The Oxford Dictionary defines “craft” as “an activity involving skill in making things by hand.” In this day and age when everything is machine made, why should we make anything by hand?
As a teen, I thought history was only about presidents, generals and Henry Ford. Perhaps that had something to do with the textbooks in use back in the day. I didn’t realize the biographies I loved to read — Amelia Earhart was a favorite — also counted as history.
For more than thirty years, the National Women’s History Project has tackled the “important work of writing women back into American history.” March is National Women’s History month, and the theme for 2017 is “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.” Let’s learn about some of those women. Here are a few titles to begin with:
“Grace and Grit” is Lilly Ledbetter’s story of working at Goodyear. After nineteen years as a manager, she discovered she was making forty percent less than men in the same position. She spent a decade seeking legal redress, sticking with the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Though she lost on appeal, her efforts led to the signing of the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Continue reading “Women’s History Month: Women in Labor and Business”
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its less severe cousin, concussion (also known as mild traumatic brain injury) have been getting a lot of attention lately, partly because of the concussion crisis in the National Football League. This attention is a good thing. TBI and concussion can be considered a silent epidemic in society; an estimated 1.5 million head injuries appear every year in United States emergency rooms, and at least 5 million Americans currently live with disabilities resulting from TBI. The suffering caused by the loss of mobility, career, hobbies and even family because of TBI is not often reported, partly because of the stigma attached to brain injury.
Unfortunately, from personal experience I can say that I’ve been there. In March of 2015 I had a bad spill on my bicycle that caused a head injury and serious concussion that took me over a year to recover from. I had a helmet on, thank God, or I would now be dead. It was a painful, long and sometimes completely disheartening journey, but I did indeed recover fully. March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, and the library has some fantastic resources about recovering from and living with traumatic brain injury. Continue reading “March is Brain Injury Awareness Month”
Posted on Friday, February 24, 2017 by The Biblio-Buckaroo
Event Horizon, Kara Walker, 2005
The magic of visual art lies in its ability to communicate in ways not possible through words. Much like music, art is a universal language that can rise above cultural barriers. African-American art, specifically, is full of examples of this transcendence. Art in the black community has been used to exorcise pain, to rejoice and to record life. From artists like the silhouette artist, Kara Walker, or the painter, Jacob Lawrence, we can learn history not always taught in our schools. Art gives us a window into lives that may be different from our own or reveal how similar we all are when preconceived notions are stripped away.
Aesthetically, I gravitate towards art that is full of rich colors, bold shapes and dynamic compositions. There is a bounty of African-American art, in a variety of media, that fits this bill.
If you have ever made the drive to St. Louis from Columbia, you might have noticed a house that has been deteriorating for at least the last 30 years. I have watched it over the years as I drive back and forth; each time it is a little more dilapidated. It used to have a porch. That is gone now. The roof, windows and door frame sag; vines and bushes have grown around and throughout the house. Yet, you can tell it was a good, solid house at one point. I hope that it had a time of being cherished and a place people lovingly called home. Continue reading “Ghost Towns: Escaping Into the Past”
Living in a world that is so connected through the internet and social media, it is difficult to imagine how in a world connected mostly by pen, paper and telegraph, the Underground Railroad, a collaboration of somewhat random individuals across the country, managed to connect and bring so many people to safety. Around 30,000 slaves managed to escape the binds of slavery on the railroad. Here are a few titles you can find in the library that explore the Underground Railroad, the people who found safe passage through it and the individuals whose courageous efforts made it possible. Continue reading “Exploring the Underground Railroad”
The history of school desegregation in the United States did not start with the well-known 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education. A legal precedent had been set years earlier in a case involving Columbia, Missouri. In 1938, the Court issued a landmark ruling stating that the University of Missouri Law School could not deny a student admission based on race. The student in question was Lloyd Gaines, a Lincoln University graduate who met every other qualification for entry. Though he won his suit and paved the way for others, Gaines mysteriously disappeared without enrolling.
Well, I wish that I could say this blog post was going to be a prescription, and, if followed, you would attain complete and utter uninterrupted emotional happiness, with your heart continuously effusing joy. Alas, the kind of “heart happy” addressed here is not that kind of happy, but the good health kind of happy (sorry if you’re disappointed!).
February is American Heart Month (conveniently teamed in the same month as Valentine’s Day, so you have a chance to wedge in a bit of short-term, romance-happy for your heart on the 14th). It’s a good time to take stock of how your heart is doing since heart disease (also called cardiovascular disease) is the leading cause of death in both men and women in the United States. Did you know that annually, 1 in every 4 deaths is caused by heart disease? That’s 25% … shocking! Continue reading “How to Make Your Heart Happy”
Winter can be a trying time for many of us, especially if we aren’t lucky enough to be able to hop on an airplane and head to sunny, southern climes for a respite warm and bright.
If you are “Missouri-bound” for the winter, then you might as well take advantage of the season. It can be a mood-lifter to spend time outdoors, even if the weather doesn’t seem conducive to it. In Norway, where it can be quite cold and snowy during the winter season, they have a saying which goes something like this: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” Continue reading “Embracing Winter”
Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 by Reading Addict
I lived for a very brief time in Italy. I guess that it should come as no surprise that Italians do Christmas very differently than we do here in the United States, but I was stunned. I loved seeing the presepi (nativity scenes) everywhere. They were so intricate and HUGE! They showed entire villages in miniature, including bakers with a pizza ovens and oxen with carts. Many were built on the side of the road or into cliffs. They were beautiful! And while the Italians have Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) who might bring a small gift, it was Befana (a kind, but ugly, witch who rides on a broomstick) that brought most of the presents on the Epiphany (also known as Three Kings’ Day, January 6). Continue reading “Happy Holidays: A Look at Different Winter Holidays”
Well, I wish that I could say this blog post was going to be a prescription, and, if followed, you would attain complete and utter uninterrupted emotional happiness, with your heart continuously effusing joy. Alas, the kind of “heart happy” addressed here is not that kind of happy, but the good health kind of happy (sorry if you’re disappointed!).
