Posts by Kristy, Adult Librarian

Harriet Tubman: Union Scout, Spy and Freedom Fighter

Harriet Tubman: Union Scout, Spy and Freedom Fighter

Tuesday, May 10th, 7:00 p.m. (virtual) Click here to register. Well known for her Underground Railroad activities leading enslaved people to Freedom, Tubman also served as a valuable scout, spy and fighter for the Union Army. Cultural historian John Vorperian will discuss the rarely shared stories of Tubman's successful military exploits in disrupting Confederate outposts and supply lines during the Civil War. This program is supported by the White Plains Library Foundation.
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May 10, 2022 9:00 am | by | 3 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: adults, Black History, events, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Tubman sculpture, history, library events, Observances and Celebrations, White Plains events, and White Plains Harriet Tubman Events.

TONIGHT: Small Houses with Author Sheri Koones

TONIGHT: Small Houses with Author Sheri Koones

Small Houses: Bigger Than Tiny, Smaller Than Average Wednesday, May 11th, 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. The mass shift away from expensive urban living has resulted in people searching for smaller, more affordable homes. In this presentation, Sheri will provide examples of small-house options around the country, including ADUs (accessory dwelling units). She'll discuss a range of topics from heating and ventilation systems, to flexible spaces, wet rooms, and prefabrication. SHERI KOONES is an expert on the subject of small houses and sustainable building, having written nine previous books on the topic. She has written numerous articles about home
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May 9, 2022 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author events, author visits, housing, small houses, and tiny houses.

TODAY: Tidy Up Your Kitchen and Bath

TODAY: Tidy Up Your Kitchen and Bath

Tuesday, April 19th 2:00–3:00 p.m. Click here to register. Let's sort out the two most used rooms of your home, easily! Join author and organizing humorist Jamie as she shares simple steps to declutter the bathroom and the kitchen. Learn how to make these overwhelming tasks a lot easier with her ideas and get started live during the program with a mini guided tidy-up. Find out more about Jamie here. This program is supported by the White Plains Library Foundation.
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April 19, 2022 10:18 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: cleaning, decluttering, home organization, Jamie Novak, and organization.

Honeybees and Pollinators

Honeybees and Pollinators

Sunday, April 3rd 2:00–3:00 p.m. Click here to register. This is a one hour class that explores honeybees and the important role they play in our lives and environment. We'll also discuss the plight they are currently experiencing (mass die-offs due to pollution, climate change, etc.) and what we can do to help them. Patrons will get to see beekeeping tools and equipment such as a smoker, veil, beekeeper's suit, and hive box up-close, plus large glossy pictures of honey bees, and a frame of live honeybees that will be safely secured in an observation hive! John Gallagher is a
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March 28, 2022 10:13 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: beekeeper, beekeeping, gardening, honeybees, library events, pollination, and pollinators.

Hollywood’s Golden Age of Self-Censorship

Hollywood’s Golden Age of Self-Censorship

Tuesday, March 22nd 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. From the 1930s to the 1960s, Hollywood censored itself. The Production Code is often remembered as a quaint document that ensured married couples slept in separate beds on screen. But the Production Code was a more complex contract between Hollywood and its diverse global audience. It led filmmakers to create a code for representing sex, violence, and extreme politics. And it helped Hollywood navigate the depression, the rise of Nazism, Soviet communism, World War II, the Cold War, and the Sixties. In late 1960s, Hollywood could no longer make films to
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February 18, 2022 10:36 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Old Hollywood and Production Code.

Vanderbilt: The First Tycoon

Vanderbilt: The First Tycoon

Thursday, January 27th 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. Join Professor Rick Feingold as he explores the life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the first tycoon. Cornelius Vanderbilt began operating his own ferry in New York Harbor at the age of 16. He would work from dawn until dark ferrying passengers between Staten Island and the tip of Manhattan. The tiny business would grow into a massive steamship company. Vanderbilt would undercut his competitors by pricing his services so low that he would drive them out of business. Eventually he built a railroad empire from New York to Chicago and the First
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January 11, 2022 2:20 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Anderson Cooper, Cornelius Vanderbilt, history programs, new york history, the Vanderbilts, and tycoons.

Agatha is Missing: Murder Mystery Event

Agatha is Missing: Murder Mystery Event

Monday, January 10th 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. Join us for a fun-filled interactive murder mystery about the real-life disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. Prudence Wright Holmes plays Detective Miss Clarissa Marbles and the audience members are all suspects who are called “on stage” to answer for their criminal pasts. Was it the cook, the butler? Maybe it was her cat-hating neighbor, Hortense Hopwell Hoggins, or her randy golf partner, Sir Reginald Horncastle, or maybe YOU! This program was made possible by a partnership between Tuckahoe Public Library, Warner Library, and White Plains Public Library.
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January 6, 2022 10:08 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: adult events, Agatha Christie, murder mystery, and mystery.

Interview with Emily X.R. Pan

Interview with Emily X.R. Pan

Emily X.R. Pan, the author of The Astonishing Color of After, sat down with our Forever Young Adult Book Club last month to answer questions and chat with patrons. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming Forever Young Adult meetings, special guests, and crafts! We'll be discussing Miss Meteor on December 16th and The Bear and the Nightingale on January 27th, both at 7:00 p.m. The Astonishing Color of After, a New York Times bestseller, follows the story of Leigh Chen Sanders. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, loses her mother to suicide. Leigh begins seeing a magnificent, fantastical
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December 14, 2021 9:18 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Book Discussion, Events, Featured, and Library News.
Tags: author discussion, author event, book club, book discussion, Emily X.R. Pan, Forever Young Adult, Forever Young Adult Book Club, meet the author, Young adult, young adult books, and young adult fiction.

Forever Young Adult Book Club & Author Visit

Forever Young Adult Book Club & Author Visit

Forever Young Adult is a fun new book club for YA fans who are a little less “Y” and a bit more “A.” Whether you're a regular YA reader or you need a break from your usual “To Read” list, all are welcome! Each month, we will “meet” online to discuss the latest FYA HQ-chosen read. Keep your eyes peeled for special announcements such as themed pickup kits with crafts and goodies, author visits, and prerecorded author messages! Next session: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan Thursday, November 18 @ 7:00 PM Click here for the zoom
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November 8, 2021 6:52 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author event, book club, book group in westchester, book group in white plains, book groups, Emily X.R. Pan, and Forever Young Adult Book Club.

Forever Young Adult Book Club

Forever Young Adult Book Club

Forever Young Adult is a fun new book club for YA fans who are a little less “Y” and a bit more “A.” Whether you're a regular YA reader or you need a break from your usual “To Read” list, all are welcome! Each month, we will “meet” online to discuss the latest FYA HQ-chosen read. Keep your eyes peeled for special announcements such as themed pickup kits with crafts and goodies, author visits, and prerecorded author messages! Next session:   Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas Thursday, October 28 @ 7:00 PM Click here for the zoom link. Click here
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October 8, 2021 10:32 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Aiden Thomas, book groups in Westchester, book groups in White Plains, Cemetery Boys, Forever Young Adult, Forever Young Adult Book Club, and young adult fiction.

Remembering 9/11 Writing Workshop

Remembering 9/11 Writing Workshop

Tuesdays July 13th through September 14th* 7:00-8:30 p.m. Click here to register. *Class will not be held on August 24th. In this workshop, we will explore memories of and around the events of September 11th, 2001. Around the country, twisted bits of metal from the Twin Towers are displayed in memorials with the words “Never Forget.” But what exactly do we want to remember about that day? What should we remember? Join us for a deep but gentle dive into our memories around the tragedy, and how we’ve grappled with it in the twenty years since. You will be given
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June 30, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: 9/11, creative writing, September 11th, writing, and writing workshop.

Presentation on Coach Vince Lombardi

Presentation on Coach Vince Lombardi

TOLERANCE: Coach Vince Lombardi's Winning Formula Sunday, June 20th 2:00–3:00 p.m. Click here to register. One of the greatest coaches in pro football, Vince Lombardi's leadership skills resulted in ten winning seasons and five championships. The Super Bowl trophy is appropriately named after him. His management keys of diversity, tolerance and attacking bigotry proved well in Green Bay. Lombardi broke down barriers for athletes of color in Wisconsin's NFL outpost. It should be no surprise Lombardi employed the same successful tactics in changing the Washington Football Team's culture for gay players. John Vorperian, a published sports historian & host of
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June 9, 2021 12:37 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: history, library events, library programs, sports, sports events, and vince lombardi.

Sunrise Scimitar with Joe Rao

Sunrise Scimitar with Joe Rao

Sunday, June 6th 2:00–3:00 p.m. Click here to register. On the morning of June 10th, early risers in the Northeast US  will – weather conditions permitting – be treated to the most unusual sunrise of their lives, for we will not see a yellow-orange circle of light, but a large solar eclipse which will transform the Sun into a fiery scimitar! From the Tri-State Area, sunrise is at 5:24 a.m. and maximum eclipse comes nine minutes later. Eighty percent of the Sun’s diameter will be obscured. Such a circumstance is very rare, having occurred only twice in the past 150
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June 3, 2021 10:00 am | by | 1 Comment
Categories: Library News.
Tags: astronomy, events, Joe Rao, meterology, science, and weather.

Metaliteracy & Disinformation Workshop

Metaliteracy & Disinformation Workshop

Truth Vs. Disinformation: Turning the Tide Against Social Media Manipulation Monday, May 24th 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. Professor Tom Palmer will provide metaliteracy tools that attendees can use to help friends and family examine information shared online. Professor Palmer will introduce metaliteracy principles for observing and detecting the origin of disinformation and how it expands through social media channels via unsuspecting citizens. As a media critic and news deconstructionist, Palmer's experience with multimodal forensics draws upon three-decades of news editing, photojournalism, picture editing and design directing in the news industry. His research and writing also focus on text-image
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May 10, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: disinformation, events, fake news, library events, metaliteracy, and social media.

May Gardening Events

May Gardening Events

Spring is here and if you are struggling with starting a garden, you might want to think about attending one of our upcoming events with Master Gardener Jacqui Bergonzi or Co-Founder of Fruition Seeds Petra Page-Mann. Vegetables Love Flowers Wednesday, May 12th 11:00–11:45 a.m. Click here to register. Jacqui Bergonzi, Master Gardener, will discuss how vegetables and pollinators thrive when vegetable gardens are abundant with beautiful flowers. This mutually beneficial relationship must be understood within the context of what goes on below the ground where billions of microorganisms feed and care for plant roots. This presentation will cover tips on
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April 28, 2021 11:08 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage, and Library News.
Tags: container gardening, events, gardening, library programs, and seeds.

Reading to End Racism Book Group

Reading to End Racism Book Group

Continuing on the theme of courageous conversations, the YWCA has partnered with the White Plains Public Library for the Reading to End Racism book club. For details on upcoming discussions, see below: In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende April 22nd, 6:00 p.m. Click here for information on attending. Library Catalog: Print / CD audiobook OverDrive & Libby During the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his sixties, hits the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, and what at first seems an inconvenience takes a more serious turn
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April 6, 2021 11:50 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books and Library News.
Tags: Antiracism, book discussion, book group, Common Ground, Racism, reading against racism, Stand Against Racism, and YWCA.

Meet Authors Laurie Ruettimann and Lindsey Pollak

Meet Authors Laurie Ruettimann and Lindsey Pollak

Authors Laurie Ruettimann & Lindsey Pollak in Conversation Thursday, April 22nd 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register for this virtual event. White Plains Public Library, Bedford Hills Free Library, Harrison Public Library, and Book YaYa present: CNN's top business coach Laurie Ruettimann, author of Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and Take Control of Your Career, in conversation with New York Times bestselling writer and leading business expert Lindsey Pollak, author of Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work. Betting On You: How to Put Yourself First and (Finally) Take Control of Your Career (Library
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March 28, 2021 9:33 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author event, book discussion, Book Ya Ya, business, career panel, Laurie Ruettimann, Lindsey Pollak, and meet the author.

Black History Month Events

Black History Month Events

This February we're celebrating Black History Month with a variety of events for all ages. Below is a chronological list of events and various resources and reading lists. To see a full list of our February events, please check our online calendar. Through February 28th Film Screening: Black Ballerina Black Ballerina is a story of passion, opportunity, heartbreak and triumph of the human spirit. Set in the overwhelmingly white world of classical dance, it tells the stories of several black women from different generations who fell in love with ballet. Sixty years ago, while pursuing their dreams of careers in
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February 15, 2021 10:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Black History, black history month, book discussion, book groups, civil rights, Jackie Robinson, jazz, library events, mamie johnsonson, Observances and Celebrations, Project Lit, Project Lit Community, satchel paige, STEAM, STEAM activities, STEAM at home, and storywalk.

Jackie Robinson: More Than a Ballplayer

Jackie Robinson: More Than a Ballplayer

Thursday, February 11th at 6:30 p.m. Some historians make the mistake of placing a historical figure in a box and not presenting a fuller picture of the individual. Robinson also wrote a nationally syndicated column, founded a bank, appeared frequently on FACE THE NATION, served as a sports team's general manager and league commissioner, was an influencer of Presidents, Governors, and Senators as an informal Civil Rights activist. It's time to hear more about #42 beyond his Brooklyn Dodger exploits. In this presentation John Vorperian, President of the White Plains Historical Society, will discuss Jackie Robinson's accomplishments in addition to
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January 28, 2021 11:26 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: baseball, black history month, Jackie Robinson, library events, and sports.