SPEAKING SCHEDULE
I am currently giving virtual programs for libraries and other oragnizations. Topics and dates are listed below. Please go to these websites for registration information.
- JERICHO PUBLIC LIBRARY (NY): www.jericholibrary.org
- WILSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY (OR): https://www.wilsonvillelibrary.org/lib
- PORT WASHINGTON LIBRARY (NY): www.pwpl.org
- HEWLETT-WOODMERE LIBRARY (NY): https://www.hwpl.org/
- SEAFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY (NY): https://www.seafordlibrary.org/
- SOMERSET COUNTY LIBRARY (NJ): https://sclsnj.org/
- LEVITTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY (NY): https://levittownpl.org/
- UPPER SADDLE RIVER LIBRARY (NJ): https://uppersaddleriverlibrary.org/
- ROCKVILLE CENTRE PUBLIC LIBRARY: https://www.rvclibrary.org
- ROCHELLE PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY (NJ): https://www.rplibrary.org/
- BAYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY (NY): https://www.bayvillefreelibrary.org/
- FRIENDLY HOUSE: PORTLAND COMMUNITY CENTER (Oregon) https://fhpdx.org
- TEWKSBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY (MA): https://www.tewksburypl.org/
- GROTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: https://www.gpl.org/
15. SOUTHBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY (CT):
https://www.southburylibrary.org/
Wilsonville Public Library (Oregon)
All presentations @ 11 AM Pacific/2 PM Eastern
OCTOBER 4: AGATHA CHRISTIE: THE QUEEN OF MYSTERY Born on September 15th, 1890, Agatha Christie became over her 85 years the most famous mystery writer in the world. Indeed, the Guinness Book of World Records goes further and lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible. Who was this remarkable woman? How did she come to write her indelible works? Why is she still such a popular literary figure? These and other questions will be explored along with a real life mystery about Christie’s dramatic disappearance in 1926 that remains substantially unsolved to this day. As the chill of autumn arrives, let’s settle in with a few good thrillers.
NOVEMBER 1: SUSAN B. ANTHONY This program dives into the life of Susan Brownell Anthony, (1820--1906) who was an American activist like few others. She became a pioneer crusader for the women’s suffrage movement in the United States and was president (1892–1900) of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Her friendship with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others helped to pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. She was a fierce and exceptional woman who helped change America.
DECEMBER 6: FLY ME TO THE MOON This presentation traces the eternal fascination we humans have had with our moon, from the most ancient of times to the present, and celebrates the extraordinary men and women who made America's Apollo space program possible and examines current plans for the Artemis program that will once again explore our cosmic sister. Each of the six Apollo landings will be discussed as well as updates about Artemis.
JANUARY 3, 2024 FAILURE? WHO SAYS? Fame is a fickle thing. It's elusive. It teases, it comes, it goes. At its most mischievous, it arrives with aplomb after those seeking it have died. This program explores some household names like Melville, Bach, Van Gogh, and Dickinson who were practically unknown in their lifetimes despite often prodigious effort and output. None of them could have known just how famous they would become posthumously. How profound it is to consider what unknown legacy may await us after we're gone. The takeaway? Never give up.
FEBRUARY 7 FREDERICK DOUGLASS This is the life of a truly extraordinary human being: A person who escaped the bonds of servitude; who taught himself to read, write, and speak with eloquence; who composed one of the most famous autobiographies of the 19th century; who put his life on the line to help others overcome the horrors of slavery; who still inspires millions with his forthright honesty and determination.
MARCH 6 BEHIND THE THRONE: TEN FIRST LADIES This program gives an overview of ten women who were not only the wives of Presidents but who often made significant contributions to the presidency and even the direction of our nation. This impressive and inspiring group--Dolley Madison, Sarah Polk, Abigail Fillmore, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford, Rosalyn Carter, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama--illustrates the strength of women often having to navigate difficult political and social waters. Their stories are truly inspirational.
APRIL 3 THE SONNET For National Poetry Month (April), this program takes a look at one of the most frequently used poetic forms: The Sonnet. This program traces the history of these 14-line gems from their beginnings in Italy during the early Renaissance to the modern period. The second half of the hour will focus on American sonnets of the past two centuries, including Hart Crane’s tribute to Emily Dickinson, Emma Lazarus’s dedication of Lady Liberty to the world’s tired and poor, as well as sonnets by Longfellow, Very, Tuckerman, Robinson, Frost, Stickney, Wylie, and Millay. Here are our Petrarchs and Shakespeares, the American masters who, by living within the strictures of the octave and the sestet, found a full voice, enlarged a tradition, and changed the sonnet forever.
MAY 1 MONET’S GARDEN Claude Monet's garden at Giverny is probably the most famous garden in all of France, with over 500,000 people visiting every year. Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926 and painted some of his most famous paintings there, including his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings. This program explores Monet’s life and focuses on his love affair with his home and his remarkable obsession with Nature.
JUNE 5 JUNETEENTH! In June of 2021, President Joseph Biden signed a bill making June 19th—known as Juneteenth—a federal holiday. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in African-American communities since its inception over a century and a half ago, many white Americans only learned about it recently. If you’re among those still learning about the holiday and you’re not sure exactly what it’s about, this program explores the remarkable history behind this remarkable event, an event rooted in slavery but celebrating the triumph of freedom.
JULY 3 ROSWELL & BEYOND Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have been fascinated by the skies above them, especially when "visitors" seemed to descend from the stars. There are numerous accounts of these beings and their miraculous crafts in ancient religious texts (including the Bible), in artwork, and in epic legends of gods, angels, and other strange beings. Then in 1947, a reported crash of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico opened up the proverbial floodgates. What was once the arcane fringe interest of a few scholars has become the stuff of popular entertainment and speculation. Today, there are branches of governments around the world that study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In fact, since 2022, the U.S. Congress has held public hearings about UAPs--and the Pentagon is currently handling its own set of investigations. Even NASA has gotten into the fray and is using, in part, the new James Webb Space Telescope to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. This presentation explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth and the possibility that we've been having alien visitations for thousands if not millions of years. The truth is out there!
AUGUST 7 MARK TWAIN Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Twain (1835--1910) was a humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who garnered international fame for his travel narratives, including The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, most especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), a book often considered the quintessential “great American novel”. A gifted raconteur and irascible moralist, he transcended the apparent limitations of his humble Missouri origins to become one of America’s best and most beloved writers.
SEPTEMBER 4 JUDY GARLAND: OVER THE RAINBOW Using a baker’s dozen of her all-time hits, Dr. Bill Thierfelder explores the life of Judy Garland, telling a deeply personal saga filled with laughter and tears, triumphs and tragedies. From quintessential numbers like “Over the Rainbow” and “You Made Me Love You” to melting torch songs such as “The Man That Got Away” and “But Not For Me,” Garland knew how to connect with the words, the music, and--above all--the audience. Indeed, watching Garland present a song is attending a master class in artistic expression.
OCTOBER 2 TRUMAN CAPOTE When Truman Capote passed away in August of 1984, he left behind an enduring--and sometimes controversial--legacy of fiction and non-fiction novels, short stories, and journal pieces, including A CHRISTMAS MEMORY and IN COLD BLOOD. This program delves into both the light and shadows of one of America’s greatest writers.
No Program in NOVEMBER
DECEMBER 4 A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS Charles Dickens has famously been called “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” Inspired by the writings of Washington Irving earlier in the 19th century, Dickens wrote five Christmas novellas between 1843 and 1848 and over a dozen short stories between 1852 and 1866. Each of these--including the perennial favorite A CHRISTMAS CAROL--helped to shape how the holiday season is celebrated in Britain and America. This program explores these wonderful flights of holiday fantasy and their lasting influence.
FEBRUARY 7 FREDERICK DOUGLASS This is the life of a truly extraordinary human being: A person who escaped the bonds of servitude; who taught himself to read, write, and speak with eloquence; who composed one of the most famous autobiographies of the 19th century; who put his life on the line to help others overcome the horrors of slavery; who still inspires millions with his forthright honesty and determination.
MARCH 6 BEHIND THE THRONE: TEN FIRST LADIES This program gives an overview of ten women who were not only the wives of Presidents but who often made significant contributions to the presidency and even the direction of our nation. This impressive and inspiring group--Dolley Madison, Sarah Polk, Abigail Fillmore, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Betty Ford, Rosalyn Carter, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama--illustrates the strength of women often having to navigate difficult political and social waters. Their stories are truly inspirational.
APRIL 3 THE SONNET For National Poetry Month (April), this program takes a look at one of the most frequently used poetic forms: The Sonnet. This program traces the history of these 14-line gems from their beginnings in Italy during the early Renaissance to the modern period. The second half of the hour will focus on American sonnets of the past two centuries, including Hart Crane’s tribute to Emily Dickinson, Emma Lazarus’s dedication of Lady Liberty to the world’s tired and poor, as well as sonnets by Longfellow, Very, Tuckerman, Robinson, Frost, Stickney, Wylie, and Millay. Here are our Petrarchs and Shakespeares, the American masters who, by living within the strictures of the octave and the sestet, found a full voice, enlarged a tradition, and changed the sonnet forever.
MAY 1 MONET’S GARDEN Claude Monet's garden at Giverny is probably the most famous garden in all of France, with over 500,000 people visiting every year. Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926 and painted some of his most famous paintings there, including his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings. This program explores Monet’s life and focuses on his love affair with his home and his remarkable obsession with Nature.
JUNE 5 JUNETEENTH! In June of 2021, President Joseph Biden signed a bill making June 19th—known as Juneteenth—a federal holiday. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in African-American communities since its inception over a century and a half ago, many white Americans only learned about it recently. If you’re among those still learning about the holiday and you’re not sure exactly what it’s about, this program explores the remarkable history behind this remarkable event, an event rooted in slavery but celebrating the triumph of freedom.
JULY 3 ROSWELL & BEYOND Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have been fascinated by the skies above them, especially when "visitors" seemed to descend from the stars. There are numerous accounts of these beings and their miraculous crafts in ancient religious texts (including the Bible), in artwork, and in epic legends of gods, angels, and other strange beings. Then in 1947, a reported crash of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico opened up the proverbial floodgates. What was once the arcane fringe interest of a few scholars has become the stuff of popular entertainment and speculation. Today, there are branches of governments around the world that study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In fact, since 2022, the U.S. Congress has held public hearings about UAPs--and the Pentagon is currently handling its own set of investigations. Even NASA has gotten into the fray and is using, in part, the new James Webb Space Telescope to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. This presentation explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth and the possibility that we've been having alien visitations for thousands if not millions of years. The truth is out there!
AUGUST 7 MARK TWAIN Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Twain (1835--1910) was a humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who garnered international fame for his travel narratives, including The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, most especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), a book often considered the quintessential “great American novel”. A gifted raconteur and irascible moralist, he transcended the apparent limitations of his humble Missouri origins to become one of America’s best and most beloved writers.
SEPTEMBER 4 JUDY GARLAND: OVER THE RAINBOW Using a baker’s dozen of her all-time hits, Dr. Bill Thierfelder explores the life of Judy Garland, telling a deeply personal saga filled with laughter and tears, triumphs and tragedies. From quintessential numbers like “Over the Rainbow” and “You Made Me Love You” to melting torch songs such as “The Man That Got Away” and “But Not For Me,” Garland knew how to connect with the words, the music, and--above all--the audience. Indeed, watching Garland present a song is attending a master class in artistic expression.
OCTOBER 2 TRUMAN CAPOTE When Truman Capote passed away in August of 1984, he left behind an enduring--and sometimes controversial--legacy of fiction and non-fiction novels, short stories, and journal pieces, including A CHRISTMAS MEMORY and IN COLD BLOOD. This program delves into both the light and shadows of one of America’s greatest writers.
No Program in NOVEMBER
DECEMBER 4 A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS Charles Dickens has famously been called “The Man Who Invented Christmas.” Inspired by the writings of Washington Irving earlier in the 19th century, Dickens wrote five Christmas novellas between 1843 and 1848 and over a dozen short stories between 1852 and 1866. Each of these--including the perennial favorite A CHRISTMAS CAROL--helped to shape how the holiday season is celebrated in Britain and America. This program explores these wonderful flights of holiday fantasy and their lasting influence.
Jericho Public Library (New York)
All presentations @ 11 AM Pacific/2 PM Eastern
OCTOBER 9: THE FOUR BRONTES
This program examines the lives and works of Anne, Branwell, Charlotte, and Emily Bronte, with an emphasis on the lesser-known but equally satisfactory writing of this remarkable family. What we discover is that there’s more to the Bronte siblings than Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It’s a story of triumph and failure, lost love and addiction, and--most of all--the complications and abiding love of family life.
NOVEMBER 20: MONET’S GARDEN
Claude Monet's garden at Giverny is probably the most famous garden in all of France, with over 500 000 people visiting every year. Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926 and painted some of his most famous paintings there, including his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings. This program explores Monet’s life and focuses on his love affair with his home and his remarkable obsession with Nature.
DECEMBER 11: FLY ME TO THE MOON
To mark the anniversary of the last manned lunar mission, this presentation traces the eternal fascination we humans have had with our moon, from the most ancient of times to the present, and celebrates the extraordinary men and women who made America's Apollo space program possible and examines current plans for the Artemis program that will once again explore our cosmic sister. Each of the six Apollo landings will be discussed as well as updates about Artemis.
Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library (New York)
All presentations @ 9:00 AM Pacific/12 Noon Eastern
OCTOBER 18: THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN
Every October 31, pint-sized ghouls and goblins wander through neighborhoods knocking on doors and asking for treats . . . little do they know they're actually carrying out an ancient tradition dating back thousands of years. Discover how the "trick-or-treat" custom originated during the harvest festivals in ancient Ireland when food and sweets were used to coax the dead into remaining in the spirit world. Learn how Christianity tried to co-opt the celebration by turning it into All Saints Day but how the underlying--and sometimes controversial--dark elements of the holiday have survived. THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN takes a captivating journey through the mysterious tales behind the spookiest night of the year.
NOVEMBER 22: VINCENT VAN GOGH
Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 – 1890), the Dutch post-impressionist painter, is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and over 30 self-portraits--all characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive, and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Despite all of this creative output, Van Gogh was a deeply troubled soul who finally found peace through suicide at 37 after years of mental illness, depression, and abject poverty.
DECEMBER 20: THE HOLIDAYS UNWRAPPED
The month of December is a month of celebrations that go back thousands of years. In ancient times, the winter solstice marked the beginning of vigil that would lead to the rebirth of Spring. In the second century BC, the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire led to the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The church in Rome began formally celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. And Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of African Studies at California State University, first created Kwanzaa in 1966 in response to the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in 1965, and as a way to bring Black Americans together as a community. This program explores the fascinating history behind these four holidays that untold numbers of people celebrate every year.
JANUARY 17, 2024 WE ARE THE MARTIANS! For the Romans, Mars was the god of war; for 19th-century astronomers, Mars was a remarkable world possessing cities and vast canal systems. By the late 1900’s we knew that Mars--now covered by craters, volcanoes, canyons, and deserts--was once a world with oceans, rivers, and possible life. Today, Mars is our next destination--not just for a visit but as the next place for us humans to live. Mars is the new Wild West where we’ll become the Martians. Join us to discover what a colonizing mission would entail--the planning, training, risks, and potential achievements.
FEBRUARY 21 FREDERICK DOUGLASS This is the life of a truly extraordinary human being: A person who escaped the bonds of servitude; who taught himself to read, write, and speak with eloquence; who composed one of the most famous autobiographies of the 19th century; who put his life on the line to help others overcome the horrors of slavery; who still inspires millions with his forthright honesty and determination.
MAR 20 THE AUDACIOUS ADVENTURES OF NELLIE BLY In late 1889, a young reporter named Nelly Bly set out to accomplish what others had only dreamed of, to make the fantasy of Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days a reality. Seventy-two days after departing Hoboken, she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25th, 1890--the first person--man or woman--to circle the globe with such speed. But Bly’s story is even more remarkable: As one of Joseph Pulitzer’s prize reporters, she spent years documenting the lives of America’s underclass. The first story to put her in the forefront was a remarkable account of her experience in a “madhouse.” Posing as a mentally unstable woman, Bly spent ten harrowing days in the most infamous asylum in New York City. Her expose of the horrors she witnessed and experienced shook the city and America to the core. This would be the first of many stories Bly would write as a covert reporter, single-handedly creating a whole new genre of journalism: Underground investigative reporting. What really made Bly a household name was that she spent a lifetime doing things a “reserved” Victorian woman just wasn’t supposed to do.
APRIL 17 THE SONNET For National Poetry Month (April), this program takes a look at one of the most frequently used poetic forms: The Sonnet. This program traces the history of these 14-line gems from their beginnings in Italy during the early Renaissance to the modern period. The second half of the hour will focus on American sonnets of the past two centuries, including Hart Crane’s tribute to Emily Dickinson, Emma Lazarus’s dedication of Lady Liberty to the world’s tired and poor, as well as sonnets by Longfellow, Very, Tuckerman, Robinson, Frost, Stickney, Wylie, and Millay. Here are our Petrarchs and Shakespeares, the American masters who, by living within the strictures of the octave and the sestet, found a full voice, enlarged a tradition, and changed the sonnet forever.
MAY 22 SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: MORE THAN SHERLOCK Conan Doyle was not only a superb writer but also a prominent physician as well. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson, all considered milestones in crime fiction. But Doyle was a prolific writer and created many other wonderful characters; his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. This program goes beyond Sherlock and introduces you to equally striking works of fiction.
JUNE 19 JUNETEENTH! In June of 2021, President Joseph Biden signed a bill making June 19th—known as Juneteenth—a federal holiday. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in African-American communities since its inception over a century and a half ago, many white Americans only learned about it recently. If you’re among those still learning about the holiday and you’re not sure exactly what it’s about, this program explores the remarkable history behind this remarkable event, an event rooted in slavery but celebrating the triumph of freedom.
JULY 17 ROSWELL & BEYOND Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have been fascinated by the skies above them, especially when "visitors" seemed to descend from the stars. There are numerous accounts of these beings and their miraculous crafts in ancient religious texts (including the Bible), in artwork, and in epic legends of gods, angels, and other strange beings. Then in 1947, a reported crash of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico opened up the proverbial floodgates. What was once the arcane fringe interest of a few scholars has become the stuff of popular entertainment and speculation. Today, there are branches of governments around the world that study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In fact, since 2022, the U.S. Congress has held public hearings about UAPs--and the Pentagon is currently handling its own set of investigations. Even NASA has gotten into the fray and is using, in part, the new James Webb Space Telescope to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. This presentation explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth and the possibilities that we've been having alien visitations for thousands if not millions of years. The truth is out there!
AUGUST 21 THE SUMMER OF ‘69 In 1969, America experienced one of its most extraordinary summers. In addition to the ongoing unrest revolving around the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights, three pivotal milestones occurred: The Stonewall Riots, which marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ era; the Apollo moon landing, which became the crowning achievement of a decade-long “Space Race”; and Woodstock, probably the single most important cultural event of the era. Join us as we relive the season that changed the face of America forever.
SEPTEMBER 18 TRUMAN CAPOTE When Truman Capote passed away in August of 1984, he left behind an enduring--and sometimes controversial--legacy of fiction and non-fiction novels, short stories, and journal pieces, including A CHRISTMAS MEMORY and IN COLD BLOOD. This program delves into both the light and shadows of one of America’s greatest writers.
OCTOBER 16 TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Tennessee Williams--along with his contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller--is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. After years of obscurity, at age 33 he became suddenly famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944), a play that closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that didn’t appeal as widely to audiences--though these plays are now recognized as the output of a masterful playwright. A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and a volume of memoirs.
NOVEMBER 20 RUTH BADER GINSBURG: PROFILE IN COURAGE Born and raised in Brooklyn, Ginsburg was a brilliant jurist who spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. As a member of the Court, Ginsburg received attention in American popular culture for her passionate dissents in numerous cases, widely seen as reflecting liberal views of the law. She was dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G.", and she later embraced the moniker. By the time she died in September of 2020, she was truly a household name. This program reflects on her life and on several of the landmark cases she was involved with and is meant to be an homage to one of the great judges of the past century.
DECEMBER 18 MICHELANGELO: CHISLED WITH WORDS Although Michelangelo’s poetry is not nearly as well known to the public as his sculpture, painting, and architecture, it was an important facet of his creative life and appears to have been a passionate and somewhat private secondary form of expression for the artist (he was unpublished during his lifetime, and many of the poems were gifts to friends). Michelangelo worked in the tradition of Italian lyric poetry as defined by Petrarch and Dante, writing over three hundred poems, many of which utilized imagery or metaphors from his primary medium of marble sculpture. Fragments of verse can be found in Michelangelo’s sketchbooks, scribbled on the same pages as studies for his masterpieces, showing that these two disparate art forms were complementary or intimately related in his mind.
FEBRUARY 21 FREDERICK DOUGLASS This is the life of a truly extraordinary human being: A person who escaped the bonds of servitude; who taught himself to read, write, and speak with eloquence; who composed one of the most famous autobiographies of the 19th century; who put his life on the line to help others overcome the horrors of slavery; who still inspires millions with his forthright honesty and determination.
MAR 20 THE AUDACIOUS ADVENTURES OF NELLIE BLY In late 1889, a young reporter named Nelly Bly set out to accomplish what others had only dreamed of, to make the fantasy of Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days a reality. Seventy-two days after departing Hoboken, she arrived back in New Jersey on January 25th, 1890--the first person--man or woman--to circle the globe with such speed. But Bly’s story is even more remarkable: As one of Joseph Pulitzer’s prize reporters, she spent years documenting the lives of America’s underclass. The first story to put her in the forefront was a remarkable account of her experience in a “madhouse.” Posing as a mentally unstable woman, Bly spent ten harrowing days in the most infamous asylum in New York City. Her expose of the horrors she witnessed and experienced shook the city and America to the core. This would be the first of many stories Bly would write as a covert reporter, single-handedly creating a whole new genre of journalism: Underground investigative reporting. What really made Bly a household name was that she spent a lifetime doing things a “reserved” Victorian woman just wasn’t supposed to do.
APRIL 17 THE SONNET For National Poetry Month (April), this program takes a look at one of the most frequently used poetic forms: The Sonnet. This program traces the history of these 14-line gems from their beginnings in Italy during the early Renaissance to the modern period. The second half of the hour will focus on American sonnets of the past two centuries, including Hart Crane’s tribute to Emily Dickinson, Emma Lazarus’s dedication of Lady Liberty to the world’s tired and poor, as well as sonnets by Longfellow, Very, Tuckerman, Robinson, Frost, Stickney, Wylie, and Millay. Here are our Petrarchs and Shakespeares, the American masters who, by living within the strictures of the octave and the sestet, found a full voice, enlarged a tradition, and changed the sonnet forever.
MAY 22 SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: MORE THAN SHERLOCK Conan Doyle was not only a superb writer but also a prominent physician as well. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson, all considered milestones in crime fiction. But Doyle was a prolific writer and created many other wonderful characters; his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. This program goes beyond Sherlock and introduces you to equally striking works of fiction.
JUNE 19 JUNETEENTH! In June of 2021, President Joseph Biden signed a bill making June 19th—known as Juneteenth—a federal holiday. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated in African-American communities since its inception over a century and a half ago, many white Americans only learned about it recently. If you’re among those still learning about the holiday and you’re not sure exactly what it’s about, this program explores the remarkable history behind this remarkable event, an event rooted in slavery but celebrating the triumph of freedom.
JULY 17 ROSWELL & BEYOND Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have been fascinated by the skies above them, especially when "visitors" seemed to descend from the stars. There are numerous accounts of these beings and their miraculous crafts in ancient religious texts (including the Bible), in artwork, and in epic legends of gods, angels, and other strange beings. Then in 1947, a reported crash of a "flying saucer" in Roswell, New Mexico opened up the proverbial floodgates. What was once the arcane fringe interest of a few scholars has become the stuff of popular entertainment and speculation. Today, there are branches of governments around the world that study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In fact, since 2022, the U.S. Congress has held public hearings about UAPs--and the Pentagon is currently handling its own set of investigations. Even NASA has gotten into the fray and is using, in part, the new James Webb Space Telescope to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. This presentation explores the possibilities of life beyond Earth and the possibilities that we've been having alien visitations for thousands if not millions of years. The truth is out there!
AUGUST 21 THE SUMMER OF ‘69 In 1969, America experienced one of its most extraordinary summers. In addition to the ongoing unrest revolving around the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights, three pivotal milestones occurred: The Stonewall Riots, which marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ era; the Apollo moon landing, which became the crowning achievement of a decade-long “Space Race”; and Woodstock, probably the single most important cultural event of the era. Join us as we relive the season that changed the face of America forever.
SEPTEMBER 18 TRUMAN CAPOTE When Truman Capote passed away in August of 1984, he left behind an enduring--and sometimes controversial--legacy of fiction and non-fiction novels, short stories, and journal pieces, including A CHRISTMAS MEMORY and IN COLD BLOOD. This program delves into both the light and shadows of one of America’s greatest writers.
OCTOBER 16 TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Tennessee Williams--along with his contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller--is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. After years of obscurity, at age 33 he became suddenly famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944), a play that closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that didn’t appeal as widely to audiences--though these plays are now recognized as the output of a masterful playwright. A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and a volume of memoirs.
NOVEMBER 20 RUTH BADER GINSBURG: PROFILE IN COURAGE Born and raised in Brooklyn, Ginsburg was a brilliant jurist who spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. As a member of the Court, Ginsburg received attention in American popular culture for her passionate dissents in numerous cases, widely seen as reflecting liberal views of the law. She was dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G.", and she later embraced the moniker. By the time she died in September of 2020, she was truly a household name. This program reflects on her life and on several of the landmark cases she was involved with and is meant to be an homage to one of the great judges of the past century.
DECEMBER 18 MICHELANGELO: CHISLED WITH WORDS Although Michelangelo’s poetry is not nearly as well known to the public as his sculpture, painting, and architecture, it was an important facet of his creative life and appears to have been a passionate and somewhat private secondary form of expression for the artist (he was unpublished during his lifetime, and many of the poems were gifts to friends). Michelangelo worked in the tradition of Italian lyric poetry as defined by Petrarch and Dante, writing over three hundred poems, many of which utilized imagery or metaphors from his primary medium of marble sculpture. Fragments of verse can be found in Michelangelo’s sketchbooks, scribbled on the same pages as studies for his masterpieces, showing that these two disparate art forms were complementary or intimately related in his mind.
Friendly House Community Center (Oregon)
3 PM Pacific/6 PM Eastern
SEPTEMBER 26BANNED IN AMERICA When you walk into a library, you’re entering a controversial place--for it’s a venue where you can read, listen to, and watch media that could be considered potentially “dangerous” depending on where (or when) you live. When Rameses II in 1279 BCE obliterated the hieroglyphic memorials to his father, he was doing what many rulers and societies have done throughout history: Attempt to control who is remembered, what is to be seen and heard, and how we are to behave. This presentation explores some of the history of the long saga of censorship and the need some cultures have to silence certain writers, artists, and musicians. We’ll look specifically at America, where there continues to be a heated debate regarding exactly how “free” creative minds really are when it comes to expressing feelings and ideas. Finally, using recent data collected by the American Library Association, we’ll look at on-going examples of censorship, examine the probable roots/causes of such censorship, and explore whether total freedom of expression is actually possible.
OCTOBER 24THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN Every October 31, pint-sized ghouls and goblins wander through neighborhoods knocking on doors and asking for treats . . . little do they know they're actually carrying out an ancient tradition dating back thousands of years. Discover how the "trick-or-treat" custom originated during the harvest festivals in ancient Ireland when food and sweets were used to coax the dead into remaining in the spirit world. Learn how Christianity tried to co-opt the celebration by turning it into All Saints Day but how the underlying--and sometimes controversial--dark elements of the holiday have survived. THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN takes a captivating journey through the mysterious tales behind the spookiest night of the year.
NOVEMBER 21THE WORLDS OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT The daughter of a storied family, she became the wife of an unfaithful husband. Fortunately, she never let her personal pain override her need to help others. Arguably the most influential First Lady in American history, she continued her work as a philanthropist and humanitarian long after the president’s death. This program looks at her work as a trail-blazing civil rights advocate, a feminist, and one of driving forces behind the United Nations as well as a deeply lonely woman who found love in a series of extraordinary friendships.
DECEMBER 19SANTA CLAUS: THE BIOGRAPHY For untold millions of children of all ages, December not only means the Holiday Season but a talk with Santa at the local mall, a midnight visitation from him on December 24th, or watching countless movies about him on TV. What’s equally remarkable is how Santa came to be such a global presence; there’s no corner of the planet where Santa isn’t known and loved. Explore the humble origins of the real-life Saint Nicholas over seventeen hundred years ago and trace the development of his legend across the centuries, sampling treasured stories from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
SEPTEMBER 26BANNED IN AMERICA When you walk into a library, you’re entering a controversial place--for it’s a venue where you can read, listen to, and watch media that could be considered potentially “dangerous” depending on where (or when) you live. When Rameses II in 1279 BCE obliterated the hieroglyphic memorials to his father, he was doing what many rulers and societies have done throughout history: Attempt to control who is remembered, what is to be seen and heard, and how we are to behave. This presentation explores some of the history of the long saga of censorship and the need some cultures have to silence certain writers, artists, and musicians. We’ll look specifically at America, where there continues to be a heated debate regarding exactly how “free” creative minds really are when it comes to expressing feelings and ideas. Finally, using recent data collected by the American Library Association, we’ll look at on-going examples of censorship, examine the probable roots/causes of such censorship, and explore whether total freedom of expression is actually possible.
OCTOBER 24THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN Every October 31, pint-sized ghouls and goblins wander through neighborhoods knocking on doors and asking for treats . . . little do they know they're actually carrying out an ancient tradition dating back thousands of years. Discover how the "trick-or-treat" custom originated during the harvest festivals in ancient Ireland when food and sweets were used to coax the dead into remaining in the spirit world. Learn how Christianity tried to co-opt the celebration by turning it into All Saints Day but how the underlying--and sometimes controversial--dark elements of the holiday have survived. THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN takes a captivating journey through the mysterious tales behind the spookiest night of the year.
NOVEMBER 21THE WORLDS OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT The daughter of a storied family, she became the wife of an unfaithful husband. Fortunately, she never let her personal pain override her need to help others. Arguably the most influential First Lady in American history, she continued her work as a philanthropist and humanitarian long after the president’s death. This program looks at her work as a trail-blazing civil rights advocate, a feminist, and one of driving forces behind the United Nations as well as a deeply lonely woman who found love in a series of extraordinary friendships.
DECEMBER 19SANTA CLAUS: THE BIOGRAPHY For untold millions of children of all ages, December not only means the Holiday Season but a talk with Santa at the local mall, a midnight visitation from him on December 24th, or watching countless movies about him on TV. What’s equally remarkable is how Santa came to be such a global presence; there’s no corner of the planet where Santa isn’t known and loved. Explore the humble origins of the real-life Saint Nicholas over seventeen hundred years ago and trace the development of his legend across the centuries, sampling treasured stories from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Somerset County Library System (New Jersey)
All presentations @ 4:00 PM Pacific/7:00 PM Eastern
DECEMBER 6: THE HOLIDAYS UNWRAPPED The month of December is a month of celebrations that go back thousands of years. In ancient times, the winter solstice marked the beginning of vigil that would lead to the rebirth of Spring. In the second century BC, the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire led to the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The church in Rome began formally celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. And Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of African Studies at California State University, first created Kwanzaa in 1966 in response to the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in 1965, and as a way to bring Black Americans together as a community. This program explores the fascinating history behind these four holidays that untold numbers of people celebrate every year.
FEBRUARY 7, 2024 AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPACE This program introduces us to some of the remarkable African Americans who’ve helped shape America’s space program and who’ve introduced millions to the wonders of the Universe. For those who have read books like RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS or seen films like HIDDEN FIGURES, you’re well aware of the group of African-American women who helped to make the Space Race of the 1960’s and the Space Program today the success that it was and is. And if you watch science programs on television, you surely have encountered astronomers like Neil deGrasse Tyson. This PowerPoint presentation examines the lives of these trailblazers, including scientists Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan as well as astronauts Mae Jemison and Ronald McNair. Who are these adventurous women and women--and how did some of them help launch NASA into the Civil Rights revolution and into our burgeoning era of Lunar and Martian exploration?
Bayville Public Library (New York)
4:00 PM Pacific/7:00 PM Eastern
Stay tuned for upcoming programs
Tewksbury Public Library (Massachusetts)
12 Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific
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Groton Public Library (Massachusetts)
7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific
OCTOBER 10 THE IMAGINARY WORLDS OF JULES VERNE This program is a celebration of the French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. Best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travels long before air travel and submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He remains the second most translated author in the world (after Agatha Christie)--a writer whose remarkable imagination still sparks ours today.
NOVEMBER 21 THE SILK ROAD The Silk Road was and is a network of trade routes connecting the East and West, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century. This program gives an overview of the miraculous, sometimes deadly, always adventure-filled land and sea routes that connected East Asia and Southeast Asia with South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa, and Southern Europe.
DECEMBER 5 THE HOLIDAYS UNWRAPPED The month of December is a month of celebrations that go back thousands of years. In ancient times, the winter solstice marked the beginning of vigil that would lead to the rebirth of Spring. In the second century BC, the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire led to the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The church in Rome began formally celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. And Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of African Studies at California State University, first created Kwanzaa in 1966 in response to the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in 1965, and as a way to bring Black Americans together as a community. This program explores the fascinating history behind these four holidays that untold numbers of people celebrate every year.
Upper Saddle River Library (New Jersey)
4:00 PM Pacific/7:00 PM Eastern
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Rockville Centre Public Library
11:00 AM Pacific/2:00 PM Eastern
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Seaford Public Library (New York)
All programs @ 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific
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Levittown Public Library (New York)
All presentations @ 11 AM Pacific/2 PM Eastern
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Rochelle Park Public Library (New Jersey)
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Port Washington Public Library (New York)
All presentations @ 9 AM Pacific/ 12 Noon Eastern
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