October 21 marks the birthday of Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the most well-known and popular science fiction and fantasy authors living today. Over the course of her 40-year career, she's published dozens of novels, collections of short stories, essays, and volumes of poetry to critical acclaim; won the Hugo, Nebula, PEN-Malamud, and National Book Award; and pushed the boundaries of science fiction. Her masterful storytelling, which weaves together anthropology, issues of gender identity and sexuality, high fantasy, and sci-fi, has made her an American legend in literary fiction.
If you've never read Le Guin before, you're missing out on some great literature. You don’t have to be a hardcore fantasy fan to appreciate the beauty of Le Guin's writing, her wonderful storytelling, or the vivid fictional worlds she creates. If you want to celebrate this living legend's 88th, pick up a copy of one of her books at your library. We'll help you figure out where to start:
A Wizard of Earthsea: This classic about a young magician who hones his powers at a wizarding school on the fictional archipelago of Earthsea is one of Le Guin's most beloved novels. Originally published as a children's book in 1968, it's become widely regarded as a high fantasy novel, cited as an influence by David Mitchell and a "wellspring" of fantasy by Margaret Atwood. If you can't get enough of Earthsea after you finish this, check out the rest of the books in Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle to immerse yourself in the lore of this richly crafted world.
Left Hand of Darkness: This Hugo and Nebula winning science fiction novel, a hit upon its release in 1970, established Le Guin as one of the most influential science fiction authors and a pioneer in feminist fiction. The novel is famous for its setting, a fictional planet called Gethen where all inhabitants are ambisexual, experiencing changing gender and sexual characteristics. This trait shapes the entire society and culture of Gethen, making Left Hand of Darkness one of the first novels to use anthropology and sociology, rather than technological innovation, as the basis for a speculative world.
The Complete Orsinia: The Library of America is recognized across the country as the publisher of America's most classic literature; the image of an LOA book jacket is synonymous with great American works. It’s rare for them to publish a living author's works, but this year they’re publishing Le Guin, starting with The Complete Orsinia, which includes thirteen short stories and a novel set in a fictional Eastern European country. It's not science fiction or fantasy, but this mix of literary and historical fiction is just as rich and exciting as her more famous works; after all, Le Guin herself asked that it be honored by the Library of America, forever cementing her legacy as a fiction writer, not just a genre writer.
The Unreal and the Real: If short stories pique your interest, look no further than this collection of thirty-eight short stories, in which Le Guin herself gathers the best tales, both fantastic and realistic, from her oeuvre in one place. Included here is the often anthologized "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," a story about a utopian society whose happiness depends on a troubling secret.
Lavinia: Le Guin's most recent novel is a retelling of the story of Lavinia, a minor character in Virgil's Aeneid, and her experiences in the chaos of ancient Italy before the founding of Rome. Fated to marry Aeneas and provoke war between her countrymen and the Trojans, Lavinia never had a chance to speak in Virgil's epic poem, but in this evocative reimagining of Roman myth, Le Guin gives this character agency and a voice.
Finding My Elegy: Le Guin is best known for her fiction, but she's been publishing poetry for over fifty years, and this volume of selected early and new poems is a must-read. The imagistic style that makes Le Guin so regarded amongst science fiction fans, coupled with some of her most personal subject matter, makes this a great place to start with Le Guin if you're a poetry nut.
Got any other Le Guin recommendations? Shout them out in the comments, along with a "Happy Birthday Ursula!"
Tim Wu is a scholar of media and technology best known for coining the phrase "network neutrality." His first book The Master Switch tells the story of the corporate powers attempting to consolidate control over the internet, while The Attention Merchants shows how attention is harvested in favor of free wares or services. For this week's episode of the New York Public Library Podcast, we're proud to present Tim Wu discussing the internet, attention, and the problem with free stuff.
While devices like smartphones and fitness trackers have become nearly ubiquitous, Wu notes that the devices often come with consequences for their users, namely, that users are bombarded with advertisements:
"One of the things I'm really concerned about with the future of living is how much we can trust the devices that are in our home and that we wear? How often do they have your interests fully at stake or are they actually of mixed motives because if you are an attention merchant, you have an advertising platform. Many of our phones for example, they are both doing what we say, they call people, but they also want to be able to deliver us to advertisers at the right time... Most devices now they sort of do what you say but they also manipulate you. These devices, they want to buy stuff for you or the self-driving car wants to go where you say but they might also have some other things they'd like you to do. I'm worried about a future where everything is a trip to a gift store."
The internet is often framed as technology that seizes attention. Wu describes attention as highly valued in an economy rich in other resources:
"In a rich country like the United States where more and more things are in abundance, where very few people starve or don't have shelter, don't have clothing, there are only a few things that are in true scarcity, especially for richer people, and one of them is attention. So if you are Facebook or Google and you have this many hours of people a day or if you're the NFL or CBS, you have one of the last things that are truly scarce, that is, the human mind. What might be happening even though you're talking about three percent of GDP is maybe you're counting wrong, maybe you've got the wrong currency. Maybe the thing that really matters is the only thing that's scarce. One of the few things that's scarce anymore is time."
One unintended consequence of digesting free media, says Wu, is that media is degraded:
"We are obsessed, indeed addicted, to free stuff... People won't pay. Their idea is that news is free, and that's it. So we have a cultural problem. Some of it is faced off by subscription models or something. I think ultimately, we will get the culture we're willing to pay for. I probably wouldn't have said that twenty years ago, but I think now we expect everything to be free and imagine that we're going to be a country or a nation with a great culture, we're going to be sorely disappointed. We're going to end up with what we're paying for, which is free stuff leads you to pictures of cats, which I like now and then, but there's got to be more."
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Independent presses publish some of the most remarkable, surprising, and daring literature, often on shoestring budgets and with small marketing departments. At The New York Public Library, we know small presses publish big books, from alt presses to international indie houses. As we enter the award season for books, we're looking back at a few times that these literary underdogs won big over the last fifty years.
Image ID: 1614132, The New York Public Library
2011 National Book Award: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury)
"Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize puppies."
2010 National Book Award: Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (McPherson & Company)
"At the rock-bottom end of the sport of kings sits the ruthless and often violent world of cheap horse racing, where trainers and jockeys, grooms and hotwalkers, loan sharks and touts all struggle to take an edge, or prove their luck, or just survive. Equal parts Nathanael West, Damon Runyon and Eudora Welty, Lord of Misrule follows five characters, scarred and lonely dreamers in the American grain, through a year and four races at Indian Mount Downs, downriver from Wheeling, West Virginia-- from dust jacket."
1997 National Book Award: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (The Atlantic Monthly Press)
"Inman, an injured and disillusioned Confederate soldier, embarks on a harrowing journey home to his sweetheart, Ada, who herself is struggling to run the farm left her at her father's sudden death."
"The elegant short fictions gathered hereabout the love of science and the science of love are often set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century. Interweaving historical and fictional characters, they encompass both past and present as they negotiate the complex territory of ambition, failure, achievement, and shattered dreams."
1985 National Book Award: Easy in the Islands by Bob Shacochis (Crown Publishing Group)
"A National Book Award-winning collection of short works is set in the Caribbean and incorporates such elements as fleets of fishing boats making their way through remote atolls, reggae bars on narrow islands, sprawling barrios, and yacht-filled Miami marinas. Reprint."
2010 Pulitzer: Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press)
"On his deathbed, surrounded by his family, George Washington Crosby's throughts drift back to his childhood and the father who abandoned him when he was twelve."
1981: Pulitzer A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole (Louisiana State University Press)
"A New Orleans misanthrope who constantly rebukes society, Ignatius Reilly, gets a job at his mother's urging but ends up leading a worker's revolt."
1996: National Book Critics Circle Award Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault (Counterpoint Press)
"A collection of thirty-five stories examining people's behavior and what motivates them."
2011: National Book Critics Circle Award Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman (Lookout Books)
"Presents a collection of short stories that focus on the trials and tribulations of a group of Northeasterners."
Join the conversation. Tell us the indie books you believe deserve award recognition in the comment section below.
Leaves are changing color, the air smells crisp and clean, pumpkin spice everything is back in stores, and sweater weather is here at last! If you’re anything like me, you’ve been waiting all year to get those sweaters out of storage and live the cozy life again. Being a fan of coolthings found in our Digital Collections, I decided to see what was in vogue during sweater weather past. If you’re looking for some fashion or knitting inspiration, the Digital Collections delivers some amazing designs from the 19th century. Click on the images to get more details.
Two half-fitting frame-work jackets and a cape from 1871:
Keep your knees extra warm with a knit knee warmer from 1862:
Go with a knitted “sack” or the Parisian Spencer from 1848:
These knitted drawers from 1862 are definitely not itchy:
“A beautiful and warm Talma for concerts, opera, &c” circa 1859:
“Well-Dressed Folks Wear The Bradley Muffler...Ask Your Local Merchant to Show You.”
Once you’re covered in sweaters, don’t forget to loop this video:
When vocal artist Russell Saint John was preparing for a concert of the music of greats Paul Robeson and Hall Johnson, he turned to his nearby Hamilton Grange Library to conduct his research. "To have all of this information at your fingertips is phenomenal," he says. "This is a place for growth, and that's what The New York Public Library is for me."
Library Stories is a video series from The New York Public Library that shows what the Library means to our users, staff, donors, and communities through moving personal interviews.
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October is my favorite month of the year, and it's not because of apple picking or pumpkin spice lattes. It's scary movie season, which means for one glorious month, my obsession with all things horror has a use. Inured to creepy clowns, excessive gore, and yelp-inducing jump scares, I take great pleasure in staying up late with my non-horror-fan friends and subjecting them to B-movie slashers, gleefully munching caramel corn as they scream for dear life. So yeah: October's a fun month for me.
But don't get me wrong: there are a few movies that still scare the living daylights out of me, and dozens of repeat viewings doesn't diminish the fright one bit. The scariest horror films are all scary in their own way, but they do share one thing: great actors. More than any other genre, horror cinema requires top-notch acting to sell the viewer on a supernatural, nightmarish, or otherwise improbable world; it takes a great performance to make you afraid of a chainsaw-wielding serial killer when you're really just sitting at home on the couch.
So I made a list of my top twenty favorite horror movie roles: hulking serial killers, uncanny psychopaths, scream queens, and zombie killers, plus the actors that made these characters so iconic and haunting. Check out the list of films below, and have a few friends over to watch two or three — if you dare. Happy Halloween!
Scream is a memorable movie for so many reasons: the famously terrifying opening scene with Drew Barrymore, the story-hungry anchorwoman played by Courtney Cox, and of course, the character of Ghostface, whose mask is so ubiquitous this time of year. But Neve Campbell is what makes this slasher comedy great, and its sequels... well, tolerable. Prescott's the emotional core of this pulpy 90's shocker, the only one who's smart, capable, and brave enough to solve and survive the string of murders that upend her small town community and unbury her own family traumas. At once innocent and wise, vulnerable and tough, Campbell set the standard for 21st century scream queens to come — one that I don't think anyone's met yet.Image from Night of the Living Dead, 1968.
Night of the Living Dead, the scariest, goriest movie of its time and widely considered the first zombie movie, tells the story of a group of strangers who have barricaded themselves in a farmhouse to survive an onslaught of undead cannibals. Their leader is Ben, played by Duane Jones, a resourceful, willful, collected man who protects his posse and serves as the group's moral compass as tensions rise. Ben is the archetypal zombie movie hero, the kind of character you fiercely root for and admire without even thinking about it. In addition to delivering an iconic performance, Jones also broke racial barriers with his work in this film, becoming one of the first black actors to star as the hero of a major motion picture.Image from Misery, 1990.
Kathy Bates is one of the few actors to win an Academy Award for a role in a horror film, and if you've seen Misery, you know why: she's absolutely hair-raising as the Colorado nurse who abducts her favorite novelist and tortures him into writing stories. In one moment she's composed, and in the next, she's unhinged. Her unpredictability is what makes Wilkes so damn scary, and gives the movie roller coaster excitement despite its simple premise. If you can make it through this movie, you have to at least get up to the hobbling scene —though I wouldn't blame you if you turn off the TV after you see just how scary Kathy Bates can get.
As I said before, great actors make great horror, and Jaws is timeless for a reason: the leads who propel this film are all excellent, with Roy Scheider giving his hydrophobic Police Chief Brody stoicism and sensitivity while Richard Dreyfuss is perfectly awkward, sarcastic, and geeky as marine biologist Matt Hooper. But Robert Shaw, as local shark hunter Quint, is the one who steals the show. From his hypnotizing opening monologue to his manic excitement upon encountering the shark in open water, Shaw draws your gaze whenever he's on screen, even when he's sharing it with a twenty-five foot great white. Plus, his speech towards the end of the film about surviving a shipwreck in World War II is about as nerve-frying as the rest of the film put together.
16. Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween
Jamie Lee Curtis was only 19 when she landed the part of Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's Halloween, and after its release she became one of the best known scream queens of all time and catapulted to a massively successful career in horror and beyond. With the perfect blend of grit, fear, smarts, and determination, Curtis turned Laurie Strode from a helpless victim into an avenging heroine, setting a new standard for final girls in horror cinema for decades to come. Sure, Nick Castle is scary as psychopath Michael Myers, but the role is not that demanding: it’s mostly standing around without saying a word. It's Curtis' palpable emotion and her dedication to making Strode feel authentic that makes the terror of Carpenter's masterpiece resonate.
Don't say his name five times in the mirror, or you might summon one of the spookiest boogeymen in modern horror. The Candyman, expertly played by a menacing Tony Todd, is revived after a graduate student researching his story attempts to discredit his existence. Armed with a wicked hook and a swarm of bees, Candyman's most bone-chilling trait is that voice: deep, rasping, and ghostly, every time this vengeful spirit speaks he glues you to your seat. Todd is certainly scary as Candyman, but he also gives this demon who, when alive, was murdered by townspeople for having an affair with a white woman, a subtle dignity that makes him all the more sympathetic and fascinating.Image from The Fly, 1986.
Jeff Goldblum is a renowned actor with dozens of credits under his belt, but his best role of all time might just be his turn as Dr. Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg's delightfully disturbing, gruesome adaptation of George Langelaan’s short story of the same name. A brilliant, charismatic scientist with the secret to teleportation technology, Brundle's pride leads him to attempt an experiment that fuses his body with that of a housefly's, granting him supernatural abilities, disfiguring his body, and taking over his mind as he develops into a repulsive hybrid creature. Goldblum, who many critics feel was snubbed by the Academy Awards, is masterful in his characterization of Dr. Brundle throughout all the phases of his ugly transformation, playing the antihero of this classic horror-tragedy to a T. Image from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 1974.
Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface: the archetype of the brutal, unstoppable hulk with nothing but a mask, a choice tool, and a need to kill has dominated horror films for the last forty years. But what makes Leatherface special? Gunnar Hansen's turn as the rural grunt who knows nothing but murder in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre shows something we don't see in Jason or Mike Myers: vulnerability, fear, even tenderness for his desiccated Grandpa during the film's harrowing final sequence. That doesn't mean Leatherface isn't absolutely terrifying; pound for pound, Texas Chain Saw might be the scariest horror film of all time.
For the audience to believe that a character could plausibly scare someone to death, as Sadako is reputed to, then she has to be pretty damn scary, and boy, does Rie Ino deliver. As the protagonists of Ringu watch the cursed videotape that results in death a week after viewing and dive deeper into Sadako's backstory, we also see Ino play Sadako before her tragic end, which gives the character even more dimension and, with it, even sympathy. But that won't stop you from unplugging your TV and phone after the movie's over to ward off any possible Sadako invasions. You've probably heard this a hundred times, but this J-horror classic is twice as scary as the formidable American version -- rent it now!
You couldn't do this list without Freddy Krueger, the infamous antagonist of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, played by Robert Englund in nearly every installment since 1984. Unlike the other iconic villains of horror history, Krueger isn't some strong and silent type; he's a wiry creep with a wicked laugh, a near-playful sadistic streak, and a nasty pair of pruning gloves. He's disturbing, decaying, and definitely keeping you up at night, and it's all thanks to a frightening and yet weirdly charming portrayal by classically trained actor Robert Englund. One of the few people to portray the same character in a horror film eight times, Englund has given Krueger a truly unique personality in the horror canon, creating an enduring legend that's spooked generations of fans.
Audition isn't as well known in the States as some other Japanese horror films, but it's a tonal masterpiece and one of the most disturbing films ever. A lonely widower, encouraged by his son to start dating again, holds an "audition" to meet his next wife, and instantly falls for Asami, a delicate and insecure young woman with a mysterious charm. But he doesn't know that Asami has a gruesome secret, a traumatic past, and a collection of really, really sharp needles. You can probably guess where this is headed, but the real treat of this film is watching Shiina deliver a devastating performance. She hits all the right marks: she's demure, seductive, awkward, frail, and then, in the film's brilliant final third, gleefully sadistic. Asami's giddy chant in the movie's last sequence will keep you up at night for weeks after the movie's over: "Kiri, kiri, kiri, kiri..."
9. Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance in The Shining
Shockingly, Shelley Duvall was nominated for a Raspberry Award for her work on this film; Stephen King, who wrote the source material, notoriously hated the movie and her performance, while critics chose to focus on Kubrick's direction rather than her acting. Duvall may be over the top, but so would you be if your husband started to go mad while tending to a haunted hotel in the dead of winter. Wendy Torrance is perpetually shaken, and Duvall manages to capture her abject terror, her despair, and her turmoil; she seems to wonder, in every scene, "How can this be happening to me?" If her pain seems real, that's because part of it is: Kubrick famously pushed Duvall to the very breaking point on set, forcing to her cry, scream, do hundreds of takes and ostracizing her from the crew. Jack Nicholson said later that she had the hardest job of any actor he'd seen; that commitment alone entitles her to a spot on this list.
Norman Bates: the very name of the psychopathic motel proprietor in Hitchcock's scariest film is enough to make one shudder. Psycho is iconic for so many reasons -- the shower scene, the shrieking violins, the frank depictions of sexuality and gore — but the villain brought to life by acclaimed actor Anthony Perkins might be the most enduring part of Psycho's legacy. Creating the template of the Oedipal, perverted, demented murderer that would pervade horror for decades to come, Perkins' legendary performance has legions of imitators and few equals.
7. Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams in the Evil Dead series
Many of the performances on this list are imitated in other films, or are themselves perfections of an archetype; it’s hard to find a truly unique character in horror cinema. But there is simply no one like Bruce Campbell as zombie-fighter Ash Williams in the Evil Dead series. Somehow both quick-witted and totally hapless, as confident as an action hero and as frightened as a child, Ash Williams is all over the place, changing from movie to movie, scene to scene, even shot to shot. Bruce Campbell expertly and hilariously tackles this performance in all three movies and the acclaimed TV spin-off, Ash vs. Evil Dead. Watch The Evil Dead to see Campbell ace visceral, low-budget horror; Evil Dead II for the perfect balance of terror and laughs; and Army of Darkness for just plain weird.
His smile. His mask. His appetites. His voice: calm, elegant, and ice cold. Everything about Hannibal Lecter seems fine-tuned to frighten, and Hopkins makes him feel so real he might leap out of the screen. It's no wonder the great British actor won his only Academy Award for his portrayal of the cannibal genius, which he dominates despite another powerhouse performance from Jodie Foster and a disturbing villain in serial killer Buffalo Bill. And if Silence of the Lambs isn't enough Lecter for you (though I can understand why you might think any Lecter is too much) check out Hopkins' star turns in the gorier Hannibaland Red Dragon.
I'm a huge fan of Carrie, the very first movie adapted from a Stephen King book, especially the cast (Piper Laurie! John Travolta!) But Sissy Spacek, in one of her best-known roles, is absolutely stunning in this movie about an abused teenager who develops telekinetic powers. Spacek is all-out terrifying in the movie's final scene in the high school gym, but what's more special is her own expression of fear: fear of her strictly religious mother, of her taunting classmates, of forming relationships, of the painful awkwardness of adolescence. Carrie, like all the best horror movies, takes our innate fear of something normal and realistic and then blows it beyond our wildest imaginations into total nightmare, and it works because of Spacek's believable, heartbreaking, and disturbing performance, from the opening scene to the creepy last scare.
There has never been a scarier child in horror than the possessed Regan MacNeil, played with all the fearsomeness of a veteran actor many times her age by 13-year-old Linda Blair. The Exorcist is considered by many to be the greatest horror movie ever, and with such a terrifying performance at its center, how could it not be? Once Regan is possessed, Blair delivers sheer fright and nothing but, spasming, shrieking, twisting, and cursing her way into your nightmares. If you believe in demonic possession, Linda Blair's Academy Award-nominated tour de force will shake you to your core; and if you don't, then by the end of this film, you will.
Sigourney Weaver's most famous role, Ripley is the toughest protagonist in horror and perhaps the most beloved heroine in the movies. When a fearsome extraterrestrial killing machine gets loose in Ripley's ship, she and the rest of the crew have to figure out how to hunt it down before it does the same to them. Weaver makes Ellen Ripley immediately likeable, and her total lack of helplessness or passivity made her a wildly popular feminist icon; she'd square off against the aliens again in the action-heavy Aliensand Alien 3. But if you're looking for great scares and great acting, the first Alien will do some damage: the movie's thrilling conclusion contains both in spades.
The story of a newlywed woman who thinks she might be giving birth to the devil, Rosemary's Baby is just as scary as it was fifty years ago, and that's because of Mia Farrow. This movie doesn't rely on special effects, jump scares, or gore like so many modern horror films. All Roman Polanski needed to shock an audience was Farrow's petrified face, eyes wide, completely aghast, and screaming from fear. It's the perfect horror movie performance because Farrow expresses the suspicion, the paranoia, and the terror so authentically that the viewer really feels they're there. More than anything else in the film, it's the acting that haunts you in this American horror classic.
Who else could it be? A defining role in a career of defining roles, a horror character with an enduring legacy of fright and a massive influence on pop culture, a villain whose face has become the very meaning of madness and murder, Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance is the height of horror acting. Even in his opening scenes as the soon-to-go-mad writer, there's just something off about Nicholson, as if there's a crazy switch in Torrance that's begging to be flipped. And flip he does, going full-on hallucinating cabin fever murderer in the film's last half as he chases his family around the Overlook Hotel with an axe and an unforgettable grin. He's electric, he's bloodthirsty, he's manic and deadly serious: and he's coming to get you.
Got any other favorite horror movie roles? Let us know in the comments! And don’t forget, all these films and more scary flicks are available to rent at the NYPL.
People often ask us to recommend a good book for their book club. We usually turn to a character-driven story, particularly those in which the character faces a choice that changes the course of their lives. Moral quandaries are ripe for debate. Books with intricate plotlines or connected storylines and multiple perspectives are good choices. These books are often made better—and the reading becomes more layered—through discussion. Finally, books with ambiguous endings can lead to good speculative discussions. We asked our book expert staff what books have worked well in the book clubs they host in library branches across the city. Here’s what they said:
Oh! I love this prompt. I'm going to be greedy and suggest three. My favorite book discussion books, in this order are:
1. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. What seems like such a simple (yet dark) narrative opens into a trove of moral quandaries, some of which genuinely surprised me. The ethics of healthcare, friendship, education, raising children, eating animals, or even of what it means to be human came up the last time I was part of a discussion on this book. It's like a diamond: every time you shift it ever so slightly, a new color or glint of light appears that you didn't quite see before.
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I love a dystopian tale for shedding light on the most basic and important elements of humanity. Simple, repetitious refrains between father and son explode ideas about family, community, country, and faith that undergird daily life in America.
3. The Circle by Dave Eggers. Similar to the last two, this book is highly accessible due to the familiar language in which it is written, and the topical nature of its subject. However, it traffics in big capital: Ideas about technology, privacy, democracy, religion, culture, and the psychology of crowds.
—Nancy Aravecz, Jefferson Market
Our adult book club here at the Mosholu branch just read Invitation To a Beheadingby Vladimir Nabokov. The crime committed has such a loose definition one could talk for hours about what is "gnostical turpitude" and how does one commit it? The open ending allowed for much interpretation. Nabokov's prose style is fun to explore with others. The reading of others may add a new layer to your own.
Mosholu's children's book club had great success reading Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton. This is a great introduction to free verse poetry for children. The story is engaging and relatable. The injustices faced by the protagonists and other secondary characters will hit home for anyone who has moved to a new community, faced racial or gender discrimination, or felt out of place.
—Richard Dowe, Mosholu
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight sparked great conversation at Aguilar. The suspenseful plot, with alternating points of view explores how popularity, bullying and social media affect teenagers and parents after a suspected suicide of a teen girl. A quick yet thrilling reads that raises questions about modern parenting and growing up in the 21st century.
—Morgan O’Reily, Aguilar
At the Chatham Square branch we did a 4th grade book club with The Nocturnals Book One: The Mysterious Abductions by Tracy Hecht. This funny book follows some nocturnal animals as they try to track down their missing friends. Our discussion sparked questions about the grey area between 'hero' and 'villain', what it means to be a good leader, and also got our class interested in non-fiction materials about the book's unique animals!
—Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square
In sci-fi, I suggest Nodby Adrian Barnes. If you were part of the one in 10,000 people who could still sleep, how would you survive in a world going insane? Your fellow humans would slowly die as total lack of sleep destroyed first their minds, then their bodies. Is that a judgment of humanity? Were you chosen for some reason?
There's also Isaac Asimov's Foundation. Sure, it's golden age sci-fi but it does ask pertinent questions about empires in decline. Hari Seldon invents psychohistory, a new discipline that predicts the arc of society after the Galactic Empire's downfall. Is that disturbing on an individual level or simply an advanced sociology we have yet to discover? Would individual actions even matter anymore? Did they ever?
—Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil
The Nix by Nathan Hill is rich with jumping off points for a book discussion: folklore, technology, politics and a plot full of flashbacks that spans several states. The family drama evokes Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections for me, another great book discussion book.
—Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market
One of our best discussions in recent years was of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It's a big book, and very much a product of its time, but I think we were all pleasantly surprised by how engaging it still is—in terms of story, characters, and social significance.
—David Nochimson, Pelham Parkway-Van Nest
The St. Agnes branch hosts a book group of Upper West Side ladies and several of their choices have generated energetic discussions. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is one example. Even if you did not protest against the war in Vietnam this just might have you singing "and it's one, two, three what are we fighting for…" by Country Joe and the Fish.
Another was Stephen King's 11/23/63. This novel is not a horror story but a story that's about a horrible event in United States history. Before JFK was assassinated no one would believe that something so tragic could happe, but what if someone could go back in time and prevent it? It's a long book but King's attention to the details of the late '50s and early '60s and the tension really made it a winner for our book group.
—Peggy Salwen, St. Agnes
At The Bronx Library Center, we read The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. The play generated some interesting and varied conversation topics due to its mixture of tragedy and comedy, and its peculiar ending.
A couple other Shakespeare plays that I would also suggest for book discussions are King Learand The Merchant of Venice. Both the heroes and the villains in these plays are complex characters, and in some characters' cases there are multiple ways to interpret their motives, their personalities, and how responsible they are (or are not) for their actions and for the situations in which they find themselves.
—Christina Lebec, Bronx Library Center
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pea generated a flurry of discussion among my teen readers. Some of them were quite offended by the title but this led to a greater discussion about racial identity and multi-cultural families. They were appalled to learn the book had been taken off school reading lists in Arizona, which led to a much bigger discussion about book censorship and intellectual freedom.
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!
Guest post by Jennifer Eberhardt, Special Collections, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the performance series 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, held at New York’s 69th Regiment Armory from October 13-23, 1966. A central landmark in the history of experimental dance, music, and the use of technology in the arts, 9 Evenings was organized by Bell Laboratories’ engineer Billy Klüver and artist Robert Rauschenberg. Pairing 10 artists and performers with over 30 technical engineers from Bell Labs, 9 Evenings aimed to present new collaborative works that pushed the boundaries of technological innovation and performance. Preparation between artists and performers began in late 1965 and the eventual works presented over the course of 9 Evenings included applications of doppler radar (choreographer Lucinda Childs), infrared cameras (Rauschenberg), bioelectrodes (choreographer Alex Hay), inflated polyethylene environments (choreographer Steve Paxton), and an integrated multichannel sound, light, and projection system (composer David Tudor), among other cutting-edge technologies. Total attendance for the series exceeded 13,000. The final program included:
Physical Things, Steve Paxton (October 13 & 19, 1966)
Grass Field, Alex Hay (October 13 & 22, 1966)
Solo, Deborah Hay (October 13 & 23, 1966)
Open Score, Robert Rauschenberg (October 14 & 23, 1966)
Bandoneon! (a combine), David Tudor (October 14 & 18, 1966)
In 1966-67, along with fellow 9 Evenings participants Robert Whitman (artist) and Fred Waldhauer (engineer), Klüver and Rauschenberg formally founded the non-profit organization Experiments in Art and Technology, Incorporated (E.A.T.). Advocating that creative collaboration between the arts and technology benefitted both in ways unachievable through their individual development, E.A.T.’s mission was to encourage progressive artist-engineer partnerships along the lines of 9 Evenings. E.A.T. solicited membership applications and project proposals from performers, engineers, and artists, sponsoring project competitions, a lecture-demonstration series, and a matching service for arts practitioners seeking like-minded technicians. In New York, the work of E.A.T.-member artists and engineers was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (1968) and the Brooklyn Museum (1969), and, by the late 1960s, E.A.T. had established over two dozen regional chapters with 4,000 individual members.
In observance of their 50th anniversaries, a current case exhibit on the third floor of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts highlights materials related to 9 Evenings and E.A.T. drawn from the collections of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division and the Music Division’s American Music Collection. The exhibit includes photographs and an original program documenting 9 Evenings performances, newsletters and other early publications describing the organizational objectives and technological aesthetic of E.A.T., composer John Cage’s handwritten sketches and notes for Variations VII, first performed at 9 Evenings (as well as a payment receipt from E.A.T. to choreographer Merce Cunningham—in the amount of $6.40—for his contributions to the work), and correspondence, photographs, and ephemera related to two later E.A.T. projects, the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion at the 1970 World’s Fair Exposition in Osaka, Japan, and the 1971 New York arts benefit and auction ARTCA$H.
At the conclusion of the case exhibition, researchers interested in the history and impact of 9 Evenings and E.A.T. may locate relevant materials in the Jerome Robbins Papers (*MGZMD 130, Box 505, Folder 16), the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, Inc. records, Additions (*MGZMD 351, Box 22, Folder 2), the John Cage Music Manuscript Collection (JPB 95-3, Folders 340-342), and the Dance Division’s general program (*MGZB), photograph (*MGZEA), and clippings (*MGZR) collections, or by contacting dance@nypl.org or music@nypl.org.
Come hang out with Readers ServicOz! (See what we did there?) Lynn Lobash, manager of Readers Services, peels back the veil of mystery surrounding readers' advisory—and puts Gwen and Frank to the recommendations test.
Any book recommendations behind that curtain?
Photo via Yellow Brick Road Free Blog.
October 27 is a day remembered for a number of reasons throughout history: It is the 300th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; famous people were born on this day (Niccolò Paganini, in 1782 and Theodore Roosevelt, in 1858) and some died on this day (Prince Ivan the Great, 1505 and Lou Reed, 2014); in 1682 Philadelphia was supposedly founded on this day; in 1954 Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became the first African-American general in the United States Air Force; in 1982 Prince's album "1999" was released while China announced its population to be more than 1 billion people; total lunar eclipses took place on this day in 1920 and 2004.
Discover more about this day in science, industry and business history as can be found in our collection:
1811: Isaac Merrit Singer is born, an American inventor, actor, and entrepreneur who developed the Singer sewing machine and patented it in 1851. Many people had patented sewing machines before Singer, but his success was based on the practicality of his machine, the ease with which it could be adapted to home use, and its availability on an installment payment basis. His machine was also used in manufacturing to produce clothing, collars, gloves, hats, shoes, etc. Singer Sewing Machine Company manufactured 2,564 machines in 1856, and 13,000 in 1860 at a new plant on Mott Street in New York. Later, a massive plant was built near Elizabeth, New Jersey.
1873: Joseph Glidden submits an application to the U.S. Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West. Glidden’s was not the first barbed wire. His design, for which he did get a patent, significantly improved on previous ones by using two strands of wire twisted together to hold the barbed spur wires firmly in place. Glidden’s wire also soon proved to be well suited to mass production techniques, and by 1880 more than 80 million pounds of inexpensive Glidden-style barbed wire was sold, making it the most popular wire in the nation.
1874: "Every farmer who has trudged after a plow under a hot sun has doubtless wished for just some such an invention as that illustrated in the annexed engraving. It is simply an attachment readily applied to any convenient portion of the plow, the object of which is to support an umbrella and to allow of the same being adjusted so as always to throw its shade upon the plowman…This invention was patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency, October 27, 1874, to Jefferson G. Darby, of Fort Motte, S.C." Can you find this patent in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database?
1878: The Manhattan Savings Bank located at the corner of Bleecker Street and Broadway in New York City was robbed in what was hailed by The New York Timesas “the most sensational in the history of bank robberies in this country.” Several masked men stormed the bank and held a janitor and his family, who lived in the building, captive. Holding his wife and mother-in-law at gunpoint, the men forced the janitor to open the outer door of the bank vault. Then they worked on the inner vault door and eventually were able to gain access using their safe-cracking tools. The robbers quietly left the bank through the back door taking with them securities and money valued at $2,757,700.
The IRT Powerhouse (Interborough Rapid Transit Powerhouse) pictured here after completion in 1904 to support the subway system. It still takes the entire block between 58th to 59th Street, and from 11th to 12th Avenues in Riverside South, Manhattan.
1925: American photographer and inventor Fred Waller receives patent no. 1,559,390 for water skis, at that time referred to as aquaplane.
1927: The first newsreel featuring sound is released in New York.
1961: NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. The Saturn I booster was a huge increase in size and power over anything previously launched. It was three times taller, required six times more fuel and produced ten times more thrust than the Jupiter-C rocket that had launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958. Unfortunately the Apollo 1 program (the first manned mission of the Apollo program) never made its target launch date. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal in 1967 killed all three crew members.
1980: In its October 27 issue, Business Week argues that every corporation has a corporate culture–that is, values that set a pattern for its employee’s activities, opinions and actions and that are instilled in succeeding generations of employees. While awareness of corporate or organizational culture in businesses and other organizations such as universities emerged in the 1960s, the term “corporate culture” was developed in the early 1980s and widely known by the 1990s.
1986: The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
1997: The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 554.26 points to 7,161.15. The stock market was shut down for the first time since the 1981 assassination attempt on U.S. President Roland Reagan. Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown.
Live from the Reading Room: Correspondence is a podcast series that aims to share interesting and engaging letters written by or to key historical figures from the African Diaspora.
Today’s episode features a letter from Trinidadian Poet Cheryl Boyce-Taylor to a group of friends and poets.
Photo Credit: Peter Dressel
Today’s correspondence is recited by Trinidadian native Natalya Mills-Mayrena. A costume historian, visual culture scholar, independent curator and educator whose scholarly writings and research integrates aspects of the Carnival arts, and Caribbean history with a central focus on dress and representation.
During the week, it can be tough to stay on top of everything. On Fridays, though, we suggest kicking back to catch up on all the delightful literary reading the internet has to offer. Don’t have the time to hunt for good reads? Never fear. We’ve rounded up the best bookish reading of the week for you.
No need to get up! Join our librarians from the home, office, playground — wherever you have internet access — for book recs on Twitter by following our handle @NYPLrecommends from 10 AM to 11 AM every Friday. Or, you can check NYPL Recommends any day of the week for more suggestions.
President Barack Obama, as guest editor of the November 2016 issue of WIRED magazine, released a list of his favorite sci-fi films (found here). There's some great stuff and it's all available at NYPL. Check out links to these items in our catalog below.
For 25 years Jeannine Otis, or Jahneen as she frequently goes by in the entertainment business, has been the Director of Music at Saint Marks Church in the Bowery where she once performed live with Allen Ginsberg. A recording artist on the Warner European label, Otis is also a talented and award-winning actress, author, teaching artist, curriculum design consultant, dancer and puppeteer... There's not a lot in the entertainment industry she hasn't done, and done well.
I love films ........I love Ingmar Bergman's FANNY & ALEXANDER... especially the final monologue. I love the film because it explores the blurred lines between the sacred and the profane.
I know you recently were part of a presentation at the Mid-Mahattan Library for Domestic Violence Month. Do you have any books that might address this issue or be helpful to those struggling to overcome trauma?
In a very real way dealing with the trauma in life is a day-to-day challenge. I have been in therapy groups and gone for counseling. These moves are very important. It the same as having a medical doctor identify illness... Sometimes we cannot figure out all this without professional help.
Then it is important to find the most holistic approach for healing I believe, That's different for everyone.
In a very profound way one is challenged to find ways to develop a daily practice that supports us to dig emotionally as well as strengthen the spirit.
As a writer I explore subject matter based on the issues that I am dealing with. When I am working with various groups, we write based on our theme...often the theme is related to social justice.
In 2015 I wrote a piece based on interviews from children of Migrant Farm Workers, their children, and supporters. It was performed by professionals and the children of farm workers involved in a program that helps the young people find educational opportunities.The piece was commissioned by Richard Wittwho has worked for three decades for this effort. I also had the honor of working alongside Pete Seeger in a concert for this group. (I was noted on Pete Seeger's Appreciation page.) THE GATHERING is based on the work I have been doing for two decades with young people labeled 'at-risk'—actually in the book AMBASSADORS FOR GOD there is an article that I wrote that explores in detail a lot of what my emotional motivation is.
I also do and have done VERY commercial recordings. JAHNEEN, Jahneen Otis, and earlier as Jeannine Otis, but already under Jeannine Otis I began doing projects that explored issues... MAGIC SONGS for example is a recording that explores reflections on life through the lens of Eino Leino, a distinguished Finnish poet. I also worked with the distinguished Finnish composer Heikki Sarmanto.
(I have to add that sometimes bonding in community settings comes from doing the silliest things together. It builds trust!)
What role have libraries played in your life?
Libraires are a kind of sanctuary. A place to be silent and explore in our minds, travel, imagine—a place to understand what has been and to visualize to create what's next.
What celebrities or public figures are you curious about?
Whose book list would you like to read?
Let us know in the comments!
Certified Recovery Peer Advocates (CRPAs) are individuals who have been certified to provide coaching, support, information, guidance, and motivation to those seeking or sustaining recovery from a substance use disorder. CRPAs have a unique blend of lived experience and specialized training in the field of recovery and the use of peer services as part of treatment plans has been shown to reduce hospitalizations, hasten recovery time, and improve patient experience. Strong hiring demand for this emerging title is expected to be forthcoming with the enhanced Medicaid reimbursement rate for peer services which went into effect in July 2015 and the inclusion of peer services in the transformation of behavioral health to medicaid managed care plans. Visit the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH) to learn more.
Queensborough Community College (QCC, CUNY) in partnership with the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare is recruiting participants for the Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) training program. This free training program will prepare participants to take the IC&RC CRPA certification exam, apply to one of New York's two certification boards, and work as a CRPA. This program will also provide participants with case-management and employment services to ensure they receive the supports needed to successfully complete the program and begin working as CRPAs.
Successful program graduates will earn 3 credits towards an associate degree in Public Health Administration at Queensborough Community College and have the opportunity to interview with employer partners.
This training program will take place in Flushing, NY on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6–10 PM starting in January 2017 for three months.
Those interested in participating should attend one of the information sessions at 2 PM on October 31, and November 3, 7, and 10, at CUNY Center for Higher Education, 39-07 Prince Street, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11354.
For more information, please contact Guiseppina Troia at 718-281-5535 or at gtroia@qcc.cuny.edu.
The curriculum development and pilot classes will be funded by NYACH and the Department of Small Business Services.
How do artists and designers find the images they use to spark their creativity? Source material, or the physical things that become elements of inspiration for artists, designers, writers, filmmakers, students, teachers, etc., is one of the happy reasons people visit the Picture Collection. We have tons of it. Andy Warhol is known to have sifted through these pictures, as well as, Joseph Cornell.
There were thousands of these source images: folder after folder filled with pictures clipped from colouring books, comics, cartoons, newspapers, adverts and magazines. They attested to an obsessive love of popular culture that reminded me again of Warhol, a hoarding and repurposing of just the kind of ordinary things that would later be embraced by Pop Art, something Darger never mentioned and quite possible never saw.
Despite the rumors about his disorderly, chaotic habits, Darger had evidently been meticulous in organising this raw material, establishing thematic groupings: sets of clouds and girls, images of the Civil War, of boys, men, butterflies, disasters - all the divergent elements, in fact, that together make up the universe of the Realms. He’d stored them in stacks of filthy envelopes, which were carefully labeled with his own idiosyncratic descriptions: ‘Plant and child pictures’, ‘Clouds to be drawn’, ‘Special picture Girl bending with stick and another jumping away in terror’, ‘One girl with some one’s finger under chin Maybe sketch maybe not’ (p. 160).
Darger had the same idea as us (perhaps he made an undocumented visit to New York City and the New York Public Library!). At the Picture Collection we organize images thematically, culled from books, magazines, and photographic collections, taking them out of their original context to open up the possibilities to how they can be interpreted.
Image ID 1588418, The New York Public Library
Image ID 1597482, The New York Public Library
Image ID 814604, The New York Public Library
The Picture Collection’s images are organized in subject headings, which have no hierarchy, but simply evolve as the number of pictures on a subject increases. Subjects are gathered by availability, chance and public interest. They can be idiosyncratic (you’ll find dinosaurs under Extinct Fauna -- Reptiles and Vikings under Northmen); others are fresh and attempting to keep up with changing interests. Many subjects are broken down by time period or region, including our two most popular headings, Costume and New York City. We have millions of images of source material, all available free to use and nicely, and uniquely, organized. Searching the collection for pictures is a chance to form your own algorithm, return images to your search by your own cognition or serendipity, although limited like the Internet, by what has been made available within the scope of the collection. You can take a peek at our subject headings with this cheat sheet!
Orange is the New Black and Girlscostume designer Jenn Rogien uses the collection when looking for ideas for dressing the shows' characters. When asked about her inspiration she listed, “People watching, NYC, vintage catalogs, street style pix, Bklyn event pix, @nypl picture collection.” Likewise, longtime Picture Collection user, Eric Chase Anderson found inspiration in our files while working on his book Chuck Dugan is AWOL, and more recently while working on the art for Maria Semple’s novel, Today Will Be Different, to garner ideas into a resource book:
Anderson, who worked on Today’s visual elements without being able to read the finished book, drew upon some of Semple’s suggested influences—which included outsider artist Henry Darger and Harriet the Spy author-illustrator Louise Fitzhugh—as well as months of research at the Picture Collection of the New York Public Library, where he looked for visual elements from the ’60s and ’70s. “We needed a healthy-sized but finite, curated collection [of research materials] we would both have on-hand, from which we could make selections we both liked,” says the 43-year-old artist. “From this came our Research Bible—a visual encyclopedia. [It] ended up being 234 pages, covering all kinds of looks for rooms, people, clothes, faces, expressions, scenes, settings, nature, and lots of textiles.” Raftery, Brian. “This Vivid, Hilarious Read Is the Comic (and Graphic!) Novel of the Year.” Wired.com, Conde Nast Digital, 4 Oct. 2016.
Image ID 833698, The New York Public Library
The use of found images as source material is often the process artists follow in creating new work. The idea behind art building upon itself has been discussed by art historians and critics such as E.H. Gombrich in The Story of Art. Gombrich writes, “I have tried to tell the story of art as the story of a continuous weaving and changing of traditions in which each work refers to the past and points to the future” (p. 595), therefore looking at what has come before to create something new. Appropriation (using an image in an artwork that was created by someone else, often with little alteration) is an even further take on the role of art in originality and the building of one idea or image from another. What do we make of the bottles that Warhol sourced from Coca-Cola ads he found in the Picture Collection? This can get legally sticky, but has been the basis of some famous art practice. Here are a few artists known for appropriated images into their work:
Books from Prince’s collection that offer the source of his artistic series. He often appropriates images from popular culture, such as the Marlboro Cowboys, in his artwork.
Appropriated everyday objects as works of art and called them Ready-mades.
Fair Use is often cited as the guide to avoiding copyright infringement, but it is important to understand the guidelines and limits of fair use. The images in the Picture Collection are copyright protected by their original owners. Every image is tagged with a code which documents the original source the image came from. But, there are over 44,000 images from the Picture Collection in the Library’s Digital Collections, and many are in the public domain and available free for reuse.
Image ID 822871, The New York Public Library
As a host to creators of visual expression, the Picture Collection celebrates its role as a repository of source material to provide inspiration. Please visit us whether you need images to illustrate the changing design of teapots across time and cultures, for the eyes of camel, for an 18th century ball gown, or just to browse for source material in a very special collection.
This is a guest post by Jennifer Eberhardt, Special Collections,The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Season’s greetings from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts! Featuring selections from the Dance Division’s rare book collection, a new case exhibit on the third floor of the Library for the Performing Arts presents a small historical survey of the characteristic imagery and common features of visual representations of the theme of the dance of death.
Walter Draesner, Ein Totentanz (Berlin and Leipzig, 1922), *MGRI-Res. 72-629
Visual treatments of the dance of death (danse macabre, Totentanz) emerged as a recurring form of memento mori—a reminder of mortality—during the Renaissance and persisted in various forms and adaptations into the twentieth century. Tracing their origins to medieval allegory and illustrated religious texts, these depictions conventionally personify Death in the figure of a human skeleton, capturing the moment he comes to summon his victims to their final demise. Frequently, Death carries an hourglass, spear, or arrow as symbols of the passage of time and life’s impermanence. Many early examples include a brief verse or two-part dialogue between Death and his chosen prey that serves to frame the scene and offer a lesson on the inescapability of death.
Guy Marchant, La danse macabre (Paris, 1925), *MGRI-Res. 73-340
The most well-known visual setting of the dance of death subject is a series of 41 woodcuts by German artist Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1593), published in 1538. Holbein’s woodcuts are arranged in a sequence according to the social rank or occupation of Death’s victims, an organization characteristic of many early dance of death interpretations. Common representative classes include the nobility (emperor/empress, king/queen), religious figures (pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, monk/nun), educated classes (judge, doctor, lawyer, merchant), and peasantry (laborer, farmer, old man, infant). Regardless of status, Death ensures a universal fate.
Wenceslaus Hollar after Holbein, in Holbein’s Dance of Death (London, 1858), *MGRI-Res. 72-622
Later examples of the dance of death sometimes forego this typology of socio-economic classes, but most preserve the general form of a series of thematic variations. Several of the Dance Division’s holdings on this subject, including some displayed currently as part of this exhibit, are nineteenth- and twentieth-century reprints of earlier dance of death texts —testifying to an enduring interest in our eventual, inevitable end.
Following the exhibition, the majority of the Dance Division's holdings on the dance of death can be located by searching within the *MGRI-Res.classmark in the catalog, or by contacting dance@nypl.org.
Foster and Troy are best buds, and they hang together always. Then, someone has the idea that they would like to work with horses in exchange for the chance to ride. Troy pairs up with the mare, Chance, and Foster ends up riding a gelding named Luke. But Foster never gels with Luke, and he longs to shoot some hoops again. Troy, on the other hand, treasures Chance, and he loves spending every possible minute with her.
Not surprisingly, women are also on the minds of the two boys in Philly. Foster meets Niki at a party, and he positively radiates joy when he spoke of her. Troy struggles with his feelings for Alisha, who is the polo instructor's niece. He dreads being forced to choose between her and Chance.
Troy picks up the dangerous sport of polo rather quickly; he feels quite an affinity for both the equines and the game. Trouble brews in the barn between him and another hot-spot player, Jerome. The tension between the boys is palpable, and it erupts one night with unexpected consequences.
Randstad (FedEx Ground ) HR Solutions will present a recruitment on Wednesday, November 2, 2016, 10 AM - 1 PM, for Seasonal Driver ( 15 openings), at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. No CDL required. Walk-ins welcome or RSVP to Ms. Diaz (718) 613-3696.
Spanish Speaking Resume Writing workshop on Thursday, November 3, 2016, 12:30 - 2:30 PM at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355. All interested jobseekers will learn to organize, revise and update resumes.
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 October 30 become available.
have a unique blend of lived experience and specialized training in the field of recovery and the use of peer services as part of treatment plans has been shown to reduce hospitalizations, hasten recovery time, and improve patient experience. Strong hiring demand for this emerging title is expected to be forthcoming with the enhanced Medicaid reimbursement rate for peer services which went into effect in July 2015 and the inclusion of peer services in the transformation of behavioral health to medicaid managed care plans. Visit the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH) 
