Curious about how to download ebooks to your ereader or tablet - or even just how to use it in the first place? 

Would you like to learn how to use the library catalog to renew your items online or request an interlibrary loan?

How about some assistance getting started with genealogy or a research topic?

For any of these topics and more, you can now "Book a Librarian!"

Call 508-764-5426 or email [email protected] to schedule a 

20-30 minute appointment.

All teens are invited to take our survey! Tell us what you want to see at JEL!

Thank you to all who donated to our School Supplies Drive! 

Catholic Charities have distributed the supplies to families in Southbridge, helping kids in our community get ready to go back to school.

   

  

    

September means back to school and the beginning of the fall season - did you know that it is also Hispanic Heritage Month? The library has several programs to celebrate.

First up is the month-long exhibit of a photo essay by Mario Quiroz: Aging Minority in Massachusetts. All are welcome to a reception for the artist on September 4th. A screening of Entre Nos, the story of a family who immigrates from Colombia, will be held on September 11th. And finally, a performance of Flamenco dancing by the students and staff of Flamenco Worcester on September 25th finishes off the month with an exciting show!

  

  

September's JEL Staff Picks 

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to present a photo essay by Mario Quiroz about the aging experience of immigrants in the Commonwealth. The display will be on view for the full month of September, as part of the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. We invite the community to stop by and view this amazing body of work.

 

"The way we face aging is based on our own personal experience. Growing older in a different culture, a foreign land, and many times in a new language can create unexpected challenges. On the other hand, immigrants at old age posses a strength that would help them to harvest the results of years of labor.

 

Family, community and the proud satisfaction of having contributed for decades to their new country is a beacon of hope for future generations."

This photo essay is produced in partnership with the Chinese Progressive Association, the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center of Fitchburg, Centro Presente, the Brazilian Immigrant Center, MIRA, and the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers. For more information please go to www.marioquiroz.com 

All are welcome to join us for a discussion of Richard Russo's That Old Cape Magic in the Reading Room. New participants are always welcome (no commitment!) - copies of next month's book, The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther, are available at the Information Desk for checkout. 

 

"For Griffin, all paths, all memories, converge at Cape Cod.  The Cape is where he took his childhood summer vacations, where he and his wife, Joy, honeymooned, where they decided he'd leave his LA screenwriting job to become a college professor, and where they celebrated the marriage of their daughter Laura's best friend.

 

But when their beloved Laura's wedding takes place a year later, Griffin is caught between chauffeuring his mother's and father's ashes in two urns and contending with Joy and her large, unruly family. Both he and she have also brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?
 
By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind."
 

Library Box Office:  Entre Nos

"In Entro Nos, adoring mother Mariana has toted her two children from Colombia to New York City to indulge her husband's whim. But when he abruptly abandons the family, she'll have to rely on her own imagination and courage and that of her remarkable kids to survive insurmountable odds during their first summer in the United States."

All screenings are held in the Pioppi Room, lower level.

Poetry Reading: Eve Rifkah

Wednesday, September 17th at 3:00 p.m.

 

Poet Eve Rifkah will present a reading from her newly published collection, Dear Suzanne.

"Suzanne is Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) born in poverty she began working at age 12.

After a fall from a trapeze while working in a circus she switched to modeling. Renoir features her in two of his large dance paintings, indeed she was his favorite model as well as many other artists of time. Valadon became an artist herself mentored by Edgar Degas. Her art was critically acclaimed though her son Maurice Utrillo's paintings provided the bulk of their income. She married twice and had affairs with Erik Satie, Toulouse-Lautrec among other.

The poems include verse persona poems in Valadon's voice and prose poems in my own voice written as letters to her from times in my life that run parallel to hers."

The reading will feature images of paintings that feature Suzanne as the model, photographs, and her own paintings as well.
 

Fascinating Rhythm with Cornell Coley

Thursday, September 18th at 6:30 p.m.

 

"A Fascinating Rhythm" interactive program with drums & folkloric instruments, dance and songs - for all ages. Join us for a high energy performance.

Using his drumming & dance skills, the berimbau (musical bow), African djembe drum, congas, African, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian percussion, award-winning teaching artist Cornell "Sugarfoot," Coley, M. Ed. "edu-tains" audiences of all ages.

 

Led by his own highly skilled playing and dancing, Cornell's engaging solo performance draws audiences 'in' by blending thought-provoking questions and senarios with the "hands-on" experience of playing and dancing with him. He enters the room playing and singing, and immediately engages audiences with movement and dialog. Audiences come up on stage to play the cornerstone instruments - drums, bells and shakers -. Everyone jams "carnival style" at the end!
 

 

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Southbridge Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

An Evening of Flamenco

The Jacob Edwards Library presents an Evening of Flamenco as part of it 100th Anniversary Celebration series and Hispanic Heritage Month. This is sure to be an energetic performance of flamenco dancing and music with Edmy Ortiz, Roberto Rios and the Students of Flamenco Worcester. The event is free and open to the public! Light refreshments will be served.

Flamenco Worcester, under the direction of Edmy Ortiz, is a group of flamenco aficionados, students and performers building a community of dancers in Central Massachusetts. The goal of Flamenco Worcester is to showcase this powerful, classical Spanish art form to our region, promoting their love for a dance that is passionate, disciplined and elegant!  The students of Flamenco Worcester often perform in the Massachusetts area at community events and festivals.
 
One can begin flamenco at any time - no partner or dance experience is necessary. Flamenco is for everyone...male and female, all ages and body types. It is a particularly powerful tool for women and girls, helping build self-esteem and a positive body image.  

Children's Corner