​Spring 2017 MCC-Penn Valley Common Read Events:
**Thurs February 2, 9:30 a.m., EC006: Janice Lee, MCC Archivist, shared her findings on how MCC-Penn Valley's location was chosen, and how race and other factors played a role in this decision.
**Wed February 22, 12:30 p.m., EC006: Glenn North. Kansas City's poet and spoken word artist Glenn North used humor to unify the audience, shedding light on everything from economics and racial inequality to what to do when you run out of baby formula and Pampers. As Director of Education and Community at the Black Archives of Mid-America, he challenges people to be change agents in their communities.
**Wed March 8, 6:00 p.m., EC006: Bill Worley, MCC-Blue River instructor and author of J.C. Nichols and the Development of Kansas City, will enrich the portrayal of J.C. Nichols in Some of My Best Friends are Black by sharing his own research on the man.
**Wed March 29, 11:00 a.m., LR214: Book Discussion. MCC-Penn Valley librarian Michael Korklan hosted this book discussion on Some of My Best Friends Are Black.
**Tues, April 11, 11:00 a.m., ST101: Screening of Our Divided City. “With the number of homicides in Kansas City for 2015 having leapt back up, this film examines violent crime in the segregated community east of Troost. A spotlight is shone on the KC No Violence Alliance as it pursues a unique style of collaborative policing that attempts to work with the community to prevent the murders. But is enough is being done beyond the Alliance to tackle the entrenched social conditions that foster the violent crime in the first place?”
**Thurs April 20: Common Read Convention. Tanner Colby, author of Some of My Best Friends Are Black, will speak on our campus, along with several other special guests. Morning events are open to anyone who wishes to attend. Afternoon events are for invitees only.
10:00-10:45 ST101: Tanner Colby book signing
11:00-12:15 ST101: Panel discussion with Tanner Colby, Racism in Kansas City author Garrett Griffin, and Kansas City community activist Alvin Brooks
12:30-1:00 Gym: Lunch with high schoolers in gymnasium
1-1:45 Gym: Panel discussion with Tanner Colby and Shomari Benton, moderated by Louis Duguid
