LGBTQ Pride
On Tuesday, May 28 at 6:30 PM, South End's urban historian, Russ Lopez, will present his new book, The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond. Focused on the impact of the GLBTQ community on Massachusetts from as early as the 17th century, Lopez shows that LGBTQ people have been an influential presence since the coming of Europeans to the Bay State in 1620.
The author will be introduced by South End's freshman State Representative for the 9th Suffolk district, Jon Santiago.
South End Writes
On Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30 PM, Boston novelist and essayist Erica Ferencik will give a talk accompanied by a slide show about her month-long sojourn in the Peruvian Amazon where she researched her latest suspense novel, Into the Jungle. It's Ferencik's second after The River at Night, and describes a woman's terrifying journey of survival in the Bolivian Amazon. Publishers Weekly Called it "[A] ferocious fever dream of a thriller...Ferencik delivers an alternately terrifying and exhilarating tale." Into the Jungle will come out on May 28.
Meredith Goldstein, advice columnist and entertainment reporter for the Boston Globe, will talk on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 6:30 PM, about her memoir, Can't Help Myself: Lessons and Confessions From a Modern Advice Columnist. Her Love Letters advice column has been running online and in the paper since 2009.
Award-winning foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer,whose investigations and penetrating analyses have shed harrowing light on innumerable clandestine American adventures here and abroad, will return to the South End library on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, with his latest tome, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control. A former New York Times Bureau chief in Nicaragua, Berlin and Istanbul, and current world affairs columnist at the Boston Globe, Kinzer tells the hair-raising tale of chemist Sidney Gottlieb, who was in charge of the CIA's MK-ULTRA mind control project.
Local/Focus Window Displays
May/June: Plein-air painter Carol Schweitzer
June/July: Social-justice bookstore More Than Words
July/August: Newton Watercolor Society's images of Boston
Carol Schweigert is a Boston-based painter who explores terrain both inside and out. A former resident of the Piano Factory on Tremont Street, she now has a studio in Charlestown and paints "plein air" all over Boston, from the Arboretum to the Zakim Bridge. "My passion is painting from direct observation in both oil and gouache, indoors and out, sometimes in the rain, occasionally in the ice. I like the vitality and physicality of plein air painting. It hints of extreme sport, with police encounters, slippery slopes, lightning storms, and chats with skinny-dippers," she says.
A price list of her work is available inside the library, ranging from $250 to $1,200. The artist will donate ten percent of any art work sold from the Tremont Street window to the South End library staff for programming and supplies.
Children's Events
Monday, July 1, 10:30 AM
You will see a huge crowd in Library Park on Monday, June 3 when Little Groove music performers will bring song and dance and invite all of you to sing and dance along with them.
Tuesday, June 25, 6:00 AM-7:30 PM:
A Henna Summer eve for teens and tweens at the South End library with henna artist Nimmi Sehgal. Choose your favorite henna design. Check out the website, www.bostonhenna.com.
South End Library Improvement Update:
The long-term renovation of the South End branch library appears to be on track with $100,000 for the FY2020 programming study in the proposed city budget, and likely to be approved by the City Council by July 1.According to BPL president David Leonard's upbeat remarks during City Council library budget hearings earlier this month, the South End library study may be "bundled" with programming studies for other Boston branches slated for renovation and speed up the system's reconstruction process. A programming study takes one year, and is followed by a design study which takes another year. It is the first step in the up to five-year renovation process, with an architect on its team. When done, it will include a proposed dollar amount for the renovation budget. Current projects at other branches range from $12 million to $19 million.
The South End library's 2019 so-called Refresh project is also proceeding apace, with the BPL project team and FOSEL going over final details for furnishings and color schemes. The Refresh will bring new flooring to the branch, fresh paint, more outlets, a space reconfiguration and new furniture. The library will close for a month or two in the fall to make it happen.
Library Park
The redesigned Library Park was ablaze with crocuses, daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinths this season, thanks to a long and rainy spring. Last fall, FOSEL planted 3,000 spring bulbs but, once they're done blooming, there will be no other plants to brighten your day as all were removed during the park's reconstruction in 2018. FOSEL is working closely with our South End State Reps, Jon Santiago and Aaron Michlewitz, to obtain funding and the city's Parks Department is ready to do its part. Hope, like flowers, springs eternal.
Summer Jazz and Blues Concerts in Library Park
Library Park's Jazz & Blues concerts are still in the planning phase but as of now Pat Loomis's and Friends will be playing with these Special Guests:
July 23: Grammy Award winning percussionist Eguie Castrillo
July 30: Renowned pianist/composer Kevin Harris
August 20: vocalist Nephrok and the Motown Masterpiece Orchestra
August 27: To be announced.
FOSEL Board Participation and Volunteering:
The Friends of the South End Library is looking for South End residents interested in volunteering to benefit the South End library and Library Park. The current board's terms (one and two-years) will end next February and some vacancies will be occur. A nominating committee will be delighted to take your name and contact information. Email us at info@friendsofsouthendlibrary.org.
FOSEL sponsors programming like the South End Writes author series, the Local/Focus window installations, Book Award Winners displays, the Easter Egg Hunt and Summer Concerts. It raises money for library staff programming requests. And it sponsors this newsletter to keep you all informed. We need volunteers for all.
The next big project is collaborating with the BPL project teams and guiding the South End library through its renovation plans in the next few years. It is YOUR library: Make yourself heard.
More information at www.friendsofsouthendlibrary.org. The South End Branch of the Boston Public Library is located at 685 Tremont Street.