From time to time, one gets egg on one's face, and this is one of those times for yours truly: the BPL trustees' breakfast with the Massachusetts' Library Caucus took place on March 21, and will not take place on May 21 as I reported earlier. I apologize for the error. A belated report on the event will be posted in the near future. Onwards and sideways...
Another Sign of Better Boston/Beacon Hill Library Ties: the Massachusetts Library Caucus is Coming for Breakfast at Copley's McKim Building on May 21
handmade books by second-graders on display in Donnell Library, NYC 2008
In a welcome sign that the BPL is working hard to improve its ties with the State Legislature, it is hosting a breakfast for the state's Library Caucus on Monday, May 21. The caucus is made up of state legislators from all over the Commonwealth who see libraries as their special charge. Since 2008, when two powerful BPL trustees --MA Senate President William Bulger and State Rep. Angelo Scaccia-- left the Boston Library Board over the ousting of former BPL President Bernard Margolis by Mayor Thomas Menino, the relationship between BPL and Beacon Hill went into atrophy mode.
The Mayor did not appoint any state legislator to replace Bulger or Scaccia for several years, which meant, among other things, that for several years no one from the BPL was at the Legislature advocating and lobbying for funds to maintain library services. It proved one thing: if one does not ask, one does not get. The legislature cut Boston's library budget; the mayor cut the library budget; and in 2010 the mayor and BPL President Amy Ryan proposed closing up to 10 branches. In the end, none were closed, in part because Boston's state representatives, hearing the outrage in their constituents' voices, threatened to cut off all state funding to Boston if any library branches were shuttered.
Shortly thereafter, State Rep. Byron Rushing, who had assailed the BPL trustees for their lack of competent advocacy on Beacon Hill during the 2010 library closure fight, was nominated to the BPL's Library Board. Immediate improvements ensued. He made public comment at BPL trustees meetings standard operating procedure. He took charge of the long-term strategic planning plan, Compass, which had earlier been initiated by former BPL trustee and author, James Carroll. The May 21 breakfast meeting is another sign of library-climate warming. Kate Hogan (D Stow), will give opening remarks after a welcome by Amy Ryan; the executive director of the Massachussets Board of Library Commissioners, Robert Maier, will discuss budget priorities for the state libraries; and Rep. Rushing himself will talk about ...Library Cards. Stay tuned.
The one-hour meeting is open to the public and starts at 9:00 AM.
Author Leah Hager Cohen Will Read from "The Grief of Others" on Tuesday, May 15, after an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller
The South End Writes author series will bring author Leah Hager Cohen to the South End Library on Tuesday May 15th to read from her latest novel, The Grief of Others. She will be introduced by South End novelist Sue Miller, who invited her to speak at the program. The event will start at 6:30 PM.
Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country’s best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. The Grief of Others delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. A Boston Globe’s book reviewer described the writing as “fluid and insightful." The author, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, has published both fiction and non-fiction books, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. In one recent Boston Globe opinion piece she explained why the Pulitzer Prize Committee’s refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was ‘a good thing;’ in another, she provided an insightful look into the working life of the South End Writes' most recent speaker, award-winning short-story writer Edith Pearlman.
Hager Cohen's other titles include the non-fiction books Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World, and Glass, Paper, Beans, as well as the novel Heart, You Bully, You Punk.
Head Librarian Anne Smart has many of the titles available at the South End branch for those who wish to borrow them: all you need is your BPL library card.
The final two South End Writes events of the season will take place on Tuesday, May 22 and Tuesday, June 19, both at 6:30 PM at the South End Library. Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker will talk about how to write memoirs of people and places AND get them published on May 22; and South End resident Mari Passananti will read from her first novel, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken.
Edith Pearlman Will Read at the SE Library May 1, Followed by Fiction Writer Leah Hager Cohen (May 15), Memoirist Christine Chamberlain Accompanied by Custom-Publisher Jane Karker (May 22)
The South End Writes authors' series will be in full swing in May when authors Edith Pearlman and Leah Hager Cohen will read from recent work at the South End branch on Tuesday, May 1 and Tuesday, May 15, respectively. They will be introduced by local novelist Sue Miller, who invited them. Edith Pearlman's much-prized collection of new and selected short stories, Binocular Vision, has just been released in paperback. Just in time ,as every book venue in Boston was sold out of the hardcover version. The collection won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2011 PEN/Malamud Award, and was a finalist in the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction. Pearlman won other awards, such as the Pushcart Prize, the O'Henry Prize and a number of others for previous work.
Leah Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country's best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. Her latest novel, The Grief of Others, delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. The Boston Globe's book reviewer described the writing "fluid and insightful." Hager Cohen, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, as well, and recently explained in a commentary for the Boston Globe why the Pulitzer Prize Committee's refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was 'a good thing.'
CHRISTINE CHAMBERLAIN, a memoirist and biographer, will talk about how to turn your oral history, family history and any other history of interest to you and others into books that can be self-published. It can be the history of rowing, of first-generation families who want to preserve culture and customs for their children, or the history of institutions that don’t yet have one written down. Chamberlain, a former journalist working from Europe, will bring Jane Karker, a small publisher from Maine, who will provide pointers on self-publishing and display samples of self-published work. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM.
FOSEL Wins $8,000 Grant from PRUPac for Handicapped-accessible Door at South End Library
The Friends of the South End Library is pleased to report that our request for a grant from the Pru-PAC Community Benefits Committee has been approved!! This grant, combined with generous donations from private donors and library patrons will ensure that the handicapped-accessible door will be installed as soon as Pru-Pac's funds become available. A date for the disbursement of the grant funds has not been set.
FOSEL applied for a grant of $8,000 to fund a capital improvement project at the South End branch of the Boston Public Library, specifically the installation of an automated door to allow library patrons with physical disabilities, as well as the elderly patrons and parents with strollers, to access their community library. As you know, the current doorway consists of two separate heavy doors both of which must be opened by hand. With the installation of a handicapped-accessible door, the South End Library will be one of a handful of BPL branches to become fully ADA compliant, since the library already has an elevator to the second floor.
BPL did not allocate money to support this vital need in their capital budget but it did express strong support for FOSEL’s campaign to raise funds for this project. As this is a capital improvement project, BPL will have direct supervision over the installation of any handicapped- accessible entrance way and control over the bidding process and the selection of a contractor. However, we anticipate a swift completion upon distribution of the funds from PRUPac.
Prudential Center developers contribute money to the fund only when a building permit is issued. Following issuance of the permits for the Exeter Residences, $302,500 was contributed. The second project, at 888 Boylston Street is currently in a holding pattern. However, when the required permits are issued another $169,500 will be contributed to the fund. It is unclear at this time whether the South End Library funding will come from future or current funding.
Having identified a handicapped-accessible entrance to the library as a priority issue, FOSEL embarked on a private fundraising campaign to raise the necessary funds to have an automated entrance system installed. To date, we have raised over $6,000 from South End residents to accomplish our goal. The Pru-PAC committee took into account which projects which had secondary funding sources, so our neighbor's generous contributions were a vital component in the approval of FOSEL's grant request. Thank you all!!
Award-winning Author Edith Pearlman Will Read from Her Bestseller, "Binocular Vision," at the South End Branch on May 1, with an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller
Good luck trying to find a hard-cover copy of Edith Pearlman's latest short-story collection, Binocular Vision, at any of the local bookstores.
Barnes and Noble is out. Trident Books and Raven Used Books are out. Brookline Booksmith is out. The publisher is out. And there's a long waiting list at the Boston Public Library for the book, which won the 2011 Pen/Malamud, National Book Critics Circle, and Edward Lewis Wallant award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The good news is the paperback issue will show up in the stores next week. But the BEST NEWS is that Edith Pearlman herself will read from the collection at the South End Library on Tuesday evening, May 1, at 6:30 PM.
South End resident and nationally known novelist Sue Miller will introduce Ms. Pearlman, whose profile was featured earlier this week in the Boston Globe. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library as part of its The South End Writes/The South End Invites authors series.
Reminder: The Easter Bunny Will Visit Library Park Sunday, April 8, at 11:00 AM
The Easter Bunny will visit the Fifth Annual Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library, Sunday, April 8, at 11:00 AM, right after the Egg Hunt in Ringgold Park sponsored by their Friends group, which starts at 10:00 AM. There will be refreshments, a separate area for tiny hunters, and police help crossing Tremont Street. Bring your own baskets, or use ours...Hope to see you there, on Tremont Street between Rutland Square and West Newton Street.
BPL's Homework Assistance Program (HAP), Popular at SE Branch and Elsewhere, to Be Cut After Twelve Years; Effectiveness Data Not Collected by BPL Administration; Librarians Upset
A long-time popular Homework Assistance Program (HAP) available at most BPL neighborhood libraries and the Main Library will be discontinued at the end of this school year in May. The news came to the branches in an out-of-the-blue email at the end of March from Jessica Snow, the recently hired Youth Services Coordinator for the BPL. The after-school mentoring program, highly valued by library staff, paid high-achieving students from Boston's private and public high schools $8 an hour to tutor K-8 students in libraries all over the city. It will be replaced by other after-school efforts, yet-to-be determined.
HAP cost the BPL an estimated $200,000 a year and was a popular fundraising target for the BPL Foundation as recently as last November when donors could become sponsors during a Gala Benefit. The upcoming "Big Thrill" fundraiser in April also lists the HAP program as one of its beneficiaries. But according to sources within the City-wide Friends Group, which is affiliated with the BPL, a lack of reliable data that should have been collected by BPL administrators to support the effectiveness of the program made it difficult to continue to raise funds for it.
Children's librarians all over the city are very upset and have written Ms. Snow asking her to reconsider. "I cannot believe that the library is choosing to end a successful program, which has been held for 12 years, without any discussion with the staff involved in developing and implementing this program," wrote one children's librarian. "Many of us consider the Homework Assistance Program one of the best programs we run for children and teens. It serves a vital need in our communities; helping children with homework and study skills (many of whom can’t get that help at home) and giving high school students valuable work experience." Another pleaded that "we can all together brainstorm a way to save this very successful and educationally sound program that has earned praise and support from teachers, parents, students, librarians, and donors alike for the past twelve years. I also am surprised and upset that such a highly praised and strong tutoring program would be so abruptly announced as terminated."
According to Anne Smart, head librarian of the South End branch, four high-schoolers tutor K-8 students four days a week for a few hours at her library. "It's a great program," she said. An email sent to Ms. Snow by a SE branch staff member said, "Since I came to the SE Library in 2001, we have had several HAP mentor families in which each sibling in turn on reaching 10th grade has followed the tradition set of becoming a HAP mentor. Many of our mentors live in the South End and first came here as young children. I can’t count how often I have heard elementary and middle school students say, “When I get to 10th grade I am going to be a HAP tutor.”
In her email response to the outraged librarians, Ms. Snow wrote that she "appreciated" the comments. She did not indicate whether she would reconsider the decision. As far as the high-school tutors are concerned, she wrote, "With the new out of school time programming there may be opportunities for the HAP mentors to participate in by volunteering."
"New Busy-ness" Measure Is Not Meant to "Compare" Branch Performance But to Assess "Reach" of Library Services into Neighborhood, Says BPL's Spokeswoman Gina Perelli
A recent measure by BPL administrators to redefine what makes a branch "busy," the so-called "new Busy," is not meant to compare branch libraries competitively, according to Gina Perelli, the library's communications director. Perelli also said that the measure was "proposed" and "still looking for input" from library staff. "The idea is to capture the reach of library services into a community," she said, "to look at how many contacts the staff has with patrons as opposed to just the figure for ciculation." The "new Busy" calculation, published late February in the internal BPL Weekly, did not include a request for comment from library staff, and listed the three branches with the highest numbers consecutively. They were West End, West Roxbury and Mattapan.
A BPL's branch's circulation was one of the measures used in 2010 to determine which libraries should be closed and which remain open. The "saved" libraries, which tended to be larger, would have more resources and be open more hours. However, a number of to-be-closed libraries, while small, were convenient for users' access while larger ones were hard to reach by public transportation, or because patrons were elderly, handicapped, or too young to walk longer distances. Testimony during the library-closing hearings in 2010 suggested that patrons of East Boston's Orient Height branch, for example, one of the four on the closing list, would have had to traverse the tunnel to get to the next closest library in East Boston.
The "new Busy" calculation adds to each branch's circulation figure the number for visitors, programs and computer sessions. However, it doesn't take into account the number of hours a library is open, or the number of computers available for computer sessions. Had this number been adjusted for hours open, in a "new new Busy" configuration, the three "top-performing" branches would have been West End, Jamaica Plain and Mattapan. BPL's Perelli acknowledged the flaw during a phone conversation and pointed out that the definition of a program was not set either. "Circulation also depends on how large a collection is," she added, agreeing that there might still be "a lack in uniformity" in the numbers used to assess either a branch's reach or its comparative popularity.
"We are still reframing ourselves as a result of the Compass hearings," said Perelli, referring to last year's numerous meetings to produce the BPL's long-term Compass Strategic Plan. "It is still an internal adjustment, informed by Compass to look more broadly at the community."
A New "Busy" Measure at the BPL Re-arranges the Pecking Order of the Busiest Branches but Doesn't Account for Differences in Library Hours
A new metric to assess a BPL branch's "busy-ness" is was instituted by the BPL recently, one that adds three new numbers to the "old" busy-ness measure of "circulation only." "This calculation expands the conversation beyond just circulation to capture more examples of the diverse ways in which a Boston Public Library location is engaged in delivery of service and user interactions," according to the BPL Weekly, an in-house newsletter.
By the old standard, the Jamaica Plain branch topped all the others for busy-ness, a little uncomfortable perhaps for the Library's administration in light of their efforts to close it, together with three others --Faneuil, Orient Heights and Washington Village-- in 2009. The "new Busy" puts the West End branch first in the most-popular sweepstakes, followed by the big beautiful new library of Mattapan and the West Roxbury branch. Jamaica Plain finishes fourth.
Strangely, the new measure does not take into account the number of hours a library is open. The BPL branches offer their services either 48 or 45 hours a week. Nor is it adjusted for when those hours are. As the recent Pew Charitable Trust Report "The Library in the City" points out, increased weekend hours can do a lot to generate visitors and circulation. In Boston, just nine branches offer a full day of service on Saturday; all the others open their doors a half day only. The South End branch, like many others, closes all Saturdays during the summer --just when the kids are out of school. Similarly, eleven of the 25 branches are open two evenings a week; the remaining 14, one night only. By contrast, the Central Library is open four nights a week, all day Saturday and five hours on Sunday, for a total of 61 hours. Not surprisingly, the main library has the highest busy-ness number, even though most of Boston's library patrons live near the branches, not downtown.
The new busy-ness's value for "computer sessions" does not reflect the number of public-access computers available in a branch, either, although it stands to reason that the more computers can be used, the more will sessions there will be. Central Library has between 75 and 80 computers, according to its reference desk; Mattapan has 44, Brighton 31, and the remaining branches anywhere between 8 (West End) and 29 (Grove Hall), according to library staff answering the phones. The South End branch has 25.
If one adjusts the "new Busy" number for how many hours a neighborhood library is open, the list of Most Popular changes again. Let's call it the "new new Busy." The top performer in that calculation is the West End branch. Jamaica Plain's branch comes in as a close second, followed by Mattapan, West Roxbury, Hyde Park and the much beloved little Faneuil library, another one on the to-be-closed list. More surprising, it beats out the new Brighton branch, down in 14th place.
The Fifth Annual FOSEL Easter Egg Hunt is ON in Library Park, Sunday, April 8, From 11 AM to 1 PM
The Easter bunny has been practicing his moves. The Parks Department has sent us the permit. Volunteers have filled Easter eggs with chocolate, poems, riddles and knock-knock jokes. The helium tank stands ready to fill the balloons and Easter baskets have been dusted off. Area D4 promised to help all comers cross the streets. Neighbors are baking the refreshments. In other words, we're ready for this year's hunt: all we need is YOU... There will be a roped-off section for the tiniest hunters to protect them from their sometimes too-enthusiastic colleagues. The hunt will start at 11:00 AM sharp and, if previous years are any indication, it will be over by 11:01 AM.
Hope to see you at Library Park, next to the South End Library, on Tremont Street at Rutland Square.
Pew Charitable Trust Study Shines Light on Voter-approved Library Tax Increases in 2011 to Meet "Shadow Mandate" of Expanded Library Services
Philadelphia-Library-City
Four years after the 20o8 economic downturn slashed library budgets all over the country, the Pew Charitable Trust has taken stock of the library landscape since emerged. Remarkably, it reports that in the middle of the recession voters in three cities studied--Columbus, OH, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh-- approved ballots for dedicated funding for libraries by large majorities. Seattle voters may face a similar ballot issue this year. Should Boston be next? The Pew study, The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future, points out what many observes already suspected, namely that the number of social services discontinued in the last decades by government and non-profit agencies has been bestowed on libraries by default. The report calls this "the shadow mandate." An unfunded mandate, to be sure. Library budgets are called on to provide Internet access, job applications, income-tax assistance, health information, government services and benefits, help for the homeless, after-school programs, tests for GED, safe havens for children, welcoming spaces for teenagers, ESL classes for immigrants, literacy workshops, arts and literary events and, oh, yes, circulation of books and DVDs. Yet none of the agencies unloading their services onto libraries deposit money in library operating budgets. That libraries might want to explore opportunities for grants and funding from such organizations --schools, agencies in public health, social services and workforce development-- is one of the suggestions made in the Pew report.
The Library in the City studied 15 systems, including those in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Queens, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Columbus, OH, and San Francisco. It focused on the Free Library in Philadelphia, which it then compared to the fortunes of the fourteen others. The report describes an overwhelmingly underfunded sector of the nation's public economy at a moment in time when the need for library services is as high as it has ever been. One figure in the report shows how the Philadelphia Free Library 's offerings, for example, supports no less than 15 government and non-profit agencies, ranging from schools to public health agencies to homeless services, while its operating budget sustained a 19 percent funding cut between 2008 and 2010, a 12 percent reduction in hours, and a 14 percent loss in full-time staff. Boston's library system, and all the others in the report, can easily claim a similar range of social services, and a similarly unfunded mandate for it. Boston's budget during those years was cut by 10 percent, its hours reduced by 3 percent and full-time staff positions decreased by nine percent. Current funding has stabilized at about $40 million, but not increased. San Francisco was the only municipality that expanded its library budget by 5 percent, all the more remarkable because it receives virtually no state or federal funding for its operations.
The need for sustainable library funding couldn't be made more clear in this well-written report, generously illustrated with snappy graphs, charts and photographs. It describes how in Pittsburgh, a library task force looked at almost two dozen funding strategies and recommended six. These included a new endowment campaign, actively cultivating community support, and proposing state and local tax incentives for library contributions. Another recommendation was acted on: a public referendum to raise property taxes to directly support the library. It was approved overwhelmingly last year.
The details of the various ballot measures to raise specific library funds differed but were similar in their results: keeping libraries open and perhaps even thriving, and making sure political support for libraries was articulated. Philadelphia's Mayor, Michael Nutter, has said repeatedly that his attempts in 2008 to close 11 out of 49 branches was "the biggest mistake" he made as that city's leader, according to the Pew report. It also mentions Mayor Thomas Menino's travail of being called a hypocrite for billing himself as "the education mayor" and then trying to eliminate libraries in Boston.
Voters in Columbus, OH, increased their library taxfor the first time in 24 years by an almost 2 to 1 margin, raising about $31 million. In Los Angeles, both the mayor and the entire city council supported a measure to dedicate a portion of property tax revenue to libraries in 2011, expected to produce about $50 million annually. LA voters approved it by 63 percent. That same year, Pittsburgh's taxpayers supported a new property tax to add an estimated $3.25 million to the library budget each year, by a remarkable 72 percent.
Pittsburgh city councilman and library trustee Patrick Dowd bucked those who said the measure would have no chance of succeeding. " There's a fundamental love of this institution because you have people who work in the neighborhood and are connected to people who go into the branch. The librarians are the people who get you the books, find a safe space for your kids. You know them," Dowd said. " You just don't have that connection with your garbage collector."
Author/Librarian Catherine Willis to Talk about Surprising Facts in her Recent Book about the History of the Boston Public Library, Tuesday, March 27, at 6:30 PM, at the South End Library
FOSEL _Catherine Willis flyer_3-27-12
CATHERINE WILLIS, who recently wrote a pictorial history of the Boston Public Library, will talk about some of the things she discovered while researching the book, which is part of the Images of America series. Currently the Manager of Technical Services at the BPL, and the 2007 recipient of the New England Library Association’s Award for Excellence in Library Technical Services, Ms. Willis can tell you, among other things, that the idea of the BPL was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841 and that the lions flanking the staircase in the BPL’s McKim building precede those of the New York Public Library by 15 years.
Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 PM. Sponsored by FOSEL as part of The South End Writes series. The South End Branch's staff has made numerous copies available at the library to patrons who wish to borrow a copy and take a closer look...
Essayist and Literary Critic Sven Birkerts to Read at the South End Library on Tuesday, March 6, 6:30 PM, with an Introduction by Author Sue Miller
Sven Birkerts has written extensively about the threat posed by fast-paced and analysis-driven data and information on the art of contemplative thought and reading. Not too surprising for an acknowledged devotee of book stores, among other places in Ann Arbor, MI, where Birkerts worked closely with the Borders' brothers in their first booksellers' venture.
As the editor of the --mostly-- on-line literary magazine, AGNI, published by Boston University, Birkerts doesn't shy away from cyberspace but does review, and regularly rings the alarm bell about, unintended consequences of the inescapable digital imperative and electronic surround of our lives.
In addition to his many articles on the subject, including Resisting the Kindle (2009), Reading in a Digital Age (2010) and You Are What You Click (2010), Birkerts has written eight books, including The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry, and a memoir, My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time.
His latest collection of essays, The Other Walk, came out in paperback recently, with many of its pieces set in and around Boston, where Birkerts lives with his family, and some in Latvia, where he was born.
The author will be introduced by South End resident and writer, Sue Miller, who invited the author as part of The South End Writes series, sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library.
Former Area D4 Police Blotter Scribe John Sacco Returns to the South End Library to Reminisce About Those Very Good Very Bad Old Days
JOHN SACCO, the Poet Laureate of the South End News’s Police Blotter, who for decades reported on those flaunting the rule of law, at least such as it existed in the (much rowdier) South End at the time, will talk at the South End Library next Tuesday, February 7. Sacco’s iconic and oft-repeated declaration, “The Scoundrel Was Arrested on the Spot,” lives in the heart of many Area D4 police-blotter aficionados. Retired but much missed since 2000, Sacco will reminisce about his days as law-and-order scribe when he once cited a man for making love to his dog and was forced to research the law on bestiality then on the books. Tuesday, February 7, 6:30 PM. THE SOUTH END WRITES is a program sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) with the generous cooperation of the staff of the South End Branch. Previous readings have included South End luminaries like novelist Sue Miller, essayist Doug Bauer, poet Henry Cole, culinary writers Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, filmmaker and screenwriter Alice Stone, authors Philip Gambone and Johnny Diaz, and many others.
The 2012 South end Writes Spring Season Will Start with Wendy Wunder's "The Probability of Miracles" on Tuesday, January 17, 6:30 PM
Growing up in a small town in New Jersey and feeling she faced a certain kind of death by leaving the life she knew for the unknown territory of college, Wendy Wunder asked herself what it would be like to be dying at the age of eighteen. Now an author, parent, yoga teacher and city dweller, Wendy Wunder will start the new season of THE SOUTH END WRITES by reading from her debut novel, "The Probability of Miracles," in which she explores that very question. Written from the point of view of a sixteen-year-old who has been in and out of hospitals for years fighting a fatal illness, the story of Cam Cooper is a meditation on life and death for Young Adults (15 and up) with crossover appeal to the older set.
THE SOUTH END WRITES is a program sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) with the generous cooperation of the staff of the South End Branch. Previous readings have included South End luminaries like novelist Sue Miller, essayist Doug Bauer, poet Henry Cole, culinary writers Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, filmmaker and screenwriter Alice Stone, and many others.
In addition to the January 17 reading by Wendy Wunder, the 2012 Spring Season will feature the following local writers:
JOHN SACCO, the Poet Laureate of the South End News's Police Blotter, who for decades reported on those flaunting the rule of law, at least such as it existed in the (much rowdier) South End at the time. Sacco's iconic and oft-repeated declaration, "The Scoundrel Was Arrested On The Spot," lives in the heart of many Area D4 police-blotter aficionados. Retired but much missed since 2000, Sacco will talk about his days as law-and-order scribe when he once cited a man for making love to his dog and was forced to research the law on bestiality then on the books. Tuesday, February 7, 6:30 PM.
SVEN BIRKETS, essayist and literary critic, editor of AGNI literary magazine, and director of Bennington (College's) Writing Seminars. Author of many books, literary reviews and articles, including a number on the impact of electronic media on the act of reading: Reading in a Digital Age (2010), and You Are What You Click (2010). While he does not exactly live in the South End (but in Arlington), he has important friends here... Tuesday March 6, 6:30 PM
CATHERINE WILLIS, who recently wrote a book on the history of the Boston Public Library, will talk about some of the things she discovered while researching the book, which is part of the Images of America series. Currently the Manager of Technical Services at the BPL, and the 2007 recipient of the New England Library Association's Award for Excellence in Library Technical Services, Ms. Willis can tell you, among other things, that the idea of the BPL was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841 and that the lions flanking the staircase in the BPL's McKim building precede those of the New York Public Library by 15 years. Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 PM
NANCY DEVILLE, an author who divides her time between Santa Monica, California, and the South End, previously wrote "Healthy, Sexy, Happy: A Thrilling Journey to the Ultimate You." She now has come out with "Death by Supermarket," a diatribe against the "fattening, dumbing down and poisoning of America." Fasten your seat belts for this reading on Tuesday, April 24, 6:30 PM.
This reading has been postponed since the author, who lives part-time in California, was unable to return to Boston in time. We hope to reschedule her reading for the 2012/2013 season.
EDITH PEARLMAN, 2011 nominee of the National Book Award for her collection of new and selected stories, Binocular Vision, and the 2011 winner of the Pen/Malamud Award. Even as the author of more than 250 works of fiction and non-fiction, she describes herself as slow: "A sentence often takes an hour to compose before I throw it out. What can I do?" Find out more about her dilemma on Tuesday, May 1, 6:30 PM
LEAH HAGER COHEN, who wrote among other novels, The Grief of Others and House Lights, teaches in the low-residency MFA program at lesley University. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and considered one of the best novelists in America by some. Tuesday, May 15, 6:30 PM
CHRISTINE CHAMBERLAIN, a memoirist and biographer, will talk about how to turn your oral history, family history and any other history of interest to you and others into books that can be self-published. It can be the history of rowing, of first-generation families who want to preserve culture and customs for their children, or the history of institutions that don't yet have one written down. The former journalist and her husband will provide pointers on self-publishing and display samples of their work. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM.
MARI PASSANANTI, a South End resident who practiced law until she began to write, will read from her first novel, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken. It addresses the notion many women have that their lives will be perfect as soon as they meet the right guy. So you have to come and find out....Tuesday, June 19, 6:30 PM
HOLIDAY JAZZ CONCERT AND POTLUCK WITH PAT LOOMIS & FRIENDS AT THE SOUTH END LIBRARY, TOMORROW, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 6:30 PM
Please join the South End Library staff and the Friends of the South End Library for the Annual Holiday Jazz Concert with Pat Loomis & Friends tomorrow, Tuesday, December 20 at 6:30 PM. The outstanding group of passionate jazz musicians will put you in the holiday mood if you're not there yet. Bring food to share. All are welcome. Sponsored by FOSEL and the South End Library.
Reminder: South End Filmmaker Alice Stone Will Return to the South End Library Tomorrow, December 6, With an Update of and Behind-the Scenes Look at her Documentary-in-Progress, “Angelo Unwritten.”
Alice Stone, whose gripping documentation of teenager Angelo’s life after having been adopted out of foster care mesmorized an overflowing room earlier this year, will return to the South End Library tomorrow night. Stone will give an update with new material gathered since March and how, as a filmmaker, she may make decisions about the presentation of the surprising twists and turns of the story of Angelo’s life. Stone is raising funds to complete the film and will make an announcement about her strategy.
The evening is part of FOSEL’s series, The South End Writes, and will begin at 6:30 PM. There will be refreshments. of new material gathered since March, and how, as a filmmaker, she may make decisions about the presentation of the surprising twists and turns of the story of Angelo’s life. Stone is raising funds to complete the film and will make an announcement about her strategy.
Children's Book Author and Journalist Victoria Griffith Will Read from "The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont" on Saturday Morning, December 3, at the South End Library
The South End Writes Authors' Series will feature its first reading by a children's book author Saturday, December 3, at 11:00 AM. Victoria Griffith, a South End resident and financial journalist, will introduce her new book which just won the Fall 2011 Parents Choice Award.
"The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont" describes how Alberto, the son of a Brazilian coffee magnate who lived in Paris while his father was undergoing medical treatment, used the balloon-inspired precursor to airplanes, the "dirigible," to run errands to and from his apartment on the Champs-Elysees. He was the first aviator to ride it around the Eiffel Tower in 1901, two years before the Wright Brothers did.
After Saturday's reading, children will be invited to make paper airplanes and bat around balloons. Refreshments are available, too.
The South End Library is located at 685 Tremont Street, between Rutland Square and West Newton Street.
All Decks on Hand for the District 2 and At-Large City Council Candidates' Forum at the SE Library Tomorrow, Thursday, November 3, at 6:30 PM
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At-Large City Councillors and their challengers will all come to the South End Library tomorrow, Thursday, November 3, at 6:30 PM, to take part in the Candidates' Forum sponsored by the Rutland Square Association and the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL). The Forum will be moderated by Stephen Fox, chair of the Rutland Square Association, which straddles both Districts 2 and 7. Click here for a map of District 2.
The District 2 race features City Councillor Bill Linehan in a competitive battle with his challenger Suzanne Lee, who in an upset won the three-candidate preliminary election held in September. The at-large councillor contest is heating up as well, with four well-liked incumbents--Felix Arroyo, John Connolly, Ayanna Pressley and Stephen Murphy-- facing a powerful challenger, former City Council President and previous mayoral candidate Michael Flaherty, who has made it no secret that, if elected, he plans to twist Tom Menino's mayoral thumb as he sees it pressing on the doings of the city council. Two other at-large candidates, Sean Ryan and Will Dorcena, have been invited to attend the event as well.
The Forum will start at 6:30 PM with a half-hour focus on the District 2 candidates, who will make a brief presentation, answer questions of the moderator and respond to each other's statements. This is to be followed by a similar line-up for the at-large candidates. The final part of the evening will be open for questions from the audience. A South End volunteer will time the answers of candidates and members of the audience to ensure fairness.
Seating is limited, and the event will start promptly at 6:30 PM. The South End Library is located at 685 Tremont Street, between West Newton Street and Rutland Square.