Join Lorena Prime at Tuesday, June 23 at 7 PM in the Lucia Mastrangelo Meeting Room for a workshop on how to keep organized.

Ever wonder how some people can be so organized? Being disorganized is not a character flaw! As a child you may not have learned the skills to be organized, but you can learn them now.

With the 5-step “C.L.E.A.R.” methodology, you can organize anything at work or home including your papers, things, and space. It’s easy once you know how. Through this 45-minute workshop, you will discover new abilities that you can apply immediately to your life and reap the rewards of a more calm, productive, and enjoyable day.

There will be plenty of time for questions and answers to help solve your own hot areas.

Please register for this free workshop by stopping by or calling the Adult Services Department, 617-972-6436.

The library welcomes Ilse Plume, a local illustrator of children’s books, to the T. Ross Kelly Family Gallery for an exhibit that will last the entire month of May. Plume’s delicate illustrations practically leap off the page, showing both her deftness with bold and bright colors, and her skill with capturing motion and rhythm. And her little frog subjects will charm any viewer, child or adult.

Plume herself says that illustration is “a journey that takes you to many places—and sometimes creates adventures along the way—and often leads to surprising, unexpected results. The main thing is to continue to dream and to explore your artistic visions and to work hard.”

The opening for this exhibition will be held on Sunday, May 3rd, in the gallery.

The library will be offering free introductory computer classes for beginners on Thursday mornings in April from 10 AM to 12 PM on the following dates:

• April 2nd
• April 9th
• April 16th

Space is limited, so stop by the second floor reference desk to sign up for one of the dates above.

Classes will cover the following topics:

Types of Computers

Hardware

Software

Parts of the Computer

Computer Terms

Parts of the Desktop

Working with Windows

Internet searching

Creating an online email account

Combat the stress in your life with help from the library’s four part series on Thursday nights in April:

April 2: Mind/Body Approaches to Recognizing and Managing Stress

Watertown Center for Healing Arts

A panel of four practitioners from the Watertown Center for Healing Arts – psychotherapist Michael Keane, acupuncturist Jeff Matrician, yoga therapist Edi Pasalis and master herbalist Tommy Priester – will explore different mind/body strategies for recognizing and managing stress to create health and well-being.

April 9: Herbal Remedies for Stress Relief

Tommy Priester, Master Herbalist

Reclaim your natural health through the mindful use of plant medicine (herbs), nutrition, flower essence, Heart Mind Integration Method and homeopathy. Identify practical life style changes needed to bring the body, mind, spirit, emotions and soul back into balance with Tommy Priester, master herbalist.

April 16: Yoga and Meditation for Stress Relief

Edi Pasalis, RYT

Learn to use basic yoga and meditation techniques to feel more calm and positive about life even in the face of challenge or difficulty. No experience necessary. Beginners welcome!

April 23: Back Care Basics

Phoebe Barnes, RYT

In these uncertain times many of us take on the stress and it lives in our bodies as back pain or neck soreness. Yoga and breath work can help us here with simple exercises that take tension out of the body and help us center on what’s most important. Come to this workshop with Phoebe Barnes RYT to learn skills and stretches to take home to help with back and neck care.

Award winning poet, Andrea Cohen, will be reading her poetry at the library on Tuesday, March 3rd at 7:30 PM.

Andrea Cohen

Andrea Cohen is the author of the poetry collections Long Division and The Cartographer’s Vacation. Her poems and stories have appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Threepenny Review, Glimmertrain, The Iowa Review, and Ploughshares.

Her awards include the Owl Creek Poetry Prize, a PEN Discovery Award, Glimmertrain’s Short Fiction Award, and several residencies at the MacDowell Colony. She directs the Blacksmith House Reading Series and writes about marine research at MIT, where she also edits the online literary journal Sea Change.

John Updike (1932-2009) died last week.

It is hard to imagine “The New Yorker” without him. By the magazine’s own count, he published in it 146 short stories, dozens of short essays and over 500 poems and critical reviews from about 1954 through the fall of 2008. He wrote nearly 60 books–novels and criticism–and hundreds of book reviews and essays for other periodicals. All were elegant and observant, carefully structured and insightful. He chronicled an America where its people seemed to replace values and faith with materialism and a yearning for status, yet he did it gently, with understanding, patriotism and love. Updike will be very much missed by all of us readers who anticipated regular pieces in New York literary magazines and expected a book a year. He was part of New York, yet he lived on Boston’s North Shore–a sophisticate whose roots were popular and grounded.
I cut my professional teeth as a librarian on the controversy over “Couples”, Updike’s racy 1968 novel of contemporary mores that divided library patrons in the upstate New York university town where I worked.
My public library did buy the title, but we were careful about lending it from the bookmobile when it traveled to rural areas! I read “Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories” (1962), and that began a life-long appreciation of the short story. I read the “Rabbit” novels (1970s-1980s) and saw folks I knew in the perfectly and gently captured characters and scenes. I read “The Centaur” (1963), “The Witches of Eastwick” (1984) and “Gertrude and Claudius” (2000) and was struck by the breadth of Updike’s imagination, interests and knowledge. His art criticism and baseball essays were still other facets of this complex, funny, and perceptive author. His 1965/1999 children’s book of seasonal poems ” A Children’s Calendar” was our family’s favorite. Every work surprised and delighted; I was often caught by the unexpected and immediately recognizable wisdom and truth therein.

Some humorous lines from an early poetry collection called “Telephone Poles” (1963) is my parting salute to John Updike. Many great tributes to him are pouring in, but it is in the hearts of his millions of readers that his memory lives.

“In Upperville, the upper crust
Say “Bottoms Up!” from dawn to dusk
And “Ups-a-daisy. dear!” at will–
I want to live in Upperville…

Depression never dares intrude
Upon thy sweet upswinging mood;
Downcast, long-fallen, let me go
To where the cattle never low.

I’ve always known there was a town
Just right for me; I’ll settle down
And be uplifted all day long–
Fair Upperville, accept my song.

Beverly Shank
WFPL Assistant Director

Diane Rehm’s program talked about libraries on January 7th. Guests to the show, Jim Rettig, Carla Hayden and Ginnie Cooper, discussed how your local library might benefit you, especially during the slow economy. If you missed it when it aired, you can still catch the archived version online.

Here’s the description of the program:

Libraries today have become multimedia centers, offering not only books but DVDs, e-books and Internet access. They can also be an especially important community resource during times of economic hardship. A look at the future of libraries in a slowing economy.

Thursday, January 15th at 7 PM

Are you a homeowner considering a renovation or expansion? Then, this is a discussion you won’t want to miss! Diane Beckley Miller AIA & LEED AP, a licensed Architect who specializes in residential renovation and expansion projects in the Boston area, will be joining us for an informative discussion intended to help homeowners navigate through the process of planning, design and construction. Her presentation will cover a broad spectrum of topics such as scope and budget, green building, finding the right architect, understanding the building and zoning approvals process, and finding the right builder.

The discussion will also include some pros and cons of building during a sluggish economy. Participants will receive a packet containing useful information and resources, and the presentation will be followed by time allocated for individual questions.

The Double Shot Daytime Book Group is a new group that meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 10 AM. We’ll read two books together: a classic and a new interpretation.

For our first meeting on December 3rd, we will be reading March by Geraldine Brooks and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Revisit or experience for the first time the world Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy as they progress into young womanhood in the classic Little Women. Then read a new interpretation: March is the story of the sisters’ absent father who went off to war with Union armies in Geraldine Brooks’ imagining of Mr. March’s life. You’re welcome to come to the discussion if you only want to read one of the two books, but part of the fun is in reading the pair together!

Books to be discussed will be available at the circulation desk at least two weeks in advance. For further information, please visit our website.

Yes They Can!

Although largely excluded from employment at the Watertown Arsenal in times of peace, in times of war, women became crucial to almost every aspect of operations.  In a series of photographs selected by Alan R. Earls, author of the Arcadia Publishing photo-history book, Watertown Arsenal, the lives and times of the Women of Watertown Arsenal come alive.  “Although the government photographers are anonymous, many of the images are reminiscent of those crafted by famed photographer Lewis W. Hines,” said Earls. Those photos capture the hard work and occasional triumphs of daily life in an industrial setting traditionally dominated by men.

The event will run through the month of November at the Watertown Free Public Library.