African Library Project Update
The shipping container with thousands of books for schools and libraries finally arrived in Malawi! Last May, volunteers at the Wilmot Public Library packed 1,400 books for shipment to an elementary school in Malawi, a country on the East side of the African continent. First, the books went to a storage facility in New Orleans. They stayed there until there were enough to fill a shipping container, which then went aboard a ship to Africa.
On December 13th, volunteers in Malawi moved the books onto trucks for the final leg of transport, just as the rainy season began. Liaison Carolyn Gannon writes, "The biggest concern was getting the unloading completed before the downpour of rain—which DID happen, but fortunately after the book boxes were in transport vehicles and/or the partners’ HQs. Whew!"
Malawi, where English is the official language, introduced free primary education in 1994. According to USAID, "This major education reform resulted in an explosion in student enrollment, straining the entire system. Huge class sizes and an inadequate supply of infrastructure, teachers, and teaching and learning materials has led to extremely poor student performance, particularly in the area of literacy."
Primary school teacher Darlington Ntonda told the local paper, "This is timely as we will be well-equipped when the next school calendar opens in (January) 2023. Our learners will read and do better."
Spanish Conversation
Quieres hablar Espanol? Drop by our informal Spanish conversation night, 6 p.m. January 10th. Whether you know poco or mucho, speak fluently or not at all, Bienvenidos! Group leader Mary Ayers is a retired elementary school Spanish teacher.
Lego Night
Lego Night returns Friday, Jan. 20, 5:30-7 p.m. for something slightly different: Lego Challenge! Age-appropriate challenges for Lego builders, and as always, pizza! Free.
FOWPL
The Friends of the Wilmot Public Library support the library in many ways! Not only do their projects raise money for buying books and supplies, FOWPL is a visible, positive presence in the community on behalf of the library. You can serve your community by volunteering to be on the board of FOWPL. FOWPL meets quarterly.
From the Director's Desk
The Tuesday book group's December book was Donald Hall's "Seasons at Eagle Pond." I enjoyed his descriptions of winter, with him and Jane shoveling snow against the foundation of their house for the extra insulation it provided. It was fascinating to read an almost-first-hand account of his grandparents' farm practices, such as using horses for most of the heavy pulling, and storing ice from Eagle Pond through the summer months.
At the same time, I happened to be reading Grace Metalious' "Peyton Place," about a small town, a mix of Laconia and Gilmanton, in New Hampshire. Peyton Place was both a scandal and a best-seller when it was published in 1956, but very little of it would be considered scandalous now. At the time, its depiction of women coming to terms with their sexuality in an atmosphere heavy with condemnation and judgment was truly ground-breaking -- not just smut, as some insisted. Reading about "Peyton Place" and Metalious, I'm struck by how judgmental and personal much of the criticism still is: Goodreads takes the author to task for her poor housekeeping and lackadaisical parenting; Kirkus Reviews asserts rather snootily that the "likably trashy" novel is no "Madame Bovary." Still other reviews mention how annoyed the people of Gilmanton still are at Metalious.
Reading the two books at once made me think Donald Hall wore his rose-colored glasses when he wrote about Wilmot and Danbury. They're nice towns, a little funny and quaint; certainly Hall doesn't describe anyone locking himself in a basement to drink without coming up for air for weeks, not to mention the bad sexual behavior. People still like him, around here.
Lacking the rose-colored glasses of Donald Hall and the acrimony of Grace Metalious, a locally-published book of reminiscences by the late Myrl C. Phelps, "Because I Remember" used to be for sale at the Danbury Country Store, but they've sold all their copies. Too bad! Phelps' stories about the people of Danbury, including the hermit on Ragged Mountain, Freeman Morrison, are often funny, sometimes sad, usually instructive, and mostly true.
Here's a short sample about working in the lumber camps from "Because I Remember:"
We become well-known to a bunch of lumberjacks from Finland and out of the eight of them only one spoke English. Never forgot the man that could speak English came up to me one day and talked to me quite a few minutes in his native language and when he was done he spoke in English and asked if I understood him, and when I said No his remark was that Americans must be dumb --why little kids two years old in Finland would understand him.
Keep reading!
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