Are You In The Baby Boomers Group?

A friend handed me a copy of the USA Today newspaper the other day. It didn't matter to me that it was dated December 4, 2007, because I will read anything. . .to a certain point. But she really wanted to show me the article titled "What shaped the baby boomers."

The article was about a university professor who wanted his students to understand what the 1950s, '60s and '70s were all about. His class was called: "Talking About My Parent's Generation: Understanding Baby Boomers and How They've Shaped Us." Along with his lectures, class discussions and homework, he gave them a list of ten required books and a reading packet of 52 essays, articles and book excerpts, as well as 13 optional period films shown outside of class. The object of the course was to help close the generation gap, and to earn their credit, the kids had to learn about the boomers' world.

I found it interesting, because I wanted to know how many of his required books we have either in our own library or in the PINES Library System. Here's his list of books:

• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Hippie by Barry Miles
• The Movement and the Sixties by Terry H. Anderson
• A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
• The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and The Legacy of Vietnam by Jerry Lembcke
• Boomsday by Christopher Buckley
• The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
• Younger Than That Now: A Shared Passage From the Sixties by Jeff Durstewitz & Ruth Williams
• The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy by Leonard Steinhorn
• Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media by Susan Douglas

and this magazine

• Mad About the Sixties, Mad Magazine (recommended)

I found out I could check out everyone of those items through the PINES system! Now, that's what I call a winner!

There were a few items from the reading packet I could get also, such as:

• Jack Newfield's "The Beat Generation and the Un-Generation" from A Prophetic Minority
• Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" from Why We Can't Wait
• Betty Friedan's "The Problem That Has No Name" from The Feminine Mystique and
• Abbie Hoffman's "Looking Back on Woodstock" from Soon to Be a Major Movie Picture.

As for the movies, ones like Rebel Without a Cause, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Big Chill, I'd seen those. The others I felt I could check out from some local video store. . .unless they were considered old, really old.

Why am I telling you this, you wonder. I guess because I see it as another way we can learn about each other and understand better what people have gone through to bring us to this point in our lives. My parents' world was so different from mine, and mine is so different from my children's. We need to understand the different generations, the choices they had to make, and how those choices affected not only their lives, but affect our lives today. Will that help explain the hole in the ozone layer and change in temperature, or the rise in gasoline prices, or why everyone is now wanting organic foods? Probably.

Maybe if more parents and children had conversations about the things, the events, the experiences that shaped who they are, it would create a deeper level of understanding. Afterall, we really are alike, whether we admit it or not. And everyday we are creating history. If you think about it very long, it stuns you.

BIG Bugs Are Visiting The Library

There's a man here in Moultrie who creates BIG bugs. And when you come inside the main library and up the front steps of the foyer, you'll find a bunch of them right there in the glass display case. They're not your usual kind of bugs and they are really BIG! There's a spider, a crab and a caterpillar, just to name a few. And if you go into the Children's Library, you'll find even more in display cases
there.
All of these bugs are made from old motorcycle parts by a fantastic metal sculpture artist named A. J. Buehre who lives here in Moultrie. Miss Norma, our Children's Librarian, told me about him. Then I read an article in the Moultrie Observer by reporter Adelia Ladson, who interviewed Mr. Buehre. Here's what she found out.
Mr. Buehre grew up in Wisconsin, but moved to Moultrie ten years ago. He had worked as a welder and fabricator. He had a gallery in Wisconsin, but said he didn't like the experience. Even though there was a high demand for his art and even though he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't make two of the same thing, that's what people wanted him to do. So, he quit for a while and became a mechanical engineer for 15+ years. That's quite a while, huh? But it was apparently something he just couldn't give up
entirely.
When he moved to Moultrie, Georgia, he started working on his art again and now has a studio on his property. A. J. works with copper, brass, bronze and aluminum. He not only creates sculptures, but jewelry and furniture out of the old motorcycle parts. He also creates pieces that "just happen," and when he joins them together, they become a sculpture. His works have been shown locally and nationally.
You really should stop by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library and see Mr. Buehre's fantastic BIG bugs. And keep your eyes open for a large sculpture that will be on the Colquitt County Arts Center's property, too. He's already begun the drawings. Wonder if it will be another BIG bug!

Leon Cardwell Is June Employee Of The Month

For those of you who don't know Leon Cardwell, he's the fellow who sits behind the circulation desk every Tuesday evening and all day Saturday. Everyone who knows Leon says the same thing about him: he has a wry sense of humor, is very witty, and you never know what to expect from him. He can be quite a tease at times. And fun!
Well, Leon was selected as the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library's June Employee of the Month.
And he was really tickled when he received the award from library director, Melody Jenkins. You could see it on his face...a slight grin and mischievous, smiling eyes. Everyone at the event laughed when he casually put on his gold library pin and told last month's EOM to move her car from the designated parking space just outside the employee entrance. We could tell he especially liked that part of his award!
Leon was a high school math teacher when he began working at the library on October 6, 1972 as a circulation clerk. He is a long-long-term employee of 35-1/2 years and has always worked on Tuesday nights and Saturdays.
Melody said, "I can remember many times seeing Leon sitting at the front desk answering the phone and checking out books, while he had a high school student sitting beside him for tutoring."
She also said, "He's very faithful. I can't ever remember him being sick. He has taken some vacations, but not many."
Leon was born and raised in Colquitt County and lives with his father. He is very interested in puzzles, games and woodworking. He's active in the Moultrie Lions Club and the Colquitt County Retired Teacher's Association and is treasurer of both organizations.
Next time you see Leon, we hope you'll congratulate him. He well deserves it!!!

There's Still Time To Join The Kids' Programs

Today Miss Sally is standing in front of gobs of children, who are sitting at tables with all kinds of art supplies in front of them. . .paint pens, tape, paper, etc. The large group of children and their parents are in the reading area of the main library, and Miss Sally is teaching them how to make a special bug that turns into a butterfly.
It's not too late to be part of your library's summer fun if you're a child. It's not too late to bring your children to the library for the Summer Reading Program and all the fun that's available while school is out.
This evening, June 19, from 6 to 7 p.m. will be Just 4 Teens. Our Children's Librarian, Miss Norma, will show everyone how to make Duct Tape Creations. And you won't believe what you'll be able to make from duct tape. . .that shiny, silver sticky tape.
On Tuesday, June 24, our Story Express Lady, LaDoris Bias-Davis, will be here to keep children entertained. The time will be 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
And if you don't mind traveling to the Doerun Library on Wednesday, June 25, there will be a Kids Karaoke Party from 3 to 4 p.m. (Doesn't that sound like fun?) The Doerun Library is at 185 North Freeman Street. You could call 229-782-5507 for directions.
On Thursday, June 26, Curious Moon Puppets with Miss Evy will be from 10 to 11 a.m. here in the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library. And that evening from 6 to 7 p.m. Just 4 Teens will have a Member's Choice! You'll have come to the library to see what that special will be.
We've had fun during June with all the children visiting and having fun during the special programs. This is what we're here for. . .to make coming to the library a fun and exciting event, a place that you and your family will want to come back to time and again.
If you have fun visiting the library, can you imagine how much fun we have working here? Come visit us!

It's Fun To Check Things Out

Remember yesterday I told you I'd just returned from hibernation and was checking out what was new in my book box? (My book box, of course, is the library.) When I woke up, I found out it's still a long, hot summer, and I need to find some interesting things to do for the rest of this season.
So, today I began roaming the library in the other direction. . .away from the genealogy library. Down past the library bulletin board, past Information Services, past the Levi Willcoxon Auditorium. And I stopped at the New Books Section. I always have to browse when I get to those shelves.
Chocolate Secrets by Zelda Benjamin, a South Florida writer, caught my eye. The story is about an ER nurse and a NYC firefighter, who just happens to be connected to the man who stole the nurse's grandfather's secret chocolate recipe. (Did you follow that?) Of course, they fall for each other (the nurse and firefighter, not the grandfather), and the firefighter is determined to prove he is the nurse's true soul mate. In his quest to get the recipe and win the citywide bake-off (wow! the firefighter bakes!), the firefighter puts his relationship with the nurse at risk. I have to find out how it all turned out, especially since chocolate is involved! (This is a 7-day loan and an Avalon book.)
Another book is Murder She Wrote, Panning for Murder. This is a Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain book, and I'm a sucker for Jessica Fletcher stories. I used to watch that television series every time it was on! In this story Jessica takes an Alaskan cruise and gets caught up in an investigation to find the missing sister of her good friend Kathy. It also involves a gold claim in Alaska. And before Kathy and Jessica are even halfway to their destination, Jessica realizes someone is watching their every move. Another 7-day loan full of exciting reading.
When I left the New Book Section, I stopped at the Video Section. I decided to peek at the neatly lined-up plastic sleeves of video covers and find something good to watch inside where it's cool. Boy! Did I find a bunch of good movies!
In the Adult videos I found Mask of Zorro, Left Behind, Nutty Professor II, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Phenomenon, and Driving Miss Daisy. In the Children's videos I saw Have Time, Will Travel; Arthur Cracks the Case; Treasure of Manhattan Island; Charlotte's Web; and Jungle Book. Don't all of those sound great?
And since I just mentioned children, tomorrow I'm going to tell you what's remaining for the month with the Children's and Teens' Programs. Stay tuned. . .more good stuff to come.

Back From Vacation. . .Like A New Bookworm!

I know that I can go on vacation for four to six days and come back just fine. But I'm coming back from three WEEKS off, and I feel just like a new bookworm at a new job!
I noticed today that a few things have changed here in my box of books. All for the good, of course. Three of them I'd like to share with you today. . .those being in the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library.
Our genealogy librarian, Irene, told me she is so proud of the new reader/printer for microfilm. Made by Konica Minolta, it's a good-sized piece of equipment hooked up to its own printer. It's the same equipment that the National Archives Southeastern Region in Morrow, Georgia, uses. Irene said they have been waiting for years for a new one and this one is a doozie! She said it will make a copy of a whole page of a newspaper, 11 by 17 inches or 8-1/2 by 11. And the patrons can use it themselves, after a tiny bit of instruction. I could see why Irene was so excited about it.
Another change in the genealogy library is that the Clan newsletters are being bound, as well as some of the journals. Irene said they are being sent to a bindery in North Carolina. They are being bound in hard covers to keep them from being lost. Some of the North Carolina and South Carolina journals have already been bound, and now she is sending off the Clan newsletters, little by little, for their binding. I looked at the bookshelves. . .there are lots of Clan newsletters to do! And it will take a while.
Irene said she is still ordering books, amongst all her other duties. She was especially proud of one. . ."Dog Tags." It's "A History of American Military Identification Tags 1861 to 2002" by Paul F. Braddock. It tells what the tags were made of and how they were used and there are tons of pictures. Very interesting!
Well, by the time I'd roamed all around the genealogy library, I realized it was time to get this blog up and running.
Next time I talk to you, I'll be in some other part of the library, digging in books, checking out all the new stuff, talking to staff members about what's been going on during the past three weeks. There are some times when it just doesn't pay to hibernate for very long. You miss out on too many good things!