Weaving Stories

• CSUMB is circulating local history. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded CSUMB archaeology Professor Ruben Mendoza a $177,000 grant to teach two groups of 40 teachers from across the country about California missions. They’re here now. The Oral History and Community Memory service learning students of Professor Rina Benmayor were awarded a $10,000 Cal Humanities grant for archiving the oral histories, photographs and stories of members of the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Latino communities of Salinas’ Chinatown. Good lookin’ out… for the future.

• Marcia Perry, founder of Youth Arts Collective, signs her new children’s book Here on Earth – An Animal Alphabet 7:30-8:30pm Friday at Luminata Books and Gifts (631 Cass St., Monterey). The book is a rich, colorful work, published by Pomegranate.

• You’ve heard of the halls of power? Well, Seaside City Hall has the halls of art. Their Avery Gallery (440 Harcourt St.) lines the hallways with it year-round. Opening this Friday, 7-8:30pm, is a group exhibition consisting of Joanne Boulger, Frances Minglana, Annette McGowan and the Seaside Artists Association, showing furniture, photos, paintings, jewelry and “other things artistic.” 899-6811.

• The California Rodeo Salinas cometh, with bulls a-snorting and cowboys a-yelping. But first, a kiddie parade. The 83rd Annual Kiddie Kapers Parade (I sometimes wonder about the flirty, non-essential “k” spelling in words that are part of phrases that suspiciously already have words that begin with k) begins at Salinas High School parking lot (Main and Geil streets, 775-3100, www.carodeo.com) at 6:30pm Saturday. Everyone is encouraged to “come dressed up to participate,” which sounds promising.

• Carmen Lynch, from Carmel, was pre-med before realizing that laughter is the best medicine, and went into comedy instead. Her Rowan “Mr. Bean” Atkinson eyebrows and ticklish observations like, “I think that mice are so scary because they’re so fast. If they were slow… ” are paying off with appearances on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and the Late Show with David Letterman. Now she’s one of the comediennes hand-picked by Wanda Sykes to team up on the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) all-female comedy special Wanda Sykes Presents HERLARIOUS. The first episode airs this Saturday 10-11pm; Lynch is on the following Saturday at the same time.

• “Take a load off, Annie/ Take a load for free.” Monterey-Salinas Transit’s WAVE (Waterfront Area Visitor Express) trolley bus transports riders around downtown Monterey, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in its continuous loop, for free 10am-8pm daily, through Labor Day. The trolley is augmented this year by a free and scenic Pacific Grove shuttle from Adventures by the Sea that runs 11am-6pm Thursday through Sunday, also til Labor Day.