You Are Invited to Join the Arts/Emerson Play Reading Book Club: Read Three Plays, Talk About Them With Emerson Artists, See the Performances Live on Stage: First Play is "Mala" by Melinda Lopez

Melinda Lopez, playwright of "Mala"

The Friends of the South End Library has agreed to fund an exciting initiative by South End staff librarians Anne Smart and Matt Krug, which invites local residents to join the ArtsEmersonPlay Reading Book Club. Participants will read, discuss, and analyze three plays before seeing them live on stage. Emerson College will provide scripts, facilitators and even refreshments (always a good thing). Conversations with the theatre artists will take place at the Paramount Theater in downtown Boston. The program has been available through the BPL's Dudley Library branch for three years and is highly recommended by its librarian, Alan Knight.

The first reading is of the world-premiere production by ArtsEmerson of Mala by Melinda Lopez. She has been described by WBUR as one "of Boston's most important writers"and is currently a Mellon playwright-in-residence at the Huntington Theatre Company.Mala runs from October 27 to November 20. The second play in the series is The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a 1996 black comedy by Martin McDonagh, a celebrated Irish playwright. It was nominated for numerous Tony awards, and will be on stage February 8 through 19. The third play candidate is still under discussion.

Martin McDonagh, playwright of The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The Play Reading Book Club is one of several initiatives sponsored by ArtsEmerson's Seats Lab project to promote theater literacy throughout the city.  It is facilitated by trained teaching artists in the Emerson College Master in Theater education program. The purpose of the program is to expose as many people as possible to the theater and the experience of theater going.

To reserve your place, please contact Anne Smart or Matt Krug by email at asmart@bpl.org or mkrug@bpl.org, or by phone at 617 536-8241. Or just stop by at the library. The program is free to all. Tickets will be at a reduced rate. The limit is 30 participants. 

Award-winning Suspense Author, Joseph Finder, Says the Inspiration for his 2016 Thriller, "Guilty Minds," Came From the Downfall of Elliot Spitzer and the Demise of Gawker

"...But right now I can't even remember the details ofGuilty Minds," joked Joseph Finder, whose publishing contract with Dutton has him produce a thriller a year. He explained to  the small but enthusiastic library audience on October 27 that he is already deeply ensconced in the details of his new novel, scheduled to come out in 2017. Guilty Minds seems eons removed from the book he's focused on now, which he works on, he says, in an office close to home ("can't work at home when your child lives there, too"), or in the barn next to his second home on the Outer Cape, where he and his wife write and paint, respectively.

Finder traces his fascination with conspiracies to the 1973-74 Watergate hearings when he was a teenager. "My siblings were watching Star Trek but I was glued to the words of Howard Baker," Finder recalled, adding the 1970s were already the heyday for paranoia and conspiracy thrillers. "So when one of Richard Nixon's assistants, Alexander Butterfield revealed that everything in the Oval Office was taped, I realized there actually was a conspiracy." Now Finder sees conspiracies where others don't, and describes himself as a "conspiratologist," which he says is different from being a conspiracy theorist: Finder studies the impact of conspiracies on society. Two of Finder's twelve suspense novels, Paranoia  and High Crimes became major motion pictures.Answering a question of an audience member, he estimated he has sold some five million copies of his work. His 2006 Killer Instinct won him the International Thriller Writer's Award for Best Novel.

Thriller writer Joseph Finder talking about his work at the South End library

The plot of Guilty Minds, which centers on the threat to defame a Supreme Court Justice by a gossip web site, echoes the downfall of former New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, who was outed by the FBI for using an escort service where he was listed as Client Number Nine. "What was the FBI doing with a list of call girls from the escort service Spitzer used?" Finder asked. "And what about Clients One through Eight?" Spitzer had made too many powerful enemies, especially on Wall Street, who had him followed and brought him down, he suggested. The saga was not a mere accident, Finder posited, anymore than the law suit against Gawker that led to a $140 million judgment that shut down the gossip blog was. The Gawker case that was brought by wrestler Hulk Hogan over the web site's publication of a sex tape featuring him as the lead character, turned out to have been funded by another Gawker victim, PayPal's billionaire founder Peter Thiel, who had been outed as a gay man by the same site.

Finder's private-eye character Nick Heller is the hero of Guilty Minds, as he was in two earlier thrillers, Buried Secrets and Vanished. Heller is a composite of people Finder has known, former CIA employees who, after the Cold War ended, went into the private sector doing the same kind of work. "I like this character," Finder said. For Guilty Minds, he had to reread the Heller books he wrote a few years back, and take notes, to make sure he wouldn't get previous details wrong which, he said, he would be sure to receive emails about from his very attentive readership. The next novel will  be another "standalone" thriller but after that, he said, he'll go back to Nick Heller.

WGBH Commentator Callie Crossley Tells a Huge Audience "Hillary's Motivation Is She Knows How to Do Things and Wants to Find Solutions;" Trump "Just Wants to Say 'I Won,' But Does Not Like Policy"

The acclaimed WGBH journalist and commentator,Callie Crossley, stood for an hour-and-a-half in  a filled-to-capacity community room at the South End library last Tuesday, patiently answering questions about the current political scene, but not before she teased the enthusiastic crowd by sighing, "It's been such a boring season." And not until she professed her love for libraries by reading from an essay she wrote for an anthology by local authors about libraries, called Cambridge Voices: A Literary celebration of Libraries and the Joy of Reading, put together for the opening of the renovated Cambridge Public Library in 2011. "It's impossible for libraries to disappoint me," she said, adding she carries two library cards with her at all times. Then the questions of the Political Gabfest began: Is Hillary lack of transparency a woman's thing or is Hillary held to a different standard?  Why are black millennials not more enthusiastic about Hillary? Why was Hillary not indicted? Why did Roger Ailes, the former CEO of Fox News, get $40 million when he was ousted over sexual harassment accusations but Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who was harassed, only $20 million, when she had done "nothing wrong?" What motivates each of the presidential candidates? What question would Crossley ask if she were a moderator of a candidates' debate? What will Bill Clinton do as First Fellow? What about the hacking threat by Julian Assange?

Crossley's answers were elaborate and direct: Yes, being private is in part a woman's thing, but that's not the whole story. Yes, Hillary has been held to a different standard, and will continue to be. Yes, she and other African-American colleagues are very concerned about the lack of enthusiasm for Hillary among black millennials. Crossley who, like Hillary Clinton graduated from Wellesley College,bemoaned the "meh, meh" approach to voting by many young black women she talks with on college campuses, among them, she confessed, her niece. She attributes it, in part, to the millennials not having a historical context of Hillary's decades-long dedication to families and children, which began well before this generation was even born.

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As to the motivation of the candidates: For Hillary it is her desire to find solutions and her belief she knows how to get things done, Crossley said,  and, no, Hillary is not power hungry. She took former Secretary of State Colin Powell to task for describing Hillary as having "unbridled ambition." "Here is a man who became a four-star general in one of the most competitive institutions, the US Army," said Crossley. "Yet, he accuses Hillary of being ambitious."

Donald Trump does not like policy, Crossley believes, and suspects Trump had not expected to topple his primary opponents so easily. If he wins the election, he'll wonder, "Now what?" she speculated. As to the question of what she would ask if she were the moderator of a presidential debate, she had her answer ready: She would want to know whether the candidates support the practice to settle with families of victims of police brutality, in return for their silence. "I get it that this is not all cops or even most cops who behave that way," she said, "but huge amounts of taxpayers'  money have been paid out under this policy," Crossley said, "even to families who were not asking for it." If you are a conservative, you would not want to have funds spent that way, she added, and would want to know what causes the problem so you can fix it.

To answer a question about "First Fellow" Bill Clinton, should Hillary become president, Crossley referred to an informative CBS News report on six other First Fellows, namely the current spouses of  six female governors, including New Hampshire's Thomas Hassan and Rhode Island's Andy Moffit. As to the threat by Julian Assange to release documents to damage the Hillary Clinton campaign, Crossley said it was "weird" but not unprecedented. There was a low-tech way to confirm gossip in office settings decades ago when she worked for ABC News, she recalled with a laugh. "It was the night cleaning lady who would tell me who was having an affair with whom," she said. "She knew."

Dynamic Vocalists at the Final Summer Jazz and Blues Concert on August 23 in Library Park Crowned a Perfect Season of Rain-free Outdoor Performances by Pat Loomis & Friends

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The last of the four jazz and blues concerts with Pat Loomis and his Friends completed a perfect run of outdoor music in Library Park where rain was but a distant memory. This was the fourth year of the concert series, sponsored jointly by the South End branch of the Boston Public Library and the Friends of the South End Library which received a generous donation for this purpose from the Ann H. Symington Foundation.Titled Let's Groove Tonight: A Funky Dance Party with Ivory Jones and White Chocolate, the event featured four vocalists, including a grandfather and son team, as well as the heart-rending Sarah Soulchild, whose powerful evocations of Janice Joplin could be heard on Tremont Street all the way down to Massachusetts Avenue.

Bring Your Dancing Shoes on Tuesday, August 23rd, 6:30 PM, to the Final Summer Jazz & Blues Concert in Library Park, Featuring Three Vocalists with Pat Loomis and his Friends

Rusty Scott on organ; Benny Benson, drums; and, from the back Antonio Loomis, guitar

As per tradition, the fourth and final  Library Park Summer Jazz and Blues concert coming up on Tuesday, August 23rd, at 6:30 PM with Pat Loomis and his Friends will bring you three vocalists for the session of Let's Groove Tonight: A Funky Dance Party with Ivory Jones and White Chocolate. Performing will be Pat Loomis on the alto sax; Antonio Loomis, guitar; Tommy Bounce on drums; Thunderfoot will do percussion; and Jimmy Dow-Dow is on keyboard. The vocalists include the versatile Pat Loomis, Sarah Soulchild and the multi-talented Jimmy Dow-Dow. There may be a surprise guest or two. There may be dancing in the streets. The weather is supposed to be warm and dry.

Benny Benson drumming with tenor-sax player Yesseh Ali

The August 9 concert, Grits 'N Gravy: A Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues, saw an enthusiastic and gratified audience, including District Councilor Tito Jackson and his staff. The fine organist, Rusty Scott, brought his humongous wood-cased organ, and played beautifully with the outstanding drummer Benny Benson,  alto-saxophonist Pat Loomis and Antonio Loomis on guitar. The fantastic tenor-sax solos by Berklee student Yesseh Farah Ali brought some in the audience to their feet.

The songs featured in The Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues featured Au Privave, by Charlie Parker; Stanley Turpentine's Sugar; Body and Soul, by Johnny Greene; Caravan, by Juan Tirol; Back at the Chicken Shack, by Jimmy Smith and, like last week when surprise guest

District Councilor Tito Jackson was among the audience of the jazz and blues concert in Library Park

Arni Cheatham came by,  another rendition of Errol Garner's Misty.  Concerts in Library Park are free and sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library (that means you!) and the BPL’s South End branch. We serve freshly sliced watermelon...

We thank the Ann H. Symington Foundation for their generous grant to FOSEL to bring music to Library Park. There will be limited seating so bring your own chair if you can. Restrooms are available inside the library. The South End branch is fully handicapped accessible. We thank the Boston Parks Department for their continued efforts to make the park shine.

A New Window Display Showcasing the Image of the Book in Ceramics and Folded Art Will Be Installed This Week in the Library's Tremont Street Window as Part of its "Local Focus" Initiative (Copy)

Lori Pease's earthenware book tile

Since a board member of the Friends of the South End Library discovered the potential of the South End library's beautiful large windows as a community exhibit space earlier this year, the branch has showcased a range of displays.  Coming up next is a dual display in the Tremont Street window of the image of the book itself, one by a local ceramicist who used to work in publishing; the other, the town librarian of a small public library in New Hampshire who wanted to do something more creative with the to-be-discarded books, and learned how to fold them into paper sculptures. (The local connection is that a FOSEL board member also volunteers at the NH library.)

New Hampshire librarian Veronica Mueller's folded books

Ceramic books for artful decoration, by Lori Pease

Lori Pease was for many years the design director for a local literary publishing house, Zoland Books, but has since worked with the image of the book in clay, using the book's texture, form and color as her inspiration. Pease's clay books can be hung on the wall, used as coasters or book ends, or arranged in decorative groupings. Veronica Mueller, the town librarian in Warren, NH, began to practice folding books after a seeing a picture of it on the Internet. She has given classes to adults and children, and folds books upon requests for special occasions. They make unique gifts for friends and family who want names or messages folded into the books, she explains. "The only tools required are old books without value, a pencil, a ruler, graph paper, and depending upon the design, a bone folder. There is no cutting or gluing involved," she says.

The Local Focus initiative was formerly called Window Take-over. It is meant to use the library windows as a showcase for local artists, non-profits and entrepreneurs and has to be compatible with the library's mission to serve and inform the community. All inquiries are welcome and should be directed to Anne Smart, head librarian of the branch.

The Friends of the South End Library are finalizing simple guidelines, which will be available at the library as soon as they are completed. Price lists of any items for sale are at the circulation desk. Thirty percent of Lori Pease's ceramics will be rebated to the South End library to support its programs.

A New Window Display Showcasing the Image of the Book in Ceramics and Folded Art Will Be Installed This Week in the Library's Tremont Street Window as Part of its "Local Focus" Initiative

Lori Pease's earthenware book tile

Since a board member of the Friends of the South End Library discovered the potential of the South End library's beautiful large windows as a community exhibit space earlier this year, the branch has showcased a range of displays.  Coming up next is a dual display in the Tremont Street window of the image of the book itself, one by a local ceramicist who used to work in publishing; the other, the town librarian of a small public library in New Hampshire who wanted to do something more creative with the to-be-discarded books, and learned how to fold them into paper sculptures. (The local connection is that a FOSEL board member also volunteers at the NH library.)

New Hampshire librarian Veronica Mueller's folded books

Ceramic books for artful decoration, by Lori Pease

Lori Pease was for many years the design director for a local literary publishing house, Zoland Books, but has since worked with the image of the book in clay, using the book's texture, form and color as her inspiration. Pease's clay books can be hung on the wall, used as coasters or book ends, or arranged in decorative groupings. Veronica Mueller, the town librarian in Warren, NH, began to practice folding books after a seeing a picture of it on the Internet. She has given classes to adults and children, and folds books upon requests for special occasions. They make unique gifts for friends and family who want names or messages folded into the books, she explains. "The only tools required are old books without value, a pencil, a ruler, graph paper, and depending upon the design, a bone folder. There is no cutting or gluing involved," she says.

The Local Focus initiative was formerly called Window Take-over. It is meant to use the library windows as a showcase for local artists, non-profits and entrepreneurs and has to be compatible with the library's mission to serve and inform the community. All inquiries are welcome and should be directed to Anne Smart, head librarian of the branch.

The Friends of the South End Library are finalizing simple guidelines, which will be available at the library as soon as they are completed. Price lists of any items for sale are at the circulation desk. Thirty percent of Lori Pease's ceramics will be rebated to the South End library to support its programs.

The Third Summer Concert in Library Park with Pat Loomis and his Friends Will Bring You "Grits 'N Gravy: A Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues," and Watermelon, Too, on Tuesday, August 9 at 6:30 PM

The August 2nd concert with Pat Loomis & Friendsin Library Park, with Scott Aruda on trumpet

After hours of rain on August 2, the sun returned  and dried out Library Park just in time for another fine outdoor jazz and blues evening presented by Pat Loomis and his Friends. The first songs, Green Dolphin Street and There Will Never Be Another You, had already warmed up the crowd when surprise guest sax player Arni Cheatham walked into the park, unpacked his instrument case, and joined the band. The audience was treated to a great session of Misty, with Pat Loomis, trumpeter Scott Aruda, and Cheatham each doing their solo interpretation.  The high-energy final piece, What Is This Thing Called Love, could be heard blocks away by lucky Southenderssitting on their roofdecks and balconies.

Playing Misty, with Arni Meacham, Scott Aruda, and Pat Loomis

More of the same coming up Tuesday, August 9 at 6:30 PM, with that evening's theme of Grits 'N Gravy: A Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues. With Pat Loomis on alto-sax and Antonio Loomis on guitar, we'll hear Rusty Scott's organ, and Benny Benson on drums. Again, the weather should cooperate, and the watermelon will be sliced fresh.

The final concert, Let's Groove Tonight: A Funky Dance Party with Ivory Jones and White Chocolate, will take place on Tuesday, August 23rd, 6:30 PM. It will feature a number of vocalists including Pat Loomis, who in addition to playing the alto-sax also sings a really great tune; Sarah Soulchild; and keyboardist Jimmy Dow-Dow, another marvelous vocalist. Then there will be Antonio Loomis, guitar, Tommy Bounce on drums, Thunderfoot performing percussion and..a special guest or two.

A happy crowd of South End jazz aficionados in Library Park. Courtesy, Lane Newman

Concerts in Library Park are free and sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library (that means you!) and the BPL’s South End branch. We thank the Ann H. Symington Foundation for their generous grant to FOSEL to bring music to Library Park. There will be limited seating so bring your own chair if you can. Restrooms are available inside the library. The South End branch is fully handicapped accessible. We thank the Boston Parks Department for their continued efforts to make the park shine.

The Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) Has Launched Its 2017-18 Membership Drive: Please Support Us So We can Continue Our Great Programming and Library Support For You

FOSEL sponsors a popular author series, the South End Writes, here with South End author Jean Gibran reading from her memoir Love Made Visible: Scenes from a Mostly Happy Marriage, the one with acclaimed sculptor, Kahlil Gibran.

It's been a while since FOSEL volunteers have asked for your financial support to assist the South End library staff with programming, library refurbishing and repair, but here's the moment you can do what we know you've been longing to do all along: Donate generously to the best institution in town.

Dancing to the Jazz and Blues performed by Pat Loomis and Friends in Library Park

In addition to sponsoring the annual jazz-and-blues concerts with Pat Loomis and Friends in Library Park, we have lined up another outstanding series of writers and commentators for the 2017-18 season (Callie Crossley, Richard Fifield, Louise Miller, Gordon Hamersley,Dina Vargo, and Jenna Blum) and are in the middle of arranging additional bookings for authors who have agreed to come but not yet settled on dates  (Junot Diaz,Gish Jen, Allegra Goodman, Steve Kinzer, and Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, among others).

The iconic first outdoor event of spring: the FOSEL Easter Egg Hunt in Library Park

That is not all: since the beginning of this year, we have lobbied the BPL's executives and our local and state representatives to support renovating and expanding the physical space of our too  small and worn-out branch; we hope to solidify our efforts this fall. And, finally, the Boston Parks Department's project manager has begun to scope out Library Park for a renovation that will take place in the 2017-18 fiscal years. None of this would have happened without the dedicated advocacy and community efforts of your FOSEL board. We hope you will return the favor by becoming a member at a financial level you can afford so we can continue to make the South End branch the best it can be.

FOSEL funds children's programs in Library Park as per the request of library staff

Please click on the convenient DONATE button on the web site, or pick up a donation letter with an addressed envelope at the South End library. If you have received our solicitation letter in the mail, and prefer to use that, please do so. Thank you for your support.

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Coming Up: The Next Summer Jazz and Blues Concert with Pat Loomis in Library Park on Tuesday, August 2, at 6:30 PM, Themed "Heritage: A Celebration of the Great American Songbook"

Pat Loomis alto-sax blow-out, with drummer Zeke Martin and Christof Glaude, bass

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After the fantastic opening concert by jazz and blues group Pat Loomis and Friends on July 12 in Library Park, you will be ready for the next one on Tuesday, August 2 at 6:30 PM. The theme for the second Library Park feast in the summer series of four is Heritage: A Celebration of the Great American Songbook. Playing with Pat Loomison alto sax will be Scott Aruda on trumpet; Antonio Loomis, guitar; Steven Higgs, piano; Dave Zox, bass; and Dave Foxon drums. FOSEL has ordered the same sultry weather so perfect for summer nights in the city that we saw on July 12. FOSEL volunteers will slice fresh watermelon on site.

The final two jazz-and-blues blowouts will take place on August 9 and August 23, with  the handles Grits 'N Gravy: A Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues and Let's Groove Tonight: A funky Jazz Party with Ivory Jones and White Chocolate, respectively. The Grits 'N Gravy performance will showcase the Loomis father and son team accompanied by Rusty Scott, organ and Benny Benson, drums.  For the final event of the season, Let's Groove Tonight, the Loomis team will play with vocalist Sara Soulchild, as well as two others singers who also happen to be instrumentalists, Ivory Jones, alto-sax, and Jimmy Dow-Dow, keyboard. They will be accompanied by Stevie Q, bass;Tommy Bounce, drums; Thunderfoot, percussion; AND…special surprise guests…

Zeke Martin's solo

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Concerts in Library Park are free and sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library (that means you!) and the BPL’s South End branch. We thank the Ann H. Symington Foundation for their generous grant to FOSEL to bring music to Library Park. There will be limited seating so bring your own chair if you can. Restrooms are available inside the library. The South End branch is fully handicapped accessible. We thank the Boston Parks Department for their continued efforts to make the park shine. 

The First Jazz & Blues Concert of the Season With Pat Loomis and His Friends Is Tuesday, July 12, at 6:30 PM in Library Park, Inspired By "Chameleon: The Many Musical Moods of Herbie Hancock"

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Yes, it must be summer because the first of four themed jazz-and-blues concerts with Pat Loomis and his ever-changing band of stellar musicians will happen on Tuesday, July 12 at 6:30 PM in Library Park. The evening's theme is Chameleon: The Many Musical Moods of Herbie Hancock. Pat Loomis alto sax will take over the park with, on his side, his son Antonio Loomis on guitar. In addition, there are the fabulous drummer, Zeke Martin; Joshua Sutherland of the Berklee City Music Network on keys; and Berklee student Daniel Day on bass.

The next three performances are scheduled for Tuesdays in August, namely the second, the ninth and the twenty-third, with between seven and nine musicians for the final night, including three vocalists. The specifics are:

Heritage: A Celebration of the Great American Songbook, with Pat Loomis on alto sax; Scott Aruda on trumpet; Antonio Loomis, guitar; Steven Higgs, piano; Dave Zox, bass; and Dave Fox on drums. Tuesday, August 2.

Grits 'N Gravy: A Soulful Evening of Jazz and Blues, with Pat Loomis, alto sax;  Antonio Loomis, guitar; Rusty Scott, organ; and Benny Benson, drums. Tuesday, August 9.

Let's Groove Tonight: A Funky Dance Party With Ivory Jones and White Chocolate, featuring Ivory Jones, alto saxophone and vocals; Antonio Tha Great, guitar;  Sarah Soulchild, vocals; Jimmy Dow-Dow, keyboard and vocals; Stevie Q, bass; Tommy Bounce, drums; Thunderfoot, percussion; AND...special surprise guests...Tuesday, August 23rd.

The concerts are free and sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library (that means you!) and the BPL's South End branch. We thank the Ann H. Symington Foundation for their generous grant to FOSEL to bring music to Library Park. There will be limited seating so bring your own chair if you can. We serve fresh sliced watermelon. Restrooms are available inside the library. The South End branch is fully handicapped accessible.

Bucking a Poor Performance by a Search Firm, BPL Trustees Chose Interim President David Leonard as President, Serendipitously Picking Someone Who May Have Been the Best Candidate to Begin With

David Leonard, the new BPL president. Courtesy, the Boston Globe.

After a public process that included about a dozen citywide "listening sessions" and many hours of work spent by the well-connected 14-member search committee appointed by Mayor Marty Walsh, the Spencer Stuart executive search firm tasked with  finding the best new BPL president can factually claim it delivered. Never mind that David Leonard already was the interim president who nimbly had taken over a year ago from the tilting leadership boat captained by Amy Ryan and her stubborn defender, former Library Board chair, Jeff Rudman. Never mind that one of the two other candidates selected from more than a hundred applications,  Andrea Sáenz, first deputy commissioner at the Chicago Public Library, dropped out on the eve of her public interview "for personal reasons." Or that Spencer Stuart did not vet the other finalist, Jill Bourne, the city librarian of the San Jose (CA) Public Library, well enough to find out that actually moving to Boston would create "personal problems" preventing her from relocating. Or that, after Bourne was unanimously chosen for the job by the nine BPL trustees over Leonard, the city of San Jose would do all it could to keep their popular library director in town, including giving her a salary increase that could not be matched by Boston's wage rules. Apparently, Spencer Stuart's contract with the BPL was not paid for by taxpayers' funds. Martha Stewart would have called that "a good thing."

Jill Bourne, city librarian of the San Jose (CA) Public Library, the day of her interview at the Copley Library

Leonard, a longtime South End resident who took on the interim  presidency at one of the lowest points in the BPL's relationships with its branches, staff and Friends groups, has by many accounts been "a breath of fresh air." He's been more accessible than the previous leadership, and was already well-versed in the operations side of the BPL, where he started as chief technology officer in 2009. He has overseen the $78 million renovation of the Johnson Building, due to open on Saturday, July 9, as well as  branch improvement projects, including the ongoing construction of the Jamaica Plain branch, expected to be completed in 2017. Reports from the BPL fundraising scene hold that he seems comfortable and effective in that setting, having recently obtained several private grants for library projects. He mentioned during his candidate's interview that his partner works in the philanthropic arena, as well. Leonard's  reports to the public meetings of BPL trustees in the last year have been informative, comprehensive and well organized (FOSEL attends most of them). In his seven years at the BPL, Leonard has also served as both the acting director of administration & finance and separately as acting chief financial officer. He recently began a PhD program in Library Information Science at Simmons College.

Andrea Saenz, first deputy commissioner at the Chicago Public Library

During his presentation to the Library Board in May, Leonard described himself as an immigrant from Dublin, Ireland, an only child and the first one among his cousins to attend college. As a young gay man, before Ireland's Reconciliation and economic boom, he experienced firsthand the power a library's safe space holds for someone like him who is "trying to work out who you are." Developing non-municipal funding sources for the BPL and collaborating productively with the community, staff and  various other public groups are among his top goals, he said. In response to Library Board members' questions, Leonard cited the lack of appropriate processes at the BPL and inattention to environmental concerns as contributing to the calamitous events of 2015.  He said he learned, especially in regard to procedures, how little had actually been written down. This does not lend itself to accountability or knowledge transfer and is "ironic" in a library, he commented. Diversity in programming and in staffing was another subject the trustees broached: Leonard said that issues of race, diversity and inclusion had not been tackled "systematically" at the BPL but that "conversations and corrective measures around diversity will soon begin."

It must have been awkward for the Library Board to have to ask a candidate they did not vote for as their first choice to please take the job after all, but Leonard was as gracious in defeat as in victory. When the trustees selected Jill Bourne over him, he called it "a great choice." When they turned to him after Bourne declined to accept the top post, Leonard said he was "thrilled, humbled and honored"  to become the library's new president.

Summer Arrived in Library Park with Musician David Polansky Entertaining a Happy Crowd of Kids Singing Songs about Spiders, Rabbits and Buses Going 'Round and 'Round

The South End has only six percent open space which may be why its parks are so treasured, even when the pavement is cracked and the weeds at times more prominent than plantings. Summer arrived in Library Park today when the first of a series of children's events planned by the South End library staff kicked off with a much-appreciated return by musician David Polansky.

The performance is one of the many sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library. It was attended by some forty children accompanied by parents, nannies and teachers, and elicited enthusiastic sing-along responses and curious investigations by young Southenders of instruments, stuffed animals used to illustrate songs, and other props.

Other programs for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers coming up are: 

*Sing and Dance Along with Little Groove, a Boston-based Music and Art Enrichment group, Mondays, June 20, July 18 and August 15 at 10:30 AM

*English-Spanish Story Time with Pine Village Preschool, a Boston Parents Paper Family Favorite Language Immersion program with songs, stories and crafts, Wednesdays June 15, August 17, September 21 at 10:30 AM.

*Jouvet Shortell and Spanish in Motion for pre-schoolers, Wednesdays, July 13, July 20 and July 27 at 10:30 AM

*A Music Concert for Pre-schoolers with the Community Music Center of Boston in Library Park, Wednesday, August 10 at 10:30 AM

All events are free. For further information, contact the South End library at 617 536-8241 or check their web site, linked here. 

"All Dogs Are Perfect; People Need Help," Says Monica Collins, a.k.a. the Dog Lady, Who Will Be at the South End Library, Tuesday, May 31, 6:30 PM

dog lady

Ask Dog Lady by Monica Collins is one of the many unique columns that our distinguished neighborhood rag, the South End News, has launched since it first began publishing in the mid-1980s. There was the Area D4 Police Blotter, penned by its Poet Laureate, Police Officer John Sacco, widely known for his usual tart conclusion that "the scoundrel was arrested on the spot."  Then we had food writer Lydia Walshin's  delectable series, called The South End Cooks, and Alison Barnet's South End Character, the iconic reporting on the ebb and flow of the South End's culture of artists, immigrants, yuppies, washashores and, now, millionaires and billionaires. The South End News began to publish Ask Dog Lady in 2002 as ahumor/lifestyle column about dogs, life and love when Collins was  a media columnist and TV critic for USA Today, TV Guide and the Boston Herald. It has since become widely distributed in media outlets all over the country. On Tuesday, May 31 at 6:30 PM, Collins will be at the South End library to talk about her credo, All Pets Are Perfect; People Need Help. 

Collins says on her web site that she changed her journalistic focus from TV critic to lifestyle columnist after she acquired a West Highland white terrier. She realized how much a pet can transform relationships and shake up daily routines for the better; over the years, she  has answered pet owners’ most confounding questions involving relationships, dog park etiquette, divorce, custody complications, and whether the dog belongs in your marital (or single) bed. Collins produces and sells her own column and has written various profiles for USA Weekend magazine, including a cover piece on CNN's Anderson Cooper. She has contributed her work to Vogue, Boston Magazine, Town & Country, and Forbes/Life and she has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor, Inside Edition, and been a guest on NPR’s All Things Considered. Collins also writes and coaches writers for non-profit organizations, and consults on media strategy. She lives in Belmont with her husband, a comedy writer, and is working on a book, of which she will read one chapter. She promises "it won't be boring."

The South End library is fully handicapped accessible. The event is free. Seating is limited. We serve refreshments.

This is the last talk of the 2015-16 season, which will resume in September. The previously announced June 24 speaker, best-selling author Jenna Blum, had to cancel due to a family emergency in California. She will return in the fall and her talk will be rescheduled for the fall/winter season. FOSEL regrets the difficulty and wish Jenna Blum the very best. 

Bowing to Public Demand for a Change in BPL's Top-down Culture, Library Trustees Appoint Jill Bourne as President, a West Coast Librarian Who Values Collaboration and Outreach

After a lengthy search process for a new BPL president that for the first time included numerous sessions with the public and staff, the BPL's Library Board choose the candidate they said would represent a change to a more inclusive, collaborative and transparent management culture.BPL's interim-President, David Leonard, and the Director of Libraries of San Jose, CA, Jill Bourne, each made their case on Saturday, May 21 in front of the nine BPL trustees and a surprisingly large audience of members of Friends groups, library employees and patrons. The two were the only ones left standing out of an initial group of 200; a third candidate opted out at the last minute. While the trustees repeatedly praised Leonard during his presentation for the outstanding job he had done stabilizing the BPL after last summer's raucous disintegration of the previous BPL leadership, it was clear from some of their questions during the interview, and comments after both candidates had spoken, that the "outsider" would win out over the "insider."

Jill Bourne after her public interview in a conversation with Search Chair John Palfrey, seen from the back

Trustee questions about Leonard's take on "lessons learned" from all that went wrong when he worked under the last BPL president, Amy Ryan, were an early indicator of what one trustee  described as the "incumbency penalty" that would be hard to overcome, despite Leonard's strong and, at times, moving presentation. In her interview, Bourne focused on the many ways in which she said she had worked at increasing library services in poor and immigrant communities in Seattle and San Francisco, expanded library hours and staffing, and created beneficial partnerships with Silicon Valley tech companies in the city of San Jose which, she explained, did not have a strong tradition of philanthropy. In choosing the outsider over the insider in less than twenty minutes, the Library Board cast aside the obvious advantages Leonard would have brought, having held senior positions for more than nine years at the BPL in administration, finance, technology and project management. "We are at an inflection point," commented trustee Carol Fulpe, who added that Bourne represented "a new way of thinking" and "a breath of fresh air." "I believe it won't take Jill long to start working," assured trustee Byron Rushing.

Bourne gained the bulk of her librarian's experience in the innovative and forward-looking libraries of Seattle and San Francisco. Seattle renovated its entire library system within ten years by means of a $200 million dollar bond issue, called Libraries For All, that voters approved by almost 70 percent in the 1990s. (The average time it takes to plan and renovate one library in Boston is ten years.) The Seattle renovation included a stellar new downtown library and 26 branches redone in whole or in part, including three that combined affordable housing and libraries, according to a report on this project. Bourne worked on a number of them.

Jill Bourne (facing), making the case for her appointment to the BPL trustees in a public hearing

In San Francisco, the public library was the first in the nation to hire social workers on its staff, in 2009, to assist and manage their large homeless population, a venture that has since expanded to include the formerly homeless, and has been featured on PBS. A moving and path-breaking photo exhibit of homeless patrons at the San Francisco downtown library, moreover, called Acknowledged, also described the many ways in which those showcased in the exhibit had become homeless. One of them was a descendant of President Abe Lincoln. In 2015,Acknowledged moved to the MLK library in San Jose, where Jill Bourne was in charge as its director.

Do You Have Any Audio Recordings, Tape Decks, CDs, Records or Tapes to Donate to Library Staffer Matt Krug? He Needs Them for Audio Collages and Sound Art Projects...

SE library staffer Matt Krug, striking an experimental pose

The BPL has some amazing staff members, including at the South End library, where music aficionado Matt Krug, formerly from the East Boston branch, is dedicated to, among other things, creating Sound Art. He uses anything that is already recorded, including conversations, to make "sound loops" for the electronic music he likes to create. He cites composers John Cage and David Tudor as some of his muses, and the musical group Kluster. He needs your help: Please donate any audio recordings you might have laying about, and tape decks, too. They will not be returned.

Experimental music is a personal hobby of Krug's, which dates from when he was a child, and recorded everything all the time. He also had a radio show called Live At Dinner Tonight. "You have to get out of the realm of traditional music" to enjoy the experimental side, says Krug, who enhances the sound loops he makes with key board or bass, even though he is not a trained musician.

Krug organizes the themed movie series on Fridays for the South End library, and he is planning to hold a sale of records and CDs in Library park sometime soon. Stay tuned.

China Expert Ross Terrill Sees the 'Tightening Up' by President Xi Jinping as a Clash Between U.S. and China's Approach Over the Question of Economic Freedom Without Political Freedom

The distinguished China expert, Ross Terrill, began his talk at the South End library on April 26 by hanging a large map on the wall that left no doubt about China's size. "China has fourteen contiguous borders with other countries," Terrill said. "Most of them are not friendly, and neither is Japan, located just across the water. This is quite different from  the United States, which is surrounded by two oceans and two relatively friendly neighbors. It affects many things," Terrill said. "The Europeans and the Americans believe in the idea of the international community," he cited as an example. "China does not. They are nationalists." Some of China's neighbors are largely Muslim, Terrill pointed out which always brings up the question of loyalty for the People's Republic. He added. "The tension that exists now in China revolves around the question of whether China can have economic freedom without political freedom.  The grip it has over the economy is inseparable from its one-party system." He said he doubts there will be an evolutionary path to political change and expects, rather, more of a "big bang."

China expert and South End resident, Ross Terrill, hung up a map of China to explain why it feels surrounded by countries that are not its friends.

Australian-born Terrill, currently a Research Associate at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the author of nine critically acclaimed books, had traveled to India as a  graduate student at the suggestion of his Melbourne professors who thought that, as a democracy, India would be of more interest than its authoritarian neighbor, China. But Terrill did not take to what he called the moralism of its Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, or India's grinding poverty, and decided China could not be worse. To get a visa, Terrill in vain badgered Chinese embassies all over Eastern Europe until, after one day accusing the Chinese embassy in Warsaw of "not wanting to let anyone know anything about China," he learned the next day that a visa to China was ready and waiting for him. It was 1964. There was not a single US diplomat in Beijing. At the time, there were 980,000 American troops stationed in a semi-circle around China and the political gap with the U.S. was deep. For the U.S., Taiwan was the legitimate government of China.

Ross Terrill speaking at length about his distinguished career.

Terrill sent a report he wrote about his first experience in China to his fellow Australian  Rupert Murdoch, who still edited his own newspapers at the time; Murdoch published the work in six installments. Shortly thereafter, Terrill assisted another up-and-coming Australian, Labor Party leader, Gough Whitlam, to visit China and meet with Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People's Republic. As it turned out, Henry Kissinger was in China at the same time to lay the groundwork for the visit by Richard Nixon. The China trip catapulted Whitlam into political prominence as Australia's Prime Minister in 1972. Terrill, in the meantime, earned his PhD in political science at Harvard in 1970 and his thesis, which was published as Socialism As Fellowship, won the prestigious Sumner Prize. "People were hungry for information about China," Terrill told the audience at the South End library. For the rest of his career, he visited China annually, became an award-winning contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times, Newsday, the Chicago Tribune,  the Miami Herald and the Washington Post, as well as a special commentator about China to many other media outlets.

Iowa-born and Boston-based Author Michelle Hoover Will Read from Her Acclaimed Second Novel, "Bottomlands," on Tuesday, May 3rd, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library

Poster design courtesy of Mary Owens

Michelle Hoover will be at the South End library on Tuesday, May 3rd, at 6:30 PM, to read from  her second novel, Bottomlands. Hoover's first, The Quickening, was set set in America’s rural heartland in the early 20th century. Bottomlands plays out in the same region, but takes place after the First World War, a time of strong anti-German sentiments. It is the story of the German-American Hess family whose four siblings struggle to survive as farmers in tough times while grieving for the loss of their mother and trying to piece together why their two teenage sisters vanished in the middle of a night. According to an interview with the author in DeadDarlings,Bottomlands takes from the shards of a legend in her own family, as did her earlier, critically acclaimed book, The Quickening. The Boston Globe review described Bottomlands as a “potent new novel” with much contemporary resonance and “enough mastery to justify comparisons to Willa Cather.” The Quickeningis based on a great-grandmother’s journal and describes an unlikely friendship between two women in a time of harsh economic realities. In addition to being shortlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, it was a Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read" pick. Hoover is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University and teaches at GrubStreet, where she leads the Novel Incubator program. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Born in Iowa, she lives in Boston.

The South End Library is fully handicapped accessible. Seating is limited. The event is free. Books will be available for purchase, signing by the author, and borrowing.

A Rescheduled, Free, Eight-week Poetry Workshop with Poet and Master Teacher Barbara Helfgott Hyatt Starts Monday, April 25 at 2:00 PM for Adults Aged 55 or Older at the South End Library

Poet Barbara Helfgott Hyatt will teach a free workshop at the South End library starting April 25.

A rescheduled poetry workshop is coming to the South End branch on Monday, April 25 at 2:00 PM, with an eight-week program taught by Barbara Helfgott Hyatt. The award-winning poet, professor and public lecturer will teach poetry to both beginning and experienced poets, aged 55 and over, on Mondays, with a final Poetry Reading event on Monday, June 20 at 2:30 PM. Sponsored by the BPL and a National Leadership Grant from the US Department of Museums and Libraries, the AARP, and other organizations interested in supporting and benefitting America’s seniors, the program is limited to 15 people, and free to all. The workshops will demonstrate participants how to review the elements of a poem, the many forms a poem can take, and the various ways of editing a poem. The students will read, write and share their poetry every week. Registration is required: contact Anne Smart at smart@bpl.org, or call 617 536-8241.

According to her web site, Helfgott Hyatt has published five poetry collections, including In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps, which was selected Booklist’s Editor’s Choice. Other collections, including The Tracks We Leave: Poems on Endangered Wildlife of North America and Rift, were widely reviewed. Her poems and essays have appeared in dozens of magazines including the New Republic, the Nation, the Hudson Review, the Massachusetts Review, Agni, Ploughshares, the Women’s Review of Books, and in over 30 anthologies. She is the recipient of two Massachusetts Artists in Poetry fellowships, the New England Poetry Club’s Gertrude Warren Prize, the Herman Melville Commemorative Poetry Prize, fellowships at Yaddo, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and many other prizes and grants, including a Brother John Fellowship for Excellence in the Arts, awarded by the Boston Foundation in 2009.

Helfgott Hyett has taught English at the Teachers as Scholars program at Harvard, MIT, Trinity College, and Boston University, where she won the Sproat Award for Excellence in Teaching English. As a poet-in the-schools, she has served over 200 communities and was artist-in-residence at the MFA and the Fuller Art Museums. She is currently the director of PoemWorks, the Workshop for Publishing Poets, in Brookline, MA, which was named “One of the Best Workshops in Boston” by the Boston Globe.

"The South End Writes" Continues with Romance Novelist Saundra MacKay (April 12), Followed by Ross Terrill (4/26); Michelle Hoover (5/3); Monica Collins (5/3) and Jenna Blum (6/24)

Saundra MacKay, a long-time South End resident who describes herself as a former “fat child,” will talk about her debut romance novel, The Measure of Love on Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30 PM. A devotee of the romance novel, MacKay, who holds a gradual degree in education with an emphasis on social justice, hopes to start a conversation about the prevalence of size-intolerance as demonstrated by, among other things, the lack of full-sized heroines in romance publishing. The Measure of Love is the story of Vanessa, a career woman who finds herself in a body the voluptuous size of which she senses is not particularly valued in our slim-obsessed modern society, but who is nevertheless juggling the love interests of two very different men. Find out what the author, who grew from a plus-sized teen into a large-sized adult, has to say about what she describes as “the mystique and splendor” of the women of size of today, and feel free to weigh in with tales of your own.

What Does China Want? you may have asked yourself, watching the latest military and economic developments involving America’s second-most-important trading partner (after Canada) and not-infrequent political adversary. Renowned China specialist Ross Terrill will be at the South End library on April 26 to talk about what he calls The China Challenge, and touch upon the latest conundrums posed by the once-locked-away empire that is now deeply intertwined in the global culture. Terrill, a South End resident, is the author of innumerable articles and many books, including The Chinese Empire; Biography of Mao; China in Our Time: The Epic Saga of the People’s Republic from the Communist Victory to Tiananmen Square and Beyond; Madame Mao; and  The New Chinese Empire –winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2004. A Research Associate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Terrill was a contributing editor at The Atlantic Monthly in the 1970s, when he won the National Magazine Award for Reporting Excellence and the George Polk Memorial Award for Outstanding Magazine Reporting for writings on China. Raised in rural Australia, he also also wrote The Australians. He has visited China almost every year for many years; within China, his biography of Mao, in Chinese translation, has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Terrill has recently been visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and at Monash University in Australia.

michelle hoover

Michelle Hoover’s two novels, The Quickening and Bottomlands, are both set in America’s rural heartland in the early 20th century. She will discuss them in a talk at the library on May 3. The Quickening, based on a great-grandmother’s journal, describes an unlikely friendship between two women in a time of harsh economic realities. In addition to being shortlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, it was a Massachusetts Book Award Must Read pick. Her latest, Bottomlands, is the story of a German-American family living in Iowa after the First World War, a time of strong anti-German sentiments. Struggling to survive as farmers, they are trying to piece together why their two teenage daughters vanished in the middle of a night. Hoover is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University and teaches at GrubStreet, where she leads the Novel Incubator program. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Born in Iowa, she lives in Boston.

Or is it the reverse? You can find out May 31 at the library. Monica Collins is The Dog Lady whose columndog lady, Ask Dog Lady, appears in many publications, including The South End News, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, The Cambridge Chronicle and Salem News. A former staff writer for USA Today, TV Guide, and The Boston Herald, Collins writes on her web site that she changed her journalistic focus from TV critic to lifestyle columnist after she acquired a West Highland white terrier. She has answered pet owners’ most confounding questions involving relationships, dog park etiquette, divorce, custody complications, and whether the dog belongs in your marital (or single) bed. One reader wanted to know why an earlier advice-seeker should not have mentioned in a job interview that the garment she was wearing that day had been knit from her dog’s hair (yes, you guessed it: Too much information). With annual pet spending reaching close to $60 billion a year and American households owning almost 60 million dogs, Collins is barking down from the right tree, no doubt, and you can bark up hers at the library to receive her typically compassionate, intelligent and culturally resonant answers to your canine questions.

Jenna Blum, the acclaimed author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller, Those Who Saved Us (2004), and The Stormchasers (2010) will talk about her latest work on June 24. It is a novella called The Lucky One, published in the new anthology coming out in June, called Grand Central. A collection of stories related to the Holocaust by ten bestselling female writers, Blum’s contribution was one she had been reluctant to write as it meant returning to the subject of the Holocaust. She says on her web site that the research and writing of Those Who Saved Us, which explored how non-Jewish Germans dealt with the Holocaust, was a searing experience. But she remembered one story she had heard when she worked for the Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah Foundation, where she interviewed Holocaust survivors. It had struck a cord with her, she said, and became the genesis for The Lucky One. It is set, like each of the stories in the anthology, on the same day in Grand Central Terminal right after the Second World War. Blum’s successful writing career began when she was fourteen, and her first short story won a third prize when it was published in Seventeen Magazine. Another short story, The Legacy of Frank Finklestein, won first prize two years later. Since that time, Blum’s work has been featured in Faultline, The Kenyon Review, The Bellingham Review, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and The Improper Bostonian. Blum has taught creative writing and communications writing at Boston University, was the editor at Boston University’s AGNI literary magazine for four years, and led fiction and novel workshops for Grub Street Writers in Boston since 1997.