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We're so glad you are finding satisfying library materials with Hoopla!  In honor of National Library Week, Rye Public Library Patrons will now be able to borrow SEVEN items each month through this easy to use, universally available resource!  Please enjoy two more items each month as our thank you for your patience and flexibility as we all navigate this unprecedented period in public library service.

A Center
a poem by Ha Jin 
 
selected by
Gwen Putnam-Bailey

You must hold your quiet center, 
where you do what only you can do. 
If others call you a maniac or a fool, 
just let them wag their tongues.  
If some praise your perseverance,  
don't feel too happy about it- 
only solitude is a lasting friend. 
You must hold your distant center. 
Don't move even if earth and heaven quake.  
If others think you are insignificant, 
that's because you haven't held on long enough. 
As long as you stay put year after year, 
eventually you will find a world 
beginning to revolve around you.

How To Paint Mandala Stones
 by Juliette Doherty

 Our ever-creative Juliette has prepared a paint-at-home art instruction video. Creating these beautiful stones can be a peaceful meditative process. Click below to enjoy!
Rock Painting
Rock Painting

Beekeeping on the Seacoast
with Rye's own  
Joe Marttila  of Sea Bee Honey will offer RPL members a discussion of keeping bees in Seacoast New Hampshire on Wednesday April 29 at 6:30pm
 
Joe will give you a fascinating glimpse into the world of honey bees and other New England native pollinators, and explain why pollinators play such a critical role in the ecosystem.  He will also touch on why pollinators are in decline and what you can do to help.   
 
Click this link to join on Wednesday April 29th at 6:30pm and use password: BEES!!20
We can host up to 100 participants, so get your questions ready and learn more from Joe about our favorite pollinators! 
 
Guided Meditation
with Liz Korabek 
is back!  Enjoy a remote session of thoughtful focused time every other Friday at 1:00 PM.  Click here to join live streaming today: Friday April 24th ,or view the earlier sessions in  Previous Events .  From there you can check out other programming streamed earlier at the Library too!
Don't forget Universal Class!  This incredible resource offered to Rye Public Library cardholders has the motto:  Learn anything, learn any time, learn anywhere!  How perfect for today's world?  Take any of over 500 classes on topics from gardening to metaphysics.  Just log in with your library card and start a class!

Rye Public Library is a proud member of SAL: Seacoast Area Libraries. 

Remember RPL is a local collection point for Box Tops For Education support



581 Washington Road, Rye N.H. 03870  603-964-8401
contact@ryepubliclibrary.org 
April 24,  2020
Vol I Issue
weekly   
 
              "The earth is what we all have in common."                                                               
                                        Wendell Berry
 


This week's Booster edition marks a significant week for American culture. In recognizing both National Library Week and National Poetry Month, we are bringing you a very special newsletter.  Culture and community are vital aspects of an enriching life that your public library is mission-bound to deliver.  Observing a celebration of both libraries and poetry at this unique time in history carries a novel significance for us all.  We are facing a reality in which there is true responsibility within each community to protect its members. It is also extremely important to elevate our minds with human culture during this tremendous test.   
The  dual  aspects of culture and community are what libraries, especially town public libraries, do best.  All over the country, libraries are applying creativity and care in finding ways to serve their communities despite being bound by the limitations required to promote public health.    
We can't gather in person, so we offer remote access programming: children's story times, meditation, yoga, live readings, and more!  We can't share physical materials, so we offer electronic media: downloadable books, audio books, film, music and more! [along with the tech support to easily use them]   We CAN still share our love of books so we offer reader advisory through the many reviews in this special weekly edition newsletter! [watch for more book club programming, coming soon!]    
We have also worked closely with health and safety personnel in town to help discern and relay any community need.  Most importantly, we've been reaching out by phone to all of you, both to check in and help with your library and other needs.  There is no place RPL staff would rather be than back in the beautiful library building.  Until that becomes a realistic option, though, we are working hard through remote access to develop and offer alternative services.  
Culture and community become ever more important as the stresses and responsibilities of a public health crisis endure.  Community --the Rye Way--engages us to help others; we check on each other, we maintain safe practices.  We adhere to social restrictions  not just for our own safety, but more importantly, that of others.  What  truer measure of community is there?
In trying to maintain hope, humor and humanity in the face of adversity, cultural pursuits help us reflect. The strength, creativity and longevity of the human spirit is evident in the artistic expressions we  share.  We can all gain comfort, hope, and inspiration from the timeless power of art in all its facets, and for so many, public libraries fill the role of bringing this vital cultural connection to their communities.    
In striving to maintain that role for our community, we are extremely lucky this week to have worked with  Rye's "poet laureate" Mimi White to offer you a unique, local, cultural experience.  Mimi graciously agreed to help us honor both National Poetry Month and National Library Week by sharing her thoughtful readings of several poems she carefully chose for their relevance, reflection and respect for our shared humanity in a trying time.  More poems, reviews and more await in this issue brought to you by your RPL staff.  Enjoy, and--
 
 
 

                                            Please Be Well, Andy Richmond
                                                                            Director, RPL

mimi
 
Rye's "Poet Laureate"
Mimi White
click here for Mimi's reading
password: @mimi2020


 

Shakespeare's Sonnets : Sonnet #130
by  Lisa Houde

Sonnet #130 Day 4
Sonnet #130 Day 4

In other Shakespearean news, two things:
 
1. Happy Birthday to the bard (April 23rd!)
Shakespeare's Birthday Thread - The Avocado
2. I'm considering myself lucky to have read a "cast call" email through the New Hampshire library listserv announcing a state-wide librarian performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."  Granted, I saw the email a bit late, but I'll be participating as "Peter Quince" author of the play within the play to be performed for the king and queen.
Watch out for the link to this production; it'll be a while as we're just meeting to determine logistics on Monday, April 27th.  I'll keep you posted on how we're doing! 

Oregon Shakespeare Festival - A Midsummer Night's Dream  

The Importance of Being Earnest
a Hoopla film review by Lisa Houde



Foolishness abounds!  The Importance of Being Earnest starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, and Judi Dench, an outstanding cast, does fairly well in conveying Wilde's views on marriage, double identities, and food. It does rather slip a bit despite the beautifully cast characters.
I recall the performance I saw in my 20s at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the antics were quite a bit funnier and elicited great laughter from the audience. It seemed vaudevillian and relied to an extent on some elements of slapstick comedy.  Still, I enjoyed the lush costumes, lovely countryside, gorgeous homes, and delightful musical score. I'm afraid that though I loved Judi Dench's performance, she didn't really meet the humorous expectation I have of Lady Bracknell.  In short, the movie could have been much funnier.
The story is one of two bachelors who both create alter egos, and in both, they call themselves Ernest. They decide to create these alter egos to be done with their boring existences.  Inconveniently, they meet two women, one the ward of the other, the second the cousin to the other, and the complex ties each has with secondary and tertiary characters creates chaos. To add to the hilarity, both women claim they can only love a man named Ernest. Around this main plot, one of the men, Jack Worthing, was found in a handbag at the train station.  By film's end, this story line plays into the intricacies of the story; more chaos ensues, and ends rather satisfyingly as much is revealed about both Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff (the other gentleman seeking reprieve from his boredom). 
Despite it not being a favorite film, I enjoyed it enough to see it through, and it was terrific seeing many of my favorite actors in a production.  In short, it was a lovely escape from these strange times we're in.
The Importance of Being Earnest was subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," and it was first performed in 1895 in London. Oscar Wilde had a rocky life which ended tragically. He was educated at Oxford and moved to London after graduating to pursue writing.  He married Constance Lloyd in 1884, but began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas. When Wilde sued Lord Alfred Douglas's father for accusing him of being a homosexual, the court proceedings determined that he was to be arrested for indecency.  He spent three years in jail, and later, after being ruined in both health and reputation, it's conjectured that he died from a form of meningitis in 1900. A tragic loss.  He was quite a playwright and wrote the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1891. Image result for oscar wilde biography
References
BBC. (2014). Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) . BBC History. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilde_oscar.shtml
Stateside Staff. (2015, November 30). What really killed Oscar Wilde? Michigan Radio. https://www.michiganradio.org/post/what-really-killed-oscar-wilde


 
 
Pandemic Pounds
                               a rhyme by Juliette Doherty
 
                                                         
"Stay at home" we've all been told.  
  I get that.  Home I'll stay.
But stuck inside with gobs of carbs?
Oh help me find a way!
When boredom seems my constant friend
The cookies call my name.
No need to shop, I make it all.  
 Sweets are my claim to fame.
And then there's TV viewed at length
A  rainy day or two.
Binge watch Netflix?  Then I must
Binge eat the popcorn too!
Pandemic pounds have found me here.
 I fear it's no surprise.
The numbers creeping up up up.
First one, then three... now five.


I thought I had it well in hand
But right before my  eyes,
The stretchy pants gave not a clue,
I'm now a larger size!
I cling to hope of slimmer ways 
With summer's praise in view,
But then remember just how much
 I love a barbeque!



 

A Chair Yoga Session  
with  Sherry Evans
 Librarian and yoga instructor Sherry Evans' latest  session of guided yoga:


Chair Yoga for Seniors with Sherry. April 2020
Chair Yoga for Seniors with Sherry. April 2020
   
 
 

 
The Enlightenment of Bees
by Rachel Linden
 


a book review by
Gwen Putnam-Bailey
  

I recently found a great book on Hoopla: The Enlightenment of Bees
by Rachel Linden. This ebook had some great elements , a young woman coming of age, searching for meaning in her life. Mia is from the Seattle area, and is a baker's apprentice about to be engaged to her boyfriend of six years.  
Her life takes a turn when he calls off the engagement and she begins to question the true purpose in her life.  She decides to take a chance and join a humanitarian trip around the world with her friend.  The story unfolds with themes of friendship, romance, family and armchair travel.  Despite a couple of story lines that seemed a bit unrealistic, I was happy to return to this ebook until its satisfying end!
 
Editor's note: Bees are a great segway to an announcement of next week's Beekeeping on the Seacoast program. Rye's own Joe Marttila of SeaBee Honey will give a Zoom- based presentation on the basics of beekeeping on Wednesday April  
 29th at 6:30 pm.  Click here to enjoy this presentation. 


YA Novels For Apocalypse Lovers
 by Jessica Ryan


This week's video is for those who love, tolerate and even fear the post- apocalyptic genre. I know what some of you are thinking. Jess, why would you choose such a dark topic? Simply because it's not dark, not really. Here's the thing about post-apocalyptic books: they almost always prove that there is light at the end of tunnel, and even after the world we've always known is no more, there is always something  more . There is always hope.

I've reviewed three YA novels I think you'll enjoy.

The link is below! :)

I've made it easier for you to know when a new video is published. Just click the video below, then click the video's description, and you'll see a link to subscribe to the page!
 
 
YA Apocalypse and Doomsday Book Recommendations & Reviews! Your Next Great Teen/Young Adult Read.
YA Apocalypse and Doomsday Book Recommendations & Reviews! Your Next Great Teen/Young Adult Read.

 
 

  Marcia's Zoom Story Time
Thursday, April 30th
10:30am
by Marcia Beckett

I'm excited to bring you story time via Zoom! Please join us and tell your friends. Everyone is welcome (A Rye Public Library card is not required). Please find the Zoom link at the bottom!
 
 
This week's story description:


Birds, wonderful birds!  We have so many bird books!  Let's ruffle our feathers and fly into a few.  
We'll make a little bird feeder craft. 

You'll need a small plate or bowl, small paper roll, a piece of string/yarn, shortening or peanut butter, and birdseed (you can also use cheerios, sunflower seeds or Rice Krispies).


Rye Public Library Rye, NH is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
     
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.


Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 337 164 108
Password: 450277


Thanks for helping us celebrate National Library Week and National Poetry Month with this week's special edition Booster! We are grateful to be able to offer continued library service to the Rye community.  We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future issues.  Please be well, and continue to take care of yourselves and others until our paths cross again next week.