for sale (except the cats!).
Find your next favorite book, zine, piece of art, or fun trinket.
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Thanks for reading,
dani
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