[Seth-Trips] Philippe Petit and Mordicai Gerstein at Smith College, March 31

[Seth David Schoen]

My mom set this event up.  Way to go!



Dear Colleagues,

I wanted to give you early notice of a wonderful event that is planned
for Thursday March 31st as part of the annual Friends of the Libraries
meeting.   

Children's book illustrator/author Mordicai Gerstein, a Northampton
resident who won the prestigious American Library Association Caldecott
Medal in 2004 for his book, "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers,"
will appear with French high wire artist Philippe Petit, the man who
walked and danced on a wire a quarter of a mile high, between the towers
of the World Trade Center in 1974.  Both men are wonderful storytellers,
and together bring back the magic of Philippe's amazing feat of 30 years
ago.  Mordicai Gerstein began working on his uplifting tribute to the
twin towers on September 11, 2001.       

The two men spoke together at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst this
fall, and the event was incredibly special.  A few Smith employees were
in the audience, and we all converged afterwards, agreeing that this
would be a wonderful event for Smith to host as well.  As it happened,
the Friends of the Libraries was in the process of inviting Mordicai
Gerstein to be the Friends group speaker this year.  

The talk (with probably a bit of drawing and juggling included) will be
held at 7:30 in the Weinstein Auditorium, followed by a reception in the
Neilson Browsing Room and book signing (Philippe Petit will also sign
his book, "To Reach the Clouds,") and a viewing of a PBS documentary on
Philippe's walk.  The event is free and open to the public.  You'll
enjoy it, as will your children (over 8 years old), friends, and of
course Smith alumnae.  Please tell anyone whom you think may be
interested--this is an event not to be missed!

You can read more about "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers" at
Mordicai Gerstein's website, http://www.mordicaigerstein.com/, and about
Philippe Petit's walk at http://www.fsgbooks.com/fsg/toreachclouds.htm 

Stephanie

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Very frankly, I am opposed to people
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   | being programmed by others.
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |     -- Fred Rogers (1928-2003),
                                       |        464 U.S. 417, 445 (1984)