David Cherry's blog

Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month with HCPL

Submitted by David Cherry on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 3:11pm

Asian Slide Strip
May is the month set aside to acknowledge the important contributions that people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have made to this country’s history and culture. This year, Harris County Public Library will once again celebrate the diversity of Asian and Pacific Island peoples with programs inspired by traditions from across that vast territory. HCPL invites you to enjoy the music and dance of India, sample the cuisines of Thailand and Japan, and explore cultures from China to Hawaii and points in between. There will be crafts, puppets shows, films, and fun for all ages.

Writers in the Schools’ Poem A Day Project Comes to HCPL’s Facebook Page

Submitted by David Cherry on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 11:41am

Writers in the Schools A Poem A Day BannerMaybe it’s because their sense of wonder has not been tamped down by too many peeks behind the wizard’s curtain, or maybe it’s because their language has not been clogged up with convention and cliché. Whatever it is, children and teens seem to have a felicity with poetry that adult poets can spend their careers trying to recapture.

Writers in the Schools (WITS), a local nonprofit organization, actively encourages children (K-12) in over 350 area classrooms to develop those skills. Each April, WITS celebrates National Poetry Month by sharing some of the students’ work with the community through its Poem A Day project. We at Harris County Public Library are excited to participate in this year’s event. Starting this Monday, April 2 and running through the month, fans of HCPL’s facebook page will get to read these inspiring poems.

Adrienne Rich (1929 - 2012)

Submitted by David Cherry on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 8:00am

Cover Art: Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne RichOnce Adrienne Rich got the pretty (though pointed) rhyming verse out of her system (and she did that early--her first book was published when she was still at Radcliffe) Adrienne Rich constructed a voice for herself that was equal parts lyric brilliance, surgically precise language, and undiluted rage. To call her a feminist poet, while probably accurate, diminishes her project. Yes, the overarching issue of her writing, perhaps its sole impetus, was the struggle to carve out a place for women in society and as such she can be seen as a political/activist poet, few if any of her poems can be read as merely political statements.

Something about Nothing: Harvey Pekar and Slice of Life

Submitted by David Cherry on Thu, 03/22/2012 - 3:03pm

Cover Art: The Quitter by Harvey Pekar, Art by Dean HaspielGone are the days when people with both a weakness for comic books and aspirations of becoming “serious” writers had to slink across town and hope no one they knew drove past as they walked out of the shop with the latest issue of Zap! or Weirdo wrapped in plain brown paper (to give it that little extra patina of shame).

I miss those days.

Join a Book Club at HCPL

Submitted by David Cherry on Tue, 03/20/2012 - 3:04pm

Photo Credit: Book Club by Robert Michalove via Flickr Creative Commons
For many people, one of the only things better than reading a good book is talking about a good book, which explains the continuing popularity of book clubs and discussion groups across the country. Yet, book clubs are much more than a place to gab about a ripping good yarn. They’re a chance to meet new people, explore new areas of interest, and get good tips on what to read next, and sometimes, book clubs are a good way to get yourself featured on Voice of America. This is exactly what happened recently to one of Harris County Public Library's many book groups. VOA featured our Tomball College & Community Library’s Paranormal Book Club in a story about the growing popularity among older readers of supernatural romances aimed at young adults (See video below).

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