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Posted on Monday, April 11, 2016 by Svetlana Grobman
Volunteer: a person who willingly does work without getting paid to do it.
Where I came from (Moscow, Russia), we never volunteered, at least not in the American way. The thing was that we didn’t have to – authorities “volunteered” us when and where they desired. The “without getting paid” part (see definition above) worked the same way as it does in America. As for the willingness, nobody ever cared to ask. Continue reading “National Volunteer Week: April 10-16”
Posted on Monday, April 11, 2016 by Elaine
Elaine Stewart, Library Associate
Dance is one activity that evokes an immediate visceral response in people–they either love it or hate it. Yet bodily movement is critical for human health and dance has long been one of most accessible kinds of exercise. Even the most ancient human civilizations engaged in some form of dance, whether for ritualistic, artistic or romantic expression.
We Americans don’t consider ourselves to have much of a dance tradition, but in “Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance” (University of
Illinois Press, 2015) Philip Jamison explores the many, varied forms of dance native to Southern Appalachia. Jamison, an old-time musician and flatfoot dancer, examines the distinctive square dances, step dances and reels of the mountain region and traces their roots back through time. Continue reading “Literary Links: A Journey Into Dance”
Posted on Friday, April 8, 2016 by Brandy
“Ahora soy: Sólo hoy tenemos y creamos.
Now I am: Only today do we have and create.”
These are the words of Nancy Morejón, one of the most distinguished poets of Cuba after the Revolution. They come from her poem “Mujer Negra,” or “Black Woman.” Born in 1944, Nancy Morejón grew up and developed her talent as a writer during the tumultuous Cold War era. Her work draws from her African heritage and her life in modern Cuba. Continue reading “Columbia Public Library Welcomes Poet Nancy Morejón”
Posted on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 by Lauren
April is National Poetry Month, and I love that this celebration of language comes when spring is doing its raucous thing, sunny daffodils lifting their faces to the sky and flowering trees bursting into bloom. The earth is creating and nature expresses itself, and we, too, celebrate our expression. For what is poetry but the attempt to describe our human condition, to wrap an experience in words so precise, or a metaphor so fitting, that we slip the reader into our shoes? Continue reading “The Nature of Poetry”
Posted on Monday, April 4, 2016 by Jerilyn
I like reading about real people — what happens to them and how they feel about their experiences. But I don’t want to read harrowing tales of survival. I want something lighter. I’ve read a number of these types of books recently that I recommend.
Some people write about making changes in their lives:
Posted on Friday, April 1, 2016 by Lauren
A hip-hop-inspired Broadway musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton seems as unlikely as Hamilton’s own historic rise. Born out of wedlock and orphaned as a young child, he struggled out of poverty and became one of our nation’s most powerful political leaders. “Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry,” Hamilton sings in “Hamilton: An American Musical,” created by Lin-Manuel Miranda (composer, writer, lyricist, actor and all-around genius). This show is a smash hit, with even terrible seats going for hundreds of dollars. And just a couple of weeks ago President Obama hosted local students and the cast of “Hamilton” for a daylong celebration of the arts in America. Continue reading “What to Read if You Have Hamilton Fever”
Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 by Jerilyn
The Columbia Public Library will be hosting a 2016 Quilt Exhibit featuring art quilts April 2-16. So I wondered, “How is an art quilt different from the quilts I’ve been making for the last five years?” I checked out a number of books to find out.
The quilts I’ve made are for babies to lie on or to keep someone warm. An art quilt is not made to serve these purposes. It is made primarily as a creative expression of an artist and meant to be displayed. These works are called quilts because they are layered, usually made of fabric, and they are held together by stitches, knots or other means. Artists sometimes transform the cloth through dyeing, printing or painting. The library owns a number of books with wonderful photos of art quilts. Continue reading “Art Quilts”
Posted on Monday, March 28, 2016 by Dana
Shakespeare.
No, don’t leave!
I promise this is not a blog post about old men in stiff collars doing boring recitations!
Yes, Shakespeare’s works are over 400 years old. And some of them have aged better than others. There is archaic language that requires some effort, but when it comes to storytelling and wordplay, Shakespeare is peerless. Continue reading “In Defense of the Bard”
Posted on Friday, March 25, 2016 by Svetlana Grobman
As we celebrate Women’s History Month and the many women trailblazers who changed our country and the world, the name of an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, stands prominently in my mind. This is not only because she’s the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the highest court of the land, but also because to reach such a position, she had to overcome a lot of hardship and prejudice. In 2013, Sotomayor published her memoir “My Beloved World,” which quickly became a New York Times bestseller.
Born in the South Bronx to a poor Puerto Rican family, little Sonya began showing the strength of her character at the age of nine, when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and had to learn to give herself insulin shots. Despite being raised in a family that hardly spoke English, Sotomayor was an excellent student – she was her high school valedictorian, graduated summa cum laude (the highest of three special honors for grades above the average) from Princeton and, while at Yale, was editor of the Yale Law Review. Before becoming a Supreme Court Justice (2009), Sotomayor held a variety of positions: a district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, a partner in a private law firm, a justice of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York and, later, of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Continue reading “Her Beloved World: Sonia Sotomayor”
Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2016 by Decimal Diver
Not many people get to see the hours of practice and hard work put in by the racers in competitive motor-sports. These docs take a closer look at these drivers, both amateur and legendary, who’ve dedicated themselves to the race track.
“Racing Dreams” (2009)
Chronicles a year in the life of three tweens who dream of becoming NASCAR drivers as they race in the World Karting Association’s National Pavement Series. This film is a humorous and heartbreaking portrait of racing, young love and family struggle. Continue reading “One More Lap: Docs About the Race Track”
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