by Eileen and Sujei
If you’re like me, you have a ton of things on your mind/plate. And although I knew July was International Zine Month, I couldn’t quite pull the trigger on this blog post till now. But, all this information is still valid – and it's always a good time to enjoy and make zines.
But wait – I should slow down, back up – and address a question you may have: What is a zine anyway?
A zine made by women over 40. Found at the Papercut Zine Library.... Read Post
Somerville Public Library’s central branch is marking its centennial this year. Way back in January of 1914, the Italian Renaissance-style building at 79 Highland Avenue opened for patrons after its dedication on Dec. 17, 1913.
Famed library architect Edward Lippincott Tilton designed the new building. According to the Somerville Journal in an article dated Dec. 12, 1913, the library was constructed at a cost of $125,000 (which is $2,993,333 in today’s dollars). Great library... Read Post
Books for Somerville Reads 2014 have arrived and are now available at all SPL locations! Somerville Reads is a project that promotes literacy and community engagement by encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss the same book. The book that has been selected for 2014 is Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. A companion children's book has also been selected: The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919 by Deborah Kops. Both of these authors will be... Read Post
For most of us today is just another Monday, or at most an excuse to go out for Mexican food tonight or make a margarita at home. For Mexican-Americans and Mexicans residing in the US, today is a celebration of Mexican heritage. But what is Cinco de Mayo? The holiday commemorates the highly unlikely victory of a Mexican army over invading French forces on May 5, 1862, near the city of Puebla, Mexico. Here's the background: after the U.S. invasion of 1846-48 and two civil wars, the... Read Post
Visitors to the Central Library often comment on the frieze in the main reading room that runs along the perimeter of the room just below the ceiling.
It's a partial reproduction of the friezes on the Parthenon, one of the finest surviving buildings of Classical Greece and a symbol of Western civilization. Ever since this building opened a century ago, library staff have been telling anyone who asks that the frieze depicts the Panathenaic Procession, which concluded the annual... Read Post
The sound systems in supermarkets and shopping malls are blaring Christmas music, your neighbors have extra lights that are well on their way to frying the local electrical grid and you're trying to figure out an appropriate gift for the uncle who last year gave you From Prairies to Peaks: A History of the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service, 1905-2012.
Well, maybe you would like to avoid Yuletide this year. Maybe you're not in the mood for wreaths and eggnog. Take heart... Read Post
Somerville is a community of makers. It's home to the Artisan's Asylum, a community and school for hobbyists, inventors and tinkerers. It's a place where imaginative historical markers can spring up overnight and robots will soon roam the streets. So today's post is a nod to that Übermaker, Leonardo da Vinci. Among the many inventions Leonardo envisioned was the "viola organista:" a piano combined with a cello. No one has ever made, let alone played, a viola organista.... Read Post
In honor of Halloween, some denizens of the Interwebs are indulging their list-making mania by compiling lists of scary books or movies. Below is a brief list of my own: six works—three books, three movies—that were created with one purpose in mind: to scare the bejesus out of us.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
This 1959 novel is the haunted house story. Hill House is a long-abandoned country residence with an unsettling reputation. An investigator of psychic... Read Post
© 2015 Somerville Public Library
Site designed & developed by BI Studio
