Monday, January 21st at 8:00 a.m.

Free Admission!

TV on the big screen is made possible by Cox Communications.

Tasty and refreshing “Obama-mosas” will be available for sale at the snack bar! Raise a glass as President Obama officially takes office!

This year, celebrate MLK Day by joining together with others in the Tucson community to watch the live simulcast of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, projected on The Loft’s big screen! The official theme for the 2013 inauguration is “Faith in America’s Future,” commemorating the United States’ perseverance and unity, marking the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation! What could be a better reason to get up this early in the morning?

Commemorate this momentous moment AND celebrate the lasting legacy of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with your fellow Tucsonans as we gather together to usher in the beginning of a new chapter in American history!

January 21, 2013 also happens to be the Martin Luther King Day holiday, so a celebration will be happening over at Old Main on the UA Mall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. This is a fitting coincidence of America’s first Half African American President’s 2nd inauguration on Martin Luther King Day. From Blog for AZ calendar:

March and Festival, University of Arizona Mall. March will begin at 9:00 a.m. in front of the MLK Center on the corner of 2nd Street and Mountain Avenue. The March will end in front of Old Main (East side). Speeches and entertainment begin at 10:00 a.m. For more information please contact Donna Liggins at (520) 237-7806 or Diedra Jones at (520) 370-6528.

Also at the Loft, a free movie “La Source” at 5 p.m. for MLK Day:

Narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), the new documentary La Source tells the uplifting story of Josue Lajuenesse, who grew up in the rural town of La Source, Haiti, where the residents live without plumbing or electricity and must embark on a treacherous hike up a mountain every day in order to obtain clean water. Now working as a janitor at Princeton University by day and a cab driver by night, Lajeunesse is convinced that there must be a better way for his hometown friends and family to live. Together with his carpenter brother Chrismedonne, who still lives in Haiti, Lajeunesse decides to return to his country after the devastating 2010 earthquake and organize an effort to finally bring what is most fundamental to his village’s survival; clean water. This award-winning documentary from director Patrick Shen (Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality, The Philosopher Kings) is not just a movie about clean water and community transformation; it is a story of one unlikely hero, empowered by a vision, who did whatever it took to ignite the passion of people thousands of miles away to change the lives of those in La Source forever.
In 2011, Josue Lajuenesse was awarded Princeton University’s MLK Day Journey Award, which recognizes efforts to continue the journey to achieve Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of social change. (Dir. by Patrick Shen, 2012, 71 mins., Transcendental Media) Digital

Good luck Mr. President for another 4 years.

photo taken by Carolyn Classen

Forty two years has passed since Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Now a large 6-by-8-foot (actually 76″ x 95″) painting of Dr. King greets library patrons on the stairway landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Joel D.Valdez Main library at 101 N. Stone Ave, in downtown Tucson (between Pennington and Alameda Streets.)

“The Dream”, an acrylic and inkjet print done in 2009 depicts Dr. King at his famous August 28, 1963 “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It was donated by Tucson artist Andrew Polk and was dedicated in January of this year, to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday.

Artist Polk says of this painting that it was “intended to commemorate Dr. King and his legacy, and to acknowledge the acts of courage and heroism that have carried us closer to a realization of his dream.”

Polk has been a professor at the U of A since 1984, and teaches courses primarily in printmaking and drawing. His art has been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as, in other countries such as Australia, India, New Zealand, Slovakia, China and Bulgaria. “As an artist, Polk works in a wide range of media that includes lithography, digital imaging, painting, and drawing.”

I encourage you to drop by the Main library to see this painting yourself in vivid
black/grey/green acrylic paint.

And check out some books, CDs, or DVDs while there. There’s also a new Friends of the Pima County Public Library book store (click here for my blog) on the first floor towards the right side of the room, near the book drop. Only open M to F, 11 to 2 p.m. at the present.

Parking is free for the first hour beneath the library.

Coming up: 20 in 2010, the Main library’s 20th anniversary celebration on April 14. Read more here.