Honoring Women Veterans - I Am Not Invisible

 

10-11-2024

The article will run on the opening day of Wine, Cheese and Murder. You know where I am; however, even though the play still pulls my focus, it is time to turn at lease some of my attention to our next program. Since Veterans Day is exactly one month away, it’s time to announce that program.

This will be ETLPL’s third year hosting a military program in November. We started with Ace of Aces: The Dick Bong Story by Mike O’Connor. Last year Mike came back to talk about his second book, Badger Aces: Wisconsin Fighter Aces, 1917-1972, paired with the traveling exhibit Wisconsin Remembers: A Face for Every Name from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

This year we will again host a traveling exhibit from the WVM paired with two guest speakers. I Am Not Invisible began in Oregon as an awareness campaign highlighting the role of women veterans. It is now a nationwide program. The traveling exhibit is composed of pop-up banners each featuring a different veteran. More information about these women can be found on the museum’s website which hosts the oral history interview.

On November 4^th at 4:00 pm we are pairing the banners with a presentation from two local women. Commander Michelle Himsel is in charge of East Troy’s American Legion Loomis-Martin Post 188. She will be joined by 3rd Class veteran Eleanor Montano.  Himsel and Montano will give a talk about their experiences in the military.

One of the goals in our strategic plan reads, “Create solutions to minimize facility shortcomings.” With that in mind and knowing a portion of our target audience includes patrons who find the stairs to our lower level difficult to manage, we have asked the East Troy Intergenerational Community Center for use of their space. Located in the back of the East Troy Community School Districts business office, the former Doubek Elementary building, the Community Center is one level and offers plenty of parking.

The exhibit will be set up for the November 4^th talk at the Community Center. Afterwards it will be on display at the library November 5^th through November 16^th. It is important to note that the ETICC entrance is accessed from a driveway on Division Street rather than the district’s entrance on Beulah Avenue. It is set back quite bit so don’t let the open grass areas confuse you.

We hope to see you there as we honor these and all military women for their service.

Reading Now: Twilight by Stephanie Myer (I WILL finish this book. Maybe after the play.)

Listening to Now: Graves on the Fens by Joy Ellis

Library Field Trips

 

10-4-2024

We go on a lot of field trips at the library. To the lower level, to the kitchen area, to the storage/bookdrop room, to the spider (there aren’t actually any there)/Kostopolis/periodical room, to the Lion’s Club room, to the Friend’s room.  After years of teaching, the phrase comes out anytime I want to show a staff member an idea I have to use the space differently and, hopefully, more efficiently. It’s actually reached the point that staff has begun calling out, “Field trip,” to announce a move to a different room. They even manage to sound excited.

This past week has sent Friends and me on several actual, leave the building field trips in preparation for next week’s play. Mary Hubbard Nugent and part of the cast took a field trip to the Honey Creek Collective’s Brown Barn. Formerly the property of Michael Fields and still home to its office space, the Brown Barn is a beautiful space housing several other businesses, a folk school, and two churches. The play will use the same space in which the churches congregate. Mary and cast visited to familiarize themselves with their performance space as rehearsals move into run-throughs and solidify blocking.

Another group with Friends and me met with Jason Neu, HCC’s owner, to plan the logistics of the lower level for placement of ticket/will call, tables, bar, and cheese plate sales as well as a layout of the parking spaces. A note on parking, we are limiting ticket sales to 85 each performance not because of the space, but because of the parking. There are more parking spaces than a drive by the site might indicate; however, we want to be certain to use the space efficiently. Therefore, Don Roberts has volunteered to direct traffic. Before the performance the north entrance will be an entrance only, the south entrance an exit. Between the entrance and exit is the white barn. After the performance, all driveways will be available for exit.

Our next field trip was to Hill Valley Cheese Shop and Cheese Bar. There we selected the three cheeses that will make up the bulk of the auction’s cheese baskets. In addition to selling those cheeses at wholesale cost, Hill Valley donated 10 blocks of cheese for the cheese plates and a $40 gift card for the Cheese Bar which will also be auctioned.

Individual field trips took place to Global Glass, Kelly’s Pot Pies and Yaya’s Skordalia. Yaya’s, also located at Honey Creek Collective donated containers of their almond spread for the cheese board. Kelly’s Pot Pies donated six gift cards, one for each performance, for the cheesecake in the cheesecake basket. Rather a pivotal donation. The gift card will allow the auction winners to choose when to bring a cheesecake home. Whether that is during a family gathering or when the family is all far away is their call. Also in that basket will be a Wine, Cheese and Murder apron. Melanie at Global Glass helped select the majority of the wines in those auction baskets.

Thank you to all the business that are partnering with our Friends and Off the Square Players. We look forward to two fun-filled weekends. October 11, 12 & 13, and 18, 19 & 20. Tickets are still available at the library.

Reading Now: A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (PBS Great America Reads title)

Listening to Now: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin