LibraryPoint Blog

Put your poems in someone’s pocket

If you’re an aspiring poet
We would sure like to know it
Send us your poem
You can do it from home
There’s no reason not to do it

Okay, I can see that my own poetry needs a little work. I’ll work on polishing it up. Meanwhile, we’re asking for some of your poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day ! In past years we’ve reprinted published poems (with permission), rolled them up into pocket sized scrolls and distributed them in the libraries.

This year we’d like to add some original poems by our patrons to this project. Submit as many of your original poems as you like via this online form, or via old-fashioned paper & ink at the research desk of any of our branches. We’ll select some to print & distribute in the form of beribboned scrolls in April (National Poetry Month.)

The library has new books on breast cancer, thanks to a grant from the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation.  The VBCF, founded in 1991, is a nonprofit organization “committed to the eradication of breast cancer through education and advocacy.”  For more information, visit their website at www.vbcf.org, or call 800-345-VBCF.

Check out a few of our new titles:

Betty Crocker Living with Cancer Cookbook by Betty Crocker
Over 130 recipes designed specifically for the cancer patient.  Also includes “uplifting quotes, anecdotes, and practical tips from cancer survivors.”  (catalog summary)

Breast Cancer:  What You Need to Know--Now
A concise but comprehensive guide from the American Cancer Society.

The University of Mary Washington's 2013 Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series continues on Tuesday, January 29, with a lecture on Cleopatra by Duane W. Roller author of Cleopatra: A Biography:

Few personalities from classical antiquity are more famous-yet more poorly understood-than Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt. In the centuries since her death in 30 BC, she has been endlessly portrayed in the arts and popular culture, from Shakespearean tragedy to paintings, opera, and movies. Despite the queen's enduring celebrity, however, many have dismissed her as a mere seductress. In this major new biography, Duane Roller reveals that Cleopatra was in fact a learned and visionary leader whose overarching goal was always the preservation of her dynasty and kingdom. Roller's authoritative account is the first to be based solely on primary materials from the Greco-Roman period: literary sources, Egyptian documents (Cleopatra's own writings), and representations in art and coinage produced while she was alive. His compelling portrait of the queen illuminates her prowess as a royal administrator who managed a large and diverse kingdom extending from Asia Minor to the interior of Egypt, as a naval commander who led her own fleet in battle, and as a scholar and supporter of the arts. Even her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius-the source of her reputation as a supreme seductress who drove men to their doom-were carefully crafted state policies: she chose these partners to insure the procreation of successors who would be worthy of her distinguished dynasty.

Find out more about this lecture on Mary Washington's web site.

All lectures in the university's Great Lives series are held at 7:30pm, in Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall, and are free and open to the public.

On January 11, 2013 CRRL Headquarters had the pleasure of welcoming the Rappahannock Astronomy Club to Fabulous Friday: Shoot for the Stars. Mr. Jerry Hubbell, President of RAC, and Mrs. Linda Billard, the editor of RAC’s newsletter, came and talked to a group of thirty-two parents and children. The focus of the program was constellations and how we can see shapes in the stars the same way we see shapes in the clouds.  After Mr. Hubbell talked about some of the better known constellations, he and Mrs.