Library Events for May 2008

First, a fond farewell to Sue Roper, our Saturday afternoon circulation staffer for over 20 years. Sue has decided that she would like her Saturday afternoons back and while we can't blame her, we will miss her terribly!

Shirley Kane has also decided to retire as a staff member on Saturday mornings, though thankfully, she has agreed to stay on, same time, same station, as a volunteer. We couldn't do it without her! Many thanks for
her nearly 20 years of service here.

New to the Saturday library staff is Erin Keane. Erin has many years of library experience and we're happy that she agreed to join us here in Hancock on a part-time basis. She lives in Peterborough with her husband and two young children. Come in and welcome Erin!

From the Children's Room...

Story and Craft Time for Preschoolers will continue through Wednesday April 30th at 2:30 pm. We'll take a break through the month of May and start again in June with a new day and time (watch Hancock Happenings)!

Upcoming Library Events...

Thursdays in May
beginning May 1st at 7:00 pm
Drop-in Meditation

The Hancock Town Library will host drop-in meditation sittings from 7 to 8
pm on Thursday nights throughout the month of May. There is no obligation
to attend all of these sittings, just an opportunity to sit with a group.
Participants will take turns leading the group.


Saturday May 3rd at 7:00 pm at The Harris Center
David Henry/Henry David: An Evening with Mr. Thoreau

Following up on their successes with the Flower Power Hour, Birdfest, poems of Dwelling, and Walt Whitman's Song of Myself, Walter Clark, Jane Eklund,Howard Mansfield, Sy Montgomery, Julia Older and Steve Schuch will read from the works of Thoreau and from writers he has inspired or incensed. The readings will be accompanied by Steve Schuch, of the acclaimed Night Heron Consort, on violin and guitar. Co-sponsored by the Harris Center and the Hancock Library in memory of Thelma Babbitt.


Tuesday May 6th at 7:00 pm
First Tuesday Book Club

Join us as we discuss West with the Night by Beryl Markham, the story of Markham's childhood in Africa and her life as a pilot (she was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west). While you'rehere you can pick up next month's book, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. "One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race....Mr. García Márquez has done nothing less than to createin the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." --William Kennedy, New York Times Book Review


Wednesdays for six weeks
beginning May 14th from 5:30 - 6:45 pm
Chakra Flow Yoga with Sarah Aborn

Beginning May 14th, join us for Chakra Flow Yoga, Wednesday evenings from 5:30 - 6:45 in the lovely Daniels Room at the Hancock Town Library. Through a stimulating flow of yoga postures and breath techniques, we will awaken to our subtle energy bodies that lie at the root of our mental, emotional and physical patterns. Empower your life. Heal and strengthen your body. Access your Divinity. $12 drop in or pre-register for the full six week series for $60. Some yoga experience helpful. All levels welcome. Please arrive 5-10 minutes early, with your mat, to secure a space. Dress comfortably! Contact Sarah Aborn with questions or to pre-register at 603 930 0127. Namaste!


Friday May 16th at 7:00 pm
Third Friday Film: Encounter Point

The final film in our Middle East Film Series is one that you may not get to see on a large screen anywhere else in New Hampshire. The Hancock Town Library has been given special permission by the producers of this 2007 documentary to screen this film without charge. Please join us as we learn about Palestinian and Israeli families who have faced tremendous loss work together for peace in the region. As the producers have written, "Just when the world is losing hope about the possibility of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict comes Encounter Point. Created by a Palestinian, Israeli, North and South American team, Encounter Point moves beyond sensational and dogmatic imagery to tell the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their safety and public standing to press for an end to the conflict. They are at the vanguard of a movement to push Palestinian and Israeli societies to a tipping point, forging a new consensus for nonviolence and peace. Perhaps years from now, their actions will be recognized as a catalyst for constructive change in the region. Encounter Point is a film about hope, true courage and implicitly about the silence of journalists and politicians who pay little attention to vital grassroots peace efforts." The New York Times called it,"assured, thoughtful and clear-eyed..." The Village Voice writes, "A riveting documentary...Blazes with a kind of spiritual grace." Free admission and popcorn thanks to the Friends of the Library. You won't want to miss this one.


Four Wednesdays throughout the summer
beginning May 28th at 7:00 pm
Quilted Jacket Class with Patricia MacFarlane

Do you love to sew? Have you always wanted to show off your hobby with a wearable item? Unable to find a pattern that you really love? Then this class is for you! Don't use someone else's design - create your own. Bring a photo, piece of fabric or any inspiration item to the first class. Together we will help to take what you already know to create a one-of-a-kind jacket that is an expression of your artistic style. Four class sessions for $40. One class per month through the summer, Patricia and her upbeat helper MaryBeth Theisen will show you how to take a standard jacket pattern and use it as a base for your creativity. Register by May 21 by calling the library at 525-4411.

Coming in June!

Thursday June 5th at 7:00 pm
New Hampshire Cemeteries and Gravestones
with Glenn Knoblock
A NH Humanites Council Program

Rubbings, photographs, and slides illustrate the rich variety of gravestones to be found in our own neighborhoods, but they also tell long-forgotten stories of the Great Awakening, the Throat Distemper epidemic, the American Revolution. Find out more about these deeply personal works of art and the craftsmen who carved them. Learn how to read these stone "pages" that give insight into the vast genealogical book of New Hampshire. Historian Glenn Knoblock is the author of many books, including Historic Burial Grounds of the NH Seacoast. He has given numerous lectures and walking tours in NH cemeteries. NH Cemeteries and Gravestones is one of over 250 programs and exhibits available to organizations around the state through the Humanities to Go! catalog. This program is co-sponsored by the Hancock Library and the Hancock Historical Society and is open to the public. Join us!

Friday June 6th at 7:00 pm
Hal Close discusses his book,
V---Mail: Letters to Luette

In the early morning hours of February 16, 1945, Joseph Kempf Close, a thirty-seven-year-old PR man, who was happily married with two young children, found himself at a Washington D.C. airport, ready to board a Douglas C-54 for the long flight across the Atlantic. His destination: London. His client : the U.S. Government. His mission: to write glowing radio reports about the American military effort for the Office of War Information.
But they weren't the only things that Close, an Ohio native who would eventually relocate his family to New Hampshire and make a name for himself as a radio entrepreneur in Keene, was writing from the war-front. Close, whose tour would last five months, was writing letters to his wife Luette, back home in Toledo. This book is comprised of much of that correspondence and now, more than 60 years after they were originally written-and nearly four decades since Joe's death-these letters have been compiled and edited by the author's son, Hal. Join us to hear Hal read from his book and talk about his father's experiences. Free and open to the public.


Don't forget that you can make an appointment to use one of our public
computers to download audiobooks onto your MP3 player or you can borrow the library's MP3 player for a week at a time. Don't know how to use one? We'll teach you! Free downloadable audio books can be found at http://nh.lib.overdrive.com for all Hancock Town Library patrons. Call us for the super-secret password and start listening! 525-4411.