We had a great time hosting the annual BSCTC women's history conference on Friday, March 22, 2024. Tim Smith started us out with some self-portrait drawing, Michelle Fields discussed women's role in creating and expanding speculative literature, and Mary Wallen ended the lecture portion with a discussion of poetry. They generously gave of their time and expertise to create a great conference.
After a light lunch, women's history conference attendees created their own canvas artwork in participation with The Printery, a local artist supply store and workshop studio from Prestonsburg.
This Hindu festival celebrates spring, love and new life. Holi marks the end of winter and beginning of spring. It also celebrates the Hindu god Krishna and the legend of Holika and Prahlad. The wicked Holika tried to kill Prahlad in flame, but Lord Krishna stepped in to save Prahlad, and Holika was left in the fire and burned to death. On the night before the festival, images of Holika are burned on huge bonfires, drums pound, horns blow, and people whoop. Since Antiquity, to mark the spring equinox, the whole of India celebrates Holi, the festival of colors. During this celebration, Indians of all castes throw colored powder in the faces of those they meet. It doesn't matter if you're lower caste, a widow, a person marked by society -- the powder makes everyone look the same.
Covering in red is for love, green is happiness, orange is for prosperity, and gold is considered sacred.
Restrictions of caste, sex, age, and personal differences are ignored. The festival reminds the Hindi peoples that all discrimination disappears in the holiest gazes.
We've been laughing, crafting, and reading at the library. Our recent events have included the Lunar New Year, Make Your Own Valentine's Day Card, and Read Across America. Hope your semester is ready for a renewed sense of learning and companionship!
From sundown on Friday March 1 until Saturday March 2 at sundown, unplug. Turn off your devices, leave the screens behind, and reconnect with those around you, your pets, and your community. Unplugging is one of the ways to quell the stress of the constantly "on" lifestyle.
Do you wish you had more time to do what you love, think deeply, and focus on the people and things that matter most? By giving up screens one day a week for over a decade, Internet pioneer and renowned filmmaker Tiffany Shlain and her family have gained more time, productivity, connection, and presence. Shlain takes us on a thought-provoking and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for flourishing in our 24/7 world. Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offering the accessible lessons she has learned and providing a blueprint for how to do it yourself.
"Is Google making us stupid?" When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net's bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet's intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by "tools of the mind"--from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer--Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways. Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic--a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption--and now the Net is remaking us in its own image.
We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have understood. Building on years of international reporting, Max Fisher tells the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social network preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. As Fisher demonstrates, the companies' founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone. Traversing the planet, Fisher tracks the ubiquity of hate speech and its spillover into violence, ills that first festered in far-off locales, to their dark culmination in America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol Insurrection. Through it all, the social-media giants refused to intervene in any meaningful way, claiming to champion free speech when in fact what they most prized were limitless profits. The result, as Fisher shows, is a cultural shift toward a world in which people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by misinformation, outrage, and fear.
This book is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most important, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting . . . The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it.
Delve into this concise and practical guide to find all the gardening ideas and advice you need to create a spectacular, thriving garden. Here's what you'll find inside: ;A comprehensive guide covering everything from growing in containers to planting a garden from scratch Fully illustrated with detailed step-by-steps and inspirational gardening ideas Discover how to design with plants by using color and texture to create inspirational displays, and keep them at their best with jargon-free guides to pruning and preventing pests and diseases. Undertake a new endeavor of DIY landscaping projects, which include laying your own patio or lawn, or building a raised bed ready for you to grow your own fruit and vegetables. Choose from a catalog of hundreds of different ornamental plants to find varieties that will thrive in your garden's climate and provide seasonal interest throughout the year. The Complete Gardener's Guide is the perfect all-round practical reference book for gardening beginners, also for those looking for a step up from a beginners' gardening book.
Parents, educators, teens, and children will find inspiration for back-to-roots living. Not only a resource for teachers and homeschooling parents, The Children's Heritage Sourcebook is a cookbook, manual, and activity book, teaching modern homegrown practices of self-sufficiency to children, teenagers, and adults alike. The activities,eighty-five recipes, and projects are complementary and pertinent to the curriculum of kindergarten through eighth grade, with some specific to the teen years. Seasonal cooking, pickling, and gluten-free sourdough making; natural history and information on raising and caring for animals like horses, quail, dogs, and rabbits; and craft and garden activities such as natural dyes, wreaths, flower crowns, and making your own herbal soap and skincare are all included.
Offering an abundance of information and inspiration, Homemade is a revelatory addition to the craft world--the ultimate reference book on crafting and also a warm, engagingly written book that combines history and personal narrative with the science that makes a craft possible and the passion that inspires it. Sterbenz provides readers with not only practical information and direction but also a philosophy and methodology of crafting that build confidence and ability, making it easy to achieve truly professional results. Teeming with clear, reliable, and thorough information on everything from tools and materials to techniques, Homemade is an essential guide to seven of the most beloved crafts: beading, the flower arts, paper crafting, hand printing, decoupage, decorative embellishing, and children's arts and crafts.
High country cooking fit to grace any table. Southern Appalachia has a rich culinary tradition. Generations of passed down recipes offer glimpses into a culture that has long been defined, in considerable measure, by its food. Take a journey of pure delight through this highland homeland with stories of celebrations, Sunday dinners and ordinary suppers. The narrative material and scores of recipes offered here share a deep love of place and a devotion to this distinctive cuisine. The end result is a tempting invitation, in the vernacular of the region, to "pull up a chair and take nourishment." Authors Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley, both natives of the region, are seasoned veterans in sharing the culinary delights of the southern highlands.
Robyn Williams
