Community News

Saturday, April 22, El Sobrante Public Library, 4191 Appian Way, 9:30 to 2 PM. 

Be part of the Creeks and Community Cleanup and Celebration in the local El Sobrante/Richmond 94803 area to honor and care for Mother Earth. We hope to get lots of volunteers to pick up litter and trash from our community’s creeks and streets to make our environment cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful for all to enjoy. 

9:30 AM: Sign in, get grabbers, vests, bags, gloves, and pick a location to clean. Join Green Teams to clean up streets, SPAWNERS to cleanup creeks. There will also be a team to help with the library’s garden. Return equipment and bags to the library by Noon. 

Noon - 2 PM: Celebration of our efforts. Community info tables, food, library book displays and art installation, children’s art activities, entertainment, speakers, entertainment, electric bike and car demonstrations, and more. The Good Table will have a table at the celebration.

It’s fun and free! Meet your neighbors. Build our community! Celebrate our wonderful planet! Hope to see you there.

KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info

by Janine Bedon, Communications Manager at The Good Table

Book Highlight

April is both Earth Month and National Poetry Month, so in honor of these two celebrations, I’d like to share with you a poetry book that contemplates on our ecological legacy to future generations.

Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land, by N. Scott Momaday, is written in free verse and interspersed with art that Momaday created himself. The book is split in two parts: “Dawn” and “Dusk.” “Dawn” is the first part, where he recollects childhood memories in Oklahoma and the earth-centric consciousness instilled in him by his Kiowa heritage. Meanwhile, the verses of “Dusk” lament what was lost and what we will lose if we continue to sever our connection to the earth. Spiritual in its essence, the Kirkus review for the book describes each verse as “almost like prayers to the natural world.”

“Will I give my children an inheritance of the earth?
Or will I give them less than I was given?”

— Earth Keeper, page 40

Earth Keeper is available to buy online or to borrow through the Contra Costa County Library. It is also available as an e-book and as an e-audiobook.

What’s on your Earth/Poetry Month to-read list? Let us know on our Facebook page or through our Instagram!

“Celebrant” by N. Scott Momaday, Earth Keeper page 13