< is presenting two film screenings this week, two documentaries from PBS’s Point of View (POV) series. The goal of the event is to raise awareness about various social issues that are relevant to communities in Minnesota and beyond and to encourage civic engagement in such issues. This week’s screenings will take place in the Library Athenaeum on Tuesday at 5:15pm and Thursday at 6:00pm. Both showings include dinner.
Tuesday’s film is entitled “Waging a Living,” and follows the lives of four low-income workers and their day-to-day challenges. Jean, a 51-year-old certified nursing assistant, supports three children, including her oldest daughter Bridget, who is battling cancer. Jerry is a security guard who tries to make ends meet with his $12 per hour wage. Barbara Brooks describes her story as “hustling backwards,” as she balances being a single mother, full-time worker, and student. Mary lived a comfortable middle class life until her recent divorce, but now finds herself trapped in a waitress position that pays only $2.13 an hour plus tips. Come listen to the stories of the working poor in “Waging a Living” this Tuesday.
Thursday’s film is “Rain in a Dry Land.” After more than a decade living in refugee camps in Kenya, two Somali families immigrate to the United States in 2004. The film chronicles the first 18 months of the families’ resettlement in the United States, learning a new culture, new language, and new way of life. The families in the film “reveal a remarkable buoyancy and determination in dealing with the demands of a journey whose speed and distance — both psychological and geographic — are astounding. That “Rain in a Dry Land” shows them to be people who will likely forge a way does not disguise the fact that, for all the generosity accorded them, immigrants such as these are not given longer-term support for the radical transitions demanded of them. The film raises the question of whether such relocation programs, for all their good intents, are the best way to deal with the world’s mounting refugee crises” (pbs.org).
Come enjoy these two films in the Athenaeum Tuesday, May 26 at 5:15pm and Thursday, May 28 at 6:00pm!