Viitorul Roman Society a prezentat tinerilor de la Los Angeles Public Library – Pacoima Branch ample si interesante informatii despre Romania si istoria comunitatii romane din Los Angeles, evidentiind rolul major avut de societate in cadrul comunitatii romanesti de aici. Prezentarea a fost facuta vineri, 9 iunie, 2023, de catre presedintele societatii, care a inmanat tinerilor brosuri descriind istoria, geografia, limba si cultura romaneasca, cat si istoria si activitatile Societatii Viitorul Roman. In ziua urmatoare, multi tineri au participat la o analiza a romanului “I Must Betray You” de Ruta Sepetys urmata de ample discutii despre Romania si Viitorul Roman. Detaliile interesante ale evenimentului sunt descrise mai jos, preluate din scrisoarea de multumire trimisa de Maria Diaz, de la LA Public Library, conducatoarea seminarului, din care am selectionat cateva paragrafe.
Dear Cristian,
I truly appreciate you taking the time to put the information together about your organization and Romania, delivering the brochures to the branch, and meeting some of the teens. The Pacoima Branch Library has a monthly book club for middle school and high school teens. They expressed an interest in learning about different countries and provided a list of their top 10 – and Romania was one of them.
Ruta Sepetys is an award-winning author of historical fiction for youth. Her most recent work “I Must Betray You” happened to be set in Romania in 1989 before the fall of communism. The teens said they were surprised and shocked to learn what it was like to live under communism in Romania. They couldn’t imagine what it was like to not trust anyone. Some said the book made them appreciate the freedom they have in America.
Following the discussion, we viewed a short video that compared counting from 1 to 10 in the Romance languages (most of the teens are bilingual in Spanish) since the book had the chapter numbers written in Romanian. I distributed the brochure and mentioned the things you highlighted during your visit about Romanians migrating to Los Angeles. The teens were amazed by the information in the brochures! After reading about a dark time in Romanian history, they commented on how beautiful the photos are in the brochure. They also looked at books the library had about Romania and snacked on Eugenia cookies, which they said were a little different but tasted really good. Your effort and kindness to share about the Viitorul Roman Cultural and Aid Society made the teens realize that a work of historical fiction of a place and time they knew little of before could connect with them in the present-day Los Angeles. Mersi! Muchisimas gracias!
Best regards,
Maria Diaz (she/her/hers), Young Adult Librarian
Pacoima Branch Library
