David Bowie’s “Starman” sets the mood for a lawn full of eager eclipse viewers in the park behind the Arroyo Seco Library branch.
Today, over 500 people visited the library. They received eclipse glasses to safely enjoy the big event. The moon’s coverage of the sun peaked in L.A. at 11:12 a.m. The moment of silence became the introduction for poet Alyesha Wise.
Wise: A new Galaxy claims a new vocabulary for colors I have so much proof we have yet to arrive. Oh, we have dreamed. We have dreamed. We have dreams
John Acevedo enjoys listening to poetry, while experiencing an eclipse.
Acevedo: I’m thinking of how beautiful it is listening to the poet and and you know, answering your questions, but I’m just really enjoying the view through the cool glasses
Wise: What I’ve missed the most in L.A. are stars. They don’t show themselves to us at the foot of the mountains. They don’t lead below the smoke.
Adult librarian at the Arroyo Seco branch, Sarah Moore, says combining the cosmos with poetry...
Moore: Is kind of a neat juxtaposition of natural wonder and human creativity.
And when you add that this event builds community, it becomes especially welcoming. Jessica Strand directs public programming for the library foundation of Los Angeles.
Strand: At a time where we’re so fractured, it’s really lovely to come together without having to, you know, without expectation, just with pure enjoyment.
Librarian Sarah Moore agrees that the connectedness of this event is what makes it stand out.
Moore: The sheer joy of being able to watch something, and then like, share your observations with someone who’s also watching the same thing, kind of fosters a sense of you know, you’re in this together that you don’t get if you just take them home and sit there and watch it by yourself.
Heaven Gonzalez: My favorite part is that I came with my brother and mom to see the eclipse and to the park.
Heaven Gonzalez is a San Pascual Elementary first grader.. She was very adamant that everyone -- not just her family - wore eclipse glass
Gonzalez: It looks orange because the glasses are dark and it makes it look orange, when it usually yellow.
Highland park resident Michelle Vazquez. arrived after the glasses were already given out, but no worries, her Dad had given her a special eclipse-viewing lens. But the “lens” that she really saw the eclipse through, was her interest in Astrology.
Vazquez: It’s kind of just like, energy, so it’s kind of chaotic, and it’s for some people that can be a bad thing. I think it’s like a lot of energy. And for me, I feel like I’m pretty receptive to it. So it can be like a time of reflection versus like a time of, maybe, celebration.
What could’ve been just another sunny, 75 degree L.A. turned into a shared celebration with new friends, including the sun and the moon.