The following blog post about the Knight supported Silicon Valley Reads program is written by the program’s coordinator Diane McNutt. Above: Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk, speaks at the Rotary Club of San Jose.

A community conversation about “the invisible wounds of war” engaged thousands of people Santa Clara County, Calif. as part of Silicon Valley Reads 2013. The program encourages adults, teens and children to read selected books, think about the theme and discuss the implications for their lives and the region. 

From January through April, 140 events were offered free in public libraries, schools, colleges and community venues focused on the two primary books – The Long Walk by Brian Castner and Minefields of the Heart by Sue Diaz.  Castner’s book described his experience as an explosives officer during three tours in Iraq and the mental and emotional problems he developed when he returned home.  Diaz described in her book what it was like for her and her family when her son enlisted and was deployed to Iraq. Four companion books for children ages pre-K through teen were also selected to encourage family discussions of the theme. Knight Foundation supported the program as a sponsor.

Activities included author talks, panel discussions, films, poetry reading, art exhibit and workshops, celebrity story times and other special events for children and families. High points of Silicon Valley Reads 2013 included:

• An exhibit on “War and Healing” at the Euphrat Museum of Art on the De Anza College campus drew the biggest attendance in the museum’s history.  It was the subject of a New York Times blog post and reviewed on the ultraextra.org website that said the exhibit continued “a long tradition of war inspired art that break the stranglehold of trauma and make healing possible.”
• Pulitzer Prize journalist Julia Keller, whose pre-teen novel Back Home was presented as a staged reading featuring three child actors and local media and community leaders, said she was “enchanted and moved by the production,” adding that “the SVR program has clearly made a tremendous impact on your community.” 
• A Silicon Valley Reads sponsored open house at the Moffett Field History Museum introduced more than 125 attendees to the role the region has played in American military history since the 1930s.  Dick Sparrer, editor of the Los Gatos Weekly Times, wrote an enthusiastic column about his visit, saying the Silicon Valley Rread authors were “fascinating people with interesting stories to tell” and that the museum itself is “great and inspiring.”
• An animated version of Night Catch, a children’s book about a dad and son who pretend to play catch each night with the North Star to stay connected while the father was deployed, was previewed at the Fujitsu Planetarium.  Families enjoyed the film and a talk by author Brenda Ehrmantraut about how she wrote the book for her nephews when her brother was sent to Iraq.
• Co-sponsored by two local chapters of the League of Women Voters, a panel discussion by former combat journalists proved a mesmerizing conversation for those in attendance and others who are able to watch it on the Silicon Valley Reads website along with the video of the 2013 kick-off event emceed by Judy Kleinberg of Knight Foundation.

Altogether, almost 9,000 people attended Silicon Valley Reads events in 2013, with many more reading the books on their own or with their book clubs.  Thousands more were exposed to the theme of “the invisible wounds of war” through the extensive news coverage of Silicon Valley Reads.  But numbers don’t tell the whole story.

For example, an event with author Sue Diaz was attended by only a dozen people. However, the audience circled their chairs and made an intimate connection during the discussion, culminating with a hug between an emotional mom whose son was deploying the following week and a Vietnam vet who shared his war experience. It was deeply personal and memorable.

In an April 28 op-ed piece in the San Jose Mercury News summing up his Silicon Valley Reads experience, Brian Castner reported that the question he heard most often was “How do we bridge the gulf between us and them (veterans)?” He said it was understandable that the region feels cut off from the military since few residents have any direct interaction with people in uniform.

After three months of Silicon Valley Reads community conversations, Castner thinks he now has an answer.  “Reach out to the veterans you know best in your life. Thank them for their service, sure, but then, take it a step further.  Ask them what that service was. Veterans had their own experiences, fought their own war.  Ask them what they did.  And then listen.”

For more information on the selected books and to access the video and photo galleries of Silicon Valley Reads, visit SiliconValleyReads.org.

By Diane McNutt, Silicon Valley Reads coordinator