Pearl Harbor Survivors Visit Friendswood Public Library

The Friendswood Public Library was honored this Flag Day with a visit from Pearl Harbor survivors George Hemingway and Mary Kerr (pictured directly below).  They shared their personal accounts and knowledge with over eighty members from the community and surrounding areas. George and Mary answered many insightful questions and all gained from their experience. The program concluded with the playing of Taps by World War II veteran Bill Crawford. Great thanks goes out to all who made this a special and memorable experience.

Widely circulated Pearl Harbor photo with George Hemingway standing in the foreground.

Read "The Big Easy"

I’ve just returned from New Orleans in celebration of my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary. With all these amazing sights and sounds still fresh in my memory, I thought I’d share some pictures from my trip with some new and/or important books written about or taking place in and around the New Orleans area.  Click the title link to locate these titles in the Friendswood Public Library catalog.

Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin.

“A Fascinating book, rich in detail and lore. An entrance into a world so magical and unlikely that every page is a new episode full of real swashbuckling, nasty critters (human), and the roiling history of the big, bad river.”  ---Frederick Barthelme, Author of Waveland

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

A New Orleans misanthrope who constantly rebukes society, Ignatius Reilly, gets a job at his mother's urging but ends up leading a worker's revolt. Pulitzer prize for fiction , 1981.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy.

A winner of the National Book Award, The Moviegoer established Walker Percy as an insightful and grimly humorous storyteller with a rare talent for making his people look and sound as though they were being seen and heard for the first time by anyone. The Moviegoer tells the story of Binx Bolling, a young stockbroker in post-war New Orleans. The decline of Southern traditions, the problems of his family and his traumatic experiences in the Korean War have left him alienated from his own life. He daydreams constantly, has trouble engaging in lasting relationships and finds more meaning and immediacy in movies and books than in his own routine life.

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

Fashioned from the same experiences that would inspire the masterpiece Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain' s most brilliant and most personal nonfiction work. It is at once an affectionate evocation of the vital river life in the steamboat era and a melancholy reminiscence of its passing after the Civil War, a priceless collection of humorous anecdotes and folktales, and a unique glimpse into Twain' s life before he began to write. Written in a prose style that has been hailed as among the greatest in English literature, Life on the Mississippi established Twain as not only the most popular humorist of his time but also America' s most profound chronicler of the human comedy.

 

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.

In a remote room in a large city, a young reporter sits face-to-face with his most astonishing subject: a onetime New Orleans gentleman plantation owner who, in vividly terrifying and haunting detail, recalls his centuries of extraordinary life--beginning with his initiation into the ranks of the living dead at the hands of the sinister, sensual vampire Lestat.

 

American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt by Daniel Rasmussen.

“New Orleans has been the scene of many dark adventures, but none so shocking as the slave rebellion of 1811. Dan Rasmussen has unearthed a stunning tale of freedom and repression, and told it in gripping fashion.”  ---Evan Thomas

 

 

Standing Ovation for Classical Guitarist Peter Fletcher

     Classical guitarist Peter Fletcher played to nearly one hundred in attendance at the Friendswood Public Library.  Based on the enthusiastic applause and audience comments, I believe a good time was had by all! Peter performed pieces by Bach, Grieg, Ravel, concluding with a spectacular performance of Carlo Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba, Op. 19. After a standing ovation, Peter played one encore piece finishing the evening with Stanley Myers Cavatina from the Deer Hunter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. 
     Pictured directly below from left to right: Friends of the Library President Sharon Davis, Library Board Vice Chair Mike Czarowitz, Library Director Mary Perroni, and Peter Fletcher.

7 Reasons to visit Friendswood Public Library’s Electronic Library

1.      Fix your car with Ebsco’s Auto Repair Reference Center. Follow the links to Repair Procedures, Service Bulletins and Recalls, Labor, Wiring Diagrams, and Maintenance Intervals.  From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select Auto Repair Reference Center.

2.      Learn a language with Mango Languages. Choose from over 35 languages. From Electronic Library, click on Mango Languages. Supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Either click Start Learning and choose a language, or create a profile first to track your progress.

3.      Get specific drug information or other relevant health information with Consumer Health Complete. From Electronic Library, click on Texshare. Supply the login and password obtained from the Reference desk. Click on the Texshare link in the top right corner of the menu. Scroll down to Consumer Health Complete. Select drug and herb information. Type in the name of the drug or herb and click search.

4.      Get a Datamonitor Report for major companies with Business Source Complete. Find key employees, head office contact information, and a company overview among other vital business information. From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select Business Searching Interface. Select Company Profiles and enter the company name.

5.      Read newspaper articles from around the world with Ebsco’s Newspaper Source. From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select All Databases and scroll down to Newspaper Source. Select Title List to view an alphabetical list of all newspapers.

6.      Get help with your science experiment projects with Science Online. From Electronic Library, click on Science Online. Supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Enter your topic keywords and select from Topics, Terms, and Principles; Images, Videos, and Animations; Experiments & Activities; Biographies; News Articles, or view All Results.

7.      Download free ebooks, audiobooks, and video with Overdrive. From Electronic Library, select the Overdrive icon. Select the My Help icon to receive instructions on how to get started with Overdrive. Visit the Adult Programs Schedule link found from the library’s homepage for Overdrive instruction class times. Or contact the Friendswood Public Library at 281-482-7135 for additional help.

Electronic Library can be accessed from the Friendswood Public Library’s homepage at (www.friendswood.lib.tx.us). These databases provide thousands of articles of information on most any topic needed. For more information, visit the library’s Reference Department or call 281-482-7135.

A Wonderful Evening with NetPoSo!

A wonderful evening was had by those attending the Net Poets Society program. A hearty thanks goes out to John Milkereit (whose two chapbooks I have now read and admire) for hosting the program and allowing us a glimpse into the humor and often hilarity of his writing and reading style.  One audience member stated that she fought hard not to crack up but couldn’t help herself.  John’s chapbooks Home & Away and Paying Admissions should be available for library checkout very soon.  Great thanks also to Adamarie Fuller, Mona Follis, and Dede Fox. Dede is a fellow librarian and began the evening with a poem dedicated to libraries and librarianship. This poem certainly hit the mark with its clever references to Mr. Dewey’s decimal system.  All four poets read from their wonderful collections of award winning poetry and their dedication to the craft was evident. We hope to have Net Poets Society (NetPoSo) back sometime in the near future. They are not to be missed!

Exciting Events at Friendswood Public Library

The Friendswood Public Library will host several exciting cultural events in the coming months!

To help celebrate National Poetry Month, the Friendswood Public Library has invited a talented group of poets called Net Poets Society, or NetPoSo, to read from their acclaimed work on Wednesday, April 20^th at 7pm: 

Erica Lehrer is a poet, award-winning journalist and founding member of Net Poets Society (NetPoSo), a group of poets from Houston, Texas. A graduate of Princeton University (BA, English) and N.Y.U. School of Law, Ms. Lehrer has studied at InPrint, Inc. with poet Dave Parsons and novelist Farnoosh Moshiri.

Mona Follis is a mechanical designer, painter, essayist and poet.  She also designs and sews quilt art, and writes occasional companion poems that echo the quilt, finding the correlation between visual and written art a matter of interwoven expressionism and impressionism.

John Milkereit is a thinker and citizen of the world. Employed as an engineering professional during daylight hours, his first chapbook, Paying Admissions, was published in February 2010.

Other poets include Dede Fox, John E. Rice, and Adamarie Fuller.

 The library is especially pleased to welcome the return of acclaimed classical guitarist Peter Fletcher on Wednesday, May 4^th at 7pm. This is Peter’s third appearance at the Friendswood Public Library. His previous performances have been amongst the most popular programs the library has hosted. Peter Fletcher has performed at prestigious venues across the country including Carnegie Hall.

Come meet award-winning mystery author Bill Crider on Wednesday, June 15^th at 7pm. Bill Crider is the author of the popular Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series amongst many other mysteries set in Texas locales. Bill will talk about his experiences as an author and answer your questions.

Come read your own poetry at our Open Mic Poetry Night on Wednesday, July 6^th at 7pm. This event is hosted by Oscar Pena with special guest poets Kay Cox and Barbara Ann Carle. Kay's poems have been published in Sol Magazine, That Thing We Do, Map of Austin and the 2010 Texas Poetry Calendar.  She was the winner of the 2008 Robert Clark Appreciation Award.   Barbara Carle is the author of New York Rhapsody and winner of the 2008 Ted O. Badger Award. Her personal essays have been published in several Chicken Soup books and various anthologies. The Friendswood Public Library hosts Open Mic Poetry events regularly.

For more information, contact the Friendswood Public Library at 281-482-7135.

Several New Poets at Open Mic Poetry Night

Fifteen people braved the wintery weather to come to the Friendswood Public Library and participate in our Open Mic Poetry Night. A special thanks to the always enlightening and entertaining Oscar Pena for hosting this Open Mic event. Our special guest poets also deserve a big thank you for coming out to read from their fabulous books. Rebecca Hatcher Travis read from her award-winning book Picked Apart the Bones and also shared some new poetry concluding with a poem entitled Mother's Milk. Barbara Ann Carle read from her book New York Rhapsody, a wonderful collection of poems capturing the New York City of her youth. Both books are available in the Friendswood Public Library. Oscar Pena's book entitled Fire of Thorns is also available for check out.

It was great to see several new faces sharing their talents at Open Mic night. We had poets from the Houston Heights, Sante Fe, and Galveston all come to share their diverse poetic experiences and perceptions with a very receptive audience. Thanks again to all who came out and made this a special evening!

We look forward to having the poets of Net Poets Society, a Houston based poets group, come and help us celebrate National Poetry Month on Wednesday, April 20th at 7pm. We also plan to have another Open Mic Poetry Event on Wednesday, July 6th at 7pm here in the Friendswood Public Library Activity room.

Cozy Mystery Author Leann Sweeney speaks at Friendswood Public Library

Cozy mystery author Leann Sweeney recently spoke at the Friendswood Public Library to a large group of mystery fans.  Leann’s vibrant stories shed light into the mystery writing process and was great help to many budding writers. The event was a big success and we hope to have Leann back soon to share stories and answer more of those great questions.  Keep an eye out for our March Madness Reading Program when Leann may be a guest speaker.

Open Mic Poetry Night (November 3rd)

Open Mic Poetry Night on November 3rd was a great success. Poet and musician Oscar Pena hosted the event and also read poems from his chapbook, Fire of Thorns. Special guest poets Donna Pauley and Rebecca Travis read from their poetry to a group of twenty plus in attendance. Several poets from the audience got up to read their poems including Barbara Carle who read from her book, New York Rhapsody.  The Friendswood Public Library carries the works of many local/area poets including former Texas Poet Laureate and past speaker at the Friendswood Public Library, Larry Thomas. The library also carries Rebecca Hatcher Travis's Picked Apart the Bones, winner of the First Book Award for Poetry from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas. Check with the Reference Department for help in finding these local poetry books.

We look forward to our next Open Mic Poetry Night on Wednesday, February 9th at 7pm. Everyone is invited to come and read your own poems or share poetry by other authors. These Open Mic events are a great way for poets of any experience level to meet and talk with people of similar interests. It's also fun to just come and listen! Refreshments are served.