Community Calendar

Join us for a virtual lecture by the 2025 Kenneth Karmiole Research Fellow, Dr. Joseph Wei, who drew on primary source materials from the Library's California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) to advance his scholarship on Asian American socialist feminist poetry and literary organizing.

Drawing on archival research from UCSB's California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, this presentation examines the work of the late Asian American socialist feminist poet Nellie Wong (1934–2026). Looking at Wong's correspondences and drafts of essays and poems, Wei takes up her work as a model for organizing "yellow feminist visibility" in the 1980s — that is, performances of Asian American socialist feminist commitment amidst the conservative backlash against radical race movements of the 1960s. These performances of visibility were important because Wong and her compatriots conceived of Asian American feminists and lesbians as a vanguard class, whose daily work and organizing activities contained the seeds for social transformation.

Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst collected animals as well as art for his famous ranch at San Simeon, now known as Hearst Castle. Julie Jennings will explore the creation of the historic zoo in the 1920s and 1930s, including the acquisition and care of the menagerie.

The Cayucos Friends of the Library Kirk Wilson Memorial Book Sale is set for Friday, July 3 at the Library patio. Shopping begins at 9 am and ends at 1 pm. Search the tables for great books, CDs, puzzles, and more. Most items are available for $1 to $2. Discount shopping begins at noon—fill a bag for $5.