Posted on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 by Decimal Diver
Some prisons have developed special programs that prisoners can participate in as part of their prison sentence. The aims of these programs may vary, but their impact on prisoners and outside communities can be profound. Check out these documentaries about special prison programs:
Go behind the Oklahoma State Penitentiary walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it’s one of the last of its kind — a relic of the American penal system. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud.Continue reading “Beyond the Bars: Docs About Special Prison Programs”
Publishing is picking up for the fall season so here are several exciting new nonfiction releases coming out in September 2019! Visit our catalog for a more extensive list.
“How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems” by Randal Munroe
“How To” is an instruction manual for taking everyday problems and using science and creative thinking to turn them into much bigger and more exciting problems. It teaches you how to cross a river by boiling it, outlines some of the many uses for lava around the home, and walks you through how to use experimental military research to ensure that your friends will never again ask you to help them move. From changing a lightbulb to throwing a pool party, it describes unusual ways to accomplish common tasks, and analyzes what would happen to you if you tried them. In addition to being a profoundly unhelpful self-help book, it’s an exercise in applying math, science, and research to ordinary problems, and a tour through some of the strange and fun science underlying the world around us. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: September 2019”
The narrator of “Splinterlands,” by John Feffer, is Julian West, an academic whose best selling book titled, “Splinterlands” predicted many crises and collapses that have come to fruition in 2050. The world has been ravaged by climate change and various geopolitical collapses. Now, very ill and facing his final days, Julian uses an offer to write about the current state of global affairs as a way to reach out to his estranged children and ex-wife, who are scattered across the globe. With each visit we get a clearer picture of Julian’s past, what led to the dissolution of his family and the state of the world.Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: Splinterlands”
The Nazis stole their voices. But they would not be silenced.
Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network that publishes dissident underground newspapers.
The Nazis track down Aubrion’s team and give them an impossible choice: turn the resistance newspapers into a Nazi propaganda bomb that will sway public opinion against the Allies, or be killed. Faced with no decision at all, Aubrion has a brilliant idea. While pretending to do the Nazis’ bidding, they will instead publish a fake edition of Le Soir that pokes fun at Hitler and Stalin — daring to laugh in the face of their oppressors.
Graphic novels and comics are a great medium because they combine strong storytelling with visually appealing art. Plus, reading stories in this format can help you play catch-up on your reading goals, because they typically take less time to read than a standard novel! As a long-time student who never thought I’d have time to read anything non-academic while in school, I’m grateful that graphic novels helped me rediscover pleasure reading. Despite reading tons of other comics and graphic novels, I never delved much into manga until recently, but there are tons of great titles. Manga is a Japanese form of comics, including comics written in Japanese or made in Japan that adhere to certain stylistic elements. Manga is read from right to left, and may take some time to adjust to if you are used to reading from left to right. Continue reading “Manga: Read Harder 2019”
The phrase “back to school” doesn’t just apply to kindergarten through college. Many older adults are starting new educational pursuits in order to finish a bachelor’s degree, complete a technical or professional course or even take a self-paced class in order to learn something new. Your local public library should be one of your first stops when looking into resources, databases, classes and programs for your ongoing education, and all you need is a library card! The best thing about these offerings is that they are absolutely free. Continue reading “Back to School for Adult Learners”
Are you looking for ways to better organize your life, goals or daily schedule? Join us at the Columbia Public Library on Wednesday, August 21 for the Intro to Bullet Journaling program. This program will discuss the basics of Bullet Journaling and help you get started by providing a notebook and some supplies. If you’ve never heard of Bullet Journaling before, this will be a fun chance to explore how it works and see how you can use it in your daily life to get more organized. Or, maybe you are already a Bullet Journal enthusiast. If so, we encourage you to join us at the program. You might pick up some new techniques or get inspired in a different way! Continue reading “Intro to Bullet Journaling”
Welcome to another entry for our 50th anniversary series focusing on important events that happened in 1969.
Woodstock was a music and art fair held in Bethel, New York on August 15-18, 1969. Around 500,000 people attended and 32 bands and singers performed. Several major bands and singer that performed there including: Santana, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Crocker and Jimi Hendrix. For more suggestions on library materials about Woodstock check out this list. Continue reading “50th Anniversary: Woodstock”
Posted on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 by Decimal Diver
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Bisbee ’17” Website / Reviews
Playing at the 2018 True False Film Fest, this film by Columbia, MO director Robert Greene follows several members of the close-knit community in Bisbee, Arizona, a former mining town, as they commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bisbee Deportation, when 1,200 immigrant miners were violently taken from their homes by a deputized force, shipped to the desert on cattle cars and left to die. Continue reading “New DVD List: Bisbee 17, Little Woods & More”
An AFL-CIO poster suggesting that a living wage sets a strong foundation for a thriving community.
It has been 10 years since Congress last raised the federal minimum wage to $7.25, and workers are still demanding better, family-supporting pay across America. Since 2012, movements like “Fight for Fifteen” have demonstrated that working for the current minimum wage cannot meet the cost of living, causing workers to call for incomes that reflect a “living wage.” This means pay that covers staple expenses like housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and other basic needs. Showing just how out of sync the minimum wage is with sustaining an ordinary lifestyle, the Living Wage Calculator* measures these average costs for different towns and family makeups to estimate the amount of money people should earn to afford their necessities. For the base-line single person in Columbia, that number is currently $11.13. Continue reading “Spotlight: A Living Wage”
“Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo” (2010)
