Stories from the Stacks
The Monthly Liaison: June 2022
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Thirty-five teachers from around southern Idaho gathered in the Lecture Hall
June 8-10 for the first Sun Valley Early Literacy Summit.
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“Hold up your right hand and make a fist.”
We all raised our hands and curled our fingers into our palms. Knuckles bared. Faces focused.
Dr. Carol Tolman had just described the reading brain, mapping the multiple skills involved in the act of reading onto the regions of the brain that accomplish those skills. Once you can read, you may take it for granted, but learning to read and write requires sophisticated brain work to connect the sounds we hear to the letters we see to a vocabulary we build to the world around us.
Dr. Tolman was speaking to a group of 35 teachers who lead kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms across southern Idaho. They were gathered at The Community Library June 8-10 for the first Sun Valley Early Literacy Summit.
Students arrive in these teachers’ classrooms – in Bellevue, Castleford, Fairfield, Gooding, Hailey, Jerome, Ketchum, Rupert, Sun Valley – with a wide range of learning styles and life experiences. Some arrive from homes where another language is spoken; some arrive from homes where there is little conversation and no books. Over the last few years, all have had their schooling disrupted by the pandemic. And all of them need to learn how to read in order to navigate the world.
So these teachers and we at the Library got together in the Lecture Hall and raised our fists.
“Now imagine your fist is the brain,” Dr. Tolman said, and she guided us from the angular gyrus to the frontal lobe to Wernicke’s area, having us point to our wrists and knuckles and thumbs to visualize dynamically what happens in the reading brain. With this visual aid of picturing the brain as we looked at our fists, she and four other literacy experts talked about how to help children develop the neural pathways required for reading.
We practiced, and then we opened our fists into high fives, and the room filled with happy chatter. It felt buoyant to be surrounded by such dedicated teachers and learners. So many fists, raised for the power that comes with reading. So many open hearts, eager to welcome each child to a world of words.
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Jenny Emery Davidson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
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"Whether actively or passively, an old straight white guy cannot help but benefit from the system as it is." |
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Celebrating LGBTQ+, Pride, Independence,
and the Power of Knowledge
By Will Duke
Information Systems Manager
June is a month of “other” stories.
I’m always up for a good story, and celebrations of people different from me create a real opportunity. As a straight old white guy, you might think there’s nothing for me in LGBTQ+ Pride month or our newest national holiday: Juneteenth National Independence Day.
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Other than breakfast-in-bed on Father’s Day, I am not any of the things being celebrated, welcomed, cherished, or, most importantly, explored in the month of June. Suddenly, I am other.
Simone de Beauvoir developed the concept of “other” to explain the workings of the man-woman gender relationship. Men have power, so women become “other.” Since then, the concept has proved useful to discuss many different groups at the mercy of a societal power dynamic.
If “everyone” is straight, anyone who isn’t becomes “other.” If “everyone” is white, anyone who isn’t becomes “other.” Our very language relishes, relies on, binary relationships like “us” and “them.”
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Will Duke contemplates "other" stories. |
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But June is dangerous for old white guys like me: it’s easy to fall back on privilege. Lesbian, mother, warrior, poet Audre Lorde said, “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world.”
If I want to truly seek better understanding, a better world, I must conduct my own education. It’s time for me to find and engage with “other” stories. Fortunately, The Community Library is chock full of them.
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"Do the best you can until you know better.
Then when you know better, do better."
~Maya Angelou
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Equality is only theoretical if you’re on the side that benefits from the current standard. Insurance for my family isn’t a problem; I don’t worry about public displays of affection; I won’t lose my job if anyone finds out who I love; I can be pulled over in any city in the country and not be afraid. Whether actively or passively, an old straight white guy cannot help but benefit from the system as it is.
How often am I complicit in that? Better yet, and much more useful than guilt, what would it look like to be different?
Lorde explains: “Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.”
June is the month where I am the outsider. It is also the month for change. Now is the time to turn to another powerful “other,” Maya Angelou:
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
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Recommended Titles for Adults |
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We celebrate the contributions Black authors have made, and continue to make, to world culture and history. We also celebrate Pride Month, and the power of books, films, and art to enrich our understanding of others.
Here are a few titles we like in print, ebooks, and film—
in English and Spanish—all free with your Library card!
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by Annette Gordon-Reed
in print
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by Natalie Baszile
in print
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by Octavia Butler
in print, Nook eBook, eAudiobook, CD
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by David Wright Faladé
in print
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by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
in eBook and eAudiobook
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by Carolina De Robertis
in print
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by Ursula K. LeGuin
in print, eBook, eAudiobook
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by Qwo-Li Driskill, Editor
Daniel Heath Justice
Deborah A. Miranda
Lisa Tatonetti
in print
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by Zeyn Joukhadar
in print
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Recommended Young Adult Titles |
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by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
in print
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by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
in print
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by Stuart Douglas
in print, eBook, and eAudiobook
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by Molly Ostertag
in print
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by Jacqueline Woodson
in print, CD, eBook, eAudiobook
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Recommended Children's Titles |
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by Debbie Allen
pictures by Kadir Nelson
in print
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by Lupita Nyong'o
in print
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by Amanda Gorman
pictures by Loren Long
in print and eAudiobook
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Herald from the Hemingway House |
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“Ensconced in the haunts of the Hemingway House and writing the keynote for the International Hemingway Association Conference while there was a synchronicity
of art and environs that
made my speech possible.
"I will always be grateful for the wonderful opportunity of staying there."
~Craig Johnson
Author of the "Longmire" series
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Craig joined us in May to discuss the wildly popular "Longmire" book collection and Netflix series,
and his newest release,
Daughter of the Morning Star.
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THANK YOU to Our May Donors
for Supporting the Stories of the Library
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Robyn and Todd Achilles
Ann Adamson Leonardo
Claudia Aulum and Ralph Pavone
Jolene and Thomas Beckwith
Thomas Benson
Roberta and Ronald Bloom
Anne Borman
Kris Bowman
Amanda Breen and David Patrie
Amanda Countner Brown
Cathy Butterfield
Kate and Peter Daly
Donna Delahorne and Andrew Tian
Debra and Lyman Drake
Ramona and Will Duke
Catherine Ehrlich
Jenny Emery Davidson and Mark Davidson
Jennifer and Jamie Forese
Kathleen Fox-Limburg and Wallace Limburg
Carol and Scott Glenn
Nancy Goldstein
Nancy and Gary G. Goodenough
Margaret and Harvey Gray
Carolyn Harper
Florence and Tom Harvey
Carter Hedberg and Wayne Hedberg Schmidt
Bethany Hull – In Honor of Carter Hedberg
Barbara and Daniel Hurlbutt
Carol and Susumu Iwanaga
Ellen F. James
Debra Aaron Jones
Lynn and Dr. Bruce Kaplan
Judith Kindler and Kyle Johnson
Betsy and Ben Lawrence
Trudy Irv Littman
Linda M Lynch
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Leslie and Jon Maksik
Angenie McCleary
Sheila and Jerry Mells
Kyla Merwin
Victoria and Ted Miller
Helen and Wallace Morgus
Susan Moscrip and David Hummon
Barbara and Mike Moser
Ellen Downey and Andrea Nasi
Andrea Nelson and Rod Harten
Betrand Nosworthy – In Honor of Ann Nosworthy
Martha Olson
Mariela Orihuela
Pam Parker – In Memory of Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Marylyn and Dr. Stephen Pauley
Enid Perl Rawlings and Greg Rawlings
Sara and Ben Pettit
Marjolaine and Robert Renfro
Beverley Robertson
Ellen Rubinfeld
Rhonda and Howard Schaff
Mary and John Schelling – In Memory of Inge-Lise Eckmann Lane
Suzanne Shaw
Margaret and Robert Shuford
James Snyder
Chris and Dan Turner
Carol and Mike Wade
Julie Weil
Julie Weston and Gerhardt Morrison
Carolyn Wicklund
Martha Williams
Patricia Wygle
Hannah Young
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Ann Adamson Leonardo
Dianne Borjessan and Ed Haglund
Daphne Coble and Patrick Murphy
Adriel and R. Stephen Doyle
Charlotte and Dirk Hampson
Nancy C. Heller
Mary and Alan Hogg
Idaho Gives Day
Elizabeth Jolin
Randi and John Kanellitsas
Mary Ann Keane – In Honor of Jenny Emery Davidson
Robin Leavitt and Terry Friedlander
Walter McKew
Leslie Mitchell
Hilarie Neely
Suzanne and Alex Orb
Susan and Reuben Perin
Jody Pratt – In Honor of he Honest Person Who Returned My Wallet & the Librarian Who Gave It Back!
David Resnicow
Cheryl and James Rice
Beth and Robert Rohe
Janet Ross-Heiner
Janet Schaumburg and Bill Craig
Simple Generosity - Target
St. Luke's
Steve and Julie Meineke Family Foundation
Fran and John Suydam
The Hamilton Family Charitable Trust
The Laudate Dominion Foundation
U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame
Annie and Bill Vanderbilt
Lisa and Dave Whorton
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Robyn and Todd Achilles
Big Wood Landscape
Kathleen Diepenbrock and Kelley Weston
Claudia and John D. Gaeddert
Kyla Merwin
Elaine H. and Michael T. Phillips
Narda Pitkethly
Gay Weake
Anita Weissberg
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The Community Library is supported by people who believe in the free flow of news, entertainment, and information. It receives no dedicated tax dollars.
It’s never too early to start planning to make a gift from your IRA (also known as IRA Charitable Rollover Gifts). Money can be transferred directly from your IRA to a 501(c)(3) charity, such as The Library, TAX-FREE! Donors must be 70½ years of age, and a gift from an IRA helps you meet your Required Minimum Distributions.
Strategize now to save on next year’s taxes. Director of Philanthropy, Carter Hedberg, is here to assist you.
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