We may have let the literary listings slumber through March (and February before that), but March is morphing into a lamb and leading into April with a mind invigorated by spring and concentrating on books. Or something like that. Our terrible mixed animal metaphors aside, April is set to come in with sunshine and balmy temperatures, tempting us with the promise of reading outside. In the hopes that we'll be reading outside on lawn chairs and beach blankets soon, here's a listing of literary events this month.
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Results tagged “bpl”
The Boston Public Library has been having budget troubles, and has discussed closing branches to save money given a $3.6 million budget shortfall. The specter of empty libraries has motivated many to take action, even leading to so-called Scott Brown effect as people feel empowered to comment. (Perhaps these folks will be even more devoted to the library now that health care is out.)
Worth a read: Blue Mass Group's account of the Boston Public Library trustees' meeting. An overflow crowd packed the Rabb Lecture Hall at the Copley branch to beg the trustees not to cut library services. "What happened at the meeting you can call the Scott Brown effect, or the Tea Baggers effect. I prefer to keep it neutral and call it the climate change; it is a change in the atmosphere when people all of a sudden feel empowered, that they no longer have to wait for the bureaucracy of civic leadership to make a monumental shift in the situations with which they are confronted." [Blue Mass Group]
It's not quite up to the standards of National Treasure, but Greg Ross dug up a secret message in the facade of the Copley Square branch of the Boston Public Library: "Moses, Cicero, Kalidasa, Isocrates, Milton, Mozart, Euclid, Æschylus, Dante, Wren, Herrick, Irving, Titian, Erasmus. These names form an acrostic, the first letters spelling the names of the firm of architects which has furnished the plan for the building." Sadly, the inscription was later removed. [Futility Closet]
Do you love the Middlesex Fells? Do you want to have input on its trails? Now's your chance, as the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation is holding a planning workshop to let people voice their opinions about Fells trails. Plans for the 2500-acre reservation spanning Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham and Winchester will be developed in the short-term and long-term, beginning with an inventory and culminating in a draft trail plan by April 2010.
Acidgalore easily scooped up today’s photo of the day by playing on our unabashed love for books. In fact, we can’t remember the last time a photo managed to capture so many in a single frame. We like the patterns created by the spines, the shelves, and even the little white call numbers. Nice shot, and great perspective.
In addition to a historic day for Massachusetts (either because we elect our first female senator or our first centerfold senator), today is a historic day for literature: It's Edgar Allan Poe's 201st birthday. Most often associated with his adopted city of Baltimore, Poe was actually born here, and published his first book of poems here as well. Happy b-day, Mr. P. To celebrate, visit the Poe exhibit at the BPL.
There are no actual author events this week that we could find, but Garrison freakin' Keillor is here Monday, the Harvard Book Store's Philosophy Cafe gets together Wednesday, and a new Poe exhibit opens at the BPL on Thursday. And that's it for 2009, it seems. Congratulations, Christmas, for derailing everything! We hope you all get the books (or ebooks) you wanted this year.
When Bernard Margolis lost his job as president of the Boston Public Library in a power play with Mayor Menino, Bostonians called foul. It looked as if Our Popular Mayor was trying to politicize the BPL, a treasured -- and independent -- Boston institution. Now, amid revelations that three BPL trustees had undisclosed financial dealings with City Hall, the front-runner for the position appears to be former state Senate president Thomas F. Birmingham. The only problem? He has no library experience. The search committee for the position has also shortlisted five token professional librarians who are not friends with Menino.
There may be no institution in the city as diverse as the Boston Public Library, whose resources entice students, intellectuals, high culture types, the elderly, foreign language speakers, the homeless, and bookworms of all persuasions. Recently, though, the BPL has also been attracting some unwanted attention from Mayor Tom Menino.
--A truck making an illegal left turn near the BU East Green Line Stop hit a Green Line train yesterday morning. One Green Line passenger went to the hospital, and the truck driver has a date with the courts. [Boston Globe]
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