Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta

Twentieth Anniversary Reading By Kate Braverman

Thursday, September 16, 2010
7:00 pm
Main Library Community Room
145 Washington Ave.

Published in the 1990 short story collection, Squandering the Blue, Kate Braverman’s “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” has appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories, 1991 and The O. Henry Awards Prize Stories, 1992. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of its publication, Ms. Braverman will read and discuss her widely-acclaimed story.

Kate Braverman is author of four books of poetry and the novels: Lithium for Medea, Palm Latitudes, Wonders of the West, and The Incantation of Frida K. She was awarded the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles: An Accidental Memoir, published in Feb. 2006.

This event is free and open to the public.

Youth Artists Wanted

LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF SANTA FE
SEEKING YOUTH ARTISTS
TO ASSIST WITH BUS MURAL
Literacy Volunteers are looking for teen and young adult artists to help paint a literacy mural on the side and back of a Santa Fe Trails bus on September 16 and 17.

Muralist and literacy advocate Phil Yeh will be in Santa Fe on September 16-18 as part of Literacy Volunteers 25th celebration. Phil is an exciting person who has done over 1800 murals around the world and written books over the past 25 years.

If you are interested, please contact Meredith Machen, President, Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe, 988-4523 or 577-6337, mermachen@cybermesa.com.



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle co-creator and Phil Yeh.

For more on Phil Yeh, please see Cartoonists Across the World and America. For more on Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe, check out their website or call 428-1353.

Library in Historical/Hysterical Parade

Volunteers Needed

Due to the great response from the crowds, the Friends of the Library are hosting the second annual Library/Woman’s Club entry in the Historical/Hysterical Parade - Desfile de la Gente on Sunday, September 12. The Parade starts at 1:00 p.m., but volunteers would need to be there earlier to get into the line up.

So what does one do in this parade? Volunteers walk with election-style signs that have quotes on them like, I Love the Library! 82,000 library card holders can’t be wrong! Support your local libraries!

The Library received cheers from those assembled along the parade route as the librarians and friends waved their signs and handed out candy. AND you can dress as your favorite book character!

The walk is from DeVargas Mall to the Plaza and back. This year it is suggested people team up so that one person walks to the Plaza and meets up with their partner and the other person walks back to De Vargas Mall.

Friends and family are encouraged to take part. If you are interested, contact the Friends at
friends@santafelibraryfriends.org.

Come and join in the fun!

Southside Fall Book Sale

Southside Library
6599 Jaguar Dr.
September 25 & 26

Friends Only Hours:
Saturday: 10 am - 1 pm

Memberships will be available at the door:
Individual: $10 / / Household: $15

Open to public:
Saturday: 1 pm - 4 pm
Sunday: 1 pm - 4 pm

Community Room:
Standard priced items

Bag Day Sunday: Community Room : only $3.00 per bag!

Hardcover books - $1.00 ea.
Paperback books - $0.50 ea. or 3 for $1.00
Children's books - $0.25 ea.
DVDs, CDs and Audiobooks also available!
Sale will feature Gift books individually priced & discount books.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library. All proceeds from the sale of these donated books are used to purchase new books for the Library.

Give us your dull, your short...

Your PENCILS!

If you have any pencils laying around, bring them into the library! Any library! We've been busier than usual, and lots of regulars and visitors are grabbing the pencils for phone numbers, directions, call numbers, and restaurant recommendations.

So we beseech you, to better serve you, your neighbors, and your out-of-town visitors, bring us your pencils!

Personas Mayores

Senior Arts & Crafts
August 25, 2010
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Community Convention Center Ballroom
201 W. Marcy St. at Sheridan

Hungry? Need to buy some early Christmas gifts? Do you have an aging parent, grandparent, or friend who has never taken advantage of all the services that the city's senior centers have to offer, and would like more information?

There will be over 40 "personas mayores" exhibiting and selling their weavings, jewelry, ceramics, quilts, wood and straw appliqués, painting and other works of art--made at senior centers in Santa Fe and throughout Santa Fe County. There also may be some homemade goodies.

The Senior Services Division will have information on the multitude of activities, exercise programs, Meals on Wheels, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), transportation, Foster Grandparent/Senior Companion, and much more!

For more information contact Lugi Gonzales, 955-4711.

Libraries - and the Internet - Feeding You

Check out this short film about how 7 years of library-provided Internet access has transformed this agricultural community in the Ukraine:



Trouble viewing the video? Click Here.

Anime at the Main Library

Are you interested in Anime and want to hang out with other fans? Check out the Main Library Anime Club! It meets the 1st & 2nd Thursday of each month, from 4:15-5:15 pm. Each month features a different film and tasty snacks. The next film, Tenchi Muyo GXP, will be shown on September 2nd and 9th.

Anime is a style of Japanese animation. It's similar to the popular manga comics. Whether you've been an Anime fan for years or just getting started, you're welcome to just drop by, watch some anime, and help choose the movie for the following months!

Anime Club is free, open to teens ages 13-18, and no registration is required.

The Main Library is located at 145 Washington Avenue.
For more information, call 955-6783.

American Indians in Children's Literature

Debbie Reese has spent years discussing and writing "about the good, and the bad, and (speaking frankly) the ugly with regard to how [American Indians are] portrayed in books." From Nambé Pueblo, she now teaches at the University of Illinois in the American Indian Studies Program. Thankfully, she hasn't forgotten New Mexico in the midst of her research, writing, and presenting.

Debbie Reese's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature, is a fantastic resource for booklists, journal articles and reviews, and ongoing commentary on artifacts such as the "Ten Little Indian Dolls". The highlight of the blog is her lists of Top Ten Books for Elementary School, Middle School, and High School. These lists are open to comments, and other readers have expanded the lists to be more than ten titles apiece. At the end of each list is a link to expanded book summaries from School Library Journal.

If you're starting a school or home library, or are a parent or educator who would like to provide young readers with well-written books about Native Americans, and you don't know where to start, check out this resource. Even if you're not actively seeking out children's books, this is an interesting blog to keep abreast of how American Indians are portrayed in American media and culture.

Autumn PreSchool Story Time

Get ready for the next round of PreSchool Story Time! All kids ages 2-5 are welcome to attend.

Children will enjoy stories, songs, finger games, puppets, and crafts. No registration required, and it's free!

Tuesdays, at the La Farge Library
September 7 - December 14
No November 23 Story Time
2 to 5-year-olds: 10:30 am to 11:15 am

Wednesdays, at the Southside Library
September 8 - December 15
No November 24 Story Time
2 to 5-year-olds: 10:30 am to 11:15 am

Fridays, at the Main Library
September 10 - December 17
No November 27 Story Time
2 to 5-year-olds: 11:00 am to 11:45 am

For more information, call:
La Farge Children's: 955-4863
Southside Children's: 955-2828
Main Children's: 955-6783

Sponsored by the Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library.

E-Waste Recycling Drop Off Day

One Day Only
Saturday, August 21
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
1142 Siler Road
955-2215

Sponsors:
Keep Santa Fe Beautiful, the City of Santa Fe, and Albuquerque Recycling Inc.

You can bring:

• TVs ($10 disposal fee: cash only)
  
• CRT computer monitors ($10 disposal fee: cash only)
  
• Computers, servers and laptops


• Flat screen monitors


• Printers and scanners


• Fax machines


• Telephones and cell phones


• Palm Pilots and other hand-held electronic devices


• Lead acid batteries, computer back-up batteries, UPS batteries


• TV satellite equipment


• VCRs and CD players


• Stereo equipment


• Computer and TV game assemblies


• Cameras and video cameras

Not accepted:

• Coffee makers


• Alkaline batteries


• Hair dryers


• Bread machines


• Light bulbs of any kind


• Cardboard or paper


• Appliances including microwave ovens


• Household hazardous waste

Want to be a Rock 'n Roll librarian?

Looking for a career change? Want to be in the rock and roll inner sanctum?

THE Keith Richards, survivor of decades of rock and roll escapades, has confessed he has always wanted to be a librarian. Yes, a librarian.

He had started to arrange the thousands of books in his two homes, only to find the Dewey Decimal classification system as “too much hassle.”

Librarians, here is your chance. Surely Mr. Richards will entertain unsolicited resumes and create a librarian position—if you are the right person.

No “I love the disco era” librarians need apply. Those of us who grew up in the early days of rock and roll should have first shot. The interview would likely include questions like which of the Rolling Stones albums sold the most; what album has the song “I can’t get no satisfaction,” and other key questions to test your knowledge.

How could a librarian refuse such a position, when Richards himself said “When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.”

Well, maybe if it were a choice between Richards and Johnny Depp that might be a difficult decision. Nah, it's a no-brainer.

By PCH @Main
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Santa Fe Scavenger Hunt

I love cracking open the Santa Fe Reporter on Wednesdays and heading to the Outtakes section. In addition to making sure that I'm not quoted in the Eavesdropper, I like the Meme, the place where a picture truly is worth a thousand words. It's neat when I recognize the object in the photograph, and it's also neat when I then have a week to locate the object of visual humor / derision / irony.

This week, on page 10 of the Reporter, we're honored to be featured in one of those somewhat embarassing tableaux. The meme resides on the second floor of the Main Library. Since we see it every day, we've long meditated on its overall Kafkaesque uselessness. However, it never occured to us to share it with the wider world.

If you also participate in this kind of scavenger hunt, my apologies for ruining your weekly Meme. And to whomever noticed its ridiculousness enough to snap a photo of it, thank you!

Common Craft Security

We've already blogged about Common Craft, that fantastic source of short and informative videos. For anyone and everyone who uses a computer, public or private, please check out this video about Secure Passwords. It gives you tips to make your password hack-resistant, and also gives valuable advice about using publicly-shared computers.

While you're on the site, check out some of their other videos. For example, if you've always wondered about that Wikipedia, they provide a fantastic introduction. You'll be an expert in no time.

E-Prime for Beginners

Anyone who has lived in Santa Fe for a bit quickly realizes that it's a Self-Help Town. Whether the self-help stripe involves physical activity such as yoga and hiking, or more ephemeral techniques such as The Secret and Tarot, there is a book, a website, or a local resource / class / guru for pretty much all of them. Because of this, it's amusing to eavesdrop on other Santa Feans while they discuss their latest shaman or bodywork class if only for the sheer range of self-help techniques out there. It's also interesting to then turn that eavesdropping back on one's own beliefs, and question, for example, why you might believe in astrology, but reading tea leaves is just too far out there for you.

Which brings me, finally, to my point. I was discussing various self-help methods with a former student of mine, and I brought up the concept and practice of E-prime. E-prime didn't originate as a quick-start self-help trick, but was developed by Alfred Korzybski and published in his book Science and sanity: an introduction to non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics. Now, at over 800 pages, I must admit that I haven't read this book. Someday I will, most likely once I've conquered Ulysses.

Anyway, implementing E-prime means simply removing all forms of the verb "to be" from your speech, writing, and thinking. So rather than saying, "I am angry," you can say, "I feel angry right now." The former could indicate that anger is your constant, permanent state or identity; the latter acknowledges the transitory nature of emotions. How's that for an easy self-help technique? According to this website, the "trick" of E-Prime is that "a change in language can alter our perception of the cosmos." The site also lists further E-Prime examples if you need more practice, and includes a fascinating list of successful advertising slogans that have "to be" at their core.

So the next time you feel stuck in your thinking or feelings, try erasing "to be" from your language for a bit. It may amaze you at how such fine-tuning of your brain programming can make a quick difference.

Art Beyond Borders Exhibit

The Santa Fe Public Library’s Southside Branch, 6599 Jaguar Drive, is hosting an art project of Art Beyond Borders, August 19-21. Mayor Coss will read a Proclamation on Thursday, August 19th at 11:00 a.m. to open the poster exhibit.

As Santa Fe is one of the 244 US member cities of the Mayors for Peace program, Mayor David Coss encourages the citizens of Santa Fe to visit Art Beyond Borders at the Southside Library as it begins an ambitious effort to help bring awareness to the UN International Day of Peace and encourages schools and libraries in New Mexico to present this powerful exhibition to their students and visitors by visiting the Art Beyond Borders Exhibit website.

Representing a broad spectrum of cultural, political and philosophical diversity, to date, over 65 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe have accepted The International Museum of Twenty-first Century Arts (TIMOTCA) invitation to participate. Each country’s official cultural authority, in collaboration with TIMOTCA representative, nominates 6 to 10 of their most celebrated living artists, one of whom is selected to represent each country in TIMOTCA and Art Beyond Borders.

Art Beyond Borders, featuring the original painting of the selected TIMOTCA artists, premiered at United Nations Headquarters in New York under the sponsorship of UNESCO and has been exhibited at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris; World Expo, Lisbon; and the Las Vegas Art Museum.

Thanks to the unique “banner” presentation, and a multi-faceted curriculum created by Teachers Discovery, Art Beyond Borders can be seen by thousands of students in schools and libraries across America.

Summer Reading Wrap-up

A total of 970 children signed up for the popular annual Summer Reading Program that rewarded children each week for reading with special programs, crafts and small prizes. All children who entered in the program received a special Reading Certificate. Those who completed the 8-week program also received a book. It is estimated that the children in the Summer Reading Program read a total of 14,400 books.

Children who read and turned in logs for at least three weeks this summer, were entered in a drawing for bicycles, with safety helmets, at each of the three branches. The Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library donated the bicycles, helmets, books and the parties. The winners names were drawn at their branch end of Summer Reading parties, July 31 and August 1.

The winners are:

Main Library:
Girl’s: Lisel, age 10
Boy’s: Danny, age 4

La Farge Branch:
Girl’s: Graciela, age two and a half
Boy’s: Jaxon, age 7

Southside Branch:
Girl’s: Joanna Mae , age three and a half
Boy’s: Evan, age 7

Our happy bicycle winners!

From Southside: It's cool that both of our winners have twin siblings! Evan said he was so excited when he found out he won. Being a star reader, he was able to pick a new book as a much-earned prize. He picked a Three Bears board book so that he could read it to his 11 day old sister. Both he and his twin brother Michael visit the library on a regular basis with their family.

Joanna won the girl's bike at Southside. Her twin sister and father came in with her to claim her prize. She said so was so surprised that she won the bike and she said she comes to the library because there are so many different kinds of books.

Photos by RA @Main, TT @SS, and SAS @LF

by PCH @Main and TT@SS

Southside Plaza under Construction

The City has started construction on the Southside Branch Library Plaza. The Plaza was designed with the original Library plans; however at the time of construction the City did not have the funds to complete the Plaza. Councilor Carmichael Dominguez spearheaded the Plaza project.

Both the Library and the Plaza were designed by Ike Benton of Integrated Design & Architecture and Harvey Monroe, Jr. of Terraplen. Recently, Lockwood Construction won the bid to construct the Plaza.

Earthmovers were seen daily in late July honing down the dirt in front of the Library to create a level plaza ground.

The mound of dirt had been named “Mount Santa Fe”.

Plans include a crisscross of wide brick sidewalks, approximately 40 trees, shrubs and low level lighting along the paths. Many of the trees for the site were donated by Jeff and Michelle Branch in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Santa Fe Community Foundation.

Patrons are looking forward to a welcoming, groomed plaza with no more dust storms and mud. Project substantial completion is projected for the 2nd week in November.

Photos by TT @SS
By PCH @Main

Call for Quilt Artists

The City of Santa Fe Community Gallery announces a call for artists in New Mexico who create fine art quilts. The Community Gallery, in conjunction with New Mexico Art Quilters, is planning an exhibit for the winter of 2010/2011 that features fine art quilts. The exhibit is tentatively scheduled to run from November 2010 through March 2011. Over 30 artists will be selected to offer the fullest range of artistic expression techniques by New Mexico fiber artists. In conjunction with the exhibit, numerous community events will educate visitors on quilting history, techniques, and the use of this traditional art form as a contemporary fine art medium.

Any interested artists should submit an artist portfolio of their work to Rod Lambert, the Community Gallery Manager for consideration in this exhibit by August 30, 2010. Portfolios should consist of 5-10 printed images of the artist’s work (on standard digital print paper) and an artist statement, resume and / or bio. Portfolios should be addressed to Community Gallery, PO Box 909, Santa Fe, NM 87504-0909. Please specify that you would like to be considered for the Timeless New Mexico exhibit.

For more information about the Community Gallery, visit http://www.santafeartscommission.org/, send an email to rdlambert@santafenm.gov or call (505) 955-6705.

Fur, Fortune, and Empire:

The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America

A Presentation by Eric Jay Dolin

Sponsored by the New Mexico History Museum and the Santa Fe Public Library

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Meem Room
New Mexico History Museum
113 Lincoln Ave.

From the establishment of the first trading posts by the Dutch East India Co. to the dissolution of the American Fur company and the near destruction of the buffalo, Eric Jay Dolin shows us in Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America how the fur trade was one of the key motivating forces in the imperial struggle for the colonies, and later the driving inspiration for America’s westward expansion.

Eric Jay Dolin’s previous book, Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, was chosen by the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe as one of the best books of 2007.

This event is free and open to the public.

August Library Exhibits

Main Library
Visions of Paris
&
Micro-Macro-Astro
Photography
by John J. Hizny

La Farge Library
Native American Basketry
by Calvert and Aquino

Southside Library
FACT: Fine Arts for Children & Teens
Summer Student Art Exhibition

For more information, check our Art page.

For upcoming events, check our Calendar and Children's pages.