2011 GRAY PLANT MOOTY YEAR IN REVIEW Diversity Highlights


ONE MINNEAPOLIS, ONE READ Gray Plant Mooty hosted several gatherings involving the first-ever community reading event in Minnesota’s largest city, where everyone was invited to read the same book and join the discussion. “One Minneapolis, One Read” sparked conversations about race, family, and neighborhood history in response to The Grace of Silence, a memoir written by Minneapolis native and National Public Radio host Michele Norris. Norris is a graduate of Washburn High School and the University of


Minnesota, and her book vividly describes her experience as a member of the only family of color on her south Minneapolis block. She also details her discovery of race-based family secrets. The idea for “One Minneapolis, One Read” was inspired locally


by Building Bridges, a group of south Minneapolis residents on a mission to understand how race and racism impact our neighborhoods. Sarah Duniway, a Gray Plant Mooty attorney in Minneapolis, serves on the Building Bridges steering committee and helped organize the city-wide community reading event. Nationally, the concept started in the 1990s with legendary “uber- librarian” Nancy Pearl’s event, “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book.” A similar event is now held in Boston, and Iowa and Utah have upped the ante by organizing same-book reading events on a statewide scale.


Sarah Duniway


20


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28