Posts from Mulberry Street Library

Welcome back to week three of December’s Reader’s Den. As I was reading 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement certain questions came to mind. While these may get you started they are by no means the only ones:

Hey animal lovers! Yeah, I'm looking at you.

Welcome to Truth is Stranger than Fiction — an occassional BiblioCommons list devoted to special topics in non-fiction. The focus of this month's list is on quirky animal stories! From elephants to oysters, pandas to puppies, there is sure to be a story to make even the greatest of grinches smile. 

It was 7 a.m. when I arrived in Dublin, and I looked greasy, unrested, and ready to hurl after the vegetarian Indian curry that was my in-flight 3 a.m. "dinner." I unhappily waited my turn through customs and prepared for the official behind the plexiglass panel to ask me the standard questions. I answered the gentleman with the demeanour of a zombie, but suddenly perked up when he made a cheerful, sing-song assumption I wasn't expecting:

"You're here to meet a man!"

Welcome back to the second week of December’s Reader’s Den. For many Americans, New Yorkers included, the first images of the Lower East Side are that of the Late Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century. Many of these images of poverty, clotheslines, and pushcarts come from movies, television, literature, or family histories. In her book 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman, the author creates for the reader a story where one can almost imagine themselves in that time period with the bustle of crowded streets, the smells of the pushcarts and shops, and what was happening in the 

Welcome to the December edition of the Reader’s Den! For the month of December, we will read 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman.

Cooking is a very stressful situation that I do my best to avoid. I always get really excited and anxious when I decide to cook, but halfway through the process every burner on the stove is on, bowls, plates, and utensils have piled up on the counter, and all I’ve ended up making is a bowl of spaghetti for one. But as Thanksgiving rolls around my mother always asks the dreaded question, "What are you making?" I’m beginning to think that she regrets asking this question because the extent of my culinary assistance on Thanksgiving Day is opening up a can of cranberry sauce and plopping it into the fine china.

Every November, thousands of aspiring authors and literary daredevils from around the world attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days as part of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short.)

The New York Public Library is hosting NaNoWriMo Write-ins all over the city, creating an opportunity for you to meet other participants, work on your novel, and be cheered on to the lexical finish line. Some do it for the digital certificate and sense of achievement, while other NaNoWrimo novelists eventually go on to have their works published. Why you write, what you write, and how you write it, is all up to you!

On view at Mulberry Street Library in the Great Room is Harry Newman's photographic series, de-composition. Newman has presented in group and solo shows in New York and California, and his images were recently acquired for the permanent collection of the Dave Bown Projects. His most recent show, Last Woods, was presented in September 2010 by the Open Space Gallery in Brooklyn. This is the first exhibition of his latest series, de-composition.

Once a month, the Mulberry Street Library hosts R.E.A.D. with Mudge, a special program in which children read aloud to a registered therapy dog and licensed handler. Named in honor of the national Reading Education Assistance Dogs program and Cynthia Rylant's beloved boy and dog books, Henry and Mudge, Mulberry's Street's team is made up of the wonderful Kimberly Wang and her amazing dog Theo. We recently caught up with Theo's owner Kimberly...

Crystal clear, turquoise water. White powdery sand. Intoxicating rum punch.

Second degree sunburn.

What do all these things have in common? Just a smattering of experiences I recently acquired during a six-day trip to Barbados.

Summer heat got you down? What better way to spend a sticky, humid day than relaxing in your (hopefully) air-conditioned home and watching movies about hot summers? Mulberry Street Library has put together a list of 20 titles to get you started. Let us know your favorite!

The Maine of my imagination finally became a reality this summer, with a brief road trip to the land of many lobster.

After the fourth hour of highway driving towards our destination, entertainment hit a plateau. "What's the state motto of Maine?" I wondered aloud to my co-pilot.

"We just passed two huge black bears on the trail. They're not cute."

My hike in Harriman State Park started off with the only concern being the chance of rain and ticks. I had packed my 99 cent rain poncho and doused myself in OFF bug spray to the amusement of my friends. I could handle seeing snakes, bucks, and other wild animals, but ticks were the last thing I wanted to find on my body or in my hair. My fears soon changed when we passed a father and daughter who mentioned the two black bears they had come upon, which unfortunately happened to be in the direction we were headed. On we pressed, clapping our hands and serenading the hiding bears with today's 

I would like to introduce you to my summer reading avatar, Confused Misty Stingray. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you should swing by the Summer Reading website to create your own avatar and start keeping track of the books you read during the summer. You can keep track of movies, music, and video games as well. Usernames are randomly selected for you by the website, so do look forward to your future avatar's weird name!

Something surreal is happening on the lower level of Mulberry Street Library this summer: Haitian-American artist Christophe Clavier has five paintings on display. Influenced by sources such as the surrealists, French classical painting, and Roman mythology, the artist conjures up a world of mystical imagery.

Jerilyn is a painter of American history, and teaches drawing at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and Spring Studio, and collage at The Cooper Union Department of Continuing Education.

Interning at the Mulberry Street Library has been a very enlightening experience for me. One of the best parts was when I designed and ran a program called City Critters. The program strives to connect Lower Manhattan’s children (ages 3 to 5) with the natural world. Each week, I introduced an animal that is common to New York City, beginning with the ubiquitous pigeon and ending with… cockroaches! 

On Wednesday, February 9, Mulberry Street Library had the honor of hosting best selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith.

On Tuesday, February 8th, Mulberry Street Library hosted a TeenLive event featuring celebrity designer LaQuan Smith.