Office of Campus Community Relations
dOffice of Campus Community Relations
412 Mrak Hall
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-2071
February 10, 2004
California Aggie
By BEN ANTONIUS
Aggie Campus Editor
The UC Davis community will revisit one of the defining events of the 1990s in US race relations, when programs begin in the fall for the next Campus Community Book Project.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, author/performer Anna Deavere Smith's 1994 account of the Los Angeles riots, was recently selected for the third year of the project. Karen Roth, director of the book project, said one of the reasons Twilight was chosen was because the subject matter lent itself to a wide variety of majors.
The book, compiled through numerous personal interviews, includes verbatim accounts of the events following the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers involved in the videotaped beating of ex-con Rodney King after a traffic stop.
Twilight is often presented in a form labeled "documentary theater," in which Smith - also a performance artist - recalls the witness interviews while acting out the accounts and personalities.
Rahim Reed, executive assistant vice chancellor for campus community relations, said the book project planning team had contacted officials at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts to discuss bringing Smith to campus for a Twilight performance.
Roth said the planning team had not yet begun to determine what other events would be held to conjunction with the book. However, she said she was interested in expanding the project to Davis area schools and getting UCD students more involved in the project. Roth also said she hoped more faculty members would work Twilight into their curricula.
Roth noted that during selection meetings some faculty members had wondered if current students - many of whom were pre-teens during the riots - could relate to the book. However, she said most students were very passionate when asked about the subject. She said the relatively local aspect of the riots made it a "compelling subject."
"I think one of the most compelling reasons was that there has been several incidents of hate crimes in the city in past years," she said. "[The book] shows what it means to live in a multicultural community and how to do that from a place of respect and conclusion."
However, Roth added that the selection committee did not seek a book that provided easy answers.
"We were looking for a book that doesn't resolve [the issues] all nice and neatly, and allows the community to wrestle with the problems and solutions," she said.
Printer Friendly LayoutCalifornia Aggie
'Twilight: Los Angeles' selected for 2004 campus book project
Novel/play examines social consequences of the 1992 LA riotsBy BEN ANTONIUS
Aggie Campus Editor
The UC Davis community will revisit one of the defining events of the 1990s in US race relations, when programs begin in the fall for the next Campus Community Book Project.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, author/performer Anna Deavere Smith's 1994 account of the Los Angeles riots, was recently selected for the third year of the project. Karen Roth, director of the book project, said one of the reasons Twilight was chosen was because the subject matter lent itself to a wide variety of majors.
The book, compiled through numerous personal interviews, includes verbatim accounts of the events following the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers involved in the videotaped beating of ex-con Rodney King after a traffic stop.
Twilight is often presented in a form labeled "documentary theater," in which Smith - also a performance artist - recalls the witness interviews while acting out the accounts and personalities.
Rahim Reed, executive assistant vice chancellor for campus community relations, said the book project planning team had contacted officials at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts to discuss bringing Smith to campus for a Twilight performance.
Roth said the planning team had not yet begun to determine what other events would be held to conjunction with the book. However, she said she was interested in expanding the project to Davis area schools and getting UCD students more involved in the project. Roth also said she hoped more faculty members would work Twilight into their curricula.
Roth noted that during selection meetings some faculty members had wondered if current students - many of whom were pre-teens during the riots - could relate to the book. However, she said most students were very passionate when asked about the subject. She said the relatively local aspect of the riots made it a "compelling subject."
"I think one of the most compelling reasons was that there has been several incidents of hate crimes in the city in past years," she said. "[The book] shows what it means to live in a multicultural community and how to do that from a place of respect and conclusion."
However, Roth added that the selection committee did not seek a book that provided easy answers.
"We were looking for a book that doesn't resolve [the issues] all nice and neatly, and allows the community to wrestle with the problems and solutions," she said.