Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Books I *should* be reading

Everyone has that list of books you are going to get around to when you have the time and feel ambitious. Here are mine. 
  • Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • The Golden Bough, by George Frazer James
  • Ulysses, by James Joyce
  • Anything by Dave Eggers
  • The Complete Works of Shakespeare
  • Foucault’s pendulum, by Umberto Eco
  • Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid 1st Editionby Douglas R. Hofstadter 

Monday, January 30, 2017

Reminder: Open Enrollment for Health Insurance Ends January 31st


Open Enrollment for Health Insurance 
Ends January 31, 2017 

Massachusetts Health Connector
  • Visit the Health Connector website to buy a commercial health plan and receive financial assistance if you qualify
  • Information you will need before you start your application:
    • Social Security numbers for all people who are applying (if they have one).
    • Immigration documents for all non-U.S. citizens who are applying (if they have one).
    • A copy of your federal tax return from last year. If you did not file taxes last year, or your income has changed since last year, have information about your current income ready (such as recent pay stubs or an unemployment award letter).
    • Home address or mailing address (if applicable) for everyone in your household who needs insurance, unless they are homeless.
    • If you are found eligible for coverage through the Health Connector and you plan to make a payment online, you will need your banking institution routing number and account number for either your checking or savings account (if you have a premium).
    • If you are found eligible for coverage through the Health Connector and you plan to make a payment by mail or in-person, you will need a personal check or money order to make a payment for your first month’s premium (if you have one).
    • If your employer offers health insurance, ask your employer these questions:
      • Do any of the health plans that the employer offers meet the “minimum value” standard?
      • What is the employee contribution to the lowest-cost health plan offered by your employer for an individual?
      • How often?
        • Weekly
        • Every 2 weeks
        • Twice a month
        • Monthly

___________________________________________

Below is a list of trained and certified Enrollment Assisters in Worcester who can help you from the application through the enrollment into a new health insurance plan. Call ahead to make an appointment.


Health Connector Walk-in Center
146 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01608

Family Health Center of Worcester
26 Queens Street
Worcester, MA 01610
508-860-7700

Spectrum Health Systems
10 Mechanic Street, Suite 302
Worcester, MA 01608
Margaret Milani
508-752-2590 ext. 5341

Rebecca B. Asare,
Independent Broker
340 Main Street Suite 511-512
Worcester, MA 01608
508-981-3318

Saint Vincent Hospital
123 Summer Street
Worcester, MA 01608
508-363-5000

Edward M. Kennedy
Community Health Center
631 Lincoln Street
Worcester, MA 01605
508-854-3260

Edward M. Kennedy
Community Health Center
19 Tacoma Street
Worcester, MA 01605
1-800-853-2288

Trang Pharmacy Inc.
456 Park Avenue
Worcester, MA 01610
508-799-7979


Community Healthlink
72 Jacques Avenue
Worcester, MA 01610
508-373-7818

Community Healthlink
Outpatient Clinic
Thayer Building
12 Queen Street
Worcester, MA 01610
508-860-1260

Community Healthlink
162 Chandler Street
Worcester, MA 016107
74-312-2727

UMass Memorial Medical Center
Memorial Campus
119 Belmont Street
Worcester, MA 01605
508-334-1000


UMass Memorial Medical Center
Hahnemann Campus
281 Lincoln Street
Worcester, MA 01605
508-334-1000

UMass Memorial Medical Center
55 Lake Avenue North
Worcester, MA 01605
508-334-1000



* information adapted from https://www.mahealthconnector.org/

Friday, January 27, 2017

January 2017 Staff Book Recommendations

American Girls
By Alison Umminger

Alison Umminger’s debut YA novel American Girls, begins with a fantasy of many 15-year-olds: stealing your stepmother’s credit card. Anna is fed up with her self-centered, borderline insane mother, who recently left her dad for another woman (a woman whose snobby attitude and insistence on organic-only products eases any guilt about “borrowing” her credit card). Anna joins her older sister Delia in L.A., who begrudgingly puts her up in her lavish apartment that she can’t afford as a beautiful but struggling actress. Anna splits her time between mildly flirting with teen heartthrobs (if she can’t be as beautiful as her sister, she can make up for it with banter and brains) on the set of a ridiculously unfunny kid’s sitcom, and working for Delia’s ex-boyfriend Roger. 

To put it bluntly, Roger’s a real weirdo. He’s clearly still infatuated with Delia (and may very well be stalking her) and his obsession with the Manson murders is disconcerting, even if he claims he’s doing it all for a film. At least it’s lucrative for Anna – by researching the Manson girls, she’s able to reimburse her stepmom for the flight. But she gets more than she bargains for when she realizes she’s got more in common with Manson girls than she once thought… 

Emma Cline’s recent NYT bestseller The Girls was released during the same week as Umminger’s American Girls. Both forgo analyzing Charles Manson, whose manipulative tactics, “charming” personality (*eye roll*), misinterpretations of Beatles lyrics, and unconventional ideas (read: entirely racist rhetoric disguised as soulful musings) have always given him more credit than he truly deserved. What’s more fascinating is understanding why adolescent girls would succumb to actually murdering innocent (and pregnant!) victims. And why would they gravitate toward a cult like the Manson family ranch in the first place? Were they brainwashed? Totally smitten? Or simply confused, lost, trying to escape their realities…? 

These are the questions Anna tries to answer for herself – at first, just to pass the time in a long, sticky, grimy L.A. summer with tantalizing narratives of the twisted and the macabre. But eventually it's because she sees a little bit of herself in those girls. And who wouldn’t lean toward an opportunity to feel beautiful, loved, or just noticed? The difference between Anna and The Girls protagonist Evie is that Anna’s snarky, deadpan sense of humor makes her a lot more likeable. The following excerpt is somewhat of a non-sequitur, but it had your reader actually laugh out loud (and as a fellow former snarky teenager, this is definitely an accomplishment):

Trying to assassinate the president should not be funny. It really shouldn’t. It’s not like I was cracking up when we read about Lincoln or JFK. But let’s face it, they were real presidents. Gerald Ford ranks right up there with Millard Fillmore and Bush the First on the list of unexciting white men who have run this country, made their way into history books, and otherwise been human sleeping pills. If all the presidents had been television shows, Gerald Ford would probably have been a PBS fund drive. So I’d bet the fact that anyone would try to kill Gerald Ford, Gerald Rudolph Ford, was kind of hard to get excited about, even back in the day. And Fromme sounded like something out of Monty Python, dressed all in red with a sawed-off shotgun under her sister-wife dress and fake-nun robe, muttering “He is not a public servant” before not firing her gigantic gun at the president. “It didn’t go off” was her great defense as the Secret Service took her out of commission in Sacramento. Sic semper tyrannis it was not. 

Umminger doesn’t disappoint. If you were captivated by Emma Cline’s The Girls, this is certainly also worth your time. But at its core, American Girls is a reflection on the delectable travesty of being young, American, and female. Highly recommended for ages 13+.

--Helen

Circling the Sun
By Paula McLain


“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.”—Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa 

This first line of Karen Blixen’s memoir of colonial life in Kenya near the end of the British Empire could also begin Circling the Sun, a fictionalized account of the childhood and early adulthood of Beryl Markham neé Clutterbuck, the famed female aviator and author of West With the Night

Like Blixen, Markham was born into an upper-middle class European family, but when her family of origin fulfills her father’s dream of owning and training horses on a farm in Kenya, the trajectory of her life is changed irrevocably. It doesn’t take too long before Beryl’s mother abandons her and her father on the farm to return to a more sedate life in England, and henceforth Beryl is more or less raised by the neighboring Kipsigis tribe, resulting in a free-spirited, precocious child who loves animals, nature and all things wild. What she doesn’t love is conformity, which becomes problematic as she matures and is expected to enter into “society,” such as it is, in 1920s Kenya Colony. After a few bumps in the road, including a disastrous first marriage and a couple of other scandalous relationships, Markham emerges as an esteemed horse trainer in her own right. Eventually, her love of adventure leads her to embrace flying and she becomes one of the first women to make a living as a professional pilot. 

McLain’s prose is eminently readable and she is expert at describing the emotional timbre that Markham was likely experiencing at a time and place in history in which her progressive choices were almost uniformly discouraged. Also, for those of us familiar with love affair of Karen Blixen and fellow expatriate Denys Finch-Hatton, let’s just say there’s a lot more to the story than was portrayed either on film or in Blixen’s memoir. 

A must-read for Out of Africa fans, and a solid choice for readers who enjoy historical novels with strong characters. Armchair travelers, buckle up, you’re going to Kenya in a biplane! 

--Christina

The Paper Magician
By Charlie N. Holmberg

The Paper Magician is a spell-binding, quirky, and beautifully written genre bender that includes elements of fantasy and mystery with a touch of romance. In The Paper Magician, author Charlie Holmberg creates a world in which select humans (magicians) can learn how to master man-made materials such as metal, glass, paper, or rubber, and, with them, create extraordinary magic.

Apprentice and magician-in-training Ceony Twill has long coveted the opportunity to become a Smelter Magician in which she would be able to bend and manipulate metal to her will. All students, especially those who graduate at the top of their class can choose any material they want to master, so Ceony is convinced she will get her first choice. However, instead of continuing her daydreams to fashion guns with the flick of her finger, Ceony is blindsided by the news that she has to be a Folder where she will be bonded for life to the most lackluster, uninspiring, “How in the world can this even have magical properties?” material: paper.

Throughout the story we meet a charming cast of characters, including Ceony’s kind and mysterious teacher Folder Magician Emery Thane, Jonto, the skeleton butler, and Fennel, the paper dog who helps to teach Ceony all about the beauty of paper. When an evil Magician threatens to destroy Ceony and her loved ones, Ceony discovers that paper is not only way cooler than metal, but it is also more powerful than she could have ever imagined. In this turning point of the story, Ceony must gather all of her courage to face her own self-doubt, and recognize that within the layers of humanity’s darkness resides points of light are as numerous as the stars. 

Check out the Paper Magician trilogy at WPL today!

--Cara

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Madame X



This painting, Madame X, has always appealed to me. John Singer Sargent has simultaneously captured studied elegance and privileged disdain. The model, Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, was a notorious socialite, known for her indiscretions. She was part of a new generation of sophisticates. Her beauty was intense, and there were many artists wanting to paint her. She and Sargent had a bond, both ex-patriots looking to augment their reputations by painting and posing.  
Sargent captured her singularity by contrasting her stunning alabaster skin against a dark background and black dress. He was able to articulate her hourglass figure. The essence of her snobisme is the tip of her perfectly pointed nose. 
While French society was shocked at the married woman who encouraged the gaze of men, I find her bold, unapologetic; an "in your face" beauty. The poor girl married into the French upper class by wedding a man twice her age. She managed to keep her independence and even her bravado in a claustrophobic situation.
Madame X elicits debate and heated argument to this day. Sargent found the image he knew was in her and that image made his reputation.

Strapless : John Singer Sargent and the fall of Madame X
Davis, Deborah, 1952-
759.1 SARGENT DAVIS 2004

Icons of beauty : art, culture, and the image of women
Mancoff, Debra N., 1950-
704.942409 MANCOFF V.1

John Singer Sargent
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925.
759.1 SARGENT, J.

John Singer Sargent: paintings, drawings, watercolors.
Ormond, Richard. 
759.1 S245o

John Singer Sargent and his muse: painting love and loss
Corsano, Karen.
759.1 SARGENT, J. CORSANO


Friday, January 13, 2017

Rothko Forever

Collage of works by Mark Rothko
As a kid, I spent long hours in the museum of the Harry Ransom Center staring at their Rothko; part of their permanent collection. My mom worked as a librarian at the University of Texas, and I often roamed the 40 acres, finding myself drawn to the Rothko over and over. I found peace there; and transcendence.
Many years later, as an Art History student, I participated in a field trip: we were off to see the holdings of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. As  part of our journey, we were shown the Rothko Chapel. The architecture is  based on a church, and there are fourteen floor to ceiling dark to black Rothko paintings. The space is open to worship of any denominations, or just to peaceful contemplation. You can definitely feel the spiritual charge by entering the place.  
Mark Rothko's designs are deceptively simple, but convey a depth of emotion and philosophical thought behind his rich colors. If you have the opportunity, take the time to get lost in a painting. It will change your life forever. 

Visit the works of Mark Rothko on the third floor of the library by enjoying these books: 
Ashton, D. (2003). About Rothko. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo.
759.1 ROTHKO, M. ASHTON 2003
Baal-Teshuva, J. (2015). Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: Pictures as drama. Koln: Taschen
709.0404 BAAL-TESHUVA
Breslin, J. E. (1993). Mark Rothko: a biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
759.1 R846b