Clayborn Benson at a Kwanzaa celebration. Photo provided by Clayborn Benson In celebration of Black History Month, Milwaukee Public Library is hosting several events at multiple library locations throughout the month of February. One of these events, African American History with Clayborn Benson will be held on Wednesday, February 12th at the Martin Luther King Library. What impact did African Americans have on Wisconsin's inception as a…
Read more"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." - Frederick Douglass. The above quote is striking, is it not? But like many great sound bite quotes, it says so much more in context. This comes from a lecture that Douglass gave in 1855 to the Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society: My point here is, first, the Constitution is, according…
Read moreBy Trikosko, Marion S., photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Founded by Mary McLeod Bethune in 1935, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was created to connect the skills and influence of African American women in organizations that make African-American women's voices heard in both social and political spheres. First NCNW president, Mary McLeod Bethune, had the idea for an umbrella organization that…
Read moreBefore there was Lisbeth Salander, there was Kathy Mallory, NYC's scariest detective. In It Happens in the Dark by Carol O Connell, the eleventh Mallory Mystery, Mallory, whose deductive and manipulative abilities more than make up for her lack of people skills, takes on the case of a playwright murdered during the opening of his new Broadway play. Mallory sees through the histrionics and obfuscations…
Read moreWe can create! We can dance! We can write! We can draw! We just need to get off our butts and do it. Let these books be a friendly kick in the behind to get you started. The Artist in the Office by Summer Pierre Artists often have to work day jobs to make ends meet, and even people with no aspiration to be a professional…
Read moreIt's difficult to pick my favorite H.G. Wells story. The Invisible Man? The War of the Worlds? Or maybe The Island of Dr. Moreau! These are all sci-fi stalwarts for sure, but after re-reading The Time Machine, I guess it's my favorite hands down. The Time Machine packs a lot of science fiction wallop for being published in 1895. From freaky crab-monsters inhabiting…
Read moreA Visit to Edith Wharton's Estate, The Mount Photograph by David Dashiell In 1902 Edith Wharton, who loved the climate and scenery of the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts, built a home in Lenox which she called The Mount. Ogden Codman, a young architect with whom Wharton had written The Decoration of Houses (1897), designed the principal rooms of The Mount. In The Decoration of Houses, Wharton…
Read moreWinners of the American Library Association's top awards for children's and YA books, videos and audios, were announced yesterday. Kate DiCamillo wins the Newbery Medal for Flora & Ulysses, her second Newbery win. Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived. She earned…
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