Planning a trip to somewhere particularly literary? As we inch closer to summer I’m thinking of how to savor time off. Truth be told, a vacation from the first through the fifth sounds like a five day vacation, right? But factor in flights and time zones, it could be more like an evening and three days. This was my recent experience visiting Los Angeles. Day one we arrived in time for dinner, spent three blissful days in the sun, and day five we left before breakfast.
It’s time to celebrate poets! Do you find poetry intimidating? Does your experience extend beyond Shakespeare’s sonnets you read in high school? This April is the perfect time to give poetry another chance. Read on for six ways to infuse your month with an appreciation for verse.
“Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.” (PiDay.org)
I’m not really a math person, but I’m definitely a pizza person. This Pi Day I suggest a BYOP party! Yep, you read that right. It’s like BYOB except with pizza. A dear friend of mine once threw a party where she invited everyone to bring their favorite pizza from their favorite pizza place to share with everyone. BYOP. Essentially a pizza potluck, plentiful in both variety and quantity. I can’t get over what a great idea this is. Pizza is often a matter of convenience as well as taste preference. BYOP is a way to get to try some of the best that may be outside your normal range.
I live in two worlds. One is a world of books. I’ve been a resident of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina and strolled down Swann’s Way. It’s a rewarding world, but my second one is by far superior. – Rory Gilmore
As someone who works at a library it’s no surprise that my favorite conversations are about books and that my favorite question to ask is “What are you reading?” I particularly love to ask my mom and my sister because they are almost always reading something I need to know about or something I’ve read and should revisit. This happens on a regular basis thanks in large part to the Gilmore list.
Happy Birthday, Toni Morrison! Mark your calendars! February 17th is Toni Morrison Day, and there’s no better time to immerse yourself in her work. Read, watch, listen, or attend, there are myriad ways to honor Morrison’s legacy.
Maybe you watched The White Lotus week by week as it aired or maybe you waited and devoured it all in a single weekend. Either way, The White Lotus season two has an excellent cast and plot line that keeps viewers eager to catch the next episode. But for me, the real draw was the setting. I love to travel and have a preference for books, movies, and shows with a strong sense of place. After watching season 2 in its entirety, I immediately set out in search of books that would allow me to stay within the setting. More Italy please, because I am simply not ready to leave that stunning, shimmering, sunny country in the middle of the Mediterranean.
I visited my sister in mid November and she already had the Christmas music playing. She said if she starts listening early enough she actually gets to enjoy holiday music. If she waits until after Thanksgiving, it’s December already, and there’s so much running around in December that the music just gets lost.
That same week, with the idea of starting early in order to savor, I began to collect lists and stories from staff of our favorite holiday films and traditions that surround them. The responses flooded in.
I lived in Pittsburgh for a brief stint while in school, the only time and the only place I’ve ever lived anywhere other than Ohio. During those years, the concept of Home was almost always on my mind, as I tried to feel at home in a new place while simultaneously feeling very, very homesick. Home has always meant Ohio and my family. To me home is the house by the creek, wild blackberry bushes and Queen Anne’s lace along the back drive, Mamaw and Poppy’s house next door, Mom’s no-bake cookies cooling on the counter, Dad’s boots by the door, meals with my siblings, my childhood bedroom.
//image still from official trailer, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
I was never a vampire reader, no Dracula, The Queen of the Damned, or Salem’s Lot. My preferred medium for vampire lore has always been film. With that said, I have always been drawn to movies based on books. Interview with the Vampire based on the Anne Rice novel and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust based on the novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, are two of my favorites. I recall staying home sick from school in the early 2000s watching Vampire Hunter D for the umpteenth time. I paused on a favorite scene and decided to draw the still, copying exactly what I saw on the screen. When I wrote about the experience in the journal I had to keep for art class, my teacher commented that I had “experienced the healing power of art.” I’ve returned to this thought many times throughout my life, the idea that art can heal. And now with that connective tissue, I forever equate vampire movies as a kind of magic medicine.
The U.S. has commemorated Family History Month every October since 2001 when Congress passed a resolution for its annual observance. Did you know that here at the Bexley Public Library we have our very own Memory Lab for preserving photos, documents, and audiovisuals into a digital format? The lab features a photo scanner, VHS converter, slide/negative scanner, and more. Come cross something off your to-do list this October and preserve your family’s history for future generations.
