Stephen Davis, Who Wrote the Unauthorized Biography of Carly Simon, Has been Rescheduled to Talk on November 1 at the South End Branch. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Will Give a Talk on October 9.

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Stephen Davis, the author of More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon has been rescheduled to talk at the South End Library on Thursday, November 1, instead of  the previously announced date in early October. An interview opportunity for Davis's next book on Stevie Nicks was the cause for the delay. In an email to FOSEL, Davis promises an "excruciating evening of R & R lore unfit to print but fun to hear about." Fasten your seat belts on Tuesday, November 1. Harvard professor, former Mac Arthur fellow, and long-time South End resident Sara Lawrence Lightfoot will talk at the South End Library on Tuesday, October 9, about her book The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50. It will start at 6:30 p.m.

Mayor Menino Hands FOSEL a Pru-PAC Check to Pay for the Installation of a Handicapped-accessible Door at the South End Branch

menino:glyn

The Friends of the South End Library was among a dozen group of downtown non-profits that received a total of more than $210,000 from the PruPAC  fund, established 25 years ago by developers to benefit the neighborhoods around the Prudential Center.Glyn Polson, president of the South End library's Friends group, applied for the grant to help pay for the cost of  an automatic door at the  branch. Once installed, the library will be one of a handful of BPL branches that is fully handicapped accessible. The Prudential Project Advisory Committee (PruPAC), a city-formed group composed of neighborhood residents and business representatives, had awarded the grant earlier this year but not yet issued the check. Polson is working closely with the BPL's Facilities Department to complete the project as quickly as possible.

L. Annette Binder Will Read From her Award-winning Story Collection Tuesday, September 25, at 6:30 P.M. at the South End Library

Author and South End resident L. Annette Binder will read tomorrow, Tuesday, September 25, from her short stories collected in Rise, which won the 2011 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction in 2011. Binder was born in Germany, grew up in Colorado and attended Harvard University, Berkeley, and the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. Her writings have appeared in the Pushcart Prize Collection XXXVI and other publications. She  is currently working on a novel based on her tale "Dead Languages," published in The Southern Review. Books will be available for borrowing from the library, private purchase and signing by the author. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Below are future readings in The South End Writes series:

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m.

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot  

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.

Margaret Sullivan

"Boston's Fairest,"  an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the  BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m.

Maryanne O'Hara

a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as  "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m.

Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English  classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times.  Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m.

Stephen Davis

More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of  one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.

Victor Howes

A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by  Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of  history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a memoir

The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days.  Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013  by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Stone,

the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambone

will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

"South End Writes" Speaker and Former School Committee Member Susan Naimark Lists "Ten Things She Wishes She'd Known" Before Sending Her Kids to Boston Public Schools

The South End Library hosted a rapt audience of more than fifty local parents last Thursday night to hear a talk by education activist and author Susan Naimark, who described her experiences as a Boston Public Schools parent in the 1980s and 90s, when she and her husband John guided three children, including a foster daughter,  through eight public schools. "My kids got a great education, even though none received their first choice of school," said the former West Concord Street resident who moved to a Jamaica Plain fixer-upper to raise her family. She recalled that many parents at the time left the Boston public schools over court-ordered busing and mandatory school assignments but, despite years of a crazy schedule caused by both working full time and advocating for quality education in all public schools, Naimark stated firmly "I am glad we didn't bail."

Appointed to the School Committee by Mayor Tom Menino in the late 90s, where she served for a total of eight years, Naimark concluded that conversations about public education are often the wrong ones.  "There are layers of dynamics around race, but we don't talk about race or racism," she said. "So I wrote a book about it." With The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, Naimark hopes to share her learning curve which, she said,  is tied to national trends in public schools. "I gave a talk in Minnesota in June and parents there told me that what I had to say sounded just like what was happening in their kids' classroom today," she commented.

Searching for answers as to why so many students of color tested poorly --even though they seemed just as smart as her own white children-- or why selected school activities were dominated by white children, or why parents of color seemed less involved in school committees, Naimark looked beyond standard-fare responses that did not satisfy her. She reminded  the audience that  the parents, as elementary-school kids themselves, were bused to schools in hostile neighborhoods where they were stoned and spat on. "They may simply not be comfortable going to their kids' schools," she suggested. Pointing to a long history of advocacy by Boston's African-American community for better public schools, Naimark said that the first petition for school equity here was filed centuries ago, in 1798. And again in 1800, and 1840, and 1845 and 1846. The lack of responsiveness, or results, finally led to the Racial Imbalance Act of 1965, which culminated in court-ordered busing in the mid-seventies. During that time, the Boston public-school population declined from 60,000 to 40,000 students, when many white parents fled for the suburbs or private schools.

The question of why parents don't show up at their children's schools is complicated, Naimark emphasized, and differently complicated again for immigrant parents. There's a role for white parents in addressing this matter, she insisted, which starts with relationship building. To that point, she listed  "ten things I wish I had known before I became involved as a Boston public-school parent," she said.

They are:

1. Stretch yourself to get to know others who are unlike you.

2. Racism and inequity are important for everyone to speak up about. The BPS has an Equity Office that will look into racist remarks. and related problems.

3. Make it a personal commitment to engage with those who appear left out.

4. Don’t take perceived hostility personally—decades of racism and exclusion leave their mark.

5. Make sure kids who are different get together.

6. Model how to talk about race and racism to your children, even if it is difficult and no immediate solution is in sight.

7. Don’t be defensive when you are challenged by parents of color: white liberals often appear most defensive about being called racist or making racist assumptions.

8. The impact of what you say or do trumps the intent. Don’t argue about it.

9. It’s ok to admit you don’t know certain things.

10. If you don’t work for ALL kids, you send the wrong message to your own kids

One of the audience participants said that "great stuff is happening" in many Boston public schools, and that there are resources available to help classroom teachers secure materials for their students, including DonorsChoose, an on-line charity that specializes in funding public-school projects large and small.

South End Library to Commemorate the Late Kirkland Oliver, Otherwise Known as "Peace," Thursday, September 20, at 6:00 P.M.

One of the South End's longtime characters, "Peace," passed away in August, and the South End branch will host a celebration of his life on Thursday, September 20, at 6:00 p.m. According to Alison Barnet, local lore chronicler who has a fine eye and ear for detail of South End's history, Peace was a self-taught collage artist who was once written up in the New York Times for the dashiki shop he and his wife ran in Hempstead, Long Island, NY. Peace claimed to have met Jimi Hendrix five times, and could be described as Hendrix's alter ego. "I, for one,  am going to miss his good humor, his wacky fixation on masonic symbols and numerology, and his interest in my writing," reports Barnet in a commemorative article about Peace in the August 16 issue of the South End News. The event will be held downstairs at the branch and is open to the public. Donations of food and beverages are welcome.

"The South End Writes" Resumes Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m., with Susan Naimark Reading from "The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools"

When Susan Naimark sent the first of her two sons into the Boston public school system in 1985, she found out quickly that she was getting an education herself. Not in academic subjects necessarily, but in how race and white privilege play out in the public-school classroom. The former South End resident who had moved to a fixer-upper in Jamaica Plains watched her children thrive, while many of their classmates of color did not, she writes. She wanted to know why. "To understand it from the perspective of white privilege, I had to hold up the mirror," says Naimark, who wrote "The Education of a White Parent:Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools," from which she will read at the South End Library Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 p.m. Naimark was appointed to the Boston School Committee by Mayor Tom Menino in 1997 and re-appointed for a second term in 2000. She currently works in non-profit community development, and serves on boards of several organizations that work for racial justice and the improvement of the Boston public schools.  

THE SOUTH END WRITES 2012-2013

Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m.Susan Naimark The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, a memoir of white privilege and unequal access as observed by a former Boston School Committee member

Tuesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.L. Annette Binder Rise, an award-winning debut short-story collection by a writer born in Germany, raised in Colorado and now settled in the South End.

Rescheduled from Tuesday, October 2 to a to-be-confirmed date later this fall Stephen Davis More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.Margaret Sullivan"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. Maryanne O'Hara a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m. Margot Livesey The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.Victor Howes A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m. Leah Hager Cohen The Grief of Others The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m. April Bernard The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m. Andre Dubus III Townie, a memoir The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novels House of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. Mari Passananti will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.Doug Bauer. Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. Alice Hoffman The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

"The King's Baroque" Musical Performance by Sauerwald and Finke Inaugurates Fall Season's Resumption of Saturday Hours at the South End Library, September 8, at 1:00 p.m.

...which is the positive way of describing the BPL's dismal policy to close branch libraries on Saturdays during the summer, when our children are out of school, and need library services the most. It is bad enough branch libraries are closed on Sundays and most weekday nights, when those of us who work during the day and pay taxes to support libraries, can get to them...Enuf said.. Back to..

The King's Baroque, a concert that will be performed at the South End branch on Saturday, September 8, at 1:00 p.m., by Janet Finke on the recorder and Dylan Sauerwald at the hapsichord. Finke is a member of Ensemble 44 which explores the works of Baroque women composers. Their first CD, Six by Three: 6 Sonatas by 3 Women Composers, was released last year and contains works of Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Anna Amalia von Preusen, and Isabella Leonarda. Dylan Sauerwald was hapsichordist for Opera McGill for several years, and is currently a graduate music student at Boston University.

The event is free. All are welcome.

"The South End Writes" Authors Series 2012-2013 Season Featuring Local Writers, Poets and their Colleagues, Will Resume at the South End Library on Thursday, September 20, 6:30 PM

Yes, the summer FLEW by but console yourselves:the 2012/2013 season of The South End Writes will start up in less than two weeks. FOSEL has lined up an amazing group of writers and poets, some coming out with a debut collection or novel, others with a long list of nationally acclaimed books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction to their names, but each eager to read from his or her work and ready to answer your questions. With many thanks to TheSouth End Writes supporters who recruited the speakers, including Sue Miller and Doug Bauer, FOSEL board members Courtney Fitzgerald, Barbara Sommerfeld and Rhys Sevier, and head librarian Anne Smart (who also makes all the speakers' books available for lending at the branch).

And many thanks to graphic designer Mary Owens whose excellent posters for the SEW readings are a pleasure to put up around town.

Below is the list as it currently stands. In addition, Phil Gambone, who two years ago read from his collection Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans, hopes to talk in the coming spring about his work-in-progress, in which he retraces the steps of his father who helped liberate Europe as a soldier during World War II. And Mari Passananti, who read from her first novel last June, plans to read from her soon-to-published second novel, The K Street Affair, in the spring, as well. Both dates are currently being finalized.

THE SOUTH END WRITES 2012-2013

Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m.

Susan Naimark

The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, a memoir of white privilege and unequal access as observed by a former Boston School Committee member

======

Tuesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.

L. Annette Binder

Rise, an award-winning debut short-story collection by a writer born in Germany, raised in Colorado and now settled in the South End.

=====

Rescheduled from Tuesday, October 2 to a to-be-confirmed date later this fall

Stephen Davis

More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

=====

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m.

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

=====

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.

Margaret Sullivan

"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

=====

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m.

Maryanne O'Hara

a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

=====

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m.

Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

=====

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.

Victor Howes

A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

=====

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

=====

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

=====

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a memoir

The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

=====

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

=====

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

=====

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

=====

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

=====

You're Invited to the Summer Family Swap to "Recycle" Favorite Items That Are No Longer Used, Tuesday Night, August 21, at the South End Branch

The staff at the South End Library has organized a summer swap of clean, gently used toys, books, clothes, shoes, cool stuff and anything else you no longer need but once loved and would like to pass on. That brightly striped t-shirt with "Victory Prevails" on it, or a Freddie the Pig book once loved by your great aunt, the stuffed horse you once almost strangled your brother over but now that you're both more mature needs a good home...Bring it all to the library by 6:30 PM on Tuesday and, if you have the inclination, write a few words about it and pin it to   the swappable thing. For children and teens age zero to 18. There will be goody bags for every family from Lower Roxbury Thrive in 5.

"Citizen Kane," "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Lady From Shanghai": Free Movies at the South End Branch Fridays Between 2:00 and 4:00 PM

As part of the Noir Fridays series sponsored by the Boston Public

scabbies rx cananda

Library, the South End Branch will feature the movie classic "Citizen Kane" this Friday, August 17, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. "The Maltese Falcon" and The Lady From Shanghai" are on the list for August 24 and August 31, respectively. For more info, click here.  

John Sacco Said It First About A (1993) Worcester Square Concert: "Just As Nice As If It Were Symphony Hall..."

worcester square concert

There was a lovely concert in Worcester Square by the Duo Sonidos last Thursday. What does this have to do with the South End Library? Only this: in February at the library, FOSEL's authors' series The South End Writes hosted former Police Blotter scribe Officer John Sacco who talked about his many years as observer and reporter of he local crime scene for the South End News. Occasionally, Officer Sacco, who loved the South End, would drift off into non-criminal subjects, as he did in his column in 1993 when, under the heading Point of View, he described another concert in Worcester Square, held in those very  'bad old days.' The description of the musical scene was nestled between an item about a 'Tremont St female' confronted by a 'culprit who gave her a beating' and another report about 'Meredith' who had been 'flagging down male motorists' for cash. All of which to say that about those Worcester Square concerts John Sacco said it first: "..it was just as nice as if it were in Symphony Hall.." Here is the long version of what John Sacco wrote in September 1993's Police Report for the South End News:

"One night recently a group of Worcester Square area residents held a chamber music concert in the park. It was a beautiful evening of fine music in a lovely setting. People in the area, not interested in the music, remained quieter as they went about their business. Mothers hushed noisy children at play. The soft music came through just as nice as if it were Symphony Hall, not an outdoor park. The South End was a pleasant place to be on a breezy summer night in Worcester Square."

For other Worcester Park concerts, visit the  WS Neighborhood Association's web site for their Facebook link..

What Do the MA Board of Library Commissioners and the Legislature's Library Caucus Have to Do with the Boston Public Library? Answer: More Than You Think...

MA Statehouse

In 2008, when two powerful Beacon Hill legislators resigned as trustees of the Boston Public Library, Mayor Thomas Menino did not replace them with other state legislators. The former trustees,  then-Senate President William Bulger and Rep. Angelo Scaccia, had previously funneled tens of millions of capital and operational dollars annually into the BPL to, among other projects, restore the Copley Library.  After their resignation, in protest of Mayor Menino's refusal to renew the contract for then-BPL president Bernard Margolis, there were no BPL trustees around on Beacon Hill to protect state allocations to Boston's libraries. At a time of severe economic stress, the state's portion to Boston's library budget was reduced from $8.4 million in 2008 to $2.4 million in 2010. This came on top of  several years of harsh city budget cuts to the BPL, not opposed publicly at the time by the remaining BPL trustees. Still, in 2008 it was generally believed by Boston library patrons that their local branch would be open when they awoke the next morning. How could it not be? But in 2010, BPL's  trustees and its president Amy Ryan proposed closing ten of the 26 local libraries and Boston's state legislators had to step back into the BPL fray, spurred on by their otherwise peaceful constituents who had turned into enraged local library supporters. The 24-member Boston Delegation to the Legislature passed a 2011 budget amendment threatening to cut the state's $2.4 million contribution to the BPL unless the City of Boston, as they put it, "funds and maintains operations for all branch libraries in service as of January 1, 2010." As a result, all the BPL branches remained open, albeit with reduced staff, despite the economic downturn.

Rediscovered awareness of voters' support for libraries' is reflected in the growing number of  state legislators who have become members of the Library Legislative Caucus. Founded in 2008 by former State Rep. Mark Falzone (D-Saugus), the Caucus is now headed by Rep. Kate Hogan (D-Stow), a strong library advocate elected in 2009. In her Maiden Speech to the Legislature in 2010, she described her mother's apartment looking just like a branch of the local library, and her mother as "the best-read person she's ever met" thanks to he public library. "Aid to public libraries is local aid," Hogan told her colleagues." The Library Caucus membership among House and Senate members has nearly doubled  from the 40 it started out with since Hogan became its chair, according to Scott Kjellberg, Rep. Hogan's legislative aide.

"The Library Caucus is helpful," said Cynthia Roach, Head of Library Advisory and Development for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The MBLC works on state aid to libraries, mostly in an advisory capacity with minor enforcement power centered in its state-funded library-construction programs. When asked about public awareness of the state's role in libraries recently, Roach acknowledged "we're in much better shape now."

Among the Library Caucus's early supporters is South End Rep. Byron Rushing, also the Second Assistant Majority Leader in the Legislature. Appointed to the BPL Library Board by Mayor Menino in 2010, shortly after he publicly denounced the BPL's lack of advocacy at the Legislature, Rushing has begun to re-lubricate the rails between the Legislature and the BPL. In March of this year, Rushing helped bring together the BPL's trustees and executives with MBLC's director Robert Maier and Library Legislative Caucus Chair Hogan at the Copley Library for a breakfast meeting; a previous get-together had already taken place at the Legislature in November 2011.

In April, Rushing reported that  44 legislators signed up for BPL library cards at a State House library event, "part of the effort to inform my colleagues that any resident of Massachusetts can apply for a card in the BPL," Rushing said. Following a language change engineered in the fiscal 2012 state budget by Rep. Hogan, the newly formed Library for the Commonwealth (formerly the Library of Last Recourse) expanded services and allowed all state residents to be eligible for a BPL library card, according to Hogan’s office.

The improving relationship between the state and the BPL strengthens the hand of an additional player in city of Boston's library system which, in its trustee appointments and budget allocation, depends almost entirely on the good, or not so good, graces of  the mayor of Boston. When the 2012/2013 state budget was approved last month, operating money for libraries was increased "slightly" from the level-funding provided the previous year, said Roach, of the MBLC. A position for a second state library construction specialist has been fully funded this year (the MBLC plays an important role in the construction and renovation of Commonwealth libraries) and money for a program for the visually impaired, Talking Books,was increased by three percent to $2.4 million. In addition, said Roach, the MBLC hopes to convince Governor Deval Patrickto approve a new bond bill for $150 million worth of library construction during the 2012-2013 fiscal year, something that would benefit, among other projects, the East Boston Library, now in progress. A previous library bond bill, for $100 million, will cover only the costs of the first seven libraries on the to-be-constructed list.

At this point, The East Boston Library's number on the list is...14.

South End Resident Judith Klau to Lead a Discussion of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" at the South End Library on Tuesday, August 7

Long-time South End resident Judith Klau will lead an informal talk about Shakespeare's most political play, Coriolanus, at the South End Library on Tuesday, August 7, at 6:30 PM.Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare's tragedies, is being staged by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and directed by Steven Maler. It is performed for free Tuesdays thru Sundays, weather permitting, on the Boston Common, through August 12, at 8:00 PM, 7:00 PM Sundays.

The play is based on the life of the Roman general Caius Marcius Coriolanus (5th Century BC). Its themes of  the military leader's discomfort with civilian rule, as well as prevailing conditions of partisanship and disparities between rich and poor in Rome at the time, has kept the play relevant throughout the centuries. Don Aucoin, the theatre critic for The Boston Globe, commented in his August 3 review that by "staging a modern-dress “Coriolanus’’ in an election year, director Maler clearly wants us to think about what qualities we seek in our leaders, and about the ways in which partisan politics — seen here in the form of a pair of scheming, demagogic Roman tribunes played by Jacqui Parker and Remo Airaldi — can poison and undermine the functioning of a republic."

Ms. Klau, the former Head of the English Department at the Groton School in Western Massachusetts, found the Boston Common performance "brilliantly acted and remarkably affecting."  Although all performances are free, for a donation of $30 one can obtain "a very good seat right in front of the stage," she noted.

Head librarian Anne Smart has copies of the play available at the South End branch.

For more information about the play, call 617 426-0863 or visit www.commshakes.org.

South End Library Summer Program Notes, Including the Return of Pat Loomis's Annual Jazz Concert on Tuesday, July 17

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Summer is here, the tree gardens in front of the South End Library are in full bloom --all maintained by the Friends of the South End Library-- and library summer programming for July and August is in place. The listings are below.

Regrettably, the BPL still closes its branches on Saturdays in the summer, just when the kids are of of school and we need Saturday hours the most. Call the BPL (617 536-5400), the Mayor's Office (617 635-4500) and the City Council (617 635-3040), if you would like to register your interest in seeing this changed. According to City Council President Stephen Murphy, in a June 18 interview with the Boston Globe's Andrew Ryan,  "Boston has weathered the fiscal crisis better than other large cities and is facing its first “breathing room budget’’ in several years." Councillor Murphy, who came to the FOSEL sponsored candidates debate at the South End Library during his reelection campaign, has been a long-time supporter of library services, and would like to know about your support for  better library hours.

While you have our representatives on the line, consider asking for an additional night the South End library can be open, just like eleven other BPL branches. There are 25 branches in the BPL system. Eleven are open two nights a week. They include Adams, Brighton, Charlestown, Codman, Dudley, Honan-Allston, Hyde Park, Lower Mills, Mattapan, South Boston and West Roxbury. Fourteen, including the South End library, offer only one late night a week. Among the fourteen are some of the busiest in the system:  Jamaica Plain and West End. By contrast, the downtown Copley Library is open four nights a week, all day Saturday and  five hours on Sunday (except during the summer). Most of Boston's library patrons who fund the public library through their taxes do not live downtown, however.

Below are the summer listings for the South End Library, put together by the dedicated staff. If you have any questions, please call Anne Smart or  Margaret Gardner, the children's librarian, for further information. Phone: 617 536-8241.

The annual summer jazz concert and potluck by the fabulous jazz group Pat Loomis and Friends will take place at the South End Library on Tuesday, July 17  from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. All are welcome.

Toddler Story Time: Mondays at 10:30 AM. Songs, stories and craft for youngsters up to age three.

Pre-School Story Time: Wednesdays at 10:30 AM. Songs and movement, stories, and a craft for youngsters age three to five.

Spanish in Motion with Jouveth Shortell: four Wednesdays in August at 10:30 AM.

Summer Book Club for children aged six to nine: read a book; do crafts, and more. Mondays from July 9 through August 20, from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM.

Summer Book Club for children aged nine to thirteen: Choose books; do crafts and more. Tuesdays, from July 10 through August 21, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

For all readers all ages all summer long: pick up your summer reading at the library; read and earn rewards for every five books you read; register for the BPL-sponsored DREAM BIG summer reading program in the library or on-line.

Additional Summer Programming: call the South End branch at 617 536-8241 to register for three-star programs listed below.

*** Make a Beautiful Dream Catcher for Your Room. Tuesday, July 10 at 2:00 PM

** Storyteller Mark Binder spins adventure tales about Giants and Giant Slugs for children aged six and up. Thursday, July 12 at 2:00 PM

*** Animal Rescue League Tours. Wednesdays July 18 and August 8. Meet at the SE Library at 1:00 PM sharp.

** Teddy Bear Sleepover. Tuesday, July 31 at 6:30 PM. For young children and a parent. Bring a teddy who will stay overnight. Children pick up their teddy the next morning, Wednesday, at 10:30 AM story time, where a "treat" will await them.

**Storyteller and librarian Danielle Schulman will spin world tales for  the BPL-sponsored 2012 Summer Reading Program, Dream Big. For children aged six and up. Tuesday, August 7 at 2:00 PM.

** Tide pools at the South End Library from the New England Aquarium. Thursday, August 9 at 2:00 PM.

** Museum of Science at the South End Library with Science Magic. Tuesday, August 21 at 2:00 PM.

Rutland Square Author Mari Passananti Will Read From Her First Novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken," Tuesday June 19 at 6:30 PM

"Don't go to the beach without it," is the advice of  Wendy Walker for her colleague Mari Passananti's first novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken." Passananti who like Walker once worked as an attorney, was raised by a Finnish mother and an Italian dad in Rhode Island before settling in the South End with her family. She is currently wriiting a suspense novel, tentatively titled, "The K Street Affair," scheduled for publication sometime this year. The reading will take place on Tuesday, June 19, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library, upstairs in the community room.

The same evening, there will be a fundraiser on the library's first floor to raise money for an ethnic weaving scholarship to honor the memory of fiber artist Theresa-India Young. The event will start at 5:30 PM.

South End Library to Host a June 19 Fundraiser and Silent-Auction to Establish the Theresa-India Young Memorial Scholarship at Mass College of Art

"Over the Rainbow," produced during Theresa-India Young's community-weaving workshop at the South End Library, 2003

On Tuesday, June 19, the South End Library will host a community fundraiser to establish an ethnic weaving scholarship at Mass College of Art in the name of fiber artist Theresa-India Young. Young, who specialized in the teaching and history of traditional fiber arts from African-American and Native-American cultures, passed away prematurely in 2008. A long-time resident of the Piano Factory Guild artists' building on Tremont Street, she held several workshops at the South End Library, and supervised the weaving of "Over the Rainbow," the wall hanging that has graced the stairway wall over the computer section of the branch for almost a decade.

Ms. Young amassed an enormous research library on world cultures that included textiles, carpets, ceramics, jewelry and books. They were donated to a number of local institutions, including Mass College of Art, the Tozzer Library of Harvard College, the Allan R. Crite Research Library and Wheelock College, among other places. The New York City-born artist had learned basketry, rug weaving and skills rooted in --the South-Carolina-based-- Gullah folk arts from her relatives, but won a scholarship to Boston University's Program-in-Artisanry for Textiles in 1975. Since then, she taught and lectured at many Boston institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts.

The June 19 fundraiser will offer a silent auction with special items for sale, such as Young's tassels and drapery tie-backs; works by different artists; vintage clothing; African sculptures; beaded necklaces; handmade notebooks and Egyptian calendars. The fiscal agent for tax-deductible donations to benefit  the Theresa-India Young Memorial scholarship fund is United South End Artists.

The event starts at 5:30 PM. There will be light refreshments.

South End Library and MSPCC Will Screen "The Preacher's Son," A Movie About Non-traditional Adoption, Tuesday, May 29, 5:30 PM

On May 29, the South End Library is hosting a film screening of The Preacher's Son, a 2009 movie about a male couple that builds a family with five children through adoption from "the train wreck" of foster care. The couple, Greg Stewart, a minister and preacher's son, and Stilman White, took the five boys --among whom were two sets of siblings-- and moved them from California to the American heartland. The screening is sponsored by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). After the film presentation (86 minutes), there will be an informal discussion about non-traditional and cross-racial adoption. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the South End Library. The South End branch is located at 685 Tremont Street, between Rutland Square and West Newton Street. Phone: 617 536-8241. Starts at 5:30 PM.

BPL's Popular Homework Assistance Program (HAP) to End This Month, But What Will Replace the After-school Tutoring Service in the Branches Next September Is Uncertain

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The Homework Assistance Program (HAP), that placed high-school students in their local libraries to tutor elementary-school children living in the same neighborhood, is ending this week. It is unclear what will replace the four-day-a-week after-school service in September, according to Anne Smart, head librarian of the South End Branch. It may continue for two days a week, but what will be available the rest of the time for students seeking homework help is still unsettled. Tutors participating in HAP were paid between $8.25 and $10 an hour, depending on how often they work. They are high-achieving students from Boston's public and private schools, a number of whom had been in HAP themselves when they were younger.

Jessica Snow, the BPL's Youth Services Coordinator, reacting to the outcry by the BPL's children's librarians in March, suggested that " there may be opportunities for the HAP mentors to participate in by volunteering”  instead of being paid. This may not be welcome news for some: Angela, a Josiah Quincy School junior,  who is in her second year as a HAP tutor at the South End branch, said that the money she earns is important to her. "It's the only job I have. I like not having to ask my mom for money," she explained. "She already struggles because I have two brothers in college. It's a lot of pressure for her."

Another HAP  participant at the South End branch, Winnie, said she would continue tutoring, even if she isn't paid. The Boston Latin School junior had been in the program when she was in 4th grade at the Quincy School in its Chinese bi-lingual program: as the oldest child in a family where only Chinese was spoken, she needed the language boost HAP gave her. "After I left, Margaret kept asking me when I would be a sophomore so I could tutor other kids myself," said Winnie, referring to Margaret Gardner, the children's librarian at the South End library. "One day, I showed up and said, 'I'm a sophomore now,' and then I began to work with the kids after school."

The news about the discontinuation of HAP came without a warning to the branches this March, upsetting children's librarians all over the city who valued the program. But according to one grant writer close to its funding strategy, the BPL  kept no reliable data to support the program's effectiveness. The library didn't appear to keep close track of the children they served, and the data that was available was a count from the teens who are placed in each library. Teens would count everybody they talked to as a participant regardless of whether they actually helped them with homework. It was also difficult to measure whether HAP had any impact on school performance, as there did not seem to be a connection to the schools or data from teachers.

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, donors could become sponsors during a Foundation Gala Benefit, as well as during the the April “Big Thrill” fundraiser which listed the HAP program as one of its beneficiaries at that time (the web site for it has since been changed to reflect that HAP is no longer a fundraising goal).

South End branch head librarian Anne Smart said there is still a lot of 'push-back' by children's librarians at most branches to salvage the program, which is seen by her and most other branch librarians as beneficial at many levels. "The tutors earn some money and are motivating the younger kids because they are high-achieving students," she said. "The young ones can't wait to become tutors themselves."

Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and Custom Publisher Jane Karker will Tell You All You Need to Know About Memoir-writing, Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM

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On Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker,who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published. Here’s your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you’ve lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.

Chamberlain, a Wellesley College graduate and former journalist who reported from Europe for various publications in the U.S., began to write memoirs when a friend asked her to do one of her mother. She has since completed more than 70, as well as histories of places and institutions, including the history of rowing at Dartmouth and one of the Cambridge School of Weston. Samples of her work will be available for viewing at the event.

Tonight's Reading by Author Leah Hager Cohen Cancelled Due to Family Emergency

The scheduled reading tonight, May 15, by Leah Hager Cohen had to be cancelled to to an emergency in the author's family. We wish her the very best and hope to reschedule the event when it is convenient to do so.

Next week, Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker, who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published.

Here's your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you've lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.

We hope to see you there.