California is celebrating a very important anniversary! It will soon be 150 years since the Gold Rush of 1849 and California becoming a state in 1850. A 150 year anniversary is called a Sesquicentennial. This is pronounced ses-kwi-sen-ten'-ee-ul. .

California is celebrating its Sesquicentennial over the next two years with a series of events throughout the state. The theme for the Sesquicentennial is "Rediscover California's Gold: Its Spirit, Its People and Its Promise."

The State Literacy Resource Center of California would like to invite adult learners throughout our state to help celebrate California's Sesquicentennial by writing a story about how and why they (or their parents or grandparents or great grandparents. etc.) came to California. These short stories will be published on the web on a homepage solely dedicated to this. If sufficient funding can be found, these will also be published in book form and a copy will be mailed to every person whose story is in the book.