As part of the library’s Winter Reading program “Take Time to Care” we are providing relaxation kits that you can pick up for someone who needs a little TLC. Feel free to pick up one for yourself, too. These kits include yoga for the brain activity cards, links to free relaxation music through the library’s Freegal platform, lavender sachets, adult coloring pages and techniques for meditation, stress reduction, and mindfulness, along with other library resources.
These kits will be available while they last in all of our branches on Friday, February 10. You may pick them up at the second-floor reference desk at the Columbia library and near the service desks at our other branches. You can also try these library resources for more assistance in self-care. We hope this helps you “Take Time to Care.”
In the summer of 2020, right at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my daughters and I started volunteering for Loaves and Fishes at Turning Point in Columbia, as people were needed to help serve food there and many volunteers had opted out because of the pandemic. Turning Point, which is housed in the Wilkes Blvd. United Methodist Church, is one of the main day shelters for those experiencing homelessness in the Columbia area. Every evening at 5:30 a meal is served. This act of service was a really great fit for me.
In 2018, I attended Ryan Dowd’s Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness training in Joplin, Missouri. I’ve since become very interested in assisting with unsheltered advocacy in the Mid-Missouri area. Ryan Dowd offers profoundly helpful tools for assisting the unsheltered at the library on a professional level as a public librarian, while on a personal level, he also helped me confront my own biases and to understand how unhoused people perceive the world. One of Dowd’s common refrains is this: empathy is the answer. What many people who have never experienced homelessness don’t realize is that most unsheltered persons come from backgrounds of severe poverty and have experienced serious trauma. Many of us can’t even imagine this place. Continue reading “What Volunteering Means to Me: Loaves and Fishes at Turning Point”
Descriptive audio offers you the opportunity to listen to a movie or TV show with all of the actions and scenery described aloud by a narrator. It’s usually a separate track that you can turn on to hear the purely visual aspects of the video. Listening to this track while watching the primary video track allows blind and visually-impaired people to enjoy the movie just as much as all the other people in the room. Some people say it gives them the feeling that they are listening to an audiobook. It also allowed me to enjoy the silent film “Nosferatu” while I was working at my sewing machine. Continue reading “Descriptive Audio”
They say it takes a village to raise a child. But what if you have a child, but you don’t have a village? And whose job is it to make sure that every child really does have a village — a network of loving, safe and supportive adults who can help that child flourish? How can parents continue to advocate for their own children, while also considering the very real needs of other children?
As a parent, I asked myself these questions constantly in the months leading up to my decision to apply to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). I had been looking for an opportunity to get more involved in the mid-Missouri community for some time, but I knew I needed something flexible, something with autonomy, and something that allowed me to build meaningful and long-lasting relationships, especially with other children and families in my community. I found all of this and so much more through volunteer service with Heart of Missouri CASA. Continue reading “What Volunteering Means to Me: Heart of Missouri CASA”
I’m not a shelver, but occasionally I get to do a bit of shelving or something similar. I like it. Some people don’t, and that’s okay. But I love the passage of books through my hands, books that I might not otherwise ever know.
Today’s finds include: “Jane’s Tank and Combat Vehicle Recognition Guide.” Who is Jane? I snapped a photo and sent it to my husband. It’s tempting to take this one home to him (he’s convalescing after a minor, but painful, surgery). I particularly admire the odd, tank-like size and shape of this one (especially compared to its neighbors), a short but thick spine and a long width, almost twice as wide as it’s tall. It’s well-loved, battered even. This book has been thumbed through many, many times, carried in school bags, and who knows what else. It specifically reminds me of a family friend of ours, who as a tween and teen (probably even still) eagerly devoured this sort of information — these might have been the only books he ever picked up.Continue reading “The Joys of Shelving”
It seems to be that time of year when we begin to think of clearing out our accumulated things, and that awful phrase “spring cleaning” enters my head. In lieu of cleaning out the garage, I chose to gather our leftover Crafternoon kits from previous months and have an “Available While They Last” January event. These kits will be available at the Columbia branch only on Friday, January 20. You may pick them up at the reference desk on the second floor. (Just a reminder that these kits are designed for adults and could have things unsafe for children, such as small beads and needles.)
Look for our next Crafternoon-To-Go Kit in February as we participate in the Winter Reading program!
In just over a week’s time, we will have entered the new year. Each of us will bring something different into 2023 — our own dreams to nurture, voids to fill, questions to answer, and wounds to heal.
You may feel pressured to take on 2023 with ambition, productivity, and boundless energy for self-improvement. So before we get swept up in the hype of another new year, let’s take a moment to honor the most important thing (the thing that I am certain you already carry, simply because you are still here, partaking in this earthly experiment): hope.
I often find myself returning to a definition provided by Maggie Nelson in her prose poetry collection “Bluets.”
“When I say ‘hope,’ I don’t mean hope for anything in particular,” Nelson writes. “I guess I just mean thinking it’s worth it to keep one’s eyes open.”
I find this to be the truest and most helpful definition of the word. To continue surviving with a gentle curiosity, amid the particular stress and grief of the past few years, is an act of hope — one that we should all be proud of.
So as the sun sets on 2022, I’m trying not to fixate on how I can make my life more productive, more regimented, or more profitable. Here are some questions I’m considering instead:
Who are the people, and what are the activities that replenish my hope? How can I spend more time with those people, and doing those activities?
Am I carrying any guilt or shame from the past year? What can I forgive myself for?
What relationships in my life help me feel safe, cared for, and understood? How can I nurture those relationships? How can I help the people I love feel safe, cared for, and understood?
Here is some reading and listening to help you think about survival, care, and keeping your eyes (and ears) open to catch glimpses of a beautiful world.
It’s soon to be 2023! Hurrah for new beginnings and second chances and New Year Resolutions! Do you make them? How do you do? If you’ve not been too successful, try kickstarting your resolutions this year with a 30-day challenge.
What is a 30-day challenge? It’s adopting a particular action that would have a positive influence on your life if you could just consistently do it. You promise yourself “This time, for sure!” You think you’ve read the science that says this will work. It seems kind of simple. However… our human brains are very resistant to change and seem to be threatened or afraid of change. What to do? Promise your brain that it only has to work with you on some easy first steps for a quick 30 days. Maybe easy-peasy? Continue reading “30-Day Challenges for Your New Year”
Anyone who celebrates Christmas knows that traditions are an important part of the holiday. Perhaps it is decorating the Christmas tree that brings back special memories for some, while others enjoy the hustle and bustle of shopping for gifts to give to their loved ones and friends. Maybe it is a traditional holiday song that gets them in the spirit of the season or the joy of the annual gathering of family and friends on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Whatever those special moments or memories might be, there can be no doubt that tradition is a cherished part of the season. Continue reading “Exploring Holiday Traditions in Europe”
Get ready to flex your baking and crafting muscles, dear readers. December 12 is Gingerbread House Day. According to “The Guardian,” this seasonal tradition started in the early 1800s, inspired by the “Hansel and Gretel” fairy tale. Now, there are multiple festivals every year celebrating the art, including the creations of entire gingerbread villages. I confess I have only ever tried my hand at one single confectionary construction of this type, and a less than photo-worthy effort it was. However, I’ve decided to up my winter coziness game this year and therefore might give gingerbread houses another go. Looking to the library for help, I found a few likely resources. Continue reading “It’s Gingerbread Time”
As part of the library’s Winter Reading program “Take Time to Care” we are providing relaxation kits that you can pick up for someone who needs a little TLC. Feel free to pick up one for yourself, too. These kits include yoga for the brain activity cards, links to free relaxation music through the library’s Freegal platform, lavender sachets, adult coloring pages and techniques for meditation, stress reduction, and mindfulness, along with other library resources.
Anyone who celebrates Christmas knows that traditions are an important part of the holiday. Perhaps it is decorating the Christmas tree that brings back special memories for some, while others enjoy the hustle and bustle of shopping for gifts to give to their loved ones and friends. Maybe it is a traditional holiday song that gets them in the spirit of the season or the joy of the annual gathering of family and friends on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Whatever those special moments or memories might be, there can be no doubt that tradition is a cherished part of the season.