APRIL HIGHLIGHTS: NEW KNITTING CIRCLE; SPOKEN WORD EVENT; GREAT DECISIONS DISCUSSION GROUP... and MORE

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1 APRIL HIGHLIGHTS: NEW KNITTING CIRCLE; SPOKEN WORD EVENT; GREAT DECISIONS DISCUSSION GROUP... and MORE Dear Hyde Park Library Member, April 5, 2017 We were delighted that our posting about forming a knitting circle here at the library met with much favorable response. We'll be hosting an initial interest and planning meeting on Thursday, April 27 at 7:00 PM. (See below for more details.) We've also been heartened in the interest in our recently established "Great Decisions Discussion Group." The discussions thus far have been lively and enlightening. We thank facilitator Dave McNary for running this program at the library. It's been an excellent addition to our programming. Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 pm. An informational packet will be made available prior to each meeting on the month's topic. This month's session will be on April 10th and the topic will be "US Foreign Policy and Petroleum." Also coming up at the end of the month is a Library Friends sponsored book sale. From Friday, April 28th to Sunday, April 30th, we'll be running our regular spring book sale in the Annex during regular library hours (12:00-6:00 pm on Friday, 9:00am-4:00 pm on Saturday, and 11:00 am - 3:00 pm on Sunday). Should anyone care to donate gently used books, DVDs or CDs for this sale, a donation box will be available on the Annex porch as of April 7th. April is National Poetry Month, and in celebration this year, we'll be hosting a special Spoken Word/Open Stage event on April 30th at 3:00 pm, and while the focus will be on poetry, writers of shorter prose will also be welcome to share their work. Whether you are a writer yourself or primarily a fan, this will be an occasion to meet and greet regional writers and perhaps get some constructive feedback on your own efforts. (Note: due the ongoing weekend book sale, this event will be held in the Main Building.) MORE ON THE KNITTING CIRCLE As noted above in our "introductory remarks," we're very excited to once again be hosting a knitting circle in our library. The scheduled April 27th (7:00 pm) meeting is primarily an

2 organizational one, at which the particulars about the best times and dates for future meetings will be decided upon. Interested prospective members who cannot make it to the initial meeting should consider contacting library director Greg Callahan at or at (845) ext. 205 to express their interest and their preferences on times and frequency of future meetings. We already have at least one prospective member who is willing to serve as a "co-facilitator," but we would welcome at least one more member who might be willing to share the task (which would not be all that onerous). Duties would include: keeping contact information for other members; contacting members about any cancelations; providing staff with attendance statistics; updating the director about any scheduling or other changes with the group: and possibly other duties as assigned or agreed upon. This should be a great evening--and one not exclusively devoted to planning and organization either. Please bring along any knitting projects you may already be working on. NEWS FROM THE CHILDREN'S ROOM Along with Mrs. B.'s usual Mother Goose (Mondays at 9:30 am) and Tots 'n Tales (Mondays at 10:30 am) story times, she will be doing a Magic Tree House book club for homeschoolers, K-3rd grade, on Thursday, April 6th and April 20th at 2:00 pm. These events will include snacks and a craft. Mrs. B.'s Teen Book Club will reading and discussing the Newberry Honor book, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley on Thursday, April 13 at 7:00 pm. This club is especially recommended for students who might be interested in partaking in this September's inter-library "Battle of the Books" competition.

3 On Friday, April 28, in celebration of Earth Day, there will be a "Maker Space Workshop" using found materials to create a wall hanging inspired by the book, Listen To Our World by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson. This workshop will be held from 4:00-5:30 pm and is suitable for all ages. The facilitator for this program is Sandra Rizello, an artist and art therapist from Italy, currently on an exchange program here in the US. Great International Movies As noted in last month's newsletter, we are currently running two great international movie series. Our French Film Series will be screened on selected Friday evenings at 7:00 pm. On April 7th, we'll be screening the rarely seen (and unavailable on DVD) 1981 film La Vie Continue, starring celebrated French actors Annie Girardot and Jean-Pierre Cassel and directed by Moshe Mizrahi. It was remade for the American cinema as Men Don't Leave in Later in the month (April 21st, also at 7:00 pm), the riotous 1993 French comedy Les Visiteurs (The Visitors) will be screened. This is comedy-fantasy, in which a 12th-century knight and his servant travel in time to the end of the 20th century and have to make their way in 1990s France. The number one hit in France the year of its release, it remains the fifth highest grossing French film ever released. The film stars Jean Reno and Christian Clavier and was directed by Jean-Marie Poire. An American remake, entitled Just Visiting, was released in 2001 with the same stars. Our series Mexico and the Movies, which has already been running for the past several weeks, will be comprised of three additional entries this month. On April 8th at 2:00 pm, we'll be showing the 2010 drama Biutiful, starring Javier Bardem (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and winning the equivalent award at that year's Cannes Film Festival) and directed by Alejandro Inarritu (the Mexican born director who also directed Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and--more recently--the English-language films Birdman and The Revenant). On April 15th at 2:00 pm, our selection will be the celebrated 2002 film-biography Frida, starring Salma Hayek. Based on the tempestuous life of Mexican artist and activist Frida Kahlo, the film-- directed by Julie Traymor of Lion King fame--was nominated for several Academy Awards and won two, including Best Score. Alfred Molina, Ashley Judd, and Geoffrey Rush also star in this critically well-received film. Our last entry will be a film we have previously shown, but that would be most relevant to the current series. Under The Same Moon (La misma Luna) stars Kate del Castillo and Adrian Alonso and touches on the theme of child migration. Patricia Riggen directed. A moving, lyrical film, it comes highly recommended. The film will be screened on April 22nd at 2:00 pm.

4 MUSIC IN THE ANNEX This month's open mic will take place on Sunday, April 23rd. Doors open 1:30 pm. Open mic performances begin around 2:00 pm. After a short break, our featured artist, guitarist extraordinaire Bruce Ackerman, will take the stage at approximately 3:15. After the feature, we will resume open mic performances. We are trying out a new sign-up system this month, one that other venues have tried and found successful. To the extent possible, we'd like to have performers sign up in advance of the actual show. Performers can do so by going to a special Google Docs link included here (and to be posted on our website, home page and in follow-up s). Walk-ins will be welcome, and to the extent that we can successfully accommodate them, we certainly will. However, we feel that having some advance indication of how many people will be performing on a given afternoon will be helpful to all concerned. Speaking of virtuoso guitarists, and looking ahead to early May, please mark your calendar for a return engagement by an old friend, classical guitarist Peter Fletcher, who will perform at the S. June Keyes Library Annex on May 5th at 8:00 pm. Ours will be the next-to-last stop on Peter's current tour, the last stop being Carnegie Hall, where Peter will perform the next evening. The program will include selections by Bach, Rowland, Satie, Walton, Paganini and Ibenez. Reviewing Peter Fletcher's most recent Carnegie Hall performance, critic William Gooch wrote: "Every time classical guitarist Peter Fletcher appears at Carnegie Hall, he has a packed house. Whether audience members are hearing him for the first time or were so enraptured by his technical skill and poised delivery that they've become diehard

5 fans, Fletcher understands how to put together a repertoire that keeps audiences wanting more. And that is his genius." His fans in Hyde Park surely agree. Also coming up in May will be performances by folk legend Rod MacDonald and an appearance by regional singer-songwriters Denise Jordan Finley and John Martucci. (More details in next month's newsletter.) MOVIE MADNESS: NEW TIMES, NEW SERIES We're still finalizing our National Poetry Month Spoken Word event scheduled for Sunday, April 30th at 3:00 pm (in the Main Building). But as noted above, this will be an "open stage" event, and all writers (including writers of short prose) are welcome to participate. Allotted time will be between five to eight minutes. A special feature spotlighting younger area poets will also be included. For more details about this--or any of our programs please call (845) And don't forget our spectacular Hyde Park Library Book Sale (sponsored by our wonderful Friends group) on April 28th, 29th and the 30th!!! Stay Connected Hyde Park Free Library 2 Main St. Hyde Park, New York (845)