Sloane Crosley infuses her essays with humor and warmth. Now, the author of two New York Times bestsellers has released her debut novel, The Clasp. This week, on the New York Public Library podcast we're pleased to present Sloane Crosley on college, jewelry, and publicity.
Sloane Crosley at Books at Noon
Crosley did not begin college with the intention of studying literature. She describes her studies as approaching literature backwards:
"In college, I went for anthropology and archeology, and then I took a class in creative writing. It was very much a contemporary fiction class. So it would be like Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore, Mona Simpson. I remember reading Alice Elliot Dark. There's this short story called 'In the Gloaming,' which, perfect day for it. So then I sort of worked backwards into English literature and got in in this strange way. And then I started studying Scottish literature in Scotland, and J.M. Barry was actually kind of an influence. For those who don't know, Edinburgh is Never Never Land, which I think is a cool tidbit. But that sense of adventure! Finally, I guess the Russian novels were my last stop."
Because one of the characters in The Clasp works for a jewelry designer, Crosley needed to research the field. She involved herself in a mix of interview, book research, and observation:
"Kezia was difficult. She worked for an independent jewelry designer, and she used to work for a major jewelry designer. A lot of the research was honestly just in books and finding out she misses working with real jewels, and she's working with this eccentric jewelry designer who makes things out of plastic and rat teeth and crazy things and has this rickety office in the Meatpacking District. And so I feel like for her, what she missed is what I found out. So I went to the New York Public Library, this very one, and I can't believe it took me this long to mention it, but there's this scene where Victor's researching the necklace in the book. The other thing I did is I talked to my friend named Lisa Salze who runs Lulu Frost, a small independent jewelry designer and asked her what would be a problem in manufacturing? What would be a problem where they'd have to leave the country? Tell me about this kind of enamel. So it gets very detailed because of her help... I went to different jewelry shows. I went to a Christie's show. I went to any exhibit about jewelry in New York for about a year."
Prior to her success as a writer, Crosley worked as a publicist for Vintage Books, a Random House imprint. The experience helped her view writing as a viable career:
"Working with all these authors, just the concept that it could be a vocation, that it could be a career. And that doesn't make you good at it. It really doesn't. Not everyone should have the novel inside them emerge necessarily. But you see them as people, and you just realize how hard they work."
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There was a shooting at Pleasant Valley High School. Loner students clad in red attire attempted to kill their fellow students and teachers while wearing trench coats. Then, they committed suicide.
At Central High School, which is 50 minutes away, things begin to change, slowly at first. The administration is taking no chances that such a tragedy will happen there next. Dr. Willner enters the picture. He encourages the kids to share their feelings. He informs the students that the dress code is going to get stricter; the teens are prohibited from wearing red.
Tom Bishop is called into the office and told to remove all copies of Catcher in the Rye from the school premises. During a search for info on Joseph Stalin of Russia in the school library, he finds nothing, which is eerie. Wayward students from the school are being sent to Operation Turnaround, a survival (aka "torture") camp. Then, the kids are informed that Stephanie, whom they did not even realize went to the camp, died during an escape attempt. Mr. Trent, the principal, takes an unexpected early retirement. Things are a getting a little bit creepy and unpredictable.
Tom's father is caving to the school's incessant demands and emails about how to parent their children in order to prevent a violent tragedy in scholastic universe. Tom whispers with his amigos in front of the school, certain that the school administration is monitoring their emails and telephone conversations.
All students and families, Latinos and non-Latinos, are welcome.
Events will include:
"Planning and Paying for College" workshops (simultaneous Spanish translation)
College Fair with 50+ private (not-for-profit) colleges and univsersities in New York represented
"Ask the Financial Aid Experts" (both English and Spanish speakers)
Mini-workshops: Resources for the Undocumented, Overview of Financial Aid Forms (FAFSA), Information on Graduate School
The College Fair will allow students to speak with college admission representatives from a wide variety of independent (private, not-for-profit) colleges and universities in the state.
For more information and the growing list of participating colleges and universities, visit http://bit.ly/LCF15Reg or call 518.436.4781.
Location
Fordham University, Rose Hill campus
GPS Address 2691 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY 10458
Getting There
Public Transportation
Metro North Harlem Line - Fordham Stop
D Train - Fordham Road Stop (Walk six blocks East to campus)
#4 Train - Fordham Road Stop (Walk 10 blocks East to campus)
Bx 12 Select Bus available from both subway stations to campus
Walkers should enter through the 3rd Ave. /Webster Ave. Gate
Parking
If driving, please allow additional time for parking when planning your trip to the event
Use Southern Blvd. entrance to campus (GPS address above)
Individuals who pre-register will receive an electronic parking pass via email to waive the $11 parking charge on the Fordham University campus.
This Veterans’ Day, when we honor the contributions of the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces, we’re thinking about books told from the perspective of soldiers, pilots, medical personnel, and everyone who’s served in combat.
We asked our expert NYPL staff to suggest some books—fiction and nonfiction—that shed light on military experiences.
Civil War
The Red Badge of Courage. Full stop. Stephen Crane's novel is not first-person but does place us in Henry Fleming’s head. As a bonus, the fictional 304th may have been based on the Orange Blossoms, the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment from the upper Hudson Valley. These soldiers included volunteers from my hometown on New Windsor.—Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil
World War I
I LOVE Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence. A young boy’s father goes off to the trenches of World War I, and the first-person bit is in his letters home and visually in the carved wooden soldiers he sends back to his boy, deteriorating as his father’s mental health deteriorates. So powerful. —Danita Nichols, Inwood
I often think of the Army nurses who served overseas in wartime as unsung heroes of Veterans Day. A favorite memoir is Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. Vera witnessed her brothers, their friends, and her sweetheart all sign up to serve in the early days of World War 1. Not wanting to be left behind and to do her part, she abandoned her studies at Oxford in 1915 to be a nurse in France. It is both a story of the horrors of war and a lament for all those she lost. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Since the scheduling of Veterans Day links to the ending of World War I, I’ll second the recommendation for Vera Brittain’s memoirs and add in two current-day mystery series about WWI volunteer nurses Bess Crawford (by Charles Todd) and Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear). —Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Exhibitions
Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, the classic novel of World War I, was written by a German, in the voice of an ordinary German infantryman doing his best not to win glory for himself or his country, but simply to survive to the end of the war. He almost made it. Remarque’s epigraph says, “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” —Kathie Coblentz, Special Collections
One of my favorite books of all time is Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. A harrowing look at World War I, told in first person, and a scathing indictment of war in general. It is an intensely personal story that can be life altering. I recall reading the book in high school and it had a profound effect on my thinking. It turned out to be the book I wrote about in my college application essays because it was so incredibly influential. —Jeff Katz, Chatham Square
A fictionalized account of true events, the Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks recounts the struggle of the first African American regiment who went into combat for our nation. Full of courage, valor, and patriotism, this is one of those stories that reveals a country’s ugly past while at the same time revealing a group of heroes’ beautiful sacrifice. -- I salute them. —Daniel Norton, Mid-Manhattan
Another vote for The Harlem Hellfighters. The book, graphic both in format and in content, does not shy away from the brutalities they experienced as soldiers and as African Americans. —Althea Georges, Mosholu
Also worth mentioning is the slim volume, The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen. Owen was a British soldier who died in combat in the last days of the war. Throughout his service time, he wrote poems about the experience of war—the boredom and the terror, the camaraderie, the excitement, and the misery. Reading these poems is a remarkable experience, a true soldier’s voice comes through. —Jeff Katz, Chatham Square
World War II
InFlygirl by Sherri L. Smith, Ida Mae Jones dreams of becoming a pilot, but she has two strikes against her: She’s black, and she’s a girl. When America enters into war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and Ida sees this as her one chance.—Nicola McDonald, Jerome Park Library
For fans of the HBO miniseries The Pacific and its popular precursor Band of Brothers, I recommend E. B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed, a stark and haunting first-hand account of Sledge’s experiences at Okinawa and Peleliu during WWII:
I am the harvest of man’s stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can’t forget.
—Crystal Chen, Hamilton Grange
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a remarkable soldier’s story. The first-person narrative is essential to the plot. Time travel makes it all the more imaginative. Vonnegut’s writing and his rather bizarre sense of humor set up the reader to enjoy this story, which is a reflection of the experiences of a soldier and POW who survives the horrors of the fire-bombing of Dresden. —Virginia Bartow, Rare Books
Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle should be part of any canon on war literature. Before his death on Okinawa, Pyle told the tales of American soldiers, often in first person perspective, in all their grim reality. He won a Pulitzer for his war reporting in 1944. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil
For teens, there is the tense and nerve-racking Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Verity is a young British intelligence agent who’s been parachuted into France to help with the resistance but she’s been caught by the Nazis and now she’s being interrogated. Will she break under torture? Will she be rescued? Verity is willing to endure torture and do whatever it takes to save her friends and her country. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street
Vietnam
If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home is Tim O’Brien’s autobiographical account of fighting the Vietnam War. It’s even more heart-breaking than his fiction-based-on-truth novel The Things They Carried, if that’s possible. —Rebecca Dash Donsky, 67th Street
I was just going to recommend The Things They Carried! Now I’ll have to go read this one too. Anyway, to answer the question of why Tim O’Brien:
If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.—Kay Menick, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
I would like to recommend Patrol by Walter Dean Myers.
... I write a letter to someone I love. I wonder if my enemy is writing a letter.
I am so tired. I am so very tired of this war.
—Louise Lareau, Children’s Center
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. The soldiers in this book struggle mightily against leeches, tigers, mosquitoes, and all manner of beasties, and the plot is gripping. —Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is the story of a 17-year-old from Harlem who does not know what his future holds. He volunteers for the army and goes off to Vietnam in the 1960s. There he witnesses the horrors of war. The companion novel is Sunrise Over Fallujah. —Lilian Calix, Morningside Heights
Iraq and Afghanistan
In 2010, when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was, because I am a gay soldier and I didn’t want to lose my job. My question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made by gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?
Stephen Snyder-Hill asked during the 2011 Republican primary debate. His memoir, Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement, offers a candid account of life in deployment and poignant reflections on activism, politics and the freedom to love. —Miriam Tuliao, Selection Team
In No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden, Mark Owen gives us a personal account of one of the most memorable special operations in the history of the United States. This book will leave you with an understanding of the warriors that keep America safe. —Elisa Garcia, Bronx Library Center
Redeployment by Phil Klay takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. —Jennifer Craft, Mulberry Street
I recommend “Home,” a short story by George Saunders that can be read online via the New Yorker or in his recent (amazing) collection Tenth of December. It’s told from the perspective of a recently-returned veteran (ambiguously Iraq or Afghanistan) who feels disoriented and detached from American culture and family life that have changed greatly in his absence. He struggles with persistent guilt over his experiences and a public blithely ignorant of both his sacrifices and the war that demanded them, only able to offer the empty refrain “thank you for your service.” Saunders characteristically draws a sense of humanity and hope from a complicated, difficult subject. —Meredith Mann, Collection Development
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers is a powerful, evocative story about war and its ramification on those who serve. It’s a story of two soldiers who takes vastly different paths in a war with no end. —Susen Shi, Seward Park
Other Conflicts
Daniel Anselme’s On Leave takes place during the Algerian Revolution (1954-1962). It follows three soldiers who come home for a week long leave to Paris and struggle with feelings of shame, dread, and disconnectedness in the face of normalcy after being away at war. The spare writing invokes the poignancy of the soldiers’ distress and discomfort with the thoughts, ideas, and actions of people who have not been at the front. —Jessica Cline, Mid-Manhattan
This is a bit off the beaten track, perhaps (and about a pilot rather than a soldier) but I’d recommend the play Grounded by George Brant. It’s a one-woman play about a fighter pilot who is taken out of commission after becoming pregnant and re-assigned to remote piloting of a military drone. —Melisa Tien, Library for the Performing Arts
Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell tells the story of that famous battle through the eyes of Nicholas Hook, an English archer under Henry V. It’s rich in details and a perspective not always articulated in treatments of historical wars. —Christopher Platt, Library Services
I love the Old Man’s War by John Scalzi for imagining a world in which soldiers have the minds and maturity of 75-year olds and are sent to fight aliens over colonized worlds. —Michelle Misner, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Divisions
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
It was all over a bag of chips. Rashad found himself on the floor of the bodega being beaten by a cop. Quinn, a high school classmate, saw it all from outside the window. What happens next is the basis forAll American Boys, a story told in alternating chapters by its main characters and written by alternating authors, Jason Reynolds (writing Rashad) and Brendan Kiely (writing Quinn).
On October 26 the West Farms branch was lucky to have Mr. Kiely and Mr. Reynolds come to discuss their book, All American Boys, but also to talk about the issues that the book raises.
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Mr. Reynolds, a consummate storyteller, started things off with a true story from his teen years. Mr. Kiely carried on from there with a story from his teens. Mr. Reynolds, African American, and Mr. Kiely, Caucasian, had dramatically different experiences involving traffic stops. Mr. Reynolds, who was a passenger in a vehicle which committed no violation, was handcuffed and made to wait face down on the ground while Mr. Kiely, who was driving a vehicle traveling 30 mph over the speed limit was given a warning and sent on his way.
This opened up the conversation about race and profiling, as well as inappropriate police conduct, all of which are the basis of All American Boys. Teens asked fantastic questions which ranged from questions about the book itself (Is it fiction or nonfiction? Fiction but steeped in real events happening in real communities) to legal (Can the police really search your car if they want to? This stemmed from Mr. Reynolds’ story about his youth). After the “presentation” part was over, Mr. Kiely and Mr. Reynolds stayed and talked to anyone who wanted to ask them more. Several teens hung out to speak with them.
When I asked Mr. Kiely for a quote for this post I was expecting a brief, “it was great” or a bit about the book. What I got was so much more. Mr. Kiely said “Jason and I loved our time at West Farms. We write books because we're inspired by the young people, like the ones we met there, who show up and immediately jump in with questions and stories of their own. We're inspired by them and hope to inspire them right back. In fact, our book, AAB, is really a story about the power young people have to stand up, rise up, in the face of adults who don't see their potential. This book is for the West Farms kids who live all over this country.”
Jason Reynolds is the author of critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, Boy in the Black Suit, and All American Boys, co-written with Brendan Kiely, whose book The Gospel of Winter was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults.
TeenLIVE reaches teens culturally, artistically, inspirationally, technologically, and more with the biggest, best, and the brightest stars. TeenLIVE programs spotlight current cultural trends and important mainstays that inform the lives of today’s teens.
TeenLIVE programs are sponsored by the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Family Endowment for Young Audiences.
If you have ever sketched a triangular skirt on a stick figure, or maybe a pair of snappy sneakers, a hand wearing a glove, or the design of your prom dress, you have entered the world of fashion illustration. As we all (or most of us) get dressed every day, clothes are a part of our world that are ubiquitous and necessary, but also allow for creativity and a reflection of culture. There are a number of books in our collections to help you fine tune your fashion drawing style (listed below), but have you also seen our digital collections of original hand colored and reproduced fashion illustrations?
Ready-to-wear collections were the specialty of two Seventh Avenue fashion firms, André Studios and Creators Studios. These firms created sketches copying contemporary fashions shown on the runways of Paris and in the department stores of New York in the early to mid-twentieth century. The Art and Picture Collection has a unique set of these drawings made available in person at the Mid-Manhattan Library, or online through the Digital Collection. Beyond the images you can access through our digital collections, we have a large reference collection of illustrations, some still bound in large black volumes, from the 1930s through the 1980s.
André Studios
1938
André Fashion Studios was a company based here in New York that made drawings and sketches of the latest runway fashions in Europe by major designers and then sold books of these sketches on subscription basis to clothing manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The clothing manufacturers would create similar looks from the sketches of the runway fashions to sell at a more affordable price point through a local department store. André Studios was active from 1930 through 1974 and was run by the team of Pearl Levy Alexander, who created the drawings, and Leonard Schwartzbach, who acted as salesman. Pearl’s signature is recognizable on many of the drawings in the collection. André’s specialty was in ladies coats and suits, and children’s coats. The studio produced an amazing amount of work, about 20 sketches a week for most of the year. And, lucky for us, thousands of these drawings are now safely kept by a few institutions here in NY: the New York Public Library Picture Collection, the Special Collections and FIT Archives of the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Kellen Design Archives for Parsons: The New School for Design, Yeshiva University Museum and the Brooklyn Museum.
With the André Studios 1930-1941 website, a METRO grant-funded collaboration between NYPL and FIT, the illustrations were made digital and more accessible. The site is designed to be searched either by institution, by designer, by costume component, or year. There are about 5,400 images included in the collection. Designers such as Chanel, Lelong, Balenciaga, and Patou are represented. These images are also accessible through the Library’s Digital Collections.
Creators Studios
The fashion drawings and sketches in these studio collections at NYPL arrived as gifts from Mr. Walter Teitelbaum, who was the last owner of Creators Studios. Creators Studios was also fashion drawing company that eventually took over André
1957
Studios when it closed in 1970s. Walter was one of three founders of Creators Studio, formed in 1958, and became the sole owner by the mid-1970s. When Pearl retired in the early 1970s, Leonard sold everything related to André Studios over to Creators Studio. Creators eventually closed in the early 1980s. Walter donated sketches, which consisted of original drawings, duplicate copies and sketches with hand-colored details on pre-printed outlines of poses, in the 1990s to NYPL, FIT, and Parsons. About 1,200 images from the 1950s and 60s from NYPL’s Creators Studio collection are now available in the Digital Collection, and about 8,000 illustrations are available for reference in person in the Picture Collection.
This digitization of the André Studios project was thought of as a starting point for cultural collaboration between institutions to encourage sharing of fashion data and collections. The more recent digitization of the Creators Studio Collection expands on the unique ability of these drawings to give a primary appreciation of the colors, fabrics, and ideas popular in the time period. The images on the site are available as 300 dpi and are outfitted with a mega zoom feature for greater detail. The high-quality of the digitization, metadata, and zoom capability included with both of the online collections allow for a greater understanding of the detail of the illustrations than if holding the originals.
Try these titles to learn more on creating your own fashion illustrations:
Career Cruising is a great database to learn about what careers your skills are best suited for, learn about careers you are interested in, find jobs, and discover colleges and financial aid. The next best thing to a career counselor, you will definitely want to visit this database. You can even use the database to work on your resume! I love learning about jobs and helping people search for jobs, so I am very enthusiastic about this database. Career Cruising is also available en Español.
Assessments
Matchmaker is where you can answer questions about what you like and your skills. The database generates suggestions about what career options the user may want to pursue. Matchmaker is a terrific tool for people who have no idea what type of career that they might be interested in. It gives people an idea of what jobs they might both enjoy and be successful at. Learning Styles lets you know how you learn best. It also includes information on memory and tips for study skill success.
Careers
This section gives users information about particular careers, similar to Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is available in the library and also free online. Users can search alphabetically for career title, by school subjects that the user enjoys, by career clusters, or industry. There is also a military careers option. I looked at the section on horse trainers. In every single picture, the horse was well-behaved. However, the description did include long hours and the risk of being kicked or thrown from horses. It is definitely a useful tool for people to learn about the types of jobs that are available.
Education
Users can search by colleges or major. They can also search by keyword. I searched for horses. There were three colleges for Equestrian/Equine Studies. It also informs users what degrees the institutions grant, such as Associates, Bachelors, and Graduate degrees. It describes the course of study. This tool is similar to the print books that we have on colleges in the United States. In addition, you can compare schools, use a school selector, and create a planning timeline.
Financial Aid
You can search for scholarships by name or by using the Financial Aid Selector. You can also search for Federal Financial Aid. Federal loans usually have lower interest rates than private loans. Users should be cognizant of what the expected salary for particular jobs to ensure that they will be able to repay the loans. Student financial aid these days is extremely pricey, and it is important for people to consider the costs of education before they embark on degree programs.
Employment
Employment guide provides instruction on interviewing skills, letter writing, the job search process, resumes, job offers, and what to do on the job. Job performance can be difficult to learn for new employees. After all, there is no course in schooling to teach people how to perform on the job. It is a learning process, and many new employees find the adjustment challenging. Therefore, it is useful to read and the expectations ahead of time. We also have books on many aspect of the job search, particularly in the Science, Industry and Business Library, home of Job Search Central.
Access this wonderful database on site at the library or from home through our web site with your library card number and PIN!
“I have great memories of going to the library as a super little kid for story times on weekday mornings...Every time I walked into that library I felt this sensation of the world opening up to me.”
There's simply no denying it anymore: the '90s are back with a vengeance. If you've embraced the nostalgia, perhaps one of the '90s jams you've been playing is "Peaches" by Seattle alternative band Presidents of the United States of America (PUSA). Probably "Lump," also. While many musical acts of yore have faded away, Chris Ballew comfortably transitioned to "parents music" in 2009, using the moniker Caspar Babypants, and performs at libraries, schools, and other family friendly events. Caspar Babypants makes it easier than ever for humans of all ages to rock 'n' read forever!
What inspired the transition from PUSA to Caspar Babypants?
The entire time that I was doing PUSA I had a gut feeling that I was not through searching for my real artistic voice. I tried and tried and failed to find out what that true musical self was until I met my wife Kate Endle, and her artwork inspired me to make innocent songs with few instruments. When I listened back to those songs, I realized that family music was my true calling. I WAS THRILLED!!!
What is your favorite part about performing in libraries?
I love how attentive everyone is at the beginning of the show. I use that time to do the more wordy songs in my collection. I also love the way the parents are available to participate by singing along and clapping. I really make "parents music," so having them involved is key.
What role have libraries played throughout your life (pre-Caspar Babypants)?
I have great memories of going to the library as a super little kid for story times on weekday mornings and sitting is a little circle listening to the librarian read while my mom went around and got the books she wanted. Every time I walked into that library I felt this sensation of the world opening up to me.
Is there a specific person or book that made you into the reader you are now?
There are a couple of books that really jump-started my current voracious reading appetite. The Alienist by Caleb Carr is a perfect piece of historical fiction that I have read about four times. Dracula by Bram Stoker set off hallucinations in my mind as I read it because of the vivid, descriptive storytelling. There was also a collection of poems by Rumi the Sufi called Open Secret that was my first time diving deeply into poetry.
Has any one book in particular had a lasting effect on you?
They all do, really! It would be super hard to pinpoint one, but I guess I would have to go back to Dracula for that hallucinatory feeling I got reading it. I want people to SEE what I sing when I am singing songs for kids and parents as Caspar Babypants, and that impulse was significantly strengthened by my experience reading that book.
What is a classic that you've never gotten around to reading but would like to one day?
Moby-Dick is that classic that I still have not tackled. I just got back from Nantucket and did a lot of immersion while I was there in the history of the island and the big fire in 1846 and the rise and fall of the whaling industry. That trip reminded me that I really must find time to read that book!
Who is your favorite character from literature and why?
I have never thought about that but as I let my mind drift for an answer, Alice from Alice in Wonderland comes to mind. She had her whole sense of reality shift and flex and she found a way to navigate despite all those impossibilities. I have a fluid relationship with the "real" world as well and find I travel as far in my imagination as I do in reality.
What children's book has your favorite illustrations?
My wife's work is my favorite for sure! It is her work that inspired me to make the music that I do as Caspar Babypants. It has a perfect balance of craft and skill and innocence and ease.
What genre do you prefer? Are there any you can't get into?
I love all genres, really. I find myself stuck in a long pattern of reading social theory or music theory, and then I drift over to fiction for a while, and then historical fiction, then science for a break from that, then biographies, and then back to theory. I am all over the place!
What are you currently reading? If nothing at the moment, what was the last book you read?
The last book I read was The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and I LOVED it. It is part historical and part mythological children's story and part family drama. I highly recommend it. Currently I am reading Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Hunt. I just started it a couple of days ago so it is too soon for me to give a review but I am super intrigued by it. It is the story of two women who walked across America in 1896 so it's GOT to be good!
“I would like less screens in my life, but the ability to buy a book on the spot that someone at a party is telling me about is incredible.”
Are you looking forward to any books to be released soon?
While on tour, are you able to get much reading done?
I get a TON of reading done on tour. That is one of the reasons I can tolerate touring at all! Touring is really not a sustainable way of life for me and I am basically finished with that phase of life, so I look forward to getting as much reading in at home as I did on the road.
Do you have any tour memories involving books or libraries?
I had a collection of children's stories when I was little that had the most spooky illustrations. There was one story of a boy who mocked the farm where he lived and boasted that he could get along fine without any of the products that the farm produced. He fell asleep and had a dream in which all of the things he used that the farm produced disappeared, and he found himself naked in the night with ghostly images of the farm animals and the trees laughing at him. I still have that one illustration of that scene hanging up in my studio where I write and record music and it still scares me.
Where is your favorite place to read?
I love to read in bed at night before sleep. I love the way it clears my mind and influences my dreams.
Do you do any other writing aside from songwriting?
I do a little poetry when I am moved to do so. Otherwise, all of my writing energy is in songwriting. I have written a few children's books with my wife Kate but they were also songs, so it was a balance between songwriting and book writing.
What kind of book would you write?
I am BAFFLED by people that can write a well constructed novel. How do they do it? To invent a world and have it hang together amazes me. I would like to be Haruki Murakami for a while and be able to write like him.
Have any specific authors, books, and/or poems influenced your songwriting in any way?
Well aside form the Dracula experience there is Dr. Seuss. How many people can cite those two in one sentence? The alliteration and inner rhymes are a huge influence on my lyrical style for sure.
Do you have any favorite memoirs by musicians?
Life by Keith Richards was perfect. I understand him in a new way. Anytime the veil of fame is pulled back a bit, I am the first to applaud. Culture is so fame-obsessed, and the true stories of that experience are far more illuminating than the veil of fantasy.
What is the best book recommendation you have received?
The Snow Child from my wife Kate. She recommends a lot of books to me and her taste is excellent!
Do you prefer physical books, eBooks, or no strong opinion either way?
I have been a Kindle person for about four years now, and I have read dozens of books on my phone of all things, and I love it! So easy to set it up on the nightstand while in bed, and it turns itself off if I don't turn the page for a few minutes because I have drifted off to sleep. I would like less screens in my life, but the ability to buy a book on the spot that someone at a party is telling me about is incredible. I was just told about it and now I am reading it one minute later. BUT I am thinking of skipping the electronics for a while and going back to the library. It is such a beautiful resource that I have underused for a long time. I am ready to go back!
Do you have a library card? If so, which library system are you a member of?
Megan Goins-Diouf, Contributor of our current exhibition, The 75th Anniversary of the American Negro Theatre, remembers Abram Hill, Co-Founder, Executive Director, playwright and producer for the legendary playhouse.
Abram Hill directing a rehearsal of an American Negro Theatre production, 1944, Photographer unknown
Abram Hill was born on January 20, 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia, and made his first onstage appearance in the chapel of Morehouse College. His family moved to Harlem, New York, when he was thirteen, and he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the South Bronx and City College of New York for two years. After working a series of occasional jobs including a photographer’s assistant and elevator operator at Macy’s, he attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as a pre-med student in 1934. And in 1936 he secured a job in drama with the Civil Concentration Corps (CCC) where he directed plays.
For the next two years, Hill shuttled between working at the CCC and toward a Bachelor of Arts degree at Lincoln where he studied drama under J. Newton Hill. While there, he produced his first play in 1937, Hell’s Half Acre. After graduating in 1938, Hill worked as a play reader and Administrative Aide to the National Director of the Federal Theater (part of the Works Progress Administration). His second play, On Striver’s Row, was produced by the Rose McClendon Players in 1939, just one year before he co-founded the American Negro Theatre (ANT) in 1940.
Hill was most known for his plays which explored cross-cultural experiences, including On Striver’s Row, Walk Hard, and Anna Lucasta. In celebration of our commemorative exhibit, and the ANT's successful near decade run, Hill continues to be lauded for his capital investment in the development of "Harlem's Little Library Theatre," as well as his cultivation of the black genre of American theater.
As the Executive Director, Hill established and steered the training school, which included speech, design, choreography and acting classes that further propelled the talent that defines the ANT. His biography, alongside co-founder Frederick O’Neal’s, highlights his dedication to create opportunities for African Americans in all aspects of theater, and his passion for making the theater relevant and accessible to all Harlemites. His legacy offers us a foundation for the struggle for African-American storytellers to tell their own stories, and emphasizes the importance of honest depictions of black life.
“It was a great oversight” of the Constitution’s framers that they did not give the United States a “proper name.” So claimed Samuel Latham Mitchill in an 1803 broadside. A doctor by training, Mitchill not only diagnosed this problem, he also proposed a remedy. The land occupied by the United States, he suggested, should be called Fredon, or Fredonia in its more “poetical” form. The people of Fredonia would be called Fredonians or Fredes. And the adjectival form would be Fredish. Mitchill declared these various words were “sonorous,” and the whole language “rich and copious.” This Fredish language would even translate well into verse: “Their chiefs, to glory lead on/The noble sons of Fredon.”
"Generic Names for the Country and People of the
United States of America" (1803), Early American Imprints, Series 2, no. 4267
Strange as this all sounds, Mitchill’s proposals might have succeeded. Mitchill convinced some contemporaries that he was on to something. Jedidiah Morse, who wrote the most important geography text of the period, advocated for this new “generic name” for the United States. Here Morse followed Mitchill, who dismissed “United States” as an inadequate name. It was “a political, and not a geographical title.” For Morse, Fredonia worked better than America because the latter described not just the United States, but also all of North and South America. Columbia, another possibility, simply would not sound as good as Fredonia in “all the variations, important in a generic name.”
Mitchill’s proposal even found its way into a few maps.
"United States or Fredon," in H.G. Spafford, General Geography, 1809
In April of 1803, around the time he published the broadside, Mitchill wrote to Noah Webster asking for his support. Reaching out to Webster made a great deal of sense and Mitchill had reason to be optimistic that Webster would approve of his plan. Through his Grammatical Institute of the English Language, which was the most famous textbook of its day, and later the American Dictionary of the English Language, Webster tried to Americanize the English language. His publications during the late eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries proposed a coherent programme to systematise spelling and grammar in the United States in a way that did honour to the new nation. The fact that the last sentence looks strange is testament to his success.
Samuel Latham Mitchill to Noah Webster, April 23, 1803
Webster was interested in language for many of the same reasons Mitchill was interested in renaming the United States. He believed that language was at the centre center of national identity. Mitchill seized on these congruities when he wrote to Webster. Without a new generic name, Mitchill argued, “we cannot be completely national, nor properly express national feelings, concerns or relations of any kind.” It was a thoroughly Websterian argument.
But Mitchill failed to convince Webster. His belief in the connection between language and nation notwithstanding, Webster spent surprisingly little time thinking about what to call the Unite States and its people. In his dictionary, Webster defined “America” as the continent extending from the “eightieth degree of North, to the fifty-fourth degree of South Latitude”—what we call North and South America. He defined Americans as “A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America.” Likewise, he defined “Columbian” as “Pertaining to the United States, or to America, discovered by Columbus.” Webster clearly knew the limits of the more common names for the US—that neither actually described only the United States or its citizens. But he remained surprisingly unperturbed.
Webster’s indifference was probably the downfall of Fredonia. So much of what Noah Webster supported actually happened, in one form or another. His early advocacy led to the creation of state and national laws protecting copyright. His schoolbooks were the most influential of their time, and transformed elementary education in the United States. And his dictionary changed the English language in the Western Hemisphere. If anyone could have made Fredonia stick, it was Webster.
Noah Webster’s writings loom large in historians’ efforts to understand how early Fredons Americans attempted to forge a nation out of their revolution. That is because Webster was a central figure in that process. But that also meant people wrote to Webster for help and support in their nation-building projects. Webster fielded quirky proposals like Mitchill’s. He also received sober requests, such as William Cranch’s plea for Webster’s help in publishing an early edition of court reports. The digitization of Webster’s outgoing and incoming correspondence makes widely available an unparalleled resource for studying the range of ways in which Americans sought to build a nation in the wake of the American Revolution.
Noah Webster to David Hogan (a Philadelphia printer) January 10, 1804
About the Early American Manuscripts Project
With support from the The Polonsky Foundation, The New York Public Library is currently digitizing upwards of 50,000 pages of historic early American manuscript material. The Early American Manuscripts Project will allow students, researchers, and the general public to revisit major political events of the era from new perspectives and to explore currents of everyday social, cultural, and economic life in the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods. The project will present on-line for the first time high quality facsimiles of key documents from America’s Founding, including the papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Drawing on the full breadth of the Library’s manuscript collections, it will also make widely available less well-known manuscript sources, including business papers of Atlantic merchants, diaries of people ranging from elite New York women to Christian Indian preachers, and organizational records of voluntary associations and philanthropic organizations. Over the next two years, this trove of manuscript sources, previously available only at the Library, will be made freely available through nypl.org.
“Write what you know,” they say. So, for TransgenderAwareness Month, we present trans (or trans-adjacent) authors (and one author with trans family members) who’ve written memorable trans characters—one book for children, one for young adults, and one for adults.
A wonderful, important novel written for kids around fourth through sixth grades (but appropriate for readers of many ages). The story centers on a girl who was designated male at birth—“George”—but knows she’s really “Melissa.” When her class puts on the stage version of Charlotte’s Web, she wants the role of Charlotte, and it sets off a train of events that lead to Melissa coming out, literally and figuratively.
“It seemed really important that kids have a book that reflects themselves and also that reflects trans people even if they’re not themselves trans,” Gino told MTV.
We’re stretching the rules a bit for this young-adult title: The author isn’t trans, but Cris Beam’s partner and foster daughter are—and the book is just too good not to include in this list. It’s the story of a boy designated female at birth, trying to navigate the physical changes of transitioning and the emotional changes of growing up. But J is more than a stand-in for an idea; he’s a fully formed character who feels eminently real, and his pain and joy become tangible through Beam’s skillful writing.
“I think that in smaller genres, like trans lit, there’s a tremendous pressure to be representative, to be a lot of things to a lot of people…. And yet, I wanted to give J room to be a kid—an individual, imperfect, courageous, terrified, talented, regular kid. He’s just one voice among many—and, while there’s some wonderful transgender writing out there already, there’s so much more room on the shelves!” Beam said in an interview.
Maria, a young trans punk, made a life for herself in New York City. But when her long-term girlfriend breaks up with her, she sheds her city skin and takes off on a road trip. Binnie won Lambda Literary’s 2014 Emerging Writer Award for Nevada, which defies easy categorization yet appeals to a truly broad audience of readers.
“Having a specific audience in mind—trans women—was probably the main thing that kept me on track with this stuff. And I feel really lucky that it resonated so much with people who aren't trans women too…One piece of wisdom that I guess I know is that if you try to make a thing for everyone you're gonna make a thing nobody's gonna like (unless the groaning, planet-destroying machinery of capitalism coerces them into it, but I don't have the keys to those machines) so I at least had a lot of faith that I could do a good job making a thing for trans women,” Binnie told The Rejectionist.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!
Did you know that the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education offers grants to K-12 and postsecondary educators and administrators to study and travel abroad?
The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program provides short-term seminars abroad for U.S. educators in the social sciences and humanities to improve their understanding and knowledge of the peoples and cultures of other countries. The program offers educational lectures and activities specifically designed for the group, including visits to local schools and organizations, meetings with educators and students, visits to cultural sites. Participants draw on their experiences during the program to create new, cross-cultural curricula for their classrooms and school systems back in the U.S.
In 2016, summer programs will be offered to Peru, India, and Senegal. the program covers airfare, lodging, and program costs. Participants should be prepared to pay a cost-share of up to $600.
Summer 2016 Seminar for Primary Level Educators K-8 (Elementary/Middle)
Destination: Peru
Seminar Title: Exploring the indigenous heritage of Peru: its impact on education and current society
Duration: Up to five weeks, exact dates to be determined (typically beginning in early July)
Participants: U.S. school teachers, administrators, and media resource specialists at the elementary/middle level (kindergarten through 8th grade)
Summer 2016 Seminars for Secondary School Educators (9-12)
Destination:India
Seminar Title: Sustainable Development and Social Change in India
Duration: Pre-departure orientation: July 5-6, 2016 (may be subject to change). Program in India: July 8-August 12, 2016 (may be subject to change)
Participants: U.S. school teachers, librarians, media resource specialists, and administrators at the secondary level (9th through 12 th grade)
Summer 2016 Seminars for Postsecondary School Educators (U.S. community colleges, 4-year public/private institutions)
Destination: Senegal
Seminar Title: Up to five weeks, exact dates to be determined
Participants: Faculty and administrators from U.S. community colleges, 4-year public/private institutions in the fields of social sciences, arts, humanities, foreign languages, and area studies.
The summer 2016 application and reference form deadline is December 9, 2015.
Food - Focal Exhibit - Man looking at exhibit on chemicals and food. Image ID: 1673317
The Food and Drug Administration is currently requesting comments on use of the term "natural" in food labels. Natural is a slippery term because most packaged food undergoes some degree of processing, and the FDA does not strictly regulate usage of the word. Right now "natural" is allowed to describe foods without added colors, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances. "Natural" does not describe production, processing or manufacturing methods. It probably bears repeating that natural doesn't even necessarily mean "good for you"—there are lots of dangerous toxins that are also all-natural! The FDA is requesting feedback because of Citizen Petitions and private litigation over genetically engineered food and food additives. What gets to be called natural? You have until February 10, 2016 to comment.
Right now I am reading Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food, one of those "one-year challenge" books where the author tries to radically change his or her lifestyle for a year and then write and sell a book about it. I was skeptical at first—but quickly warmed up to Megan Kimble's completely down-to-earth story of her year trying to avoid processed food, much of which involves trying to define what unprocessed even means. Just like "natural," a lot depends on context and your own level of comfort.
Can she make bread if she grinds her own wheat? Most whole wheat products are the result of the bran and the germ being "put back together again" after being industrially separated, and most flour is rancid by the time it lands on a store shelf. Can she buy salt or is it better to harvest from the sea? Most commercial salt is solution-mined, which is energy-intensive, but cheaper than large scale evaporation ponds. (For more on the topic, see Salt: A World History.) Can she use a microwave or a food processor, can she get it fixed when it breaks, or is it destined for landfill, like so many of our planned obsolescence appliances? Kimble takes each food group from beginning to end and unwraps each chapter deliberately, delicately, much in the way her grandmother consciously savored that daily piece of dark chocolate. Even if you don't decide to unprocess your entire life after reading this book, you might think a little more carefully about when and how you do enjoy processed food.
There are chemicals in our food! There are chemicals in our food? Well of course, everything is made of chemicals. That is science. Some are good for us, some are bad, some are benign, and some we just don't know. Ingredients: A Visual Exploration of 75 Additives & 25 Food Products attempts to demystify all of these chemicals and what they do, why they are there at all. The big takeaway? When you are cooking at home in small quantities, you can use a few fresh ingredients, know exactly what is going in, and eat what you make quickly before it gets stale or goes bad. In commercial food production, everything needs to scale way up, and be produced in enormous batches using industrial machinery. After that, it probably has to sit on a store shelf or your cupboard and somehow still taste REALLY GOOD by the time you get around to eating it. Industrial food additives are good for making all of this happen, for better or worse. Ingredients features incredible photography by Dwight Eschliman, getting you up close to the particles and droplets added to food, and the text by Steve Ettlinger is so addictively, snackably readable... you might wonder just what substance is responsible for that.
The front section goes in depth into each additive, and the back highlights a few processed food favorites and a breakdown of everything in them.
The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor
In nature, Mark Schatzker explains, flavor means nutrition. But if our fake foods are pumped full of unnatural flavors, and our natural produce is blander than bland, the physiological signals telling us what and how much to eat are sent totally out of whack.
From Charles Scammon's Marine Mammals of the North-western Coast of North America, 1874
Saturday, November 14 marks the 164th anniversary of the publication of Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick. In honor of this occasion, I made a "cool, collected dive" into the Library's collections, to share early editions, illustrated works, whale charts, and even scrimshaw—works that speak to the universe within this leviathan of a novel.
And if you think you may find yourself weary of the "carking cares of earth, and seeking sentiment in tar and blubber" this weekend in New York, then you can do no better than to head to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which is hosting a marathon reading of this unforgettable novel.
¡Adivina que tenemos de lectura y de cocina…temas de autoayuda, romance y recetas divinas!
He aquí otra nueva selección de novelas nuevas, temas de superación personal y platos deliciosos para disfrutar un buen Día de Acción de Gracias. Además, Food Safety ofrece consejos y videos informativos para ayudar a preparar una cena saludable y segura para la fabulosa ocasión.
Annie Ferguson, una reputada joven arquitecta que dedicó a cuidar de sus tres sobrinos empieza a sentirse sola cuando ellos crecen y se alejan, pero cuando encuentra a un apuesto y exitoso presentador de televisión su vida cambia en el lugar menos esperado.
Para todo el que disfrute leyendo y cocinando, Julian Barnes, uno de los más célebres escritores ingleses de nuestros días, comparte sus divertidas experiencias y aventuras culinarias.
Anna y Bennett nunca debían haberse encontrado, ella vive en Chicago en el 1995, y él viaja a través del tiempo, pero luchan por mantener su romance de larga distancia a pesar de todo.
Oprima aquí para obtener esta lista en formato PDF. Algunas de las obras también pueden estar disponibles en diferentes formatos. Para más información sírvase comunicarse con el bibliotecario de su biblioteca local. Síganos por ¡Twitter! Los amantes de la lectura y escritura podrían además disfrutar del club de libros latinos y la lista de lectura ReadLatinoLit de las Comadres y Compadres (en inglés y español). Para información sobre eventos favor de visitar: Eventos en Español. Más Blog en Español.
SAGEWorks Boot Camp - Enrollment Now open for November 30th. SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT- friendly environment. This 2 week training takes place from Monday - Friday, 11/30 - 12/11 - 9:30 am - to 2:00 pm at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001.
Heightened Security, Inc. will present a recruitment on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 10 am - 2 pm for Security Guard (5 F/T & P/T openings), at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355.
NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services Informational Session on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 10 am, at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. Participating businesses include NYC Department of education, New York City Police Department, New York City Fire Department, New York City Department of Sanitation, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation and New York City Building.
SAGEWorks Workshop - Enhance Your Professional Development, Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 3-4:30 pm, at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10001. SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT - friendly environment.
Duane Reade will present a recruitment on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 10 am - 4 pm, for Shift Leader (2 openings), Assistant Store Manager (2 openings), Stock Associate (10 openings), Cashier (10 openings), at the New York State Department of Labor - Workforce 1 Career Center , 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
SAGEWorks Workshop - Effective Online Job Search and Interviewing Techniques, on Friday, November 20, 2015, 12 - 1:30 pm at the Science, Industry and Business Library, NYPL, 188 Madison Avenue, Lower Level, New York, NY 10016. SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT-Friendly Environment.
If you would like to receive information for a future event showcasing employment opportunities at the Hotel Syracuse, please send an email to recruitment.dews@labor.ny.gov with 'Hotel Syracuse" in the subject line.
The New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCE&TC) is an association of 200 community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions that annually provide job training and employment services to over 750,000 New Yorkers, including welfare recipients, unemployed workers, low-wage workers, at-risk youth, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the mentally and physically disabled. View NYCE&TC Job Listings.
Digital NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company, startup, investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workplace, accelerator, incubator, resource, and organization in the five boroughs. Search jobs by category on this site.
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 or call 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.
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 eight 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 six weeks and includes test prep and 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, email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690, or visit. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.
Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains women and places them in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. It helps women achieve economic independence and a secure future. For information call 212-627-6252 or register online.
Grace Institute provides tuition-free, practical job training in a supportive learning community for underserved New York area women of all ages and from many different backgrounds. For information call 212-832-7605.
Please note this page will be revised when more recruitment events for the week of November 15 become available.
Both Gone Girl and Medea feature two classic examples of the Femme Fatale archetype. In this installment of the Reader's Den, we will examine the appearance of the vengeful female or femme fatale as portrayed in film.
Medea was originally conceived of as a play by Euripides, and first staged in 431 BC at a festival held in Athens honoring the Greek God Dionysus (it took a third place prize). Throughout the ages, differing civilizations have had different reactions to Medea's theme of taking justice into one's own hand in an unjust society, Amy Dunne's 'taking matters into her own hands' probably is less defensible ; although the book and film versions of Gone Girl offer a scathing critique of how the media can exert powerful influence over the justice system.
Medea e Giasone. Image ID: 1622935
On screen there have been several interesting interpretations of the Medea story, notably iconoclastic Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea(1969) starring opera diva Maria Callas in the title role. With stunning scenes shot in Turkey, a sparse haunting score and dazzling costume design, Pasolini's interpretation focuses attention on class division, through the contrast of life on Colchis and in Greece. Lars von Trier, the iconoclastic Danish director, made a stark and violent version ofMedea (1988) for Danish television, starring Udo Kier as Jason.
A femme fatale is defined as: an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. Let's have some fun with our femme fatale's through the lens of film.
Film Noir of the 1940s were rife with femme fatale archetypes. Film scholars posit that because the role of women in society changed so dramatically during and after WWII in the United States, Hollywood started paying more attention to casting strong starring female characters. Some classic femme fatales on film include Jane Greer in Out of the Past. In Dark Passage, Humphrey Bogart finds himself in a situation similar to Nick Dunne, falsely accused of his wife's murder, aided by Lauren Bacall to help solve the mystery. Barbara Stanwyck plots her husband's demise in Double Indemnity, as does Lana Turner with a drifter she meets at her husband's gas station in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
The 1960s and '70s were the height of the women's liberation movement, and a change in the portayal of womens' roles on film came about as a result. Faye Dunaway shines as gun toting Bonnie Parker to Warren Beatty's Mr. Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde, while her performance as the calculating Ms. Mulwray in Chinatown harkens back to the '40s Noir era. Pam Grier's unforgettable performances in Coffy andFoxy Brownepitomizes the female vigilante within a socially critical urban framework. And Anne Bancroft's Ms. Robinson seduces unwitting Dustin Hoffman in The Graduatebefore he knows what hits him.
Kathleen Turner Certainly no viewer can remain unscathed by the potboiler concocted by jilted lover Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Director Paul Verhoeven visits this theme in Basic Instinct with Sharon Stone, Nicole Kidman exploits a student in Gus Van Sant's To Die For. Sean Young pulls the wool over Harrison Ford in Bladerunner. One of Abel Ferrara's earliest films, Ms. 45, concerns a young, mute seamstress in New York exacting some revenge after becoming the victim of street crime. Isabella Rosallini plays a mysterious night club singer in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. A widower gets drawn into a web of confusion with a young woman who pretends to be trying out for his film in Audition, and who can forget the trail of blood and tears left behind by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.
Everyone's got their favorite femme fatale: Readers—let us know who YOUR favorite femme fatale in film or fiction is!
Thank you for reading November in the Reader's Den!
We'll be back next month in the Reader's Den with The Coming of Conan the Cimmarian by Robert E. Howard, illustrated by Mark Schultz.
I was excited to learn about Latino literature for youth on October 31 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, "the library with the lions." Karen Ginman, Youth Materials Selector for NYPL and BPL, hosted the event. We had some very interesting panelists, including Daniel Jose Older, Adam Silvera, Sonia Manzano, Torrey Maldonado, and Crystal Velasquez. Maldonado is a teacher and author, and he has been named a Top Teacher by the NYC Department of Education. Manzano, a.k.a. Maria on Sesame Street, has won 15 Emmys for television writing. Adam Silvera was a bookseller and is an author. Velasquez is a proofreader and author. This event was a panel discussion moderated by Ginman.
Ginman asked the authors what experiences in their lives led them to reading and writing.
Where Are the Latinos?
Manzano connected with books based on emotion. There were no Latinos on television when she was growing up.
Velasquez did not read Latino authors. Instead, she loved Stephen King, VC Andrews, and Nancy Drew. When she discovered that S. E. Hinton had her book, The Outsiders, published when she was 17 years old, she was inspired. She thought, 'I can do this.' At this point, she had been reading so much that she wanted to write books. She imitated Hinton, then she developed her own voice.
Silvera is 25 years old, and he grew up in the Harry Potter generation. Like the other panelists, he did not see Latinos in literature. The first Spanish character that he saw was in City of Bones.
Older liked Harry Potter and The Wire. His mother is a Latin American literature professor. He loved fantasy and sci-fi books when he was young, but Latinos were not in them. He wanted to write Latinos into science fiction.
Maldonado's mother inspired him to write. She wrote everything in a spiral notebook. He copied her. He was fascinated by Ezra Jack Keats, who wrote The Snowy Day. When he first saw and heard the story, he thought that his mother wrote a story about him since he saw a little brown boy in the illustrations.
Maldonado read an article in which the author scoffed at magic realism. Some people do not take the genre seriously.
Ginman mentioned that Shadowshaper has a maternal feel. She inquired as to how maternal figures influence the panelists' writing.
Machismo in the Bronx
Silvera's impression of men in his life is that the Bronx is very masculine. However, the women in his life were the heroes. He discovered belatedly that all of the male characters in his book, More Happy Than Not, "sucked."
Maldonado opined that machismo is a ball and chain around men. It holds them to this concept. He wants to embrace Puerto Ricans, but does he also have to embrace machismo in order for this to occur?
Silvera said that you can pick and choose what you want to emphasize about the culture. However, people are inevitably called out if they do not embrace the totality of the culture.
Maldonado told us that the mother in his book, Secret Saturdays, warns her son that if he keeps his emotions contained and does not share them that he will eventually explode like a soda can that has been shaken. She tells him if he remains muy macho that he will end up like his father.
Ginman asked Older to discuss how he created his masculine character.
Older said that males struggle to discover who they are as Latinos without getting caught up in machismo. It is important not to sugarcoat this issues in books, and kids are surprisingly eager to talk about the gender stereotypes that they see portrayed in novels.
Maldonado lamented the fact that students are not given positive male role models to emulate. A boy in his class who at first could not believe that his teacher had written a book took it home one evening. The very next day, he returned, said that he had read the entire book, and he wanted to talk about his life. He turned in two written pages about masculinity. At first, Maldonado was skeptical that he could have read the book that fast. However, these books really have an impact on kids.
Older described the world of Shadowshaper as very patriarchal. He wondered how people honor traditions while also acknowledging how those traditions have harmed us.
Ginman mentioned that some of the characters in the panelists' books had strong magical powers. Why did the authors choose that? Also, how does Latino(a) influence their writing?
Life as a Latina
Velasquez said that it is rare to see girls in charge in literature. Even when there are strong female characters, they are often cast as sidekicks to the male characters.
Ginman stated that Manzano's book, Becoming Maria, is a memoir. She asked her to discuss the scene where she wanted a box of crayons and the store owner touched her inappropriately. Young women find it challenging to deflect such unwelcome advances.
Manzano wanted her character to be real. The drug store owner asked if she wanted crayons, then touched her breasts as he walked by her. She knew that she would have to let him continue in order to obtain the crayons. Then, a cop came to the door and yelled at him. Only then did she have validation of an authority figure that what happened should not have. She was 11 or 12 years old at the time, and she did not tell her mother because she was not sure if it was her fault. She surmised that perhaps wanting the crayons was a sin and that she was being punished for that. In the 1950s, this type of behavior was not considered to be abuse or a sexual assault.
Older talks about girls being street harassed in Brooklyn in his book because that is reality. He would feel dishonest if this information was not included in his novel. Some people have an idea that literature is supposed to shield people from reality, and we need to have a conversation about it.
Velasquez shared the notion that girls today desire to look older, but she was never like that. By contrast, she simply wanted to cover up, not look like she was already an adult.
Maldonado met a girl fan who wanted his book to be converted into a movie. He asked who was going to make it into a movie, and she replied that it would be Vanessa, a character in his book that delivered his sister, Isabelle. He wanted to hold up strong female characters for girls to admire.
Velasquez sometimes hears that kids are averse to reading, but she always encounters kids who love reading. They want print books, not Kindle books or other e-books.
Manzano gets invited to many organizations who are concerned about children not liking books.
Maldonado makes video game and movie references in his talks to kids, and this always entices them. Kids are addicted to the instantaneous reward that media brings to their lives. We need to write like the media in order to capture kids' attention. When kids look at books in comparison to TV, they say that it is mad boring by comparison.
Manzano believes that some kids simply see books as things they have to read, then answer five questions in the back. Reading is seen only as homework.
Ginman mentioned that the circulation statistics (number of books checked out) in libraries is high; therefore, kids must be reading. Kids who are interested in reading do so, but it is difficult to entice reluctant readers.
Maldonado believes that the rise of Latino literature has something to do with the growing excitement that the books have kids that are like the readers. His mother recently gave him Junot Diaz's book, Drown. He believes that when kids can relate to the characters, library circulation statistics go through the roof.
Latinos Step Into Literature
Older stated that the kids on the covers of best-selling books are not black or brown. The industry needs to have a conversation about this. Latino books get more attention now than they did two years ago. He became a serious reader at age 19.
Ginman wondered if there is push back from publishers about putting certain things in books.
Silvera wrote a book about a boy who is gay and wants to go through a procedure. His character, Aaron, is Puerto Rican. The publisher asked if the character has to be gay and Puerto Rican. They asked if they were not shooting themselves in the foot twice. Also, his character does not speak Spanish, but that does not make him less Hispanic.
Manzano thinks that the illustrations of Latino books are subjected to more scrutiny. For example, Diary of a Wimpy Kid would not work if the diarist was a Latina. Successful works need to be clever, charming and have a good idea.
Older lamented the fact that we are still working with quotas, which do not allow us to experience the full breath of humanity. Publishers need to stop telling authors that they already have a book with a Chinese character. Also, many of these "cultural" books are being written by white authors and writers of color are still being excluded.
Maldonado's publisher wanted his book because it is unique, and it had not been written about before. The character was half Puerto Rican and half African American. The publisher was not optimistic about the book, and was publishing the book to make a dent in the industry. He has been to mostly white book festivals.
Ginman suggested that the Latino characters in the novelists' books feel authentic to her.
Silvera's book is about happiness. Since everyone strives for that, it is easier for him to connect with readers.
Velasquez has visited many schools in underserved communities. In one school, a girl approached her with tears in her eyes. She asked the author if anyone has ever told her that she was not good enough. Velasquez could tell that someone had told the girl that, and she was glad that she could say that she had succeeded and serve as a role model for kids.
Ginman appreciates that the books allow kids to discuss racism, sexism, and other societal issues and to ask questions about them. She then opened the floor for audience questions.
Audience Questions
Someone from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies asked what differentiates teen from children's books.
Manzano responded that it has to do with marketing. For example, in Europe, The Book Thief is considered to be for adults, but it is a teen book here. Also, to her, Sounder is an adult book due to the themes expressed in the book. However, her niece in elementary school is reading the dog. It is considered to be a children's book because there is a dog in it and no big words.
Velasquez likes teen books because there is freedom to say more. She was told be a publisher that saying a boy is "dreamy" was too sexual for a children's book.
Manzano wrote her book as a teen novel because it is told from the perspective of a young person.
Older thinks that teen books have a turning point that includes a push towards adulthood.
Ginman mentioned that kissing or not kissing, and having fights off-scene or on-scene can determine how books get classified. Not all teen books have high sexuality and/or violence content, but content of that sort tends to push books towards a teen or adult age-group classification.
Maldonado has been asked how his book is teen since there is no sex in the book. Also, someone asked him why he should read the book because he is not black or Puerto Rican. There still remains much work that could be done in terms of cultural sensitivity.
I learned much about Latino culture from attending this event.
Alice in Wonderland: 150 Years Later
Saturday, December 12 at 2 p.m. in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Auditorium.
Join scholars and specialists Monica Edinger, Michael Patrick Hearn, Charles Santore, and artist Robert Sabuda (ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland - Pop-Up Book) as they discuss the wit, wonder, and legacy of Lewis Carroll's most iconic creation as she enters her 150th year. Moderated by Dana Sheridan, Education and Outreach Coordinator of the Cotsen Children's Library - Princeton University.
Over the last few years while I’ve been reading young adult books for our Best Books For Teens committee, I noticed many books featuring twins as characters. Sometimes they had a strong emotional or spiritual connection, sometimes their personalities were total opposites of each other, and sometimes they could even impersonate each other. Here are ten YA novels featuring twins—sometimes as friends, sometimes as enemies, but always as family.
One by Sarah Crossan
Tippi and Grace are literally joined at the hip. They are conjoined twins who have different hopes and different dreams, but they’ve always shared the same body.
Untwine by Edwidge Danticat
When Giselle wakes up in the hospital, she’s so badly injured that she can’t speak or move. All she can do is remember what happened before, and remember how she and Isabelle were holding hands when the red minivan hit their car.
Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Raeanne and Kaeleigh seem perfect to the outside world, because they are part of a perfect family. But the girls are holding on to secrets that threaten to destroy that perfect world.
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
There used to be five people in this family. Now there are only three, unless you count the urn that contains Rose’s ashes.
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Jude and Noah are twins who are filled with both love and jealousy for each other. Can either one succeed if the other fails?
The Fall by Bethany Griffin
Madeleine Usher is eighteen years old, and she’s just been been buried alive. How did she get to this place, and how can she escape?
There Will Come a Time by Carrie Arcos
Mark and his twin sister Grace were in a car accident. He survived, she didn’t, and now he’s trying to deal with the empty space she left behind.
The Third Twin by CJ Omololu
Lexi and Ava are twin girls who used to imagine that they had a third identical sister. When they were little, it was easy to blame “Alicia” for anything that went wrong.
The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver
Ella was always the good, shy twin and Maddy was always the outgoing, popular one. Then one night a tragic accident ends one life and changes another.
Damage Done by Amanda Panitch
Julia survived the school shooting that took place when her brother brought a gun to school. How much does she really remember about what happened?
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your picks! Tell us what you'd recommend: Leave a comment or email us.
There was a shooting at Pleasant Valley High School. Loner students clad in red attire attempted to kill their fellow students and teachers while wearing trench coats. Then, they committed suicide.
