Help Us Match the Gates Online Opportunity Challenge Grant

The Brooks Memorial Library Trustees and the Friends of the Library invite you to The River Garden on Friday, November 13, 7 PM, to hear jazz pianist/composer Chris Bakriges and son, David, who will present a benefit concert for the Library based their just released CD--Teaching the Eye to Hear: Musical Reflections on Matisse's Jazz.

The proceeds will match a challenge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Online Opportunity Grant to assist the Library in upgrading their public access computers. The main goal of the grant is to help libraries and their communities build long-term capacity for supporting free computer and Internet access in public libraries.

Tickets may be purchased in advance for $15.00 ($20 at the door) at the Library, The Book Cellar, Everyone's Books, Baker's and online at Brattleboro Tix (www.brattleborotix.com) .


In 1941 the artist Henri Matisse was diagnosed with cancer and, following surgery, he was essentially bedridden. More problematic for Matisse was his inability to pick up and fully utilize the nuances of a paint brush. He found, however, a new lease on his enormous creativity when he realized that he could maneuver scissors through prepared sheets of brightly colored paper. He referred to this technique as "painting with scissors" and it was this format that occupied him until his death. Among his first adventures with paper cutouts was a book called Jazz, which Matisse prepared in 1942 with the help of his assistant Lydia Delectorskay which was published by Teriade in 1947. The book contained twenty color plates was initially only printed in a hundred copies.

Both the text and the cut outs themselves inspired southern Vermont pianist and composer Christopher Bakriges to make what he refers to as musical reflections on Matisse's work. Matisse used the energy of a still young musical idiom called jazz in enticing the art world to "teach the eye to hear." Along with his son, violinist David Bakriges, Christopher will present a musicological background to these original compositions as well as perform other tunes from the Great American Songbook that inspired the imagination of French jazz fans in the early years of the music.

A Detroit native, Chris has led his own groups since the early 80s and has performed internationally since 1990, including tours in India, Pakistan, Turkey, England, France, Canada, and the Czech Republic. A published scholar, Chris earned his doctorate in ethnomusicology from York University in Toronto and regularly lecturers around the world. Chris is currently Artist-in-residence and Lecturer at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He was music director and house pianist at Mo'Jazz Cafe, Vermont's only jazz club, from the late 90's until its closing in late 2007. He performed regularly at Pink's Alley in Manchester, Vermont throughout 2008 and tours the United States with the Oikos Ensemble, the Cleveland-based World Jazz group.

Sample Chris's music at his web site, www.bakriges.com.

Social Networking: A Presentation on Flickr, Twitter, Blogs, and Wikis to Vermont Librarians

When Grace Greene of the Vermont Department Libraries asked me to do something for public librarians on Web 2.0 this summer I told myself, "well, now you have to really learn some of this stuff." So, here it is:

Social Networking: A Workshop on Flickr, Twitter, Blogs, and Wikis

View more presentations from jjocarbone.

State of U.S. Health Care: Discussion Series Begins July 15

On Wednesday, July 15, and Wednesday, August 19, at 7 PM, the Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health and Brooks Memorial Library will co-sponsor a discussion series on the state of U.S. health care. The discussions will take place in the meeting room of the Brooks Memorial Library, in Brattleboro, VT.

Join fellow citizens for a viewing and discussion of two DVD's relating to the current state of health care in the United States: Critical Condition, by Roger Weisberg, and Collateral Damage: Bad Medicine in Tennessee, a 24 minute documentary which tells the story of Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee who in 2005 cut 170,000 people off the Medicaid program as part of his health care reform plan.

Each session will include 30 minutes from a relevant documentary, a five minute comment on video by each panel member, and audience Q&A.

The discussions are facilitated by Richard Davis, Executive Director of the Vermont Citizens Campaign Health. Panel participants include Rep. Gini Milkey, Vice Chair, House Health Care Committee; Lynn Corum, BUHS School Board member, host of BCTV talk show; and Hilary F. Cooke, an insurance industry expert and board member of The River Valley Credit Union and The Sojourns Health Clinic.

For more information, call the library at 254-5290 or see the website at www.brooks.lib.vt.us

White Huts, Conspiracy theories, Peace Corps, and Mocha Joe's Coffee...all in May @ Your Library

Wednesday, May 6, 7 PM, The Appalachian Huts.

Dartmouth professor Allen Koop explains how the history of the huts reflects the larger issues of American history, but also how the huts and their people have formed a society with its own history, traditions, and legends.

Professor Allen koop earned his Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania. He lectures in the History Department at Dartmouth College, primarily on 20th century European history and on the American health care system.

The Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public.

This lecture is part of the First Wednesdays Lecture Series sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council and underwritten by Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, Entergy Vermont; Friends of Brooks Memorial Library, and Merrill-Lynch, Brattleboro. The Vermont Department of Libraries and Windham Foundation are the statewide underwriters of First Wednesdays. "The White Mountain Huts" is sponsored by The Woodstone Company.

Wednesday, May 13, 7 PM,Conspiracy Theories in Film, Television, and Politics

Montserrat College Professor Gordon B. Arnold, author of the recently published Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics, will discuss his book in the library's Meeting Room.

Conspiracy theory has captured the American imagination for more than two generations. Once at the fringes of society, the conspiracy-theory mindset is now a mainstream phenomenon. This is not surprising, as Americans have been bombarded with the conspiracy message since the middle of the last century.

In this new book, Arnold explores how Hollywood has perpetuated conspiracy culture in the United States.

Dr. Arnold is professor of liberal arts at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass., where he has taught courses in film, media, and politics for many years. He was previously a reference librarian and library director at public and academic libraries. His publications include the book The Politics of Faculty Unionization (2000), as well as articles in Library Journal, Change, and Labor Studies Journal.

Thursday, May 14, 7 PM, Former Senior Peace Corps Volunteer Lawrence Siddall will speak about his recent memoir, Two Years in Poland and Other Stories.

In his newly-published memoir, Lawrence Brane Siddall describes his "late-life adventure" as a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland where he taught English in a high school from 1997 to 1999 following his retirement. As a 67-year-old grandfather, Siddall was one of only 450 senior Peace Corps volunteers out of 6,500 worldwide.

With an eye for detail, the author vividly describes the challenges he faces in his Polish classroom, his struggle to learn the language, his initial feelings of isolation in adjusting to a new culture, and the close friends he eventually makes. He has since returned to Poland twice to visit friends, participate in a school reunion, and attend two weddings.

Siddall's most recent adventure is only one of many in his active lifetime. He weaves these stories into his narrative as flashbacks. These include a glimpse into his own high school years and a vignette about the death of his mother in China in 1932.

In the longest flashback, the author tells of an amazing 11,000-mile overland trek from Europe to India in a VW Beetle in 1956 at a time of political Mid-East instability. With the events of that time still reverberating today, Siddall's keen observations are as relevant now as they were then. His account of working his way back to the U.S. on a freighter is a colorful final chapter to this five-month-long odyssey.

Born in China where his father was a medical missionary, Lawrence Siddall grew up in Oberlin, Ohio. He is a 1952 graduate of Oberlin College and holds advanced degrees from the University of Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts. A retired psychotherapist, he lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Thursday, May 21, 7 p.m.Coffee Tasting and Talk: Farmer Direct Purchased Coffee.

Mocha Joe Coffee Tasting. Pierre Capy and Ari B. Reis of Mocha Joe's, will be on hand to offer us tastings and education on the coffee that they buy and roast.

Owner Pierre Capy of 10-year-old Brattleboro-based

Mocha Joe's, along with sales manager Ari Reis, will present a talk on "Beyond Fair Trade: Farmer Direct Purchased Coffee," accompanied by a tasting. Capy and Reis will discuss their recent trips to Central America and Cameroon to set up direct contacts and purchases from the farmers who produce the coffee in these regions-a totally different model of coffee purchasing than most in existence now.

Worlds Connect at the Library in April

There is no National Library Month, but only National Library Week, April 12 to 18. But at Brooks we are planning a month-long series of activities at your library. From Ginsberg to a wildlife biologist who writes fantasy novels, there should be something for everyone @ Your Library.

Here is a convenient list of events to watch for this month at Brooks:

Wednesday, April 1, 7 PM,
Author and biographer Bill Morgan will consider the life of Allen Ginsberg





Friday, April 3, 7 PM,
Coffee Tasting --Equal Exchange's Jim Desmond will lead us through a coffee tasting and chocolate pairings.

Friday, April 3, 3 PM to 8 PM,
Saturday, April 4, 11 AM to 3 PM Friends of Library Spring Paperback Booksale

Thursday, April 9, 7 PM,
Historian Paul Searles will speak on "Champlain's Vermont: The Legacy of Samuel de Champlain's Vision for North America.





Saturday,April 11, 2 PM,
Caldecott Medal Winner, Beth Krommes received the American Library Association's 2009 Randolph Caldecott Medal,




Wednesday ,April 15 at 7:00 PM
Vermont Alzheimer Association Workshop, "Maintain Your Brain."


Thursday, April 16, at 7:00 PM
Wildlife biologist and fantasy author Mark Freeman will read from his first novel, The Kindling of GreenFyr: Book One of the Reunification Conspiracy.

Sunday, April 19, 2 PM
The Friends of Brooks Memorial Library's 17th annual meeting featuring
National Book Award finalist Laban Carrick Hill, author of America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the '60s,


Wednesday, April 22, 7 PM
Local area author Charles Butterfield and photographer Larry Richardson have teamed up to publish a photo­graphic essay book titled Another Light.


Wednesday, April 29, 7 PM
Book Discussion: Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington
Vermont Humanities Council scholar, Richard Wizansky

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Hey..It's Your Library..Come to an event this month

Thursday, March 12, 7 PM, American social anthropologist Ann Armbrecht, PhD, will discuss her recent book, Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, in the library's Main Reading Room. A "thin place" is a place where two worlds meet,usually the mundane and the spiritual worlds. During the 1990s, Dr. Armbrecht made several trips to northeastern Nepal to research the relationship between Yamphu Rai farmers and their land use in an area recently designated as a national park and conservation area; and whether-as she believed-they held a wisdom about living on the earth that the industrialized West had forgotten.

Thursday, March 26, 7 PM, Author Hal LaCroix will present a talk on his book Journey Out of Darkness: The Real Story of American Heroes in Hitler's POW Camps. The book is illustrated with photographs by Jorg Meyer. Journey Out of Darkness is a poignant collection of portraits, in words and photographs, of 19 former prisoners of war who bravely endured captivity in Nazi Germany during World War II. Through these men, one can learn essential truths about the POW experience during that war-truths that counter many popular myths and misconceptions. Journalist LaCroix and photographer Meyer have crafted a powerful exploration of the struggles of these brave veterans. Using both oral histories and photographs, Journey Out of Darkness humanizes a terrifying aspect of war, redefining how we think about these men as POWs, survivors, patriots, and members of the "Greatest Generation."

Friday, March 27, 7 PM, Newfane author Castle Freeman, Jr. will read from his new novel, All That I Have, in the Main Room. Just one year after his critically acclaimed, Go With Me: A Novel¸ Castle presents his readers with another "gripping, wise, and darkly funny tale of suspense. Sheriff Lucian Wing confronts a series of trials that test his work, his marriage, and the settled order of his life. Wing is an experienced, practical man who enforces the law in his corner of Vermont with a steady hand and a generous tolerance. Things are not as they should be, however, in the sheriff's small, protected domain. The outside world draws near, and threats multiply: the arrival in the district of a band of exotic, major league criminals; an ambitious and aggressive deputy; the self-destructive exploits of a local bad boy; Wing's discovery of a domestic crisis. The sheriff's response to these diverse challenges calls on all the personal resources he has cultivated during his working life: patience, tact, and humor. Castle Freeman Jr. is the award-winning author of three previous novels, a story collection, and a collection of essays. He has been a regular essayist for The Old Farmer's Almanac since 1982 and is also a contributor to Vermont Life magazine. He lives in Newfane, Vermont.

Lincoln's Birthday Celebrated at Library

Today, February 12, 2009, is Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. We celebrated it, as others did across the State of Vermont, by ringing bells for 10 minutes beginning at 2:12 PM.

At the end of our virtual bell ringing, Abraham Lincoln (Michael Fox Kennedy) stood in the Main Room and presented the 2nd Inaugural address.

Thanks to Michael for reading. He performs for the last time at the Hooker-Dunham Theatre, Saturday, February 14, at 7:30 PM.