AUGUST 2022      

News from the Director’s Desk

August is vacation – Kinda ...

At this point, we’ve all heard “Hot enough for you” enough to last us a lifetime. August is our quiet month, and the library will be closed from August 8th – 22nd, reopening on August 23rd.

But don’t forget! Our programs will continue as usual.

Story Sharing: August 11 – 7:00pm. Stories do not have to be fully developed – we welcome first stabs. Tellers who so choose get feedback from the group. Those who wish to simply listen are also very welcome. We are informal, friendly, and fun. If you want to join in person or on Zoom, or if you have questions, contact the coordinator, Arnie Pritchard, at 203-624-2520, or at apritchard01@snet.net.

Friday Night Jazz: August 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th, from 5:30 – 7:00. BYOB. Snacks welcome. $5 donation appreciated. Come listen to selections from our collection of vinyl jazz artists hand-picked by Frank Cochrane each week.

Sew Sew Social: August 11th and 25th, from 5:00 – 7:30. Bring your own project – mending, embroidery, knitting, any handiwork you like. Join us for a quiet evening of snacks and creative chatter.

I hope your summer is breezy and fun, augmented with laughing friends and iced beverages

Cheers!

Jan

Friday Happy Hour Jazz | Fridays in August | 5:30-7:00 p.m.

• Friday, August 5: Trombones, from the get-go
• Friday, August 12: Lee Konitz
• Friday, August 19: Listeners' Choice: Your Favorite Neglected Artists!
• Friday, August 26:  Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams, and maybe some other bluesy types....

Join a congenial little group up on the third floor of the Institute Library to listen to recordings you forgot about or never knew about and stick around a bit to discuss the music! BYOB beverage and treat 

Friday Happy Hour Jazz is presented in concert with and support from Jazz Haven. 

Please consider making a $5 donation when you come to Friday Happy Hour Jazz. 

Story Sharing at The Institute Library 

Second Thursdays | 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Story Sharing meets the SECOND THURSDAY of the month. Join the Institute Library Story Sharing group on Thursday, August 11th, at 7:00 p.m.

After two outdoor sessions, we will be returning to the Institute Library. We hope that you will come in person, but please bring a mask.

If you cannot come in person, you may participate via Zoom, at the following link:  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82984857044

If you are coming, it would be very helpful if you would tell the group coordinator, Arnie Pritchard, and let him know whether you will attend in person or on Zoom, and whether you expect to offer a story. You can also contact him for questions at apritchard01@snet.net. See you here!

Gallery @ The Institute Library

Summer 2022: DECOYS & MIMICS

Curator Martha Willette Lewis has psyched us all out and created a monster in the Gallery Upstairs. Come see works that will have you questioning your eyes, if not your sanity. 

Decoys; fakes; malicious attempts to confuse you; benign attempts at entertaining you -- all can be found in this exhibit featuring work from artists and devious minds from near and far. 

The Gallery is open during the Library's operating hours: Please note that in August, the Library is closed from the 8th until we re-open on the 23rd. The Gallery will be open Saturday August 6th & 27th, from 12:00-2:00 each of those days. 

It is FREE and EASY to participate. This is open to members and non-members alike and the exhibit will be free and open to the public.

Submission instructions will be available in a separate email.

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE EMAILING OR CALLING WITH QUESTIONS.

Sew Sew Social: The Sewing Bee at the Institute Library

Alternate Thursdays, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. August 11th & 25th.

Bring your latest project, or revive one you let get away from you! Absolutely free and open to all -- old, steady hands and people who barely know what they're doing should all feel welcome! 

Dune Bryant has moved on to another professional position and is no longer the Program Manager for the Social Justice Reader program. We are grateful for their hard work and know they will do well in their new job. Best of luck Dune!

We are excited to announce that IfeMichelle Gardin, a Library volunteer in years past, has joined the Social Justice Reader program as Program Manager. She is a native New Havener who has been a Cultural Curator with a family legacy of advocacy in the African American community. Currently, Ife is the Creator Coordinator of the Elm City LIT Fest, a celebration in the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance that will feature LITerature and LITerary Artists of the African Diaspora from CT and beyond. Of her many significant contributions to art and the community, she is most proud of her role as coordinator for The Dwight/Edgewood Project, a Yale drama program that matched neighborhood children with Yale Drama students to create and perform plays. Throughout her life IfeMichelle has been committed to connecting her passion for culture and arts and enhancing the quality of life for her community and looks forward to further developing cultural awareness throughout the region. Please join us in welcoming her -- IfeMichelle, welcome back to the Institute Library crew!

Notes on Reading: 

It is my longstanding observation that some people regard summer reading as an excuse for reading total trash in whatever category floats their boat (romance, thrillers, etc.), whereas some choose to be ambitious and try to read Big Books that they feel will somehow make them Better, or permit them to catch up on the things they missed in the course of their formal education (people who will take The Brothers Karamazov to the beach). Your Operations Manager falls into neither category.

What with taking a long-awaited break from work in August, your Operations Manager has carefully arranged a reading list for herself, which is not either particularly trashy nor insanely ambitious. I guess I am a centrist when it comes to my summer reading list.

A volume I am finally going to borrow from our collection: A Libertarian Walks into a Bear, by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, about the Libertarian movement taking hold and then losing its grip on a town in New Hampshire. Really looking forward to this one. 

I'm also planning to finally poke into The Alchemy of Us, a book on how some inventions completely changed how we experience life, whether or not we've been aware of it -- I've been meaning to read this book since it came out in 2020 but the time has come, because the author, New Haven resident Ainissa Ramirez, is going to be at the Library on September 24th for a long-overdue, more-than-once rescheduled, event! 

Whatever you've chosen to read this summer, don't forget that you can continue the trend well into September; as a Library member pointed out to me recently, September still counts as summer, but with less-crowded beaches and more comfortable temperatures. This means that you still have total license to check out.... well, pretty much anything you want.

The usual p.s. from the Operations Manager:

In August, a number of programs and events were proposed to us and we are moving forward toward these, our calendar metaphorically opening its arms to embrace as much as we can. This fall, there will be author events, and readings, and heavens knows what all else. 

One sort of program I would never have anticipated: BRIDGE GAMES. 

It seems there is a longtime member of our community who wants to see if anyone would be interested in joining him around a bridge table here at the Institute Library. A few casual conversations with members I happened to chat with have indicated that -- yes, indeed, there are some members of our community would be very into playing bridge here. So we are going to see if we can scare up some actual bridge tables and launch an evening bridge series, starting formally in October. If you would like to talk about this with us and join in, please reach out! Send an email to me with BRIDGE in the subject line. I will take it from there. The idea is that this is a program where people at any skill level would be welcome; it's for everyone, and just a way for people to hang out and get good (or better) at the game. 

On a related note, another member, who is decidedly not a bridge player (I know, because I asked) has queried me as to whether or not members of the community here would like to meet once a month or so to play word games, like Scrabble. If this appeals to you -- perhaps you're a NYT Spelling Bee or Wordle addict? -- get in touch. 

The Institute Library is taking a vacation from August 8th through the 22nd, during which the Institute Library will be closed. I will reply to emails upon return to civilized life on the 23rd. But in general: If you have any questions about books, or anything else we may be able to help with, email the Library: Home@InstituteLibrary.org or me directly: Eva@InstituteLibrary.org. Onward, y'all.

--Eva Geertz