December 2021 Natchitoches Parish Library Lagniappe
The Final Month For Fine ForGIVING
The Natchitoches Parish Library’s (NPL) “Fine ForGIVING” program will continue through December and come to a close at the end of the year. This program provides an opportunity for patrons to give back to the community while simultaneously reducing fines on their accounts. A wide variety of items can be donated at the NPL, all for a good cause!
Patrons can donate canned goods, which must be clean, unexpired, and at least 8 ounces, for a $2 reduction in fines per can. Donations will be given to local food banks, which see increased use during the holiday season. New and gently used jackets can be donated for a $15 reduction per jacket. The NPL will also be accepting dog and cat food for a $2 reduction per can and $5 per 5 pounds of dry food, to be given to the Natchitoches Humane Society. New and Unopened toys will be accepted for a $10 reduction and will be given to the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Department. The above fine reductions may only be applied to overdue or late fines, not lost or damaged items, and other account charges.
For those with lost or damaged item charges (excluding laptops, mobile hotspots, and launchpads) the NPL will also be accepting new or gently used costumes for a $15 reduction. If only a partial costume (mask/cape/etc.) is donated, $5 will be deducted from the account. This can be applied towards overdue fines, late fines, and non-electronic lost or damaged item charges. Costumes will be cleaned and circulated at the NPL next October.
All items may be donated at any Circulation Desk at the Main Branch (Natchitoches) or Northeast Branch (Campti) of the library. If you have any questions about donating in this year’s Fine ForGIVING event, you may call the NPL circulation desk at 318.238.9224.
New and On Order
Would you like to share your writing with others? Have a poem, story, review, or an excerpt that you have selected from your writings?
Please contact Alan Niette, NPL Community Outreach Coordinator, at alan@natlib.org. We will gladly share your tales with our readers!
With Your Library Card, The Gifts Keep Coming!
Books? Yes, we have those. DVDs? Yes, those too. We even have newspapers, magazines, graphic novels, and ukuleles you can check out. But the Natchitoches Parish Library (NPL) gives you even more than that with your library card!
Are you into genealogy? Then you’ll enjoy the gift of Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.
Want to make some repairs around the house on your own? You’ll love the Home Improvement Reference Center.
Enjoy working on cars, but don’t want to purchase yet another repair manual? The NPL offers access to Chilton Library.
Looking to learn a new language for a trip? With Pronunciator, you can learn at your convenience.
Want to connect more with your crafty side? There are thousands of projects and ideas for the whole family in the Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center.
Thinking of starting your own business? Access the 11 hour “Become a Small Business Owner” learning path on Linked in Learning and get a jumpstart.
Plus, with a library card, you’ll get access to digital checkout of movies, books, audiobooks, TV shows, comics, and magazines through the Libby and Hoopla apps.
Check out these, and many more, NPL resources at natlib.org (click on “E-books & More,” then click “Digital Resources”).
Library cards are available for free to all Natchitoches Parish residents and those that work in the parish. To sign up for a card today, text LIBRARYCARD to 318-357-3280 or visit either library branch location.
"What's Up" This Month?
Joey Matheson
“The Classics.”
For the last couple of months I’ve found myself going back to my “younger days” and remembering some of the stories I was encouraged to read to stimulate my imagination. Many of those titles will sound familiar (“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” “Mysterious Island,” “Around the World In 80 Days,” “War of the Worlds,” and “In the Days of the Comet”) as they were, and are, still considered classics.
Classic: Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind.
During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, like most, I was hoping for an escape from the everyday news. These stories came back to my mind. I felt led to read them again and revisit those days of action and adventure. And I must say, I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I grew to enjoy them even more.
Do we take time to ask ourselves what prompted an author to write so? Both writers of the stories I’ve mentioned are considered as prophets of modern times. There is definitely some truth to that. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells were also considered scientists and seers of the future.
In biographies on Jules Verne, he is said to have written from a scientific point of view, through the lens of adventure. And H.G. Wells is thought to have been trying to overcome what he considered the social ills of his time and place. Neither of these men had any idea that a “classic” would come from their writings.
One last note, all of these stories can be found at the NPL, either in book form, on CD, or digitally. Look them up. I hope you will enjoy them as I have these past few months.
-Joey
Digital Hoopla Picks From the Library
Audiobook: When We Cease To Understand The World (5h 41m, 2021). By Benjamin Labatut, read by Adam Barr.
When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger-these are some of the luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the listener, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.
Movie: The God Committee (1h 38m, 2021, PG13).
An organ transplant committee has one hour to decide which of three patients deserves a life-saving heart. Seven years later, the committee members struggle with the consequences of that fateful decision. Starring Kelsey Grammar, Julia Stiles, & Janeane Garofalo.
eBook: Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old (2021).
By Steven Petrow.
A humorous, irreverent, and poignant look at the gifts, stereotypes, and inevitable challenges of aging, based on the wildly popular New York Times essay from award-winning journalist Steven Petrow.
Soon after his 50th birthday, Steven Petrow began assembling a list of "things I won't do when I get old" - mostly a catalog of all the things he thought his then 70-something year old parents were doing wrong. That list, which included "You won't have to shout at me that I'm deaf," and "I won't blame the family dog for my incontinence," became the basis of this rousing collection of do's and don'ts, wills and won'ts that is equal parts hilarious, honest, and practical.
The fact is, we don't want to age the way previous generations did. "Old people" hoard. They bore relatives-and strangers-with tales of their aches and pains. They insist on driving long after they've become a danger to others (and themselves). They eat dinner at 4pm. They swear they don't need a cane or walker (and guess what happens next). They never, ever apologize. But there is another way...
Petrow candidly addresses the fears, frustrations, and stereotypes that accompany aging. He offers a blueprint for the new old age, and an understanding that aging and illness are not the same. As he writes, "I meant the list to serve as a pointed reminder-to me-to make different choices when I eventually cross the threshold to 'old.'"
Getting older is a privilege. This essential guide reveals how to do it with grace, wisdom, humor, and hope. And without hoarding.
From the Stacks: Featured Cookbook
641.5976 GRA 2020—Fresh From Louisiana, by George Graham.
Master the art of all the most delectable styles of Louisiana cooking, from Cajun to Creole, rural Acadiana to down-home New Orleans, in more than 100 easy-to-use recipes.
George Graham—a lifelong Louisianan, a former chef and restaurateur, and now an award-winning food writer and blogger—is a brilliant cook, a warm, funny, and engaging storyteller, and an ace photographer. He makes Louisiana cooking not just easy for home cooks to learn, but fun and interesting, too.
The recipes range from George's pitch-perfect versions of classic Louisiana dishes to imaginative, brand-new ideas that use the signature flavors of the region's cuisines in utterly new ways.
Black-Eyed Pea Jambalaya (pg. 142)
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 1 hr
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp (15g) unsalted butter
1c (160g) finely chopped yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp (3g) chopped flat-leaf parsley
1.5lbs (680g) raw Cajun green onion pork sausage or any raw pork sausage, casings removed
2 (15.5oz [434g]) cans black-eyed peas, undrained
1 (10oz[280g]) can mild diced tomatoes and green chilis, drained
1 tsp Cajun Seasoning Blend (pg231)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2c (480ml) chicken stock
2.5c (414g) raw long-grain white rice
0.5c (50g) chopped green onion tops, for garnish
Hot sauce, if needed
Instructions:
In the insert of an electric rice cooker, add all the ingredients except the green onions and hot sauce, which will be used to garnish and season the finished dish. Stir to combine all the ingredients and make sure the rice and sausage are distributed throughout. Set the timer following the rice cooker instructions, and let cook. When the timer signals that the rice is ready, do not open the lid. Let the cooker continue to steam on warm for another 30 minutes to bring all the flavors of the dish together.
Open the lid and gently stir the jambalaya. Do not over stir or it will become gummy. Serve in bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of chopped green onion. Serve hot sauce on the side.
NOTE: Be sure to use canned black-eyed peas since dried peas will take much longer to cook than the rice. I do not drain the canning liquid before adding; I like how the added flavor absorbs into the rice. Get creative: Instead of sausage, ground meat would work great in this dish, and a variation using red beans would be an interesting Cajun combination. Store any leftovers in the rice cooker, and, when you reheat, just add a bit of water to steam the rice mixture.
