As part of California Humanities’ War Comes Home iniative, five thematic public programs were created in partnership with the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the California State Library. The themes ranged from trauma and PTSD to Hollywood’s portrayal of veterans to the challenges facing veterans reintegrating into civilian life.
SACPL Public Conversation* LAPL Public Conversation
These public conversations aimed to shed light on issues and misconceptions that some returning veterans may have faced, and convey them in a thoughtful way to an audience made up of both veterans and civilians. The conversations, held in partner public libraries in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Riverside offered audiences the opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives on each topic, featuring panelists — scholars, veterans, journalists, health care and social service providers, government officials, artists, and activists — each of whom brought their own unique expertise to the subject matter at hand.
Rep. Mark Takano, RPL Public Conversation A Veteran receives a copy of WIILTGTW @ SACPL*
Thoughtful dialogue through a question and answer period occurred at the end of each panel session, and audience members, sometimes numbering well over 100, were engaged and attentive as they posed their questions to these panel participants.
The videos of these panel discussions will be available on our website soon, and we’ll keep you updated on that and more War Comes Home activities throughout fall 2014.
*Photos courtesy of Four Seven Photography
