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September 2012 Reading is Relaxing with Paws to Read Pups By Jody Morgan Registration for Paws to Read at the Danville Library begins on September 10th. Reading aloud to a companionable canine builds confidence in children who fear making mistakes in front of a teacher or peers. Open to students in grades 1-5, the program encourages young readers because they feel the reward of a dog’s affection, even when they stumble over a word. Avid readers improve skills that translate to public speaking. Children who don’t have a dog at home enjoy the chance to spend time getting to know one. Set up with blankets for readers, dogs and handlers, the Mount Diablo Room accommodates eight children per 25-minute period, sixteen readers per session. Youth Services Librarian Kathleen Baritell covers a long table with book selections, most featuring animals. Some children prefer to bring books from home, but many eagerly eye the array on the table looking for the one their fourlegged audience will most enjoy. Colleen, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, begins wagging her tail as soon as she arrives. Hardy, a Golden Lab, stretches out on his blanket with head cocked. Is he actually grinning? Valley Humane Society (VHS) currently has 75 dog/handler teams participating in Paws to Read. Interested volunteers attend an orientation session to learn about VHS Canine Comfort Programs. Next, the VHS Dog Trainer gives each dog an individual Canine Good Citizen assessment test. Finally, dog and handler shadow a team already certified for Paws to Read. Handlers maintain a low profile. VHS volunteer Sharon Mosbaugh notes, “We are just there to supervise the dog. I try not to say anything about the reading unless the child asks for help. I don’t look at the book, so they know I don’t know what the words say. The child feels more at ease reading to a dog that will never correct them or criticize them.” If a child asks for help, handlers express aid from the dog’s perspective. They might say, “Someone read Rover this book last week, and he thinks this is the way you say that word.” Liz Clark and her dog Tater enjoy their sessions at the Danville Library. “I love the program because I can see the positive affect on the children,” Clark explains. “When one girl first started reading, she was visibly shaken by reading out loud. She was introverted and you could barely hear her when she read. Now she comes into the room with confidence and reads with enthusiasm … very cool!”
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Serving Danville Point Two Million
By Ashley Hagin Seventeen point two million. This is the number of households in 2011 that faced food insecurity, an ungainly term that the United States Department of Agriculture uses to describe hunger. Seventeen point two million families, or one out of every six Americans, have inconsistent access to adequate food; families depending on food assistance programs are typically limited to poor food options. So what can be done? The Urban Farmers, a Lafayette based non-profit organization that uses fruit trees to highlight the plight of the unsustainable industrial food system, is tackling the problem of hunger head on. Siamack Sioshansi, executive director of The Urban Farmers, explains that the organization’s goal is “to feed the poor the good food we want to eat: fresh, healthy, local.” The process is simple. Local residents register backyard fruit trees with the organization, and volunteers visit the homes to harvest excess fruit for donation to hunger relief agencies such as Loaves and Fishes and Monument Crisis Center. Imperfect pieces of fruit are donated to animal hospitals such as Walnut Creek’s Lindsay Wildlife Museum. “We are developing a new social production framework to address the
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Eugene O’Neill Festival Celebrates 75th Anniversary of Tao House By Jody Morgan
The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, the National Parks Service, Role Players Ensemble Theatre, Alamo-Danville Artists Society and the Museum of the San Ramon Valley are collaborating on a month-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Danville home where Eugene and Carlotta O’Neill lived from 1937-1944. The event began with the August 24th opening at the Village Theatre Gallery of Tao House Through Artists Eyes and culminates in the production at the Tao House Barn the final weekend of September of A Moon for the Misbegotten. The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, responsible for creating programs that promote O’Neill’s vision and generate understanding of the legacy of the Nobel Laureate and four-time Pulitzer Prize winning Volume III - Number 11 American playwright, invites patrons to a pre- 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 performance event. Enter the world of Eugene (925) 405-6397 and Carlotta O’Neill as you gather with other Fax (925) 406-0547 guests in the Tao House courtyard on September 28th and 29th in support of the Foundation’s Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher See Read continued on page 21 mission. Included in the $75 ticket price, in editor@ PRSRT STD addition to a deli-box dinner, wine, beer, des- yourmonthlypaper.com U.S. Postage serts and music, are an introduction to A Moon The opinions expressed herein belong PAID and do not necessarily for the Misbegotten by O’Neill scholar Dan torefltheectwriters, that of Danville Today News. Permit 263 Cawthon and priority seating. Transportation Danville Today News is not Alamo CA for the content of any of to Tao House is provided free of charge by the responsible the advertising herein, nor does ECRWSS publication imply endorsement.
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