Thank you, San Mateo.

A full month after the inaugural week of our fledgling festival, there’s been just enough space to rest, digest, and calculate impact.

“People smile back at you in San Mateo.”

“Hearing the reading at the Farmers’ Market reignited a childlike wonder in me.”

• I’d like to begin by assuring you that I wrote the first draft of this letter by hand, sans assistance of ChatGPT, from a desk at the College of San Mateo Library with a view of the San Mateo bridge in its entirety. The fact that I know this at all speaks of time passed, for not only is it now a full month since San Mateo Celebrates, but I can remember many months of disorientation in between moving here and the festivities for which I am writing to you about.

  I moved here 8 months pregnant, leaving behind a lifetime of intricately layered safety nets that made otherwise irresponsible leaps possible. Support has allowed me to be a risk-taker, and coming onboard with the San Mateo Public Library Foundation has given me permission to do so in gratitude to the building, city staff, and community that have soothed me out of fear and into love.

  It begins in the building.

  From the whirring of the vacuum cleaner before the doors open to the public. The way the sunlight spills through strategically placed windows, the spines of books standing at the ready. I look at our Librarians and see them setting the tone for a culture of better, of reliable, and of possible.

  The building, beautiful and bursting with free.

  I come from a country in which free oftentimes means the opposite; that you’re paying some other way — with time, in line. With indebtedness and a mark against your name in some ledger. Not here. The Public Library created a baseline of stability and accessibility for me as an immigrant and mother, an introduction to what might be possible for me and my family here.

  Here, a library of services and things, free, truly. I received an email about our new seed bank and that there would be nobody watching if any one were taking more than their allowed allotment. The honor system.

  I see teens adjusting to the rules of the place.

  I see kids expanding in the space.

  I see those escaping the outside.

  I see those embarking on journeys.

  I see the life’s work of artists, innovators.

  I see generations being intentional about assimilation.

  I see cultural representation and the pride it fosters.

  Piano recitals, the quest for excellence and beauty.

  A bridge between the discipline and rebellion of artists and innovators from both ends of the Peninsula.

  If San Mateo County, with its coast and farmland and hills, is a microcosm of California, San Mateo City has the potential to be the prime example of a Californian city. To define itself as a capital of cultural diversity, displaying the richness of resilience through stories of inclusivity and innovation.

  My spine runs from Shoreview, through downtown, and up to Crystal Springs. 

  What travels with me can be summarized so:

  I asked a San Mateo resident of 7 decades,

  I asked a businessman,

  I asked the grandmother at the donut shop,

  I asked my teenager and her classmates,

  What is San Mateo’s magic?

  “Kindness.”

  It is this kindness that is worth celebrating.

  It is this kindness that inspired a vision for the Public Library Foundation that requires risk-taking; turning a decades-old model on its head in the name of inclusivity. It meant taking a risk on non-native me.

  To the co-presidents of the Board, Jeanne and Alexandra, to Sunil, Martha, Ann, Amy, Chris, Diane, Donna, Erin, Marie, Renee, and Suzanne — to James, Rukshana, and the Librarians. To the Anne and the Library staff. To Andrea at Franklin Templeton, Jeff at Concar, and Bob at Bohannon; to Don at D’Elia, and SMSportz, Mia at Recology, Jerry at the Daily Journal, Lisa and Michael and the BNA, PFS, Mary Bianco, Ann and Alexandra and Hartmutt and Tina. All of our donors. Our volunteers. To Henry and Julie and Nancy and Brian and Jena. To Tiffany, Ashlin, Karl, Cyrus, and Marcus. To the SF Shakespeare Festival and 123Andres and Joe Leon. To Alyssa Goldrath and Borel, Str8jeacket, Krazy 8s, Youth Speaks, and Lauren Lin. To Craig and Molly and Erik. To all of our readers at the Farmers Market. To the City of San Mateo and the College of San Mateo. Thank you for supporting this new chapter.

  San Mateo Celebrates’ inaugural year was proof that our role in creating opportunities for community to gather around facets of culture that connect and inspire may be of incredible impact and value in keeping our community healthy in a way that only the Library can.

  Please take this opportunity to see the attached slide deck for a full wrap up report on our Spring events, and a glimpse at what is to come: