Vol 9 # 12 September 15, 2025

Friends of PAL

There will be no Friends meeting in September

Next Meeting is October 28, 6:30 - 7:30 pm at the library, 80 Echo Ave.

Please join us to support our library.

Call for volunteers!

Is one of these jobs right for you?



The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library is powered by volunteers.

Our small board of directors https://www.friendsofpal.org/about-us/ is looking to involve all interested persons in our work supporting the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library through collaboration, outreach, and efforts to secure financial support for our mission.

We have openings for community members who are interested in taking on these volunteer jobs:

·        HOOT editor: Create and send the monthly HOOT e-newsletter to over 500 subscribers. https://www.friendsofpal.org/newsletter/. Training will be provided!

·        Social media coordinator: Create content for the social media platforms we use to promote the Friends of the Piedmont Ave Library and repost the content from Oakland Public Library onto our social media accounts to promote programs at our branch.

·        Outreach coordinator: Maintain the communication with Piedmont Avenue Elementary School https://paeschool.org/ PTA and administration.

·        Program coordinator: Work with the Friends and the Branch librarian to create and promote programs at our branch.

We would love to hear from you if you are interested in lending a hand. Please contact Ronile Lahti contact@friendsofpal.org or 510-655-1723 or just come to our next general meeting – Tuesday, October 28, 6:30 pm at the branch. Come to learn more and meet the board members and see what we can do together.

Knitting & Crochet Circle, every 2nd & 4th Monday, 11 am – 1 pm

Join us for a delightful early afternoon of yarn, needles, and good company. Everyone is welcome!

Teen Pop Up Crafts, Tuesday, every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, 3:30 – 4:30 pm

Teens, come to hang out and get creative with the library staff. Supplies provided. Just bring yourself and creativity. 

Plot Twists & Page Turners: A Piedmont Branch Book Club, every 2nd Tuesday, 6 – 7:15 pm

Come together with your fellow book lovers and discover your next literary adventure at our monthly Book Club.

More Events -

Chair Yoga, Monday 9/15 & 9/29, 10 – 11 am

Chair yoga is designed for those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor due to arthritis, knee injury, back pain or any other reason. 

Learn from a certified yoga instructor how a daily practice will improve your strength, flexibility, and balance.

Oakland Animal Services Dog Adoption, Saturday, 9/20, 11 am – 1 pm

We’re partnering with Oakland Animal Services to bring adoptable dogs directly to the community. Learn about responsible pet ownership and resources for pet lovers. Connect with shelter staff to find your perfect match. If adopting on-site, the adoption fee will be waived and they will process the adoption that day! Bilingual doggy resources, care packets, and dog training webinars will be available.

MOCHA At The Library!, Saturday 9/20 & 10/18, 11 am – 12:30 pm

Join us for monthly art workshops for children and families led by teachers from the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA). For ages 5-15 and caregivers. MOCHA workshops focus on building creativity, social-emotional and academic skills through art.

Make Your Own Mini Piñata, Saturday, 9/27, 11 am – 12:30 pm

The piñata is a vibrant and iconic symbol of Hispanic and Latino/x culture, with a rich history that spans centuries and continents. In this hands-on activity, you’ll get to design your very own mini piñata. 

All materials will be provided, just bring your creativity!

K-Pop Demon Hunters Unleashed: A Listening Experience, Tuesday, 9/30, 3:30 – 5 pm

Get ready for an epic (and slightly chaotic) K-pop experience inspired by the viral sensation K-Pop Demon Hunters! We’re bringing the beats, the drama, the snacks, and a fun craft to match the vibe. Plus! Get your face painted by the amazing Heather Ware of Look At You Face Paint!

Whether you're a dedicated fan or just here for the fun internet energy, everyone’s welcome to join the fun. All ages welcome. No demon-slaying skills required.

Wednesday Night Art Club: Play with Watercolor, Wednesday, 10/8,

 6 – 7:30 pm

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn the fundamentals of watercolor painting and then dive into fun, creative techniques using everyday items like salt, string, and rice to create eye-catching effects. Join us for a relaxed, beginner-friendly session. All materials provided—just bring your curiosity!

Coffee with a Cop, Thursday, 10/9, 3 – 4 pm

Join your neighbors and public servants for coffee & conversation!

No agenda or speeches – just a chance to ask questions, voice concerns, and get to know the beat officers in your neighborhood. 

Cookies, tea, and hot cocoa will be provided.

The Decolonized Kitchen: Sprouting Semillitas, Saturday, 10/11,

11 am – 12 pm

These workshops are intended to teach kids about plants and their importance to the environment through hands-on activities such as art, play, music, and/or cooking. Each workshop will have varying components and formats. In the end participants will leave with an appreciation for plants, understand more about a plant's sprouting journey and how it connects to our own, and strengthen their skills and values as environmental stewards. While all age groups are welcome the intended audience is children ages 8 - 11. 

Gardening Workshop: Edible Landscaping, Saturday, 10/11, 2 – 3 pm

Discover how to create a productive and beautiful edible garden! 

A UC Master Gardener will guide you through selecting the right planting site based on sun and shade, preparing and improving your soil, watering, mulching, fertilizing, choosing what to plant, and managing pests at acceptable levels. Making informed decisions in these areas will help you enjoy a plentiful harvest throughout your garden.

Celebrate with us September 15–October 15 as we honor Hispanic and Latinx cultures. Oakland Public Library will host special events, performances, and family activities, plus curated booklists and resources to help you explore and celebrate. Visit our webpage or stop by at our Piedmont Ave. branch to learn more.

A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.

- Henry Ward Beecher

The Avid Reader by Louis Segal

I’ve been an avid reader since I could read. In high school I used to cut school to read in the Berkeley Public Library.  I’m writing this column to share some of the books I love. I hope, perhaps, you might grow to love a few of them. 

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann [2023]

David Grann -novelist, historian and journalist- wrote Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI in 2017. The book became a prize-winning movie. The Wager garnered critical acclaim and climbed to the top of best-seller lists. These two historical novels have tight narratives and endnotes that reveal meticulous historical research. Sea tales, good ones, are a genre that are dominated by inclement weather, rigid stratification, and often mad captains serving mammon and imperial glory, driven by both ambition, piety and psychoses, male domination and subjugation; often leading to violence and mutiny. Think of the Bible and Noah’s Ark, The Odyssey and its many renditions, James Fennimore Cooper’s Jack Tier, Mutiny on the Bounty, the saga of the Amistad, Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Benito Cereno and, of course, Moby Dick which along with B. Traven’s The Death Ship rank at the summit of this genre. The tale of the Titanic and Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools trespass upon the all-male domain.  Included in these exemplary books are the first book of Leonardo Padura’s Heretics.  Grann’s The Wager elbows its way onto this lustrous pantheon. 

Props out to Justin Fawsitt.  A few months ago Justin, a fellow reader at Chiave, recommended that I check out The Wager. The novel is about a secret convoy of British warships on a mission from Portsmouth, across the Atlantic, down to the Straits of Magellan and up the Pacific coast to seize silver and gold from the Spanish galleons in the War of Jenkin’s Ear. The ships were caught in terrible winter storms along the southern latitudes and much of the fleet was destroyed in the arid and cold Pacific. Hunger and scurvy, inclement weather and conflicting agendas, drive The Wager’s crew to murder, mayhem and mutiny. 

Part One introduces us to three of the principal characters of the tale: the ambitious and driven first lieutenant who will, due to the untimely death of The Wager’s captain, end up at the helm of the ill-fated and well-armed ship. The second principal is Lord Byron, the grandfather of the renown English poet. He came on board as a very young midshipman, aloof and brave. The third principal was the gunner, a truculent religious man who proves to be the most capable of the three men.   Parts Two and Three describe the fierce storms, the shipwreck where the surviving crew are marooned on a frozen, lifeless island. Like Melville, Twain, and Traven, Grann provides vivid descriptions of the labors and ingenuities of the crew in their desperate struggle to survive. Many don’t survive. Part Four, describes the years in exile, the mutiny, and the terrible events in pursuit of survival and imperial glory. Grann portrays the glory and the agony, the ambitions and jealousy and comradeship and cruelty of the desperate crew as they serve a Britannia struggling to rule the waves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo6v6e85yT0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXn2Hx6aTqQ

By Louis Segal. Louis was born in Oakland, raised his family in Oakland, dropped out of school in 1968, worked many jobs over the decades, dropped back into school in the 80s, got a Ph.D. in history, taught as an adjunct professor from 1993 to 2015. Retired but not withdrawn. 

Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library Board of Directors 2024

President: Ronile Lahti; Secretary: Arleen Feng; Treasurer: Joanna Smith

The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our tax ID is 84-4203055.

All contributions are tax deductible.

Donate to Friends of PAL