(top) Cap Woman Megan Kilroy, 17, President of Santa Monica High School's “Team Marine” talks to visitors during Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium annual Earth Weekend on Saturday, April 18, 2009. (above) Shirin Bhagwagar, 17, member of Santa Monica High School's “Team Marine” glues a bottle cap creating a mosaic shark during Earth Weekend at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium is Heal the Bay’s marine education facility located beach-level, just below the Carousel, at the Santa Monica Pier. The Aquarium is open to the general public and attracts more than 85,000 visitors per year. Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. They use research, education, community action and advocacy to pursue their mission.

(1) A Mormon, an animal rights activist, a police detective, a fat activist, a feminist, a formerly homeless person, a little person and an ex-gang member  were just a few of the 'Living Books' who were available to be checked out for a 30 minute conversation at Santa Monica Public Library’s second Living Library Project on Saturday, April 18, 2009. (2) Lesleigh Owen, self-proclaimed "fat activist," who stands up for the rights of plus-size people, speaks with her "reader," Simram Kwalsa, during Living Library Projecton Saturday. (3) Nate Wyne, a practicing Morman, speaks to his reader. (4) Teenagers Natasha Simmonds, 15, (left) and Keshia Nash, 15 speak to their reader. (5) Micheal Gogin, a little person who is an actor and musician speaks to his reader, Lucy Baddeley.

During this unique event, a group of 18 volunteers served as “Living Books” who shared their personal life stories with a “Reader.” It was an opportunity to bring together people who have special interests, beliefs or experiences to speak with people from different backgrounds to share their personal story. Books and Readers had the opportunity to speak in private and personally in a structured, protected, free space within a limited time but without any further commitment. Once returned they could borrow another Book. The Living Library idea is simple – a personal conversation can break down prejudices and pre-conceptions and dialogue fosters understanding and tolerance.

Santa Monica Public Library was the first in a wave of libraries across the United States to host a Living Library. Greg Mullen, City Librarian, says of the Living Library event “Santa Monica Public Library is proud to host this innovative and unique event that will allow the community to come together to learn more about each other. “ The Living Library Project was first presented in 2000 to the public in Denmark at the Roskilde Festival. Since then, it has been adopted by organizations in Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, and Portugal.

Santa Monica Police Harbor Patrol Officers Alex Smith and his partner is Gevorg Akopyan navigate the "Tango I," a 16 foot Zodiac, at Santa Monica Bay during a training session on Saturday, April, 11, 2009.

A Sheriff's helicopter flies south above Santa Monica Bay on Sunday, March 8, 2009.

A Catholic woman puts flowers in the hands of the Virgin Mary statue at Saint Monica Catholic Church on Thursday, April 16, 2009. The statue of the 55 year-old Virgin Mary was vandalized on Easter morning, The vandals severed the head off the statue and left it on the grounds nearby were a priest discovered it that morning. This is the second time in seven years thatthe Virgin Mary statue has been vandalized.The feet and hands were cut off the statue in 2002. There has been no arrests for these crimes.

Aerialists Efe Ilkay and Christine Van Loo perform a tandem acrobat routine at the Los Angeles Trapeze School on the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Hundreds of taxpayers protest on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica during a tax day 'Tea Party' on April, 15, 2009. The tax day Tea Party is a national collaborative grassroots effort to protest against the passage of President Barack Obama’s trillion-dollar stimulus. Hundreds of Tea Parties were stage across America.

Competitors slide down the rail course during Levi’s 3rd Annual Powersliding Championships at Santa Monica Beach on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. The event included a sizable street course that tested the competitors’ freestyle skills with 40-foot, four-story rails and boxes. Powersliding is basically skateboarding on handrails and other objects without skateboards, and not necessarily on ones feet. Powersliding appears to be the newest underground alternative sport of today's youth.