Writing Prompt Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Stephen King!

Friday Fun: The Smartest Card

Time for a shameless plug:

We just dropped our son off at college this week, and you know what I’m the most envious about?  That he’s going to school in Boston, which gives him access to the Boston Public Library!  He’s our third child in college, and they’re all good readers, but even so I’ve encouraged all of them to visit their town’s public library and apply for a free card. Public library collections are very different from college library collections, since the colleges need to cater to a specific audience – namely the professors and students, focusing their collection on materials that can supplement coursework.  Years ago I worked at a small public library in Durham, home to the University of New Hampshire, and one day two young ladies walked in, obviously new students at the school. They looked around the small magazine reading area, taking the entire library in in a few glances. Back then the library (now in it’s own gorgeous building) rented space in a storefront of a strip mall and the staff did their best with the tiny, odd space. We had a magazine reading area, children’s area, public computers and a small staff area in the back of the storefront. Usually we’d get visitors who would look around and then compare it to the big, beautiful library in their home town or places they went on vacation. But these two girls looked around, sighed, and one said to the other, “Oh, yeah. That’s more like home.”  Our tiny library was familiar to them, a haven of normalcy in their big, unfamiliar college territory.

What’s in your wallet?

Friday Fun: My Bookshelves

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Read or Really Happened?

For me, it’ wondering if I ever actually rode a unicycle.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: L, Loophole

 

During April, I’m participating in The A to Z Blogging Challenging, blogging 26 days of the month on writing topics while systematically moving through the alphabet. The goal is to develop a more regular blogging habit and network with other bloggers.  Join us!

A to Z Blogging Challenge: F, First Folio!

 

First Folio! is a national traveling exhibition of the Shakespeare First Folio, one of the world’s most treasured books. The Folger Shakespeare Library, in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association, will be touring the Folio in 2016 to all 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico as part of the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH, was chosen to host the exhibit in my region from April 7 – May 1.  While the First Folio is displayed at the Currier, other related events will take place at the participating institutions, including our library consortium, and other venues around the state.

The traveling exhibit First Folio! The Book that Gave us Shakespeare coincides with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616. The First Folio was published in 1623. Officially titled Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, the Folio contains 36 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, including 18 plays that were first published in that volume. Without the Folio, we might have no scripts for such famous plays as The Tempest, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar and As You Like It.

“Bringing the First Folio to the Currier is a wonderful opportunity for New Hampshire residents, students and scholars alike, to see firsthand the publication that made the argument for Shakespeare’s genius,” says UNH Professor, Douglas Lanier.

Be sure to check the Folger Shakespeare Library website for the exhibition stop in your area.

 

(from the original press release from UNH, Manchester)

During April, I’m participating in The A to Z Blogging Challenging, blogging 26 days of the month on writing topics while systematically moving through the alphabet. The goal is to develop a more regular blogging habit and network with other bloggers.  Join us!

Friday Fun: Confession Time

Friday Fun: Fortune Teller or Fiction?

Saturday Scramble: The Scholarship of Harry Potter

I used to work for a Yale professor whose sole life’s work was studying Jonathan Swift and Gulliver’s Travels, so this recent story from GW Today: George Washington University’s Online News Source interviewing Instructional Librarian Tolonda Henderson about teaching Harry Potter literature classes shouldn’t surprise me.  I mean, wow.  Wow! #livethedream

 

Friday Fun: Writers Are…