Library News

Jacob Edwards Library

August 2024

Library Hours

Monday & Thursday 9 am - 8 pm

Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 9 am - 5 pm

Curbside pickup is available during library hours!

Introducing Princh!

We are happy to announce that we have a new printing solution at our library - Princh!

To print from your mobile phone or a tablet:

1. When printing at the library: locate the print guide poster near the printer and scan the QR code.
2. When printing remotely: open your browser, go to print.princh.com and enter the 6-digit printer ID to select the printer (109281).
3. Upload your document(s).
4. Adjust the settings.
5. Enter your email address.
6. Proceed to the Print Release Terminal to pay for and finalize your print job.

To print from your laptop:

1. When printing remotely or at the library: open your browser, go to print.princh.com and enter the 6-digit printer ID to select the printer (109281).
2. Upload your document(s).
3. Adjust the settings.
4. Enter your email address.
5. Proceed to the Print Release Terminal to pay for and finalize your print job.

If you require further assistance, we have instructions available at the Library, and you can always ask staff for help.

Movies of the Month!

Now playing...The Graduate, Rumor has it, The Birdcage, and 500 Days of Summer! Stream these classics with hoopla's August Movies of the Month for some laughs, love, and iconic moments.

Start streaming: https://www.hoopladigital.com/collection/86343

Did you know that the Library has a number of free passes and discount coupons to local museums and attractions that you can check out with your library card? See the list of offerings here!

Chess Park

This is a conceptual rendering of the future Chess Park that will be located on the Southeast corner of the Library accessible from Main Street. Joseph Coan, Landscape Architect created the rendering. The plan was approved at the Board of Trustees meeting on September 26, 2023. The Trustees, Staff, and Friends are very excited to share this future development for the community!

At the Town Council meeting March 25, 2024, management of the funds raised through the fundraising efforts was approved by the Council:

"Vote the creation of a Chess Park at the Jacob Edwards Library and to allow the Town Manager to work with the Finance Department to establish and create an account to receive donations." 

Mindfulness Meditation with Iris

Wednesdays, August 14th & 28th

3:00 - 4:00 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host Iris Vega, certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher and mentor, to present a series of sessions.

Inviting Mindfulness Meditation into your daily routine is an opportunity to cultivate awareness and presence.

You may bring your Yoga mat if you prefer doing the practice lying down.

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

August Art Exhibit

Dino Lusa

Meet & Greet

Thursday, August 1st

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host the work of portrait photographer Dino Lusa.

The Artist

Dino Lusa captures the essence of his subject with precision. As a storyteller, Dino focuses on what makes each person unique. He highlights these experiential qualities using light, form, texture, and space as tools. Dino builds each photograph with a playful consideration which gives the final product a polished yet earnest look. This collection represents Dino and some of his work as a practicing artist.

The Studio

Available Light Studio is located in Stafford Springs, CT and was created to be an empowering space for everybody to seen, heard, and celebrated! The studio offers limitless possibilities; different environments, access to furniture, props, and clothes, as well as ample space, capable of accommodating any photoshoot. Available Light Studio is a place for expression and powerful transformation by using the light and space at hand to capture art through the lens.

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

Cro-Magnon Blues: History and Legends Through Song

Thursday, August 8th

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host a show by Jon Waterman.

Jon is a musician and songwriter who has been performing his original songs along with blues, rock and country standards throughout his life. He creates and performs programs that use music to inspire enthusiasm for and a desire to explore history. The shows consist of carefully researched original and traditional songs, stories and narratives and a slide show.

Jon's music is influenced by intriguing characters and stories from history, the roots of the music he loves, and the diversity of the human experience. His song “Sultana” which tells the story of the Civil War steamboat disaster was selected to be featured at the Sultana museum in Marion, AR. Waterman has presented his programs in venues around the country, both in person and virtually. He has an M.A. in Popular Music History from Prescott College, an M.A. in Psychology from Kaplan University, and a B.A. in History from Northern Arizona University.

Sponsored by the Southbridge Cultural Council. The Southbridge Cultural Council is a local agency funded by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Betty's Bounce: An Evening of Jazz

Thursday, August 15th

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to welcome Betty's Bounce for their first show in Southbridge.

Betty's Bounce is a jazz trio performing American and Gypsy Jazz music in the spirit of guitarist Django Reinhardt. The trio consists of Audie Bridges (guitar), Curtis Doo (guitar), and Zach Bridges (double bass.)

For more information, visit http://bettysbounce.bandcamp.com/

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

In August, the group will discuss Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark.

"The masterful story of a lifelong friendship between two very different women with shared histories and buried secrets, tested in the twilight of their lives, set across the arc of the 20th century. Celebrated children's book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy--to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, and philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She exalts in creating beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons--but what is it that Polly wants herself? Agnes's designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes's resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all. Fellowship Point reads like a classic 19th-century novel in its beautifully woven, multilayered narrative, but it is entirely contemporary in the themes it explores; a deep and empathic interest in women's lives, the class differences that divided us, the struggle to protect the natural world, and, above all, a reckoning with intimacy, history, and posterity. It is a masterwork from Alice Elliott Dark." - from publisher

Blue Skies with Sarah Clay and the StarCats

Thursday, August 22nd

6:30 - 7:30 pm

You are invited to Blue Skies: a StarCats concert that celebrates the Earth and contemplates climate change. Beautiful music with a timely theme!

Vocalist/flutist Sarah Clay leads the StarCats jazz trio, with guitarist Draa Hobbs, and bassist Steve Bulmer. Retro-Pop, Swing, Blues and Latin Jazz.

An award-winning trio, the StarCats has performed at the Northampton Jazz Festival, Workshop 13 Ware, the 1794 Meetinghouse in New Salem, the Pittsfield Jazz Festival, Litchfield CT Sunrise Concerts, Summer on Strong Street Festival in Northampton, among others.

Sponsored by the Southbridge Cultural Council. The Southbridge Cultural Council is a local agency funded by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Afternoon Author Talk

 Royce A. Singleton Jr.

Wednesday, August 28th

2:00 - 3:00 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host a presentation by Royce A. Singleton Jr., as part of the Afternoon Author Talk series.

At Home and at Sea is the story of a young couple, Becky and Royce Singleton, during the 13 months that Royce, a navy fighter pilot, was at sea during World War II. Letters from Becky to Royce capture what it was like to be living at home in Oklahoma City, pregnant, working, managing the finances, preparing for childbirth, then becoming a mother, all while planning for a future with her newlywed husband. These experiences are set against war conditions on the home front, including rationing, the USO, War bonds, Victory Gardens, and the housing shortage. Royce's time at sea corresponds to the Central Pacific offensive. His ship and air group supported every battle, from the first amphibious landing at Tarawa to General Douglas McArthur's return to the Philippines at Leyte, where U.S. and Japanese forces engaged in the largest naval battle ever fought. Ultimately, this is a love story of a couple in their first years of marriage, living apart and maintaining a relationship under the uncertainty and stress of the war.

From Worcester Magazine: "At Home and At Sea: An American Navy Couple During World War II, which was self-published earlier this year, takes the letters of his parents as a very human way of conveying their wartime experiences and also offers a fascinating broader view of what 'ordinary' people like his mother and father went through during that extraordinary period."

Author Royce A. Singleton Jr. is a retired professor of sociology from the College of the Holy Cross.



Copies of the book are available on Amazon and the author would be pleased to sign copies after the presentation.

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

Book Talk: Native Links

Thursday, August 29th

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host a presentation by Dr. Mark Wagner on his new book - Native Links: The Surprising History of Our First People in Golf.

The book has been described as an entertaining and insightful narrative that makes the case that, as with the DNA of the country's history, Indigenous history is a leading strand and that is true for golf as well.

This book gathers gripping stories and long-lasting oral histories about our First People. The story begins with Oscar Smith Bunn, A Shinnecock Montauk Native who played in the 1896 and 1899 U.S. Opens. Through Orville Moody’s (Choctaw) triumph in the 69th U.S. Open, to a new generation of players that includes Notah Begay lll and Gabby Lemieux, Native Links makes an engaging case that you cannot tell the story of golf in this country without including our First People.

And, while many in the golf industry are in a ‘hold’ pattern, even after the surge in outdoor activity during covid, according to Golfweek, “there is one group of builders as bullish as ever on course construction: Native Americans.” With Fee to Trust programs, in successful advocacy, litigation, and lawsuits, with #LandBack, with the revenues from gaming, many tribes have built museums, archives, government centers and - surprise - golf courses. The result is a new generation who harken back to a long history of players and teachers for whom the ancient stick-and-ball game has been another way of finding home.

Finding the elders or those who knew the elders, and meeting a new generation of Native golfers, the author writes, “I would be smudged, taken for a rat, taught (Arnold Palmer’s) perfect grip, and lose matches to Rod Curl and Steve McDonald among others. Still, all I wanted to do was find a home in these shared stories.” This history is indispensable for all who want to know the whole story.

Author's note:

Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Dr. Mark Wagner is the fourth child of eight born to Jack and Pat (Coyle) Wagner. A decorated athlete and educator, Mark has published extensively on golf course architecture and history. In 2021, as he explored the history of Native-owned golf courses, Mark began to realize there were many firsts among our First People in golf, a game he has loved since his childhood outings in the Adirondacks with his family. The result is Native Links, a travelogue and oral history about and by the Indigenous people who have shaped and played the game. Mark lives with his partner Monica Elefterion on a small farm in Dudley, Massachusetts, where they raised their son Myles and fostered Cody and Jared.

Sponsored by Friends of Jacob Edwards Library.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

by Benjamin Stevenson

"Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that. Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let's get started" - Provided by publisher.

Dungeons & Dragons

Wednesday, August 7th

1:00 - 4:00 pm



Calling all adventurers - D&D is coming back to JEL!

Dungeon Master Noah will be running a session of the popular tabletop game - ages 13-18 with any level of experience are welcome!

Space is *extremely* limited - please register in advance by calling Jessi at 508-764-5426 or emailing mccarthyj@cwmars.org.

Teen Advisory Group

Tuesday, August 20th

3:00 - 4:00 pm

Open to Southbridge students/residents ages 12-18.

Join our Teen Advisory Group (TAG) and help us improve our library services for teens. At monthly TAG meetings, you will weigh in on library programs, services, and materials, earn volunteer hours, make new friends, and build your leadership skills.

Davis Bates Storyteller

A Summer Reading Song & Story Celebration!

August 5, 2024 at 6:30pm

This performance is being supported by a grant from the Southbridge Cultural Council,

a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 1:00 pm

Join us on Wednesday August 14, 2024 at 1:00 pm as we welcome Local Author Clara Dowdle to the Children's Room.

Her book "Dragonfly Magic" is a story about helping others and the PMC. 

Imagination Station

Mondays

6:30pm-7:30pm

Lego Club

Tuesdays

3:30pm - 4:30pm

Crafty Wednesday

All Day

Every Week



See you at the library!

Jacob Edwards Library

508.764.5426

jelibrary@cwmars.org