The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is pleased to announce that the five interviews documented with the Mertz Gilmore Foundation grant to record African choreographers and teachers are now online at The New York Public Library’s website.

Project Director Carolyn Webb oversaw the production of these interviews. All five interviews were recorded onsite at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with François Bernadi serving as the videographer for the project. Here is a short excerpt reel of all five interviews. 

The full interviews are available on the Library's website through Digital Collections. Click on the call numbers below for the individual interviews.

• Maguette Camara interviewed by Ife Felix (*MGZIDF 4093) August 6, 2014
• Marie Basse Wiles interviewed by Carolyn Webb (*MGZIDF 4094) August 26, 2014
• Mouminatou Camara interviewed by Malaika Adero (*MGZIDF 4095) August 27, 2014
• Youssouf Koumbassa interviewed by Dionne Kamara (*MGZIDF 4096) August 28, 2014
• N'Deye Gueye interviewed by Malaika Adero (*MGZIDF 4097) September 18, 2014 

Maguette Camara learned his cultural dances growing up in his native Senegal, West Africa and performed with Ballet Bougarabou Dance Company as a young adult. He is a widely recognized choreographer, teacher and performer whose specialties include Kutiro, Djembe, and Sabar. Maguette currently teaches at a number of New York City locations including The Alvin Ailey Dance School, and Barnard University. Maguette is founder and director of Mane Kadang West African Dance Company in New York City.

Ife Felix is a fiber and mixed media artist and writer. Her art has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Ife has been an active member of the New York City African dance community for the last thirty years. A founding member of Harlem Girls Productions, she has produced three West African dance videos.

Marie Basse Wiles is a native of Senegal with family ties in Mali. Her grandmother taught her the traditional culture, dances and songs of the Bambara people. Marie's international touring experience includes performing with The Ballet National of Senegal where she learned the dances of many other ethnic groups of Senegal and began her teaching career. She has lived in New York City for over 30 years and is one of the African Dance communities most beloved icons. She is devoted to preserving and sharing the dances of her homeland. She has maintained her dance company, Maimouna Keita, in New York City for over 30 years.

Carolyn Webb,  Project Director for this program, is a dancer/choreographer/musician who has performed internationally with some of the foremost dance companies and musicians of the African Diaspora, including Papa Ladji Camara West African Dance and Drum Ensemble, the Jean Leon Destine Afro-Haitian Dance Company, La Troupe Makandal, Roots of Brazil, Eddie Torres, Tito Puente, and Retumba, a women’s Afro-Caribbean music and dance ensemble. She currently works with Feet of Rhythm, a Haitian roots Dance Company.  Professor Webb has an MFA in Dance from The University of Michigan. She serves on the dance faculties of New York University (Steinhardt School of Education), Queens College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Carolyn Webb is a native of Detroit, Michigan.

Mouminatou Camara is from Guinea, West Africa. Moumi states that she started dancing in her Mother's womb. Since that time she has become internationally recognized as a brilliant performer and principal dancer with Les Ballet African and Les Ballet Djoliba. She brought her dynamic dance style to New York City in the 1990s. Moumi has worked consistently and generously as a teacher to share her skills, passion, and cultural knowledge pertaining to the dances. She founded Seewe African Dance Company in 2005.

Malaika Adero is a seasoned publishing professional with more than 25 years of experience in Corporate Publishing.  She is an accomplished author who considers her most important book to date, Up South: Stories, Studies and Letters of this Century's African American Migrations  (The New Press 1992/93. Malaika is Executive Producer of the Up South International Book Festival and recently held the position of Vice President and Senior Editor at Atria Books, Simon & Schuster.

Youssouf Koumbassa, from Guinea, West Africa began dancing before age 6 by emulating both community and professional dancers. He later toured the world with The National Ballet of Guinea, and Ballet Djoliba and earned his reputation as a phenomenal dancer and musician. Youssouf relocated to New York City in the 1990s and established a dance company, Les Ballets Bagata. He is a much beloved teacher and ambassador of cultural dance here. Youssouf brings energy and excitement as well as cultural information.  He continues to be in high demand internationally as master dance teacher and choreographer.

Dionne Kamara started learning traditional Kumina dances as a little girl in Jamaica under her great-grandmother's guidance. After moving to the United States she graduated from Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and received the Helen Tamaris Award for excellence in dance from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center where she was a merit scholarship student. Her professional career includes work with the world renowned Urban Bush Women with whom she has toured internationally.

Ndeye Gueye was born in Senegal, West Africa. She is a charismatic, dynamic and highly sought after performer and teacher.  Ndeye's expertise is Senegalese Sabar dance, and she brings incredible spice and grace to each movement. She has performed for former president Abdou Diouf of Senegal and at the United Nations Peace Conference. Her choreographic merits include the First Place Award at San Francisco's Ethnic Dance Festival. Ndeye, who founded her company Chosaanu African Dance, is committed to sharing her culture and raising the self-esteem of women and children through the arts. Although she travels nationally and internationally, she currently lives in New York City where she is a beloved teacher in the African Dance community.

Malaika Adero bio is above.

These first five videotaped interviews of African choreographers and teachers in New York City is just the beginning. As the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image started in 1965 with a gift from Jerome Robbins of five films and has now grown to nearly 25,000 titles, we hope that this project can continue and more interviews of these important dancers, teachers, and choreographers can be added to the body of work available for the world's scholars to study. 

Enrollment Now Open - Sage Boot Camp. This two-week long, intensive training course will provide participants with essential skills to lead them toward job placement.  The first session starts on Monday - Friday, from 4/27 - 5/8,   9 am - 2 pm.  Participants must attend every day at the SAGE Center, 305  7th Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001.

NYC Police Department will present an information session  for NYPD recruitment opportunities: School Safety Officer, Traffic Enforcement,  Police  Officer, 911 Operators on Monday, March 23, 2015, 11 am - 2 pm, at the New York State Department of Labor, Queens Workforce 1 Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, New York 11432.

FDNY will present an information session for career opportunities as EMT, Paramedic, and Firefighter on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, at Queens Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, New York 11432.

3rd Yachad/JUF Job Fair will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 12 - 2 pm at Jewish Heritage Museum, 36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280.  Yachard/JUF Job Fairs are designed exclusively to connect individuals with special needs with top employers in the Tri-State area.

3rd Yachad/JUF Job Fair will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, 2 - 4 pm at Jewish Heritage Museum, 36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280.  Yachard/JUF Job Fairs ar designed exclusively to connect individuals with special needs with top employers in the Tri-State area.

CIDNY - ILS  will present a recruitment for Certified Home Health Aide (10 openings, F/T  &  P/T, Live-In, Live-Out, Weekends) on Friday, March 27, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm at the  Bronx Workforce 1 Career Center, 400 E. Fordham Road, 4th Floor, Bronx, NY 10458. 

St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job, Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT).  Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center.  For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development, 790 Broadway, 2nd Fl., Brooklyn, NY 11206, 718-302-2057 ext. 202. 

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement.  Currently BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.  BWI is at 621 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. 718-237-5366. 

CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks,  Basic Accounting, and Excel.   This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance.  Class runs for 8 weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer.  CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance.  Training runs Mondays through Fridays for 6 weeks, and includes test prep then taking the HHA certification exam.  Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition.   For more information for the above two training programs, please Email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690 or visit 70 Mulberry Street, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10013. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings for free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.  Please call CMP for information.

At NYPL, we believe women are heroes. Women are some of our favorite writers, most intelligent voices, and incredible innovators. Women have helped us think more deeply through issues about which we're passionate, and women have made our world a better place to be human. And though womanhood is often a challenging terrain, it offers unique power, especially when we make the cultural conversation more inclusive. Together, we've argued over the merits of "leaning in." We've asked whether women can "have it all." We've wondered why women's voices are so often excluded from the world of publishing and how to make feminism more intersectional. And through it all, amazing women have inspired us. Here are some words of wisdom about the wonderful, confounding, and powerful existence that is being a woman. We hope they will empower us all to shatter the glass ceiling, one triumphant fist at a time.

"Every woman who appears wrestles with the forces that would have her disappear. She struggles with the forces that would tell her story for her, or write her out of the story, the genealogy, the rights of man, the rule of law. The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.” —Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

"Then if he’s sore with me, let him dump my ass. That will just give me more time to be a genius.” —Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be?

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." —Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

"You’re not too fat. You’re not too loud. You’re not too smart. You’re not unladylike. There is nothing wrong with you.” —Jessica Valenti, Full Frontal Feminism

“If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.” —bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody

"We don't all have to believe in the same feminism. Feminism can be pluralistic so long as we respect the different feminisms we carry with us, so long as we give enough of a damn to try to minimize the fractures among us. Feminism will better succeed with collective effort, but feminist success can also rise out of personal conduct." —Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist

“To love women, to love our vaginas, to know them and touch them and be familiar with who we are and what we need. To satisfy ourselves, to teach our lovers to satisfy us, to be present in our vaginas, to speak of them out loud, to speak of their hunger and pain and loneliness and humor, to make them visible so they cannot be ravaged in the dark without great consequence, so that our center, our point, our motor, our dream, is no longer detached, mutilated, numb, broken, invisible, or ashamed.” —Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues

"Women have been called queens a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling." —Louisa May Alcott, An Old-fashioned Girl

"Before the moon I am, what a woman is, a woman of power, a woman's power, deeper than the roots of trees, deeper than the roots of islands, older than the Making, older than the moon." —Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.” ―Rebecca West, Young Rebecca: Writings, 1911-1917

“The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.” ―Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

“Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.” —Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

“I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue — my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.” —Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera

“When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise woman selling herbs, or even of a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet, of some mute and inglorious Jane Austen, some Emily Bronte who dashed her brains out on the moor or mopped and mowed about the highways crazed with the torture that her gift had put her to. Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” ―Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

“Some people ask: “Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?” Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists

"Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me."
—Maya Angelou, "Phenomenal Woman" excerpt from And Still I Rise

March is Women’s History Month, a time when we pay special tribute to women whose contributions to society have proved invaluable. Find out how four extraordinary New York City women are currently making history in their local neighborhoods in these oral histories recently compiled and collected as part of The New York Public Library’s Community Oral History Project.

• Self-described city girl Edith Blitzer, a lifelong Bronx resident, is chair of the Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association. Here, she discusses the changes she has seen in her East Bronx neighborhood, her role with local community organizing, and her ongoing efforts to improve the quality of life for all Pelham Parkway residents.
• Inspired by historical artifacts from the Morris-Jumel Mansion, contemporary artist and Washington Heights resident Andrea Arroya combined creativity, history, and multiculturalism to create 20 contemporary works of art.
• Lisa D. Hayes is an experienced healthcare and not-for-profit attorney and manager of the Strivers Gardens Gallery. Here, she talks about residential community development projects that helped inspire a second renaissance in Harlem.
• Nooria Nodrat fled war-torn Afghanistan with her family many years ago. After an attack by a stranger on a New York City subway platform blinded Nooria, she was inspired to create a not-for-profit organization—the Afghanistan Blind Women and Children Foundation—to help enhance the lives of blind women and children in her native country through education and health services.

About NYPL’s Oral History Project

The New York Public Library's Community Oral History Project, an initiative taking place at NYPL branches, aims to document, preserve, and celebrate the rich history of the city's unique neighborhoods by collecting the stories of people who have experienced it firsthand. Details about the project can be found at oralhistory.nypl.org.

Springtime means only one thing, it is time to go outside and get back under the sun. The days are longer, and there is no time like the present. Once again the skateboards come out, and the tricks keep flippin'. With all of this in mind, let's take a look at what the library can offer skaters, whether you are skating around or back inside after a long day out. Here are some tunes to thrash around to, some books to read up on and some movies to feel inspired by.

Other than a skateboard, there is no item more necessary than the soundtrack, so without further ado the top skate bands and music to skate to:

The collision of punk and skating made sense, from the sounds of the Adolescents to the Dead Kennedys to the legendary Black Flag - Damaged, we have a perfect fusion of concrete noise and grinding songs. Thrash, from the Suicidal Tendencies to the great Kill 'Em All album by Metallica marries the sound of skating with the bowl of destiny, whereas the hard rock anthems of Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power,X - Los Angeles, and Wild Gift help us make those ollies and flips. Heavy metal from the most revered and worshipped Master of Reality, or really just all of Black Sabbath to the classic sounds of Blue Öyster Cult and Deep Purple - Fireball, to modern day classics like both of Sleep's albums, the hour long ecstasy and elevation that is Dopesmoker to the fantastical voyage of life on Holy Mountain. Or, check out Electric Wizards NEW behemoth of an album Time to Die.

There is no way to end the discussion of a great skate soundtrack without the hip hop angle, from the new albums by Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty, Big Krit - Cadillactica, Rae Sremmurd - Sremmlife, YG - My Krazy Life and Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$ to New York's finest with: Notorious BIG - Ready to Die, my personal favorite Big L - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, the anthemic, exciting, as well as politically spot on Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, KRS-One and his revolutionizing albums with Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded, the "no need to introduce," but always a need to include Raekwon or Wu-Tang related albums and without a doubt some of the greatest songs to listen to, sing along to and, skate to A Tribe Called Quest -Low End Theory.

Yet, there is plenty of time to hit the books as well. We have many books that deal with skating; History, Photos of, How-Tos, fiction. Some of the great photo history books includes both New York and beyond. For an exquisite documentation of the New York skate scene we have Full Bleed. Providing a more in-depth general skate life, Thrasher, who not only puts out one of the best skate magazines, has compiled a few books as well: Skate & Destroy: 25 Years of Thrasher andEpic Spots: The Places You Must Skate Before You Die. For a general combination of skate, punk, hip hop and alternative culture you can get no better than the photography and story of Glen Friedman, with Glen E. Friedman My Rules. On the historical side of skating we have an interesting book of interviews in The Skateboard: The Good, The Rad, The Gnarlyas well as with The Concrete Wave. Sean Mortimer published Stalefish in 2008 which is an investigative look into skating, why people do it, stick with it, and ultimately identify with that culture. In the same manner, Curry Malott does that with Punk Rocker's Revolution in which a look at punk life, turns that subculture into an identity against the mainstream. And for those of any age trying to get into (or back into) skateboarding, the ever in-depth how-to in The Skateboarding Field Manual, as well as a look into the most legendary feats done on board Skateboarding Legendary Tricks 1 AND Skateboarding Legendary Tricks 2.

Last, how about ending the day with a movie that will bring out a similar enjoyment as your daily ride. From documentaries about skate culture to feature films that we have come to know and love, skating has created some great movies and we have them here at the library. For feature films we have a story based on the Dogtown boys with Lords of Dogtown, starring many favorite actors this movie follows the progression of skating and skate culture. Almost any list of movies needs to haveRepo Man, it might not involve skateboarding, but if you have seen it you know why it is here. If you have not seen it, then check it out or place a hold now! While musically CBGB Omfug Punk from the Bowery documents a time and place in which the music and energy of skating was made. We Are the Best is a brand new film that heartily shows growing up different and finding DIY, punk and rebellion.

The great part of skate movies are the number of documentaries that have come from the culture. From Waiting for Lightning, the story of trying to skate over the Great Wall, to the story of being the first skater with a prosthetic leg as in Never Been Done. Dragonslayerdocuments growing up with the dream to be a skater and the pitfalls and the empowerment that can come in between. While California, New York and everywhere else in the United States has been known for and documented when it comes to skating, This Ain't Californiadocuments three folks who grew up in the German Democratic Republic and their use of skating as a way to rebel and live out an independent life, meeting up with them again in 2011 to do a where-are-they-now interview. Tips or tricks on skating? Go no further thanBeginning Skateboarding.

There you have it! The library has lots more to explore in the area of skateboarding so be sure to browse through our collections on your next ride.

In our final exhibition feature, Maira Liriano, Curator of our Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, discusses the importance of diverse literature, especially for young readers of color:

"On March 16, 2014, I read in the New York Times Opinion that out of 3,200 childrenʼs books published in 2013, just 93 were about black people. This article, titled 'Where Are the People of Color in Childrenʼs Books?,' was written by celebrated author Walter Dean Myers. Myers, who wrote more than 100 books for children and young adults and received numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, died at the age of 76 on July 1, 2014, three and half months after this article appeared. The world lost a major voice in the world of literature, but he left us his insight about the poor state of childrenʼs literature for people of color and reminded us that 'There is work to be done.'

This exhibition takes up Myersʼs call for action by presenting a selection of inspiring works from the Schomburg Center collection that range from the late 1960s to the present. They represent some of the best writers and illustrators of the past 45 years, which includes Myersʼs Where Does the Day Go? and Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming. The aim is to move writers, illustrators, and publishers to create new works for young people of color because 'books transmit values,' Myers wrote. 'They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books? Where are the future white personnel managers going to get their ideas of people of color? Where are the future white loan officers and future white politicians going to get their knowledge of people of color? Where are black children going to get a sense of who they are and what they can be?'"

Liriano's beautiful collection of children's books is featured in our newest exhibition, Curators' Choice: Black Life Matters.  

About the Author:

Jill Lepore in Contemporary Authors database.

Professor of American History at Harvard University page.

Author interview on NPR:"The Man Behind Wonder Woman Was Inspired By Both Suffragists and Centerfolds."

New Yorker article by Jill Lepore, "The Last Amazon."

The New York Review of Books: "Wonder Woman: The Weird True Story."

Lepore's Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin chronicles the life and times of Benjamin Franklin's younger sister, who was a mother of twelve and a shrewd political commentator. Lepore's use of primary sources and astute researching brings Jane's voice and "litany of grief" to life.

The ALA declared The Secret History of Wonder Woman one of the notable books of 2015!

Thank you for participating in this month's Reader's Den!

Join us in April for selected poems for National Poetry Month.

Twelve-year-old Lil'T, aka Tyrone, meets his best friend, a dog whom he christens Buddy, on his way home from church one day. When he finally convinces his parents to allow him to keep the pooch, the black-and-white dog immediately endears himself to the family. He spends his days barking at squirrels, wearing dresses that Tanya adorns him with, and keeping baby Terrell out of trouble. Buddy is a busy, happy, and active dog.

Then Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans.

Tyrone and his family are forced to evacuate the area without Buddy. They give him enough food and water... and fervently hope that he will survive.

They stay with Aunt Joyce, then at a homeless shelter, where incessant noise, lack of peace and lack of privacy reign. Luckily, the family is finally able to obtain an apartment, and life resumes almost as it had before the tragedy. There is one difference, however; Tyrone cannot shake his yearning for his beloved dog, Buddy.

Buddy by M. H. Herlong, 2012

I love the plaintive lamentations of the boy who misses his dog, and the love and calm decisiveness that characterizes his father.

• M. H. Herlong's web site
• Books about dogs
• Books about Hurricane Katrina

Jimmer Dobbs (JD) returns home at the end of the summer only to discover that his mother has acquired a new housemate, a rescued Rottweiler. Jimmer christens him Jimmy Rotten (JR) after the singer in the Sex Pistols band. Unfortunately, JR is a bit timid and defensively aggressive, and he bites Jimmer's classmate Mars' hand. 

Thereafter, it is war. Jimmer and his mother fight to save their beloved dog. Mars and his mother seek to collect as much monetary damages as possible. The fate of JR's life is at stake.

JR is quite the entertainer, and he is healing from his previous existence that he spent chained to a tree. Aerodynamic biscuit-catching and squirrel-chasing fill the big dog's days.

Rotten by Michael Northrop, 2013

Millions of cats and dogs are euthanized each year. I do not believe that animals that pose a danger to people need to be kept as pets.

• Michael Northrop's web site
• Books about rescue animals

Francis Martin Library will present a College Fair on Monday, March 30, 2015, 11 am–3 pm.

Learn about available programs for new and returning students.

• Career Path Advisory Assistance
• Financial Aid Information Workshops

For information, please  contact:

Robyn L. Saunders, Career Coach,  Career, Education and Information Services (CEIS)
718-579-4260 or via email: robynsaunder@nypl.org

Linda Jones, Library Manager
Francis Martin Library
718-295-5944 or email: lindajones@nypl.org

Francis Martin Library
2150 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd,  Bronx, 10453
718-295-5944

It's Women's History month so we asked our staff to name some of their favorite female writers and tell us which (of hers) is their favorite work. Here is what they said: 

I've spun the wheel and landed on Willa Cather. I read My Antonia in 10th grade for extra credit. I was so sure that I was going to be bored to tears but the story and her beautiful writing transported me. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

Even though she has left me devastated 100 times, I always return to Alice Munro. She is such a strong character writer and I love that she captures a single moment in time in her stories leaving everything that preceded and follows to the reader to imagine. —Lynn Lobash, Reader Services

My favorite writer is Nicole Krauss. My favorite work by her is The History Of Love. I read the book in 2005 when it had just been published. It's been 10 years and this book still touches me deep into my core existence. —Elisa Garcia, Bronx Library Center

My favorite female writer is Anita Shreve.  She writes what I generally like to call "literary romances".  I am a sucker for a good love story, but not of the bodice-ripping type. My favorite book of hers is Fortune's Rocks about a relationship between a young girl and a much older man, in early 1900s New Hampshire.  —Ronni Krasnow, Morningside Heights

A favorite of mine isMiddlemarch by George Eliot. I read it when I was in college and I associate it with reading it in my college library and thinking about community. It's a long read, but well worth it. —Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market

Gotta go with Margaret Weis of the Weis/Hickman writing duo. She and her writing partner, Tracy Hickman, wrote the original Dragonlance trilogy. Yes it's a Dungeons & Dragons series but this one was a cut above the rest and perfect for this nerdy pre-teen boy. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

My all-time favorite female author is Jodi Picoult. Her novels always reel me in by addressing controversial subjects and keep me reading until well past my bedtime—I get so into the characters' stories! The book of hers that has always stood out and that I always recommend is Nineteen Minutes.  —Jessica Divisconte, Office of the CLO

My favorite writer is Elizabeth Moon. I always enjoy reading science fiction and fantasy and I'm drawn to Moon's books for the far-flung adventure and the character development. Not to be missed is her The Speed of Dark, her 2003 Nebula Award winning novel about autistic children working for a pharmaceutical firm. —Virginia Bartow, Cataloging

My newest obsession, Octavia Butler, has a wonderful series entitled Patternist (starting with Wild Seed). Her books just stay in my mind, keep me thinking. But the writer I keep coming back to since college is Jane Austen, and the favorite book by far is Persuasion. Just reread this last year and still absolutely came under its spell.  —Danita Nichols, Inwood

My favorite woman writer that I read in my teen-age years was Carson McCullers. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was a book I greatly identified with, especially the Mick Kelly character, and fell for the panopoly of misfit characters she described in spare yet colorful prose. —Sherri Machlin, Mulberry Street

I’ll choose Elizabeth Gaskell whose writing offers shades of Austen's humor and wit, as well as the social criticism of Dickens. What stays with me is the humanity of her characters. Wives and Daughtersis my favorite because of its motherless heroine, Molly Gibson who learns that she can be true to herself and still be a good person. —Elizabeth Waters, Mid-Manhattan

My favorite author is Harper Lee and the book is her only book (for now) is To Kill A Mockingbird.  I've read it several times at different stages of my life and each time it left a profound impression on me. —Jean Harripersaud, Bronx Library Center

My favorite writer is Tamora Pierce. My favorite work by her is Alanna: The First Adventure. Back when I was just beginning to read longer fantasy fiction, I was dismayed to find that there weren't very many interesting girls as action-adventure heroes.  Usually it was the boy who got to fight and win the day.  That changed when I discovered this author and this book.  —Stephanie Whelan, Seward Park

My favorite writer is Diane Ackerman. While I love everything she has ever written, I adore A Natural History of the Senses. Her stories are always fascinating and I love how I can get completely lost in her gorgeous, poetic descriptions of scientific concepts. I always feel like I have traveled to some exotic place and returned happy and satisfied after reading her work.—Maura Muller, Volunteers Office

One of my all time favorite writers is Tamora Pierce. Known for her works relating to strong female characters and feminism. The work that won me over was The Immortals Quartet. —Miguel Ortiz, Mid-Manhattan

Krys Lee is my current literary crush. Her debut collection of short stories, Drifting House, which draws on the Korean experience, is incredibly, achingly beautiful. —Miriam Tuliao, Selection Team

I always looked forward to the short stories of James Tiptree Jr. when I subscribed to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction as a teenager. His stories were so thought-provoking and incredibly creative.  I only learned later that James Tiptree Jr. was actually the pen name of Alice Bradley Sheldon.  Check out the collection Her Smoke Rose Up Forever to read some of her best short stories and novellas.  —Andrea Lipinski, Kingsbridge

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RuPaul was crowned the “Queen of Manhattan” in 1989 and has since published two books and released hit songs over the course of eleven studio albums. But perhaps his greatest claim to fame? Seven seasons  as host and Executive Producer for Logo TV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race, a show which extended the visibility of drag to a far wider audience; as he described himself in seven words: “Born naked and the rest is drag.”  We were lucky to hear our LIVE from the NYPL guest discuss the dualistic nature of identity, the great Diana Ross, and fantasy.

RuPaul discussed the masculine and feminine aspects of all human identities. He compared the soul to a battery, highlighting the dualistic nature that creates energy:

“In this world we live in, and you know this in your soul, there are positive forces and negative forces—a battery: AC/DC—that's how things get propelled and how electricity works. To have both elements happening at once is when you're fully functioning on this planet. I didn't make this stuff up. That's what it is. So when you see a culture of men who are afraid of showing any type of femininity at all—and it's there; it's not like it doesn't exist there—it's very sad. And you know, you see guys with swagger walking down the street like, you know, doing this thing, you know, and you realize that they're so afraid. They're putting on this affectation that really just says how afraid they are. And I feel bad for them. I feel bad for anyone who doesn't allow their fully-functioned electrical charges work together.”

This duality became a bit of a theme for the night, and RuPaul returned to it as he considered the relationship between fantasy and the real:

“Most people are afraid to look beyond the looking glass. Most people are afraid to go there because they're afraid that they'll find out, like in that movie I love The Truman Show… that this is all a fantasy. Some people can live in both places. Most people cannot. Red pill or the blue pill? If you've taken the red pill, sometimes you think, 'Gee, I wish I hadn't.' You know, the fruit of knowledge and ignorance is bliss kind of thing. But if you do take the red pill, you have to also learn how to regulate your feelings and to navigate in that world.”

As a child, RuPaul found a handful of pop culture icons who helped him navigate. One of those most important? Ms. Diana Ross:

“Diana [Ross] had it, that thing that cannot be described—still has it. At that time—this was 1965, 1966—the promise, the optimism that her body language has at that point, and the songs, the optimism of the songs, and the joy, it's all there. And that's why I was attracted to it… you know, at that time for brown-skinned people, it was Diana Ross and Billy Cosby were the two people who could be in a room with anybody in the world. They could be there, and it didn't seem like, ‘Oh my God, who are you!?’ And Sammy Davis. Sammy Davis too. But it was important, and she spoke to me with her voice.”

You can subscribe to the New York Public Library Podcast to hear more conversations with wonderful artists, writers, and intellectuals. Join the conversation today!

"Carry your Green Book with you—you may need it."

The mid-20^th Century: a time of freedom and grand opportunities. Ever bigger and faster and cheaper cars allowed an exciting ease of movement across America's new parkways, numbered highways, and interstates. The automobile changed the world, and suddenly the horizon seemed to go on forever. But some other essential changes were a long time coming, and for one segment of the population that horizon was filled with landmines.

Enter Victor Green. From 1936 to 1966 (with only a pause for WWII), this postal worker from New Jersey published the directories known today as the Green Book. (The actual titles were variously: The Negro Motorist Green Book; The Negro Travelers' Green Book; The Travelers' Green Book.) These listed—first in NYC only, later throughout much of the world—hotels, restaurants, beauty salons, nightclubs, bars, gas stations, etc. where black travelers would be welcome. In an age of sundown towns, segregation, and lynching, the Green Book became an indispensable tool for safe navigation.

Victor's introductions always concluded:

There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment. But until that time comes we shall continue to publish this information for your convenience each year.

He continued publication until just after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

But the story doesn't end there. To flip through a Green Book is to open a window into history and perhaps to see, the tiniest amount, through the eyes of someone who lived it. Read these books; map them in your mind. Think about the trips you could take, can take, will take. See how the size of the world can change depending on the color of your skin.

The Schomburg's full collection is available here.

Enrollment Now Open - Sage Boot Camp.  This two-week long, intensive training course will provide participants with essential skills to lead them toward job placement.  The first session starts on Monday - Friday, from  April 27 to May 5 , 9 am - 2 pm.  Participants must attend every day at the SAGE Center, 305  7th Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001.

FDNY Information Session for career opportunities as EMT, Paramedic, and Firefighter on Wednesday,  April 1,  2015, 10 am - 2 pm at Queens Career Center, 168-25 Jamaica Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica,  New York 11432.

Dig Inn Seasonal Market  will present a recruitment on Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm  for Crew Member (10  openings) at the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. 851 Grand Concourse, 1st Floor Rotunda (near elevator), Bronx, NY 10451.

Nineteen Twenty Four Inc. - Roberta's Frozen Pizza will present a recruitment on Thursday, April 2, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm, for Production Cook ( 10 openings) at NYS Department of Labor, 9 Bond Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job, Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT).  Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center.  For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development, 790 Broadway, 2nd Fl., Brooklyn, NY 11206, 718-302-2057 ext. 202. 

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement.  Currently BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.  BWI is at 621 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217. 718-237-5366. 

CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks,  Basic Accounting, and Excel.   This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance.  Class runs for 8 weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer.  CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance.  Training runs Mondays through Fridays for 6 weeks, and includes test prep then taking the HHA certification exam.  Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition.   For more information for the above two training programs, please Email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690 or visit 70 Mulberry Street, 3rd Floor, NY, NY 10013. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings for free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.  Please call CMP for information.

T.C. Boyle comes to Books at Noon next Wednesday, April 1 to discuss his latest work, The Harder They Come. We asked him six questions about what he likes to read.

When and where do you like to read?

I read pretty much everywhere and always carry a book in the event that I find myself crushed by boredom while waiting on a line somewhere, but my favorite place is in front of the fireplace in the living room here, dog at my side, cat in lap, rain drooling down the windows and the fire snapping merrily.

What were your favorite books as a child?

I didn’t read much as a child, so we’d have to pull a few comic books out of the pile—Classics Illustrated comes to mind.  Beyond that, I loved animal stories, Big Red and the like. My touchstone?  Rikki Tikki Tavi.

What books had the greatest impact on you?

The stories and novels I read as a young man who had notions of becoming a writer himself.  I was swept away by the work of writers with a large and encompassing vision, like Coover, Pynchon, Grass, Barthelme, Cortázar, García Márquez, Calvino and a host of others.

Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership?

Richard Lange, who, in his latest book of stories, Sweet Nothing, reminds me of Ray Carver reborn in Los Angeles.  And Dana Spiotta, whose Stone Arabia (2011), is the best pop-music novel I’ve ever run across.

What was the last book you recommended?

Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, a history of World War II in Europe. Atkinson writes beautifully, and his history unfolds with all the passion and immediacy of a good novel.  And Martin Amis’ latest, the chilling The Zone of Interest.

What do you plan to read next?

Looking forward to Ishiguro’s latest and to the third and final volume of William Manchester’s magisterial biography of Winston Churchill, a narrative every bit as compelling as Atkinson’s.

A quarter horse saves a little girl by kicking an aggressive wild boar.

Dogs predict heart attacks, and they detect cancer.

A cat fetches help to save her injured guardian.

Bottle nose dolphins protect swimmers from great white sharks. 

Gorillas in zoos protect injured kids.

A parrot saves a choking girl.

Lions protect a kidnapped and beaten girl.

A pit bull discourages a depressed war veteran from committing suicide.

An injured Pony of the Americas with a prosthetic leg chooses a career as a therapy pony.

The stories go on and on about animals that go out of their way to rescue sick and injured people. This book is inspirational.

Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots and Other Animal Heroes by Jeff Campbell,  2014

I love the sophisticated drawings of the animals who rescued people. 

• Books about altruistic animals

Fairy tales are big again.  With the release of Disney's Cinderella and the popularity of the TV show Once Upon a Time  and  the movies Maleficent and Into the Woods,  fairy tales are in the news again.  But these are not the stories you and I grew up with.  These are fairy tales with a twist.  They give the back story of the characters, tell what happens after "happily ever after" or people from our world are tossed into the fairy tale world.  And kids are eating them up.   Here's a sampling of some that you and your kids  might enjoy.

For Older Kids:

The Storybook of Legends from the Ever After High series by Shannon Hale
The children of fairy tale characters are groomed at Ever After High to fulfill their destiny - to follow in their parent's footeps and become the next "Snow White" or "Cinderella" or "Jack the Giant Killer".  But what if you DIDN'T want to become the next villianous evil Snow Queen?

The Wishing Spellfrom The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer
Twins Alexis and Connor are pulled into their grandmother's book of fairy tales.  They must find all the Wishing Spell ingredients, such as: a long golden hair, a glass slipper and a piece of Red Riding Hood's basket, in order to get home again.  It's bad enough that they have to steal these items, but someone else is also after the wishing spell.  And even stranger, characters from the bedtime stories their father used to tell them are showing up on their journey.

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Hansel and Gretel were not children of a woodcutter, abandoned in the forest by their stepmother.  They were really the prince and princess of the Kingdom of Grimm who ran away when they found out that their father would (and did) kill them in order to bring a statue to life.  So they leave in order to find a family that will truly love them.  Here is their story with all the gory bits of the fairy tales left in.

And on a lighter note for the younger kids:

Fairest of Allfrom the Whatever After series by Sarah Mlynowski
Abby and Jonah get sucked through a magic mirror  and step into Snow White's story.   But they accidentally mess it up when they  stop Snow White from eating the poisoned apple.  They save her life, but now, she'll never meet her Prince!

The Wide-Awake Princessby E. D. Baker
Annie is the only one left awake after her sister pricks her finger on the spindle and sends everyone to sleep.  But she'd NOT going to wait around for 100 years for everyone to wake up, so she sets out to find her sister's Prince so he can come kiss her and end the curse.   How hard can it be?

For more mixed up fairy tales, check out the list:  Children's Center Picks: Fairy Tales with a Twist.

最近看了一系例的《中国古代世名剧故事》，作者 刘炎平,  解艾玲 编著  -  是写成通俗易读的故事，内容生动感人，文字清新，深而不奥，容易阅读和理解， 引人入胜。

《窦娥冤;  救冈尘;  墙头马上;  汉宫秋》

《西厢记》

《赵氏孤儿;  李逵负荆;  看钱奴;  倩女离魂;  荆钗记》

《灰阑记 ;  琵琶记 ; 幽闺记》

《娇红记;  中山狼》

《牡丹亭;  紫钗记》

《邯郸记;  南柯记》

《精忠旗;  绿牡丹》

《浣纱记;  寻亲记》

《玉簪记;  清忠谱;  风筝误》

《十五贯;  长生殿》

《桃花扇;  雷峰塔》

Special Thanks goes to Hung-yun Chang at Mid-Manhattan Library and Maria Fung in Collection Development for all their help with this blog post. 

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When we seek to recognize and champion women in history, often we must look for the echoes of their presence. Barred by expectation or explicit prohibition from many outlets for expression and renown, they worked within the constraints of their time, often relying on their male peers to promulgate their thoughts or introduce them into literary and intellectual society. This phenomenon is perhaps not as historic as we might hope, as author Siri Hustvedt explored in her most recent novel The Blazing World (itself a reference to Margaret Cavendish’s seventeenth century utopian work).

Madame Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet, was a French noblewoman of the Enlightenment who, as Liz Lemon might say, “had it all.” She came from a wealthy family, married into a position of prominence, raised several children, and studied math, science, religion, and politics as a member of the Republic of Letters. However, in her native France, the Academy of Sciences, universities, and many intellectual gatherings excluded women. She was forced to pursue a path of independent study, bringing tutors and books to her home at Cirey. Today, she is known primarily through her relationships to famous men: translator of Isaac Newton and Bernard Mandeville, student of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and Alexis Clairaut, and lover and intellectual companion of Voltaire. In the Rare Book Division, Madame du Châtelet’s voice is preserved within our extensive collection of Voltaire material.

Madame du Châtelet’s translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia is usually held to be her greatest scholarly accomplishment. In this period, a translation was a powerful thing, as it furthered the diffusion of new ideas and fostered widespread collaboration in the arts and sciences. Du Châtelet had an enviable command of language, speaking French, Latin, Italian, and English—Voltaire claimed she learned the latter in only fifteen days. For her work with the Principia, du Châtelet did not limit herself to a word-for-word translation, but added commentary that explained, clarified, and improved upon the original text. Voltaire relied on her collaboration and thorough understanding of Newton’s ideas while composing his Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton (Elements of Newton’s Philosophy). He reserved the dedication and introduction of the book to praise du Châtelet’s efforts in both poem and prose. The introduction (translated here in the English edition, also published in 1738) begins:

“Your solid Study of many new Truths, and the Fruits of so meritorious an Application, are what I now offer the Publick for your own, and the Glory of your Sex, and for the Improvement of all such as desire to cultivate their Reason, and enjoy without difficulty the Benefit of your Enquiries.”

NYPL also holds a letter written by Voltaire to his niece Marie-Louise Mignot, wherein he describes his relationship with Madame du Châtelet and her husband the Marquis. The du Châtelets’ marriage was motivated by social and business concerns: the merging of two powerful families. The Marquis was aware and tolerant of the relationship between his wife and Voltaire; Voltaire lived in the couple’s house at Cirey for several years. NYPL’s letter was written over three years into his residency, in December 1737.

“As long as I live,” he writes, “I live beside Madame du Châtelet, whose friendship for me merits the greatest sacrifice. Gratitude alone should tie me to her forever, and gratitude is not the only feeling that I have. The Marquis du Châtelet has the same goodness as his wife, who honors me. I have lived with her in a liaison of intimacy, of sweetness, of trust that for five years has weathered any storm.”

Both Madame du Châtelet and Voltaire would eventually assume new liaisons: du Châtelet with the poet and soldier Jean-François de Saint-Lambert and Voltaire with the same niece to whom he wrote the 1737 letter.

Madame du Châtelet’s intelligence and social rank helped her rise to prominence in a male-dominated society, but she was critical of the institutional limitations that denied such opportunities to women as a whole. She used the preface of another translation, Bernard Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees, to criticize the lack of educational opportunities for women:

“Why do these creatures whose understanding appears in all things equal to that of men, seem, for all that, to be stopped by an invincible force on this side of a barrier; let someone give me some explanation, if there is one. I leave it to naturalists to find a physical explanation, but until that happens, women will be entitled to protest against their education. As for me, I confess that if I were king I would wish to make this scientific experiment. I would reform an abuse that cuts out, so to speak, half of humanity. I would allow women to share in all the rights of humanity, and most of all those of the mind.”

Merci, Madame.

To learn more about Madame du Châtelet’s life, try Judith Zinsser’s La Dame D'esprit: A Biography of the Marquise du Châtelet. You can also read a collection of her scientific, philosophical, and religious writings in translation.