Saturday Smiles: A jolly young fellow from Yuma

Limericks have been around for the last 500 years or so.  These short, comical poems began innocently enough as nursery rhymes but bawdy versions soon found their way into pubs and taverns.  Edward Lear popularized this nonsensical poetic style with his A Book of Nonsense published in 1846:  in his honor, Limerick Day is traditionally celebrated on his birthday, May 12.  I think Lear would agree that any day is a good day to have fun with limericks, though, so here’s one by Ogden Nash, another well-known writer of limericks:

A jolly young fellow from Yuma

Told an elephant joke to a puma

Now his skeleton lies

Beneath hot western skies

The puma had no sense of huma

Festival season begins Sunday

Image courtesy of Japan in Fort Wayne

As a relatively new resident of Fort Wayne, one of the many things I love about my new hometown is the abundance of festivals celebrating different cultures.  On May 20, the season kicks off with the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Here are a few fun facts about this event and our sister city relationship with Takaoka, Japan.

• Fort Wayne has had a sister city relationship with Takaoka, Japan since 1977.  Created in the interest of promoting world understanding and friendship between cultures, this relationship has grown over the years.  The Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates our ties to our sister city by sharing in the annual Japanese custom of Hanami (cherry blossom viewing).
• In 1980, the citizens of Takaoka presented Fort Wayne with a Friendship Garden.  Artifacts from our sister city were donated as well and displayed in the Historical Museum.
• In 1991, Takaoka planned to present Fort Wayne with a gift of 100 cherry trees.  The Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department researched cherry trees and determined that the Sargent Cherry was the only type that could withstand our winters.  Ten were planted on the campus of IPFW but unfortunately did not survive one year.  Ten were planted off of Bluffton Road.  Although the trees planted along Bluffton Road survived, the plan was never fully executed due to the trees’ fragility in our environment.
• Takaoka is also a city of three rivers — how cool is that?

What’s your favorite part of this festival?  Can you name our other sister cities?

Know someone with a visual or reading impairment?

Northeast Indiana Radio Reading Service (NEIRRS) is a FREE reading service for people who have a visual, physical, learning, or language challenge to independent reading. For thousands of people in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio, NEIRRS has been a source of in-depth news, community connection, and the voice of an old friend for more than 30 years.  NEIRRS volunteers read local news and features from a dozen area newspapers, more than 40 magazines, short stories, grocery ads, obituaries and more.

NEIRRS is not-for-profit and organized through the Allen County Public Library Foundation. Financial support comes from individual donations as well as contributions from corporations, foundations and service organizations.  Major support comes from the Allen County Public Library, which provides building space, staff support, utilities, and other non-financial resources for the NEIRRS operations.

NEIRRS broadcasts in a 50-mile radius from Fort Wayne over a sub-channel frequency. The special receiver needed to hear the broadcast is loaned to qualified listeners at no charge.  Print-impaired listeners may listen to the webstream or choose from selections on the Podcast page.  NEIRRS broadcasts 24 hours a day and seven days a week. A large-print broadcast schedule is available in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format.

For more information about NEIRRS, please call 421-1375.

Meet the ACPL staff! This month’s featured staffperson: Susan Hunt

Several months ago, we started a new feature on this blog,  profiling an ACPL staffperson each month. Using a variety of serious and silly questions, we hope to share with you the diversity of the Allen County Public Library’s staff. Which brings us to…

Ten Questions with Susan Hunt:

1.      What do you do at the library, and how long have you been doing it?

I’m the manager of the Aboite Branch Library and have been for the past 22 years. I’ve been  here at ACPL since before dirt. I started in 1974 as switchboard relief operator and in Tech Services in Acquisitions. Among my responsibilities was working with Fred Reynolds bringing in books from other libraries across the country for the genealogy copying project. In 1979 I went to Business & Technology. In 1982 I became the manager of the New Haven Branch, in 1984 manager of the Little Turtle Branch, and January 1990 manager at Aboite. Whew!

2.    What is the favorite part of your job?

I love the variety. There’s the managing part of course, reference, and I dabble in children’s programming – especially puppetry and messy craft programs. Reference is like a game. One time a patron said she was looking for a book that had a detective in it. Without missing a beat, I said, oh, the detective is Luke Davenport and the author is John Sandford. After I picked her up from the floor (figuratively speaking) …

3.     What’s your favorite children’s book?  What message did you learn from it?

Harold and the Purple Crayon. I loved it as a child, but didn’t realize until I was an adult that the reason I loved it was that Harold controlled his own destiny.

4.     Do you have any pets?

I have four cats. Oliver and Samantha just turned 11. Spencer will be 4 in August and Louise will be 3.

5.    What’s your favorite color?

Purple!! Years ago I tried to dye my hair purple, but it didn’t work. The stylist had purple everywhere! All over her, the towels, the floor, but my hair would only go a strange shade of red.

6.    Do you have a “guilty pleasure” TV show?

I love Food Network and HGTV and recently upgraded so I could get the Cooking Channel and DIY. I also love all the crazy shows you can vote on like Design Star (I voted for David Bromstad and he won) and Help I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (voted for Melissa Rivers – I think she came in 2^nd). There are so many I’ve forgotten some of them. And I’m a Survivor fan.

7.    Puppies or Puppets?

Puppets absolutely. We have a huge collection here at the branch, and my personal collection is probably 200. I name my favorite ones. I love to do puppet shows. I’m working on a couple of adaptations for A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (yes we have the puppet) and The Cow Who Wouldn’t Come Down.  I wrote the play but am working on the logistics of moving the cow both up and down and side to side because the curtain is in the way. Maintenance may have to put up a second rod for that. Watch out Damon!

8.     If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

For rude people to just go away.

9.     Eating out or eating at home?

Eating at home. I love to cook! I have a VERY large collection of cookbooks. I like to use good quality cookware and have Calphalon Professional Hard-Anodized cookware and Le Creuset. And of course I have a ridiculous amount of food prep accessories and serving items. Would you believe a china cupboard in the garage?

10.   Campfire or fireplace?

Campfire in the summer and fireplace in the winter.

We hope you enjoyed meeting Susan through this profile. Let us know what you think of this feature. (And if you’re an ACPL staffperson and would like to volunteer to be featured on the blog… email me, we’ll see what we can do!)

Flavorwire: your cultural guide

Flavorwire is a cultural news & critique blog covering art, books, music, and pop culture the world over.  Highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between; if it’s compelling, they’re sharing it.  Recent articles include the following: “A Selection of Vintage May Day Posters”, “Literary Favorites Illustrated Muppets-Style”, “The Best Opening Lines in Cinema”, “The Perfect Bands to Suit Your Every Obscure Mood”, and “Politicians as ‘Game of Thrones’ Characters”.

I think I’ve found a new favorite blog – after As You Like It, of course!

Moms with moxie

As we prepare to celebrate Mothers’ Day, I not only think of my mom and my friends’ moms but also the great moms I’ve encountered in fiction.  Here’s a short list of some of the best moms in fiction — who would you add?

	Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan is a force to be reckoned with.  Before marrying Aral Vorkosigan and having a child, she was commander of her own spaceship.  In Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, Aral may have the military reputation and the nickname “The Butcher of Komarr” but the men of Barrayar would be advised to take Cordelia at her word when she warns them to avoid annoying her.  Love Cordelia!
	In Tehanu, a book in the Earthsea Cycle, we spend time with Tenar, a former high priestess of the Nameless Ones.  Tenar has a generous maternal spirit:  despite the turmoil around her she adopts and raises a maimed, abused girl, making Tenar one of the greatest fantasy moms ever.
	I think Molly Weasley is simply awesome in all of the Harry Potter books but I selected The Deathly Hallows for this list because of her deadly duel with Bellatrix Lestrange.  Go Molly!
	Amelia Peabody is a strong-willed, no-nonsense woman — as the series begins in the late 1800′s she certainly stands out.  This spunky amateur archaeologist/sleuth has a warm heart — in addition to one biological child, she and her husband adopt a few other children over the course of the series.  Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first title in the series.
	Confessions of Super Mom. What do you get when you mix chick lit with the comic genre? Super Mom!  After an ill-advised mixture of all the cleaning products in the house knocks her out cold, Birdie Lee awakes with miraculous cleaning powers and an uncanny ability to anticipate when children are in danger. With wit, humor, and some sage motherly advice, Super Mom gives readers a true hero for our time.

And the winner is …

The announcement of Pulitzer Prizes for 2012 made news not for what was awarded, but for what wasn’t awarded: for the first time since 1977, no award in fiction was given.  But even with the Pulitzer declining to choose a winner from the shortlist of nominees, there’s hardly a shortage of award-winning books to discover.

Some honors, like the aforementioned Pulitzer, the Nobel Prize, and the National Book Award, are meant to highlight the best recent literature across all genres.  Other awards draw from narrower fields: the Hugo award goes to science fiction novels, the RITA award to romance novels, and the James Beard award to cookbooks.  Whatever type of book you prefer, there’s likely an award to highlight the best of that category.  To find a sampling of more awards, and to click through recent winners, Amazon’s webpage on award winners is a fun way to find intriguing new titles to add to your “must read” list.

And if award-winning books aren’t what you’re looking for, you might still enjoy some award-winning book titles.  The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year delivers exactly what it promises: the titles are often hilarious, and sometimes downright confusing, but they are undeniably odd.  Check out the Bookseller blog for official award news, or go to their Wikipedia entry for a complete list of past winners.