Cedar Manor Presents: Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song
Cedar Manor Intermediate Center will host a community celebration honoring four St Louis Park community elders at Cedar Manor on November 13, 2007, beginning at 7:00 PM .
The celebration will feature Elder Wisdom, Children’s Song™-an educational process developed by America’s Troubadour and Smithsonian Folkways Recording Artist Larry Long, that honors history and celebrates diversity through writing and performing songs.
Demand for Long’s work across the country led to the creation of Community Celebration of Place, a non-profit organization that brings together children, elders, and people of different backgrounds-economic, faith, racial, and cultural-to honor and celebrate commonalities and differences. (For more information: (www.communitycelebration.org)
Long has been working in partnership with the West Metro Education Program (WMEP) to provide this process for schools that are members of the WMEP consortium. Recently, Long has been working with students at Cedar Manor to collectively write songs and gather recitations which honor the life stories of the following community elders:
- Dr. Roland Larson, active St Louis Park resident, WWII Veteran story
- Ms Louise Ross, active St Louis Park resident, African American story
- Mrs Bobbie Goldfarb, Jewish Family and Children Services
- Mr. Abdirizak Mohamud, new St Louis Park resident from Somalia
The Elder Wisdom, Children’s Song™ community celebration is free and open to the public. For more information about the Cedar Manor celebration, call 952.928.6555.
The West Metro Education Program (WMEP), School District was formed in 1989 to cooperatively address integration issues in the west metro area. The mission of WMEP is to promote student success and community acceptance of differences by providing opportunities for students, families, and staff from diverse backgrounds to learn from and with each other. Member districts of WMEP are: Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Richfield, Robbinsdale, St. Anthony/New Brighton, St, Louis Park, and Wayzata.
Contact Information:
Anthony Galloway
West Metro Education Program
(952) 848-4098
anthony_galloway@wmep.k12.mn.us