Celebrate Juneteenth

http://beeaware.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-juneteenth.html

Juneteenth, otherwise know as June 19th or Emancipation Day, is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that all slaves were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on Texans due to the limited number of Union troops available to enforce the proclamation. With the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger's regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

There will be a free Juneteenth celebration on Sunday, June 19th beginning at 4:00 p.m at Comiskey Park. Please follow this link for more information: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=1578

For more information on Juneteenth check out one of these websites:

http://www.juneteenth.com/

http://www.19thofjune.com/

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815936,00.html

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/juneteenth1.html

Father's Day

This Sunday, June 19th, is Father's Day! Maybe you'll be taking a Dad in your life fishing, out for a nice meal, or calling home to say, "Thanks." For those of us not quite ready for the holiday, or for the Dads among our readers, we have some reading suggestions available at the library!

Haven't yet picked out a card for Dad? We have several books to help you make your own cards in the craft section! Try The Complete Guide to Card Making (745.5941 BEA), The Complete Guide to Greeting Card Design (741.6 SZE), or Ultimate Cardmaking (745.5941 BEA).

The talented (and speedy!) knitters among our readers might want to check out Knitting for Him (746.432041 STO) or Men's Knits (746.432 KNI).

Or if you're just looking for a good book, check out these reading lists:
Books on Fatherhood, books by fathers and about fathers funny, touching, historic, and modern.

Books for Dad, this list is based on the reading interests of the fathers I know, with Grilling Cookbooks, Triathlons, NASCAR, Butterflies, and More.

Don't forget to check out the library's magazine collection!
NASCAR Illustrated
Men's Journal
Golf Magazine
Fine Woodworking
GQ
Boating World
Outdoor Life
Sports Illustrated
Men's Health
The Hockey News
The Family Handyman

Towel Day

"A towel... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have."

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Make sure to have your towel handy tomorrow, May 25th! Towel Day is the annual celebration of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Trilogy, and this year is perfectly timed to coincide with the start of Adult Summer Reading. Our 2011 theme, Novel Destinations, celebrates the ability of books to transport readers to different times and places. In honor of Towel Day and Novel Destinations, we've compiled a list of Science Fiction titles new and old, classic and acclaimed, guaranteed to show you a whole new world.

Check out some Science Fiction today: Reading Suggestions for Towel Day

As a further celebration, we encourage you to post your very own Vogon Poetry in the comments. The Vogons, if you don't recall, are renowned as the worst poets in the galaxy.

You may also enjoy checking out these links:
http://www.douglasadams.com/
The BBC has an online game based on the Hitchhiker's Guide
The Towel Day Homepage

Bike to Work Day

You may, or may not, be aware that May is National Bike Month, and this week is National Bike to Work Week. Never fear, if you didn't brave the streets of Dubuque with a bicycle this week, Friday is National Bike to Work Day!

We've put together a list of books on bikes, bicycling, and bicyclists you can check out at Carnegie-Stout, and we also subscribe to Bicycling Magazine.

Dubuque 2.0 and The Telegraph Herald have information about Bike to Work Week online, and tips for biking throughout the year.

And just for fun, a bit of searching turned up this video from McGraw-Hill's Dubuque office.

Mother's Day

This coming Sunday, May 8th, is Mother's Day. Many local restaurants will be serving brunch, and Boy Scout Troop 91 will be serving pancakes at Eagle Point. The Dubuque Youth Ensembles will be performing a concert at Five Flags Theater.

However you're planning to celebrate this special day, we here at Carnegie-Stout have some suggestions for Moms and Motherhood!

You can check out our display of Mother's Day books on the first floor on the New Books shelves, or take a peak at our online list of titles, both fiction and non-fiction.

We also have a large number of magazines that would appeal to mothers of all different types:
Woman's Day
More
Ladies' Home Journal
Country Woman
Family Circle
Vogue
Lucky
Cosmopolitan
InStyle
Working Mother


Readers of all types might enjoy the display by the Recommendations Desk featuring books about Tea. Stop by and pick up a bookmark, or check out this reading list online! There's fiction, mystery, history, romance, and even a biography of Sir Thomas Lipton.

Coffee Drinkers might prefer:
Making your own gourmet coffee drinks (641.6373 TEK)
Frasier (DVD TV)
What we eat: the true story of why we put sugar in our coffee and ketchup on our fries (641.3 WHA)

And everyone's welcome to stop by the Recommendations Desk for more reading suggestions!

The Last Flight of Endeavor

(UPDATE: Endeavor launched on May 16, 2011. You can watch the launch on YouTube by following this link.)

Space Shuttle Endeavor's last flight is scheduled for Friday, April 29th, at 2:47 PM CST. You may be able to watch the launch on NASA TV, where they will also broadcast videos throughout Endeavor's mission at the International Space Station. Friday's launch coverage begins at 9:30 AM. NASA has also created a playlist for STS-134 on their YouTube channel.

The mission commander for STS-134 is Captain Mark Kelly, the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Congresswoman Giffords was recently cleared by her physicians to attend the shuttle's launch in Florida. This is the thirtieth and last year of NASA's Space Shuttle program, as well as the fiftieth year of manned space flight. The last flight of Atlantis is scheduled for launch from Kennedy Space Center on June 28th. The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum has a number of exhibits and features on the shuttle program that you can explore on their website.

We also have several books on the Space Shuttle program available at Carnegie-Stout:
Space Shuttles by Robin Kerrod
Space Shuttle: the first 20 years edited by Tony Reichhardt
Final Countdown: NASA and the end of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins
Sky Walking: an astronaut's memoir by Tom Jones
Riding Rockets: the outrageous tales of a space shuttle astronaut by Mike Mullane

Other books and DVDs on the history of space exploration available at Carnegie-Stout Public Library

You might also enjoy this fourteen minute video from NASA on the space shuttle narrated by William Shatner:

"Bright objects hypnotize the mind."

A Word with You

Look out! there’s that damned ape again

sit silently until he goes,

or else forgets the things he knows

(whatever they are) about us, then

we can begin to talk again.

Have you tried playing with your ring?

Sometimes, that calms them down, I find.

(Bright objects hypnotize the mind.)

Get his attention on anything—

anything will do—there, try your ring.

The glitter pleases him. You see

he squints his eyes; his lips hang loose.

You were saying?—Oh Lord, what’s the use,

for now the parrot’s after me

and the monkeys are awake. You see

how hard it is, you understand

This nervous strain in which we live—

Why just one luscious adjective

infuriates the whole damned band

And they’re squabbling for it. I understand

some people manage better. How?

They treat the creatures without feeling.

- Throw books to stop the monkeys’ squealing,

slap the ape and make him bow,

are firm, keep order,—but I don’t know how.

Quick! there’s the cockatoo! he heard!

(He can’t bear any form of wit.)

- Please watch out that you don’t get bit;

there’s not a thing escapes that bird.

Be silent—now the ape has overheard.

Elizabeth Bishop 1933

The 2011 National Poetry Month poster features the line "bright objects hypnotize the mind" from Elizabeth Bishop's poem "A Word with You." Bishop was born February 8, 1911, so we are celebrating her centennial in 2011.

It was designed by Stephen Doyle and is sponsored by The New York Times, National Endowment for the Arts, Random House, Inc., Merriam-Webster, and The Poetry Foundation.

Earth Day!

Today is the 41st Earth Day, which was founded by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, and is today celebrated in 175 countries around the world. You can read more about Earth Day's beginnings at Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day, a website created by the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The Roshek Building is hosting a local Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 23rd. You can read more about the events and activities at Dubuque 2.o's Events Calander. Dubuque 2.0 was organized to help promote and further the city of Dubuque's Sustainability goals.

Carnegie-Stout Public Library is currently hosting the 4th Annual Recycle Art Show. Stop by to see this year's creative entries!

We have a number of books and movies to check out as well. Check out the lists below, and stop by the Recommendations Desk to pick up a bookmark with more reading suggestions!

Books on Sustainability, Recycling, and the Green Movement.

Movies for Earth Day:
Sacred Planet: discover the magic of the planet that everyone calls home (DVD 508)
Six Degrees Could Change the World (DVD 551.64)
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (DVD 333.72)
Earth Report. State of the Planet 2009 (DVD 363.7)
An Inconvenient Truth (DVD 363.738)
Car of the Future: engineering for the environment (DVD 629.222)
Saved by the Sun (DVD 333.792)
Planet Earth: the complete series (DVD 508)
Save the Endangered Species (DVD 578.68)
The National Parks: America's best idea (DVD 917.3)
Camp Forgotten: the Civilian Conservation Corps in Michigan (DVD 977.4)