Posts from Hudson Park Library

There's an exciting installation at Hudson Park Library, in the children's room. Check out what happens when you put kites, scarves, or parachutes into the wind tunnel, as Jen Casado and her sons do.

Branden Simms has created an inspired work which provides a detailed look at how a small unit conducted itself in this period under extreme duress. His book is not only a military history, but a look at the actual people who took part in these events. He chronicles their lives on an almost hourly basis and we endure with them those momentous events that took place on that sultry afternoon 200 years ago on a small Belgian field. That farmland and structures remain active to this day which are owned by individuals aware of their historical significance. The author was privileged to 

Can you recommend any books with female protagonists who are in their early to mid-20s?

This is a superb military study of the Great War. if you are looking for some new perspectives on the Bloody Fields of Flanders and elsewhere then this seminal work by Peter Hart is a good place to start.

Addiction is a difficult disease to live with, no matter how old you are. As a teen, it may be especially hard. If you are looking for reading material about addiction or a place to go for help, the library is here.

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The celebration is typically held during the last week of September, and it is meant to draw national attention to the harms of censorship. Even though books continue to be banned, part of the celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, many of the books have remained available.

Challenged Books vs. Banned 

Orange Is the New Black is the latest series from Netflix based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name. The main character, Piper Chapman, is a middle class woman who has to leave behind her life in order to serve 15 months in prison for transporting a suitcase full of drug money for an international drug smuggler/former lover.

Piper and other characters such as Tastyee, Red and Alex are seen reading or referencing various books throughout the series. I decided to watch Orange Is the 

AHRC New York City's Adult Day Centers offer adults with disabilities a variety of services and opportunities. Using a person-centered approach, individualized and creative supports are offered to achieve meaningful goals based on the person's strengths and preferences. Providing individualized supports includes respect to personal choices and responsiveness to the person's unique needs.

Art consultant Catherine Rosamond wants the artists in the Betty Pendler New York 

Daft Punk Random Access Memories Random Access Memories, the fourth proper studio album from Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo delivers a mix of disco, soft rock, prog-pop, Broadway-style pop and of course, their stadium-dance sound. The series of songs takes the listener on a cohesive trip through different decades with an extreme attention to detail.

The Knife Shaking the Habitual The Knife 

Last week, the United States Supreme Court ruled Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

In 1996 DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages for purposes such as Social Security survivors' benefits, insurance benefits, immigration and tax filing.

Section 3 of the law defines marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband 

Until relatively recent decades, women have had severely limited opportunities within Western art music especially composition. Unfortunately women were often encouraged as amateurs but not professionals. Historically, there have been many obstacles facing woman as professional performers and composers.

The first dates all the way back to the beginning of the fourth century, in keeping with the Pauline injuction, Mulier in ecclesia taceat, which translates to "Let women keep silence in church." Women could and did make music in their own separate convents, 

Yesterday I went to the independent bookstore Bluestockings for a reading of Lisa Darms' The Riot Grrrl Collection with Johanna Fateman, Ramdasha Bikceem and Molly Neuman.

While I was sitting in the audience I thought about my first encounter with the Riot Grrrl movement. I was thirteen years old when I first heard the song Rebel Girl by

I have been anticipating for a long time the arrival of the cicadas that were laid as eggs in the year 1996. I can still remember the wall of white noise that their parents produced 17 years ago. Most people complained that it sounded like a jet engine revving up for takeoff but to me it sounded like a gorgeous and intricate symphony.

I was ecstatic to learn that the cicadas would be returning this year and filling the air with a 7 kHz mating buzz. Predictions stated that cicadas would outnumber people 600 to 1. I couldn't be happier. As time passed though I 

Seymour Chwast, The Pushpin Group. 2013. Make Music New York.Make Music New York is a live, free musical celebration on June 21, the longest day of the year. From 10 in the morning to 10 at night, public spaces throughout the five boroughs become impromptu musical stages, dance floors, and social meeting points.

MMNY is in its seventh year and is based on France’s Fête de la Musique, a national musical holiday inaugurated in 1982. Ever since, the festival has 

Raymond Chandler did not spend very much time in the Village but he did check into the residential hotel, The Grosvenor, 35 Fifth Avenue, in the spring of 1955 and stayed for a short while.

He also wrote this in a 1954 letter to Hamish Hamilton about imagined neglected authors:

...And there was Aaron Klopstein. Who ever 

Hart Crane lived for a time at 45 Grove Street (he more famously had an apartment with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge) and his birthday is July 21.

Crane was a poet in the Rimbaud fashion. His life was restless, chaotic and short.

It may have been a good life for producing poetry, but it was a terrible life to 

Clement Clark Moore is credited with writing one of the most famous poems in the world, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," also known as "A Visit from St. Nickolas."

This poem was first published anonymously in 1823, and was not attributed to Clement Moore until it was included in an 1844 anthology of Moore's poems. Moore wrote it for his children and at their insistence he included it in this edition. Moore, however, was generally more serious minded than this poem and apparently wanted to distance himself from it. He certainly didn't need the 

This was probably one of the largest engagements fought in the American Revolution. No larger battles occured in the United States until the Civil War. Yet, there is a surprising paucity of books concerning this pivotal event. Why is this so? Monmouth certainly gets mentioned in every history of the Rev War, but in-depth studies are scarce. William Stryker wrote a full length history many years ago, and while its comprehensive, the author's bias is decidedly slanted toward the patriot cause. Stryker does provide a more detailed description of the battle, but with some 

Mary McCarthy is eminently quotable, so I'll let her speak for herself. June 21 is her birthday and she lived at 16 Gay Street.

The American, if he has a spark of national feeling, will be humiliated by the very prospect of a foreigner's visit to Congress —