Monroe Library Blog

Thursday, July 30, 2009

At least YOUR face isn't melting!

The Monroe Library will be hosting an impromptu movie program Friday afternoon at 2:30 in our (air-conditioned) Meeting Room. If you are looking for a cool place to get out of the heat and relax for a couple hours please join us for a film that feaures humid jungles, sand-blasted deserts, and melting faces that should make you feel better about the heat wave gripping Western Washington.

Call or ask library staff for film title (though hopefully the melting faces gives it away).

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Monroe Library is Officially A Cool Place to Be.

we know this already, but the City of Monroe has designated us a heat relief center! Come out of the heat and come in to the library!

Trees, Herbs, Flowers, Birds, Beasts and Bugs in Oaxaca

I just finished reading "A Zapotec Natural History" by Eugene S. Hunn. The author is professor emeritus in anthropology at the U.W. I checked out this book because of my interest in indigenous peoples of Central America. The author writes about the inhabitants of a village in the highlands of the Mexican state of Oaxaca and their incredible knowledge of the local environment.
Dr. Hunn involved children as young as five in his research, paying them a small amount to collect and identify for him as many specimens of plants as they could bring him. Although this wasn't the focus of his research, Hunn was struck by the "precocious" knowledge village children possessed of the natural world surrounding the village. They could name flowers and plants, know their use (one shrub is used to counter the effects of the 'evil eye'. Another protects against witches.

The children acquire their knowledge innately through play, for example. A flower with sticky properties is used in a game. Pine cones become sheep in a corral.

Children are very familiar with their family kitchen gardens, where flowers, fruits and vegetables for medicinal, ritual, and food uses grow.


As I think about library programming for young children, the children of San Juan come to mind. The children are not taught about the natural world systematically through formal instruction.

Acquiring environmental knowledge is akin to learning a first language, Hunn says.

Can the Zapotec languages, culture, and environmental knowledge survive in a global society?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Do YOU hulu?

Remember those old TV shows—before there were 500 channels?


Take your pick!

All in the Family
Twin Peaks
Mork & Mindy

The Monroe Library offers these and many other classic TV shows on DVD.
Just ask at our Information Desk and we’ll help you find a good one.
Unfortunately, the library doesn’t own every great show.
In that case, you might want to try

hulu

a website that lets you watch
individual episodes on your computer.
And the part we like best? IT'S FREE!

hulu has TV shows like



The Colbert Report,
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
, and
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien

Or take a “staycation” with

National Geographic Travel Videos

How about your favorite

Saturday Night Live episodes, or
The Simpsons.

There’s even the latest

celebrity interviews and
full-length feature films.

So, as we say in the library world:
Check it out!
We bet you’ll be dancing for joy.


http://www.hulu.com/

Monday, July 20, 2009

Jobs at the Evergreen State Fair



The Evergreen State Fair is hiring!


It’s almost like running away with the circus, except you get to go home at night. And the library can help!

Turn to us for help with your job search.
The Monroe Library offers:
> Books on writing successful resumes
> Online tools for resume writing
> Books with tips on interviewing for a job
> Info on getting a Food Handler Card in Snohomish County

Evergreen State Fair vendors are hiring for:
> Cooks
> Cashiers
> Servers
> Customer Service positions, and
> Helpers

Here’s the link with all the employment details:
http://www.evergreenfair.org/page11363.asp

Many of these positions require a Food Handler Card, so you may need to plan ahead. For Food Handler testing schedules & locations, check here:
http://www.snohd.org/snoEnvHealth/fle/foods/foodSafetyCls.htm

So let us know how the library can help
with your job search this summer!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Big Fun for Little Dough!

Anybody remember sock puppets? How about bingo, go fish, or jump-rope? These pastimes came to be in a time when money was scarce for many families. And they’re seeing a revival in this tough economy.



The Monroe Library currently has a display of books & movies on nostalgic toys & games like these. Remember toy trains on Christmas morning? Or when was the last time you flew a kite? Lots of ideas for lots of summer fun. BIG fun. For little dough.



Try a few of these:
The Kids Summer Games Book

Let’s Play: Traditional Games of Childhood

Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them

The Games We Played: the Golden Age of Board and Table Games



And, as we say in the library world: Check it out!


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Lights, Camera, Action!!! at the Monroe Library


Makeup artists, sound booms, cameras, and actors took over the Monroe Library on Sunday July 5 to film a scene from the feature film "Penny Candy." Check out pennycandythemovie.com.



Thursday, July 2, 2009

Monroe summer reading heats up


If you were in the library this past week you might have overheard a lot of "oohs" and "aahs" as our summer readers admired one of the bikes to be given away at our August 18th program, Creative Conjuring. Children ages 5-12 who have completed their summer reading goal and attend the program on the 18th will be eligible to win one of two bikes, one for a girl and the other for a boy.
The enthusiasm spilled over into our Spanish Language Storytime when I asked who would like to pose with the bike!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Antelopes and Cowboys

I love southeastern Oregon, so different from the blue and green Pacific side of the mountains. I just finished reading William Kittredge's The Willow Field, the author's first novel, though he has spent a lifetime writing non-fiction since breaking away from his upbringing on a ranch near Lakeview.

This novel is the story of Rossie and Eliza Benasco's life together in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, and of how Rossie came of age as a buckaroo driving cattle in southeastern Oregon and Nevada. Rossie and Eliza marry in 1934, at age 19, when Eliza was pregnant with another man's child.

I like books with a strong sense of place, and Kittredge certainly knows this country, from Denio and Roaring Springs to Missoula and Hamilton, from the 1920's to the 90's, and all the sweep of the historic west.

Another book you might enjoy is the story of a ranch wife, Judy Blunt, whose autobiography Breaking Clean is the story of how she left that life and became a writer.

Both Kittredge and Blunt are Missoula-based authors.