Basic Computer Class, Saturday, December 10, 3:30-5pm

Learn how to use a mouse and keyboard and other computer basics. This class is limited to 10 students, please call Excelsior Branch at 355-2868 to sign up.

Can't make it to class or want some more practice? Try some of these resources for beginning computer users!

The Life and Art of Vincent van Gogh, Wednesday, December 7, 7pm

Join us for a lecture on the life and art of Vincent van Gogh for this month's Excelsior Branch Library Arts and Culture Salon!

Discover the joy, beauty, sorrow and genius of this amazing artist. View over 100 slides of van Gogh's art - paintings, drawings, lithographs, etchings - including rarely-seen childhood drawings, those from his early Dutch years, and photographs of him and his family. Hear stories about his life, his childhood, places he lived and jobs he held before he became an artist.

Marlene Aron is an artist, educator and published poet. She was educated in The Netherlands at the Vrije Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague, and in the United States, receiving her Master of Fine Arts Degree from California College of the Arts.

They are in! Get your copy of the November/December On the Same Page selection now!

We just received our copies of Model Home, the November/December On the Same Page book club selection, today so get them right now without a wait!

Model Home by Eric Puchner is tender and funny portrait of an unraveling family from the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Music Through the Floor.

The New York Times Book Review says this about the novel: "Puchner is a tender, humane observer of family life, and his lithe prose deepens our understanding of his characters . . . the writing is attuned and specific . . . the image of the Zillers as the sole survivors of a disaster is affecting, and subtly suggests our contemporary situation." (full review)

Not sure what On the Same Page is? Click here for more information about the club, more reviews of Model Home, read-alikes and a list of past selections.

Change of Date! Excelsior Branch Youth Chess Club Tournament on Saturday, December 17, 1-3pm (check-in 12:45pm)

Please note that the date for this event has changed. the Excelsior Branch Youth Chess Club Tournament will take place on Saturday, December 17, not December 10 as originally announced.
All level of chess players are welcome. Play, learn and meet new friends!
Two sections: Open and Beginner

Awards: Medals, chess set, chess pins to all new participants who complete all their rounds.

Space is limited. Please register by Wednesday, December 7 for a guaranteed spot. To register, please email Vincent Ng (Tournament Director) at ngvincep@yahoo.com, with participating youth's full name, school/chess club, age, grade, and with parent/guardian's name & phone number. Subject line: Excelsior Library Tournament.

This tournament is hosted by the Bright Knights Chess Club.

For chess lessons: The Excelsior Branch offers a free chess program every Saturday from 1-3pm.




Thanksgiving Holiday Library Closures


San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection
Reproduced with the permission of the
San Francisco History Center, SFPL.
 Please note that Excelsior Branch and all San Francisco Public Libraries will be CLOSED starting at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23 and all day Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25, 2011 for Thanksgiving. We will resume our regular opening hours on Saturday, November 26, 2011. Happy Thanksgiving!

請大家注意:十一月二十三日(星期三)提前於下午五時休息, 二十四日(星期四)及二十五日(星期五)為"感恩節假日"全部舊金山市立圖書館休息兩天。圖書館在十一月二十六日(星期六)恢復正常開放時間。祝大家感恩節快樂!

Las bibliotecas públicas de San Francisco cerrarán a las 5 p.m. el miércoles, 23 de noviembre y estarán cerradas el jueves 24 y el viernes 25 de noviembre del 2011 en celebración del Día de Acción de Gracias. Vamos a continuar nuestro horario habitual el Sábado, 26 de noviembre 2011. Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

Stories from the Road - Bonda Lewis presents Sara Bard Field on Wednesday, November 16, 7-9pm

The Excelsior Arts & Culture Salon presents Bonda Lewis performing her one-woman show as Sara Bard Field.

Addressing a suffrage meeting, Sara Bard Field tells stories of her eighty-eight day cross-country automobile trip in 1915, carrying a petition to Congress for the immediate adoption of the Susan B Anthony amendment giving the right to vote to all women of the United States. Sara and two other feminists departed from the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco with 500,000 signatures of California women, who had already won the vote in 1911, and enfranchised women from 11  other western states. In the months prior to this journey, the National Women’s Party had maintained a booth in the Education building to collect the signatures. To help reach the goal of universal suffrage, the three women endured the rough drive to Washington, D.C., on the brand-new Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road in the U.S., a road that was mostly unpaved, largely unmarked, and always without the amenities of rest stops or motels.

Please join actor Bonda Lewis for the live performance and a question-and-answer session to follow.

San Francisco Public Library Free Day at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Sunday, November 13, 11am-5pm

Take opportunity of this free event for all San Francisco Public Library card holders at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Just present your San Francisco Public Library Card for free entry. In addition to the current exhibitions including Houdini: Art and Magic, enjoy a full day of magical and mysterious story-telling from San Francisco’s very own children’s librarians, hands-on art-making, a story-telling session with local author Lewis Buzbee, and performances by Brian Scott, master magician and mind reader.

Library closed on Friday, November 11, for Veterans' Day

Excelsior Branch and all other San Francisco Public Libraries will be closed on Friday, November 11, for Veteran's Day.

十一月十一日(星期五)為"退伍軍人節" 全部舊金山市立圖書館休息一天.

Las bibliotecas públicas de San Francisco estarán cerradas el viernes 11 de noviembre del 2011 Día de los Veteranos.

First Monday Movies @ Excelsior on November 7, 6:30-8:30

The movie for this month's Monday Movies @ Excelsior is Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman (1946/101 mins).

Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), daughter of a Nazi spy convicted of treason against the US, meets a dashing stranger named Devlin (Cary Grant). It turns out Devlin works for the intelligence community and he wants to recruit her to infiltrate a cadre of Nazis living in Brazil. Despite the fact that Alicia and Devlin have fallen in love, Alicia realizes the only way to discover what the Nazis are plotting is to marry into the inner circle – a man who has been unsuccessfully courting her for years, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains).

Daylight Saving Time ends on November 6, 2011

Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour on Sunday morning! Daylight Saving Time officially ends at 3am on Sunday, November 6.

夏時制11月6日(星期天)結束! 請記住在11月6日(星期天) 的早上把家裡的鐘錶撥慢1小時。

No se olvide de ajustar sus relojes una hora atrás el proximo domingo! El horario de verano termina oficialmente a las 3 am el domingo, 6 de noviembre.

Excelsior Arts and Culture Salon, Wednesday, October 26, 6:30-8:30pm

Join us on Wednesday, October 26, for La Bamba: Latinos in Vintage Rock, Pop, and Soul.

Local rock historian Richie Unterberger will present this curated video-program of Latino performers from the 1950s through the 1980s focusing particularly on Latino music from New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, and San Francisco. Included will be clips by artists such as Santana, Malo, Ritchie Valens, the Sir Douglas Quintet, Linda Ronstadt, Jose Feliciano, and Los Lobos, among others.

This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music currently on view in the Skylight Gallery of the Main Library. American Sabor was created by Experience Music Project and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The exhibition, its national tour and related programs are made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

Lily Tung Crystal as Tye Leung, Tuesday, October 18, 7-8pm

Bay Area actor Lily Tung Crystal portrays Tye Leung, a San Francisco woman who was both the first Chinese-American woman to vote in the U.S., and the first Chinese American of either gender to work a civil service job for the federal government as a translator at Angel Island immigration station. The program will cover her childhood into her adult years.

This program is part of the city-wide Women's Suffrage Centenial celebration. For other programs related to this celebration, please visit the SFPL website or click here.

One City One Book Discussion Tonight, 7:00pm

Join us tonight (Wed., Sept 28) to discuss the current One City One Book Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. We will have a book discussion leader on hand to lead the discussion.

Computer Classes

Teens Teaching Seniors

This popular drop-in workshop has started again! Adults of all ages can drop in to receive individual attention from tech-savvy high school students. Get help with your particular computing and technology questions and problems. No appointment or reservation necessary. Potential volunteers and prospective students can contact Marla Bergman at the Excelsior Branch on 415-355-2868.


Saturdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
September 10, 17, 24; October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29;
November 5, 12, 19, 26

Doug Nolan / Rock Steady Juggling for kids

A program of juggling virtuosity, comedy antics, plate spinning, and unicycling. For ages 3-5. Space limited; call for reservations.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011 11:00-11:30 am

Duct Tape Wallets for Teens

Use ordinary duct tape in various colors to make a very functional and long lasting wallet for yourself or a gift. Ages 12-18. For more information, contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2868.





Wednesday, July 13, 4:00-5:30 pm

Monday Movies at Excelsior


Continuing the 2010-2011 theme of film noir:

A Double Life (1947, 104min.) Broadway actor Anthony John (Ronald Colman) has a habit of becoming the characters he plays. He’s easy to get along with when doing a comedy, but he can be a real pain when he's involved in a tragedy. He'd like to get back together with his co-star and ex-wife Brita (Signe Hasso), but she's sick of the emotional roller coaster. Coleman’s journey into psychosis is a foregone conclusion after he takes on the lead role in the longest running Othello in history. Also starring Shelley Winters and Edmond O’Brien. Directed by George Cukor.

Monday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 - note that this is the SECOND Monday due to the holiday on July 4.

Heather Rogers, Magician & Quick Change Artist for kids


Please come enjoy a fun program of magic, comedy, audience participation, and instant costume changes. For ages 4 and older. Space limited; call for reservations.


Wednesday, July 6, 11:00 - 11:30 am

July 4 - Library Closed for Independence Day


The Library will be closed for Independence Day on July 4.
We will be open at the usual times on July 3 and July 5.

Teen Movie Day - Step Up 2


Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)
Romantic sparks occur between two dance students from different backgrounds at the Maryland School of the Arts.
Director: Jon M. Chu
Stars:Robert Hoffman, Briana Evigan and Cassie Ventura


Tuesday, July 05, 2011, 4:00 - 6:00 pm


Free movies for teens every first Tuesday. Refreshments provided. Ages 10-18 welcomed. For more information, please contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2868.

String Creatures - craft for teens

Learn how to make an adorable, string creature from one piece of string! These creatures are based on string dolls from Thailand. All materials provided. For teens, ages 12-18. For more information or to register, contact Marla Bergman, Teen Librarian, at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2868.


Wednesday, June 22, 4:00-5:30 pm

Classical Chinese Dance - Excelsior Arts & Culture Salon



The Excelsior Arts & Culture Salon and the Adult Summer Reading Program present Classical Chinese Dance. Cecilia Xiong of the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts California teaches classical Chinese dance, a dance that expresses inner feeling and grace. Chinese dance has developed over the course of the 5,000 year history of Chinese civilization. By learning this ancient art form, one can become familiar with this profound culture, a culture based on the philosophies of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The class size may be limited to 15 adults.

To get a free ticket, speak to a librarian at the branch.
Wednesday, June 22, 7:00-8:00 pm

Library Closed for Memorial Day Holiday


Monday May 30, 2011, all branches of San Francisco Public Library will be closed in observance of Memorial Day. Excelsior Branch will be open as usual on Sunday, 1:00-5:00 pm and Tuesday, 10:00 am to 9:00 pm

First Monday Movie - The Big Heat


Continuing the 2010-2011 theme of film noir:

The Big Heat (1953/90 mins.) - When homicide sergeant Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is assigned to investigate the apparent suicide of a fellow police officer, he uncovers a sinister relationship between the local syndicate boss and the corrupt city government. Bannion’s cozy suburban life is destroyed when the big city gangsters mistakenly kill his wife with a car bomb intended for him. After he is suspended from the police force, Bannion embarks on a crusade of revenge in this classic police drama. Also starring Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame. Directed by Fritz Lang.

Monday, June 6, 6:30-8:30


Cherry Hoops Hula Hoop Fun


Join enthusiastic and talented teacher Miss Nicole for hula hoop fun! Great for beginners. Hoops provided. For ages 6 and older.

Monday, June 6
1:15-1:45 pm

Space is very limited, so please call (415) 355-2836.

Congress on Your Corner


If you are having problems with a federal agency or obtaining your Social Security, Medicare, veterans or other federal benefits, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s office may be able to help. Congresswoman Pelosi’s office will hold Community Office Hours on Wednesday June 8th from 4pm to 7pm at the Excelsior Branch, Wednesday June 22nd from 4pm to 7pm at the Main Library – Stong Meeting Room (1st Floor) and Friday July 8th from 2pm to 5pm at the Glen Park Branch.

Staff will be available to answer questions about federal agencies, programs and benefits, and to offer any possible assistance. For more information about Congresswoman Pelosi’s constituent services, please visit www.house.gov/pelosi.

Wednesday June 8, 4:00-7:00 pm

How to Train Your Dragon - Teen Movie Day

A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.

Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

Free movies for teens every first Tuesday. Refreshments provided. Ages 10-18. For more information,contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or (415) 355-3858.


Tuesday, June 7, 4:00-6:00 pm

Bike to Work Day


Today is Bike to Work Day in San Francisco.

To search for all things bicycles and bicycling, make a KEYWORD search for words in the SUBJECT HEADING using tag s: for subject, like this:

KEYWORD s:bicycl*

The asterisk is a wildcard representing the end letters in bicycle, bicycling, bicycles
(you can also use d: for "descriptor")

Click here for results of that search.

To find the list of Subjects available at SFPL in this area, make a SUBJECT search for bicycle:

SUBJECT bicycleClick here for the resultant list of subjects.

You can limit your search by location by changing from View Entire Collection to the name of a branch. You can limit your results to only items available by checking that box. By clicking on the "Limit/Sort Search" or "Modify Search" button you can narrow your search by language or by media type (book or DVD etc).

Teen Movie - Inception


In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception.


Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page


Refreshments provided.

Tuesday, May 10, 3:30-6:00 pm

The Water is Wide - Songs of the Seas and Rivers


A favorite of library audiences for his uplifting renditions of popular American folksongs, Tim Holt performs and discusses our heritage of sea chanteys, whaling songs, traditional songs ("Shenandoah" and "The Erie Canal"), and Woody Guthrie's Columbia River songs promoting public power. He also includes an original song, "Sailing Down My Mountain Stream," adapted from a Pete Seeger song about cleaning up the Hudson River. Holt's version focuses on a more recent effort to restore wild salmon to the upper reaches of the Sacramento River.

Note that, in a break with the usual pattern, this Excelsior Arts and Culture Salon offering will be on the second, instead of the fourth Wednesday of the month.

Wednesday, May 11, 7:00-8:30 pm

Music with Pam Donkin


A hop skip and a jump! - for young children

Encourage literacy in this interactive and fun musical program. Join Pam Donkin as she leads songs, chants and fingerplays that help with reading-readiness.


Tuesday, May 3, 11:00 - 11:30 am

Button Mania for Teens - Recycle-a-thon!

Make a button with your favorite pic or words. Cut it out, print it out, or draw your own. FYI, buttons are small (1 1/4 inches in diameter). Materials provided. Join us in making buttons and other recycled crafts! This is a WritersCorps event led by Aracely Gonzalez.

Wednesday, May 4 and 18, 4:00 - 5:30 pm

First Monday Movie for May - Angel Face


Ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) falls under the spell of spoiled rich girl Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) when he’s called to her home following a near fatal “accident.” Frank soon becomes the Tremayne chauffeur, and he dreams of opening his own sports-car garage with the help of Diane’s money. But Diane's got a few quirks - especially her hostility toward her stepmother. Frank begins to feel danger under Diane’s surface sweetness as she slowly pulls him into her world of lies and deceit. Directed by Otto Preminger (1952/91 mins.)

Monday, May 2, 6:30 pm

Call+Response

This April, the Excelsior Branch Arts & Culture Salon features Call+Response, a film about modern day slavery.

Join Director Justin Dillon at this screening of Call + Response, a pioneering documentary that exposes the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before. Call + Response goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving, from the child brothels of Cambodia to the brick kilns of rural India, revealing that in 2009, slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks together. Prominent political and cultural figures such as Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd and Nicholas Kristof offer firsthand accounts of this 21st century trade. The film features performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Talib Kweli and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Dillon will answer questions and discuss the film with the audience following the screening.


Wednesday, April 27 @ 7:00 pm

National Poetry Month


Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

Keep an eye out for Poem in Your Pocket Day at Excelsior Branch Library on April 14!

Check out some “poetry generator” sites:

For example
Think Zone Poem Generator
Will produce poems like this:

Sails endure like sunny gulls.
Why does the shark die?
Misty, rough clouds swiftly love a small, old shore.
Clear, dead winds roughly view a lively, misty lad.
The breeze travels like a warm captain.

Shrink calmly like a misty slum.
Love, work, and life.
Life, life, and action.
The car gabs like a big street.
The big girl quickly buys the hood.

*************************************************

These are from Language is a Virus:

So comely in the fog
Strangely green beyond the shadows
You cavort with cold faces in the air
Take cover! The sin is done
Very quiet below the spirits
We poke evil flames over the tomb
God! The day has vanished
So comely in the fog
You conjure dark delusions about the rain
Alass! The Knave is vanishing
shifting hungry
never meeting
no words left
From what country
the sailor
wander aimlessly
in the late light

Strange and colorful about the clouds
So murky in the air
You prod dry teeth about the spirits
Can you dig it? The sin must continue
Dark and black below the shadows
I smell luminous fragments over the light
Ahhh! The Queen is going
Strange and colorful about the clouds
I swallow dark hooks over the fire
I reach! The day felt good
darkening nameless
saying goodbye
sun on his face
In how many places
the god
turn aside
in the late light

***********************************

Or try this: Poetry Generator

This one from the Educational Technology Training Center is more interactive.

Dewey Classifications for Poetry

800s for literature generally
808 for materials about the craft of writing

So ...
808.1 for materials about the craft of writing poetry

Poetry class numbers tend to end in 1

Poetry collections begin at 808.81

American poetry in English begins at 811
English poetry begins at 821

Some examples of numbers for poetry in other languages:

831 German poetry
839.71 Swedish poetry
841 French poetry

851 Italian poetry
861 Spanish poetry
869.1 Portuguese poetry
871 Latin poetry
881 Classical Greek poetry
889.1 Modern Greek poetry

891.86 Czech poetry

891.71 Russian poetry
895.61 Japanese poetry

Spring Craft with Marianne for children


Please come join in the Springtime fun and crate an Easter craft with Marianne. All ages welcome! Space limited; call for reservations.


Saturday, April 16, 2011

11:30 - 12:15

Earth Month Madness




Recycle-a-thon!

April is Earth Day, all month long! Join us in making journals and more from a variety of recycled papers.

This is a WritersCorps event led by Aracely Gonzalez. For more information, contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or 415-355-2868.

Wednesdays, April 4 and April 18, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Teen Movie Day


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 108 min
A couple undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.

Director: Michel Gondry
Writers: Charlie Kaufman (story & screenplay), Michel Gondry (story), Pierre Bismuth (story)
Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Tom Wilkinson

Tuesday, April 5, 2011
4:00 - 6:00 pm

Free movies for teens every first Tuesday. Refreshments provided. Ages 12-18. For more information, contact Marla at mbergman@sfpl.org or (415) 355-2868.

First Monday Movie for April - "Gun Crazy"

Gun Crazy (1949, 86 minutes)

Bart Tare (John Dall) has always loved guns. He’s fresh out of the army when his friends take him to a carnival. There he meets the perfect girl, Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins), a sharp-shooting sideshow performer. The couple begins a cross-country string of daring robberies, in this variation on the Bonnie and Clyde story. This brilliantly filmed noir film includes an amazing sequence - shot in one long take - of a bank robbery seen from the backseat of the getaway car. Directed by Joseph Lewis.

Monday, April 4, 2011
6:30 - 8:30 pm

Chess Club canceled Saturday March 26 and April 2


Chess Club at Excelsior Branch is canceled this afternoon! We apologize for the late notice. It is also canceled on April 2 because the team will be away at a tournament. Chess club should be back the week after, on April 9.

Triangle Shirt Factory


Today is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. This crime and tragedy was an important event in labor history in the United States. 146 workers, the vast majority young immigrant women, died in the fire. The flimsy fire escape collapsed, the fire brigade's ladders were too short, and many jumped to their deaths from the 8th, 9th and 10th floor windows. Most importantly, the doors were locked to prevent the sweatshop workers from leaving during working hours and the heaps of rubbish everywhere were a fire hazard. The owners of the factory were prosecuted, but acquitted of manslaughter charges. However, the direct result was to strengthen labor safety laws and the cause of the labor unions, particularly the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).

Remember the Triangle Fire website

Items in the library catalog about the fire and the history surrounding it include books for children and adults, with several works of fiction.

Labor History in the United States in the library catalog

Diane di Prima - Writing for Fun - POSTPONED

EVENT POSTPONED
Wednesday, March 23

The Excelsior Branch Library regrets to announce that this event has been postponed.

Please watch this space for a future event with San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima.

We like Arundhati Roy



For Women's History Month - we like Arundhati Roy.



Best known for her Booker-winning novel The God of Small Things, she is a writer of essays and a political activist in her native India, where she supports the causes of the poor.

Arundhati Roy in the SFPL catalog.
An interview in the Guardian this January (UK)
An interview on Democracy Now last year
A recent article written by Roy

"What We Like" features weekly recommendations from Excelsior staff and patrons for Library books, music, movies and audiobooks that we think you might like. If you have something you want to recommend, drop by and let us know!

Teen Texting Contest


TXT UR <3 OUT

Hey, You! With the nimble fingers! Just how fast/accurate are you? Think you’re TXT MSG savvy? In celebration of Teen Tech Week at the library, compete in our texting contest for prizes. Ages 12-18.

Tuesday March 29
1:30-3:30 pm

What We Like


Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy


This is a book that has stayed with me for decades. I first read it when I was just finding my feminist feet. It is not a perfect book. Few descriptions of utopian visions are. However, the story of Connie Ramos, a poor Chicana forced into a mental institution by her niece’s lying pimp, is compelling. Each dreadful chapter describing Connie’s grim circumstances is followed by the relief offered by a chapter describing Connie’s travel through time and space to an ideal community. This community is Piercy’s feminist vision of what the future could be. The book made me think differently about people with mental illness (is Connie mad or gifted?), and also imagine what my own feminist utopia might be. I reread it recently and it still pulled me in.

Woman on the Edge of Time was a best seller and is a classic of its genre, both for its feminist and for its science fiction elements. There is a lot of material about it on the web.

JG

Marge Piercy’s Website

Amazon reader reviews


"What We Like" features weekly recommendations from Excelsior staff and patrons for Library books, music, movies and audiobooks that we think you might like. If you have something you want to recommend, drop by and let us know!

International Women's Day Centennial


Happy International Women's Day!


According to internationalwomensday.com the first International Women's Day was 100 years ago:
In 1869 British MP John Stuart Mill was the first person in Parliament to call for women's right to vote. On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Women in other countries did not enjoy this equality and campaigned for justice for many years.
At the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910, Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.

The very first International Women's Day was launched in 2011 on 19 March (not 8 March). The date was chosen because on 19 March in the year of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognized for the first time the strength of the armed people and gave way before the threat of a proletarian uprising. Among the many promise he made, which he later failed to keep, was the introduction of votes for women.


In 1913 International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Wommen's Day ever since.

During International Women's Year in 1975, IWD was given official recognition by the United Nations and was taken up by many governments. International Women's Day is marked by a national holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.


March is Women's History Month and there are programs and displays at Excelsior Branch and throughout SFPL.

Check out the timeline at the National Women's History Project.
And the Library of Congress site for Women's History Month.
Ms. magazine has a blog.

Tuesday tip - searching for a series

If you don't want to spoil an ongoing story line by reading the books in a series out of order, how can you sort out which comes first?

You can try searching the Internet. Often the author's website, or that of a fan will tell you. You could try looking for publishing dates, but what if you're looking at dates of reprints and new editions? Another way would be to use one of the library's databases. One I like to use is called NoveList.

Go to our home page: sfpl.org
Under eLibrary there is a link for Articles & Databases
To get to Novelist you can click on N, or choose Books &Literature from the drop-down.

Once you have Novelist open you can see that one of the options to search on is Series. You can type a keyword from the name of the series, or you can type the title of one book in the series, or just type the author's name. When you click on the name of the series, or on the title of one of the books in the series, you will get the list of all titles in the series in order. Each title has a link to the catalog of SFPL so you can check availablity and reserve (hold) a copy.

Here is a video to show how:


If you cannot see the video, please let us know.

Teen Movie Day - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Tuesday March 15, 4:00-6:00 pm


Based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic book series, the film stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman.

Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob-omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams…literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.

Tuesday March 15, 2011

4:00-6:00 pm

First Monday Movies - Ace in the Hole



Ace in the Hole (1951/111 min)
Directed by Billy Wilder

Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a former big-time reporter whose reputation is so tarnished he's now at an Albuquerque rag, chasing down local-interest stuff. That is until a local miner gets stuck in a cave, a situation that Tatum not only exploits but actually manipulates, hoping to jumpstart his career. The situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control media circus. Also starring Jan Sterling.

March 7, 2011 6:30 pm

Puppet Art Theater comes to Excelsior

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack has traded his cow for magic wishing beans much to his mother's dismay. In frustration, Jack's mom tosses the beans out the window where they grow into a huge beanstalk. Up the beanstalk goes Jack and the adventure begins!

Tuesday March 15, 2011
2:00 - 2:45 pm