Maritime Month 2017!

April is our ninth annual Maritime Month here at the library! Join us all month for facinating, artistic, and fun events related to our maritime heritage. We will hear from schooner captains, photographers, historians, scientists, and poets. Whatever your connection to the sea we call our neighbor, you are bound to find something that appeals to you here this month! Pick up one of our special Maritime Month programs at the circulation desk. Maritime Month is sponsored by Allen Insurance and Financial -- Thank you! For a full list of all the Maritime Month events, click here.

Celebrate National Library Week!
April 9 to 15.

You might have noticed that we think libraries are pretty amazing! Thank you to each and every one of our members for being such an important part of our library family. We couldn’t do it without all of you! Join us in celebrating National Library Week 2017. All week the library staff will be dressing in themed colors each day -- and we invite you to join us! For instance, Sunday, wear brown. Monday, blue. Tuesday, black, white, and/or gray -- and keep an eye out for Book Fairies! Wednesday, purple. Thursday, red. Friday, green, and Saturday, pink! There will also be a chance to write your library story on a colored heart and add it to our garland of library love. Stop by the library April 9 to 15 to join the fun and share your story. April is also National Poetry Month, so look for a “Poet-tree”, a poem-in-your-pocket station, and poetry readings throughout the month.

One Month Until Anita Shreve Visits the Library! May 2, 7:00 pm

Anita Shreve visit the Camden Public Library for a reading and discussion of her new book The Stars are Fire on May 2 at 7:00. Copies of the book will be available for sale courtesy of Owl & Turtle Bookshop, and there will be a chance to have Anita Shreve sign your book. The event will take place in the beautiful library Reading Room.

“The year 1947 became known as ‘the Year Maine Burned.’ Anita Shreve, the New York Times best-selling author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot’s Wife (an Oprah’s Book Club selection), brings this devastating event to life in a riveting story of friendship, love, and survival: The Stars Are Fire (Knopf, 4/18/17). Exquisitely suspenseful, this new novel introduces us to Grace Holland, an extraordinary young woman tested by catastrophe. The fires started during the first week of October. After a summer-long drought, they broke out near Bar Harbor and soon were burning out of control, racing down the Maine coast. Eventually over two hundred fires raged, consuming a quarter of a million acres of forest and wiping out nine entire towns.”

“Out Like a Lion: Music and Community”. Thursday, March 30, 4:00 pm.

Camden resident Mary Kate Small will lead a late afternoon/early evening of discussion, music and other activities in the Camden Public Library Picker Room this Thursday, March 30th beginning at 4 PM. Come and go as you please. Bring your ideas for rescuing the planet and its people most in need and/or a heart that needs uplifting. We’ll see what we can do. Instruments, poetry, prayers and people of all ages will be welcomed into the circle. For more information, click here.

Grown Up Storytime. Friday, March 31 & Friday April 7, 1:30 pm.

Join us on Friday afternoons from 1:30 to 2:00 to hear stories read by our fabulous team of librarians and occasional community members. If you are interested in reading, please contact Cayla at cmiller@librarycamden.org. Friday, March 31 features community reader Dean Jorgenson, who will be reading selections from Mark Twain. Friday, April 7 will be a Maritime theme storytime. Diane will read from Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs.

Quasimodal Chorus Spring Concert. Sunday, April 2, 2:00 pm.

Camden’s vaunted and venerable Quasimodal Chorus will return to the Camden Public Library for a spring performance on Sunday afternoon, April 2, at 2:00 pm, in the Reading Room. The Quasimodal Chorus will be joined in the performance by The January Men and Then Some and The Mill Street Irregulars. The music will range from challenging Balkan pieces in 7/8 time such as “I Dumaj, Zlato” to long-time favorites such as James Taylor’s “Lonesome Road.”

The various choruses are made up of overlapping membership. Singers come from all over the midcoast, from Winterport to Waldoboro. Some of the singers have been performing together for more than two decades and their style, blend, and taste in music has been met by enthusiastic audiences at Library concerts over many spring seasons. “We always enjoy and look forward to our Spring concert at the Library,” said Carney Doucette of the Quasimodal Chorus. “The Reading Room is such a gorgeous space for a gathering of voices. We hope you can join us!”

Estate Planning Workshop. Monday, April 3, 3:00 pm.

Estate Planning – How to Protect Your “Stuff” in Three Easy Steps. This workshop covers frequently asked questions and common misconceptions regarding wills and trusts, asset protection, nursing home issues, Medicaid qualifications, and estate taxes. 95% of estate plans fail to accomplish their goals. This free course offers a way to help you understand the misconceptions that lead to failure of estate plans, why and what can be done to fix them. Taught by Jesse Bifulco, estate planning attorney for over twenty years.

Camden Philosophical Society. Tuesday, April 4, 6:00 pm

The Camden Philosophical Society will be examining the writings and positions of English moral philosopher Bernard Williams (1929-2003) at its next gathering as an expansion of its recent exploration of morality, virtue, and ethics. This discussion will take place from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library. All are welcome.

As a recognized and influential leader of philosophical ethics in the latter part of the 20th Century, Williams disputed past moral theories of Kant and Utilitarianism, claiming that both systems attempt to “codify” ethics and that our ethical lives are way too “untidy” to be governed by systematic theories. As such, those approaches continue to fail us today in our search for an ethical model that can provide a means to reconcile our modern and ongoing conflicts over abortion, euthanasia, drug prohibition, healthcare, diversity, animal testing, etc. For more information, click here.

“A Way of Life: The Fishing Families of Stonington” With Jeff Dworsky. Tuesday, April 4, 7:00 pm

Opening reception for the April art show in the Picker Room Gallery and talk by the artist. Dworsky’s photographs will be on display for the month of April as part of Maritime Month 2017. Jeff Dworsky moved to Maine in 1971, still a teenager. He lived briefly on an island in Muscongus Bay before settling in Stonington. He was already a photographer—intermittently so, but it had become part of his way of interpreting the world around him.

Like many young men living in coastal communities, Dworsky began to make his living from the sea, first by digging clams, then later as a lobsterman. He watched with dismay as the real estate boom during the 80s began to dissolve the traditional fabric of life in coastal towns. From 1988 to 1993, he undertook an extensive photographic survey of the people in these communities, many of whom were known to him, in the midst of their lives and culture. As he puts it, this group of photographs is “. . . an ode to the loss of the place I chose to live, that I loved . . . the old Downeast coast." For more information, click here.

Midcoast Stroke Support Group. Wednesday, April 5, 10:00 am

The Midcoast Stroke Support Group meetings will continue on first Wednesdays. “We welcome survivors, family, and friends of stroke survivors, or really anyone faced with a neurological challenge,” said Carol Rohl, one of the Support Group organizers. “We share stories and things we have found helpful in this life change. We are finding that encouragement and contact with others in similar situations is very supportive.” For more information call 273-2090. “We look forward to more people joining us,” she added.

Coastal Senior College Class: Hollywood as Idealogy. Thursday, April 6, 12:30 pm

We tend to perceive the movies as providing entertainment and escapism. Hence we suspend disbelief when entering the theater, where visual imagery and music mesh with our “common sense” ways of understanding life. This course examines how movies distort the complexity of modern life as they reaffirm and sometimes revise the values which pervade U.S. popular culture. In each class we will watch a feature film and then critique it. Instructor William S. Solomon has taught Media Studies at Rutgers University and University of Illinois, as well as at Belfast Senior College and Coastal Senior College. He has worked for several newspapers and has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include media culture, media history, and the political economy of media. This is not a library event, participants must register with Coastal Senior College. This is the first class in an eight-week series. For more information, and to register, click here.

Coffeehouse Featuring Sara Grey & Kieron Means -- Western Song. Thursday, April 6, 7:00 pm

Admission is only $10 at the door. This presentation is a unique look at songs in the oral tradition of people who migrated into the Panhandle, the Great Plains, and the Western States. “There was so much happening in the west between the 1800s and the 1920s,” says Sara, “and songs evolved to reflect all this activity, including the gold rush, the outlaws, the ranchers, the cattle drives, the railroad, the Mormon tradition and the isolation, particularly of women, in the prairie.

“With westward migration, people began to create songs that reflected the regions they settled in. They also sang the old songs that had come with them and these began to evolve due to their new environment. Black music and songs also had a great influence,” Sara continued. “This is not a random collection of well known western songs. A great deal of research has gone into the songs and their background. It is a unique and rare collection of old songs and ballads from many sources.” For more information, click here.

Cyber Sunday: Free Up Space on Your iPhone. Sunday, April 9, 2:00 pm

Part of the Cyber Sunday Technology Series with Olga Zimmerman. How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone/iPad: Tired of the dreaded “You are out of storage space” message? Join us to learn about what you can do to free up some space on your iOS device. Meet in the History Center on the second floor of the library.

“The Land and Sea of Three Maine Women Photographers” with Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. Sunday, April 9, 2:00 pm

The Camden-Rockport Historical Society welcomes Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. to speak on the lives and works of three Maine women photographers: Thurza Foss, Minnie Libby, and Josephine Townsend. Hear the inspiring stories of three women who become successful photographers at a time when most photographers were men. These three enterprising women created striking bodies of work which provide rich insights into how Maine people lived and worked in inland towns and coastal villages a century ago. For more information, click here.

Lunch & Learn: Stop the Struggle Over Grades. Monday, April 10, 12:00 noon.

Lisa Cooley, co-founder of Catalyst Learning Network, will lead a Lunch and Learn session for parents. When parents have conflicts and tension with their teens over schoolwork, it’s seen as an ordinary part of getting their kids through school. Don’t most families have such conflicts? Isn’t it just a routine part of parenting teens? Catalyst Learning Network says no.

“Stop the Struggles with your Kids over Grades” is a workshop for parents who seek to improve communication with their kids when it comes to school, grades, and priorities. In this workshop, parents who are in conflict with their teens over their middle or high school studies will learn more about this common problem; why the strategies they use to cope with it don’t work — or, work only temporarily -- and how to begin to craft a permanent solution as well as a better relationship with their kids. Participants are welcome to bring a bag lunch if they wish.

Tuesday Book Club. Tuesday, April 11, 1:00 pm

The next meeting of the Tuesday Book Group is on April 11, at the usual time of 1:00 pm. The Tuesday Book Club meets monthly on the second Tuesday; all are welcome, please call Mary at 763-3035 for more information. The book for this session is The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Leer y charlar. Tuesday, April 11, 1:00 pm

Read and chat – entirely in Spanish! This Spanish language reading and conversation group will continue on second and fourth Tuesday meetings at 1:00 pm at the Camden Public Library. We’ll chat in Spanish about what we’re reading (books, magazines, etc.) and decide how to proceed. Bring ideas for future recommendations.

Arctic Observations with Peter Ralston. Tuesday, April 11, 7:00 pm.

Peter Ralston, reporting on his trips to the Arctic, says: “Observing a bit of Greenland and the heart of the Northwest Passage from a friend’s yacht last summer, I was completely unprepared for the overwhelming scale and power of that part of the world; the BIG ice in Greenland, the austere and severe beauty of the high Canadian Arctic, the social and economic reality of Inuit life and their (mis)treatment by the Canadian government, the wildlife, and the sobering privilege of a front-row seat in a prime theatre of climate change. I am pleased and honored to be able to share my observations from this transformative trip.” Peter Ralston grew up in Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania, worked for a decade as a freelance photojournalist, and then began photographing the coast of Maine in 1978, drawn especially to the working communities that define the coast’s enduring character.

National Library Week Movie Matinee: Desk Set. Wednesday, April 12, 1:00 pm

Join us for a matinee featuring the incredible Katharine Hepburn as perhaps the best “movie librarian” yet, and Spencer Tracy as the computer expert sent to make her redundant. Desk Set is a delightful battle between the super-smart team of librarians and the computer which threatens to replace them. Light refreshments will be served. Free!

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