Several students from the Immigrant Learning Center got their Library cards today. Welcome to the Malden Public Library!
Several students from the Immigrant Learning Center got their Library cards today. Welcome to the Malden Public Library!
Join us Thursday, March 1 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. for a Reception for our Rotating Art Exhibit Artist Rod Peterson! View his watercolor collection titled “A Few of My Favorite Places to Paint”. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.
Dr. John Hill presents “Adam Smith’s Equality and the Pursuit of Happiness”
On Wednesday, February 21, at 6:30 p.m., Dr. John E. Hill, award-winning Professor of Politics and History at Curry College, will present his new work, Adam Smith’s Equality and the Pursuit of Happiness published by Palgrave MacMillan, 2016. This work examines Adam Smith’s main principles in Wealth of Nations as the basis for effective policymaking. Free market interpretations of Smith, the book argues, grossly misrepresent his thought, emphasizing only liberty and not also equality and justice. This book suggests policies that combine all three in order for happiness to be maximized.
Adam Smith, the “father of capitalism,” proposed several principles that would help mitigate or eliminate some of the problems we face as a nation today. Many assume that our current laissez-faire capitalism applies his principles. But, in contrast to the libertarianism of the United States, Smith’s recipe to increase everyone’s wealth and happiness was justice, liberty, and equality. His famous book, Wealth of Nations, provides several additional principles that might promote the good life for all. Adam Smith’s Equality and the Pursuit of Happiness explains these principles and offers examples of how they might be applied in the United States today.
Dr. Hill is the author of Revolutionary Values for a New Millennium (2000); Democracy, Equality and Justice: John Adams, Adam Smith and Political Economy (2007); and a revised and expanded second edition, Democracy, Equality and Justice: John Adams, Adam Smith, and Political Economy (2007). Curry College has recognized Professor Hill as Person of the Year and for excellence in academic advising. In addition Curry has given him two Faculty Achievement Awards, and he has received a national award for advising. For 2007, Curry honored him by naming him Curry Fellow, the first ever named. As Fellow, he continued his research on John Adams and especially on Adam Smith, taught a course each semester, made guest appearances in various classes, and gave two public lectures. He contributes blogs to “The Public Humanist,” a blog project of Mass Humanities. The program is free and open to all. Malden Public Library, 36 Salem Street, Malden. www.maldenpubliclibrary.org
Love books? Go on a blind date with one at Malden Public Library. Flowers and chocolates optional.
Are you a local Malden artist looking to display your work?
The Malden Public Library has just started a monthly Rotating Art Exhibit! Through February 14, 2018, you can apply to showcase your art in the library, hanging in a hallway and/or enclosed in a glass case. Please visit our Rotating Art Exhibit webpage for more information about our Art policy and application requirements.
Y
oung Adults in the 6th through 12th Grade are invited to take part in our popular Perler Bead Craft Programs on Thursday, February 22nd from 3:00 – 4:30 PM in the Maccario Room of the library.
Come and design your own art, jewelry, or collectible figure made entirely out of small fused beads. All the materials are provided, but feel free to look of your own designs online beforehand, and we will have some printed out here as well.
“Lasting Impressions of Japan: Hokusai & Hiroshige and Beyond,” an exhibition featuring ukiyo-e prints by the Japanese artists Hiroshige, Hokusai, Kunisada and Kuniyoshi will open on January 23 and run through March 23. An Opening Reception and Gallery Talk will be held on Tuesday, January 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Malden Public Library and the Malden Historical Society.
This will be the first exhibition of these historic prints, purchased by the library in 1912, in over one-hundred years. The exhibition also includes stunning examples of Japanese traditional dress and ceramic art, including formal, semi-formal, and casual kimono, haori jackets from the collections of the Malden Historical Society.
The woodblock ukiyo-e prints show images of everyday Japan and were mass-produced for popular consumption in the Edo period (1615-1868). Brought to Europe and America, these prints influenced many Western artists, including Monet and Van Gogh; as well as the creators of our popular manga and anime series. Among the treasured prints exhibited are works by Katsushika Hokusai, best known for his work “Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa” or “The Great Wave” from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Exhibition hours are: Mondays 6:00-8:00 p.m., Wednesdays 2:00-4:00 p.m., Saturdays 2:00-4:00 p.m. For more information or group tours call 781-324-0218. www.maldenpubliclibrary.org
It’s time again for the Olympic Games! The 2018 Winter Olympics are being hosted by South Korea in PyeongChang. The games will begin on the 9th of February and end on the 25th. If you want more information about this year’s Olympics, the history of the Olympics, and Olympic traditions, read on!
How long have Olympic Games been held?
We break the Games into two periods: ancient Olympics and modern Olympics. There was a long gap between the last ancient and the first modern Games. When you think of chariot racing and olive branch victory wreaths, you are thinking of the ancient Games, which took place in Greece. You can read a history of the ancient Olympics here. The modern Olympics started in 1896. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French historian, is credited with reviving the Games.
Why do we have the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies?
What’s an international event without some pomp and circumstance? The opening ceremony is a chance for the host country to share with the world its values and history. You can read more about the tradition and see past opening ceremonies here. The closing ceremony is a celebration of the now concluded Games and is meant to symbolize unity among the participants. You can read more about the tradition and see past closing ceremonies here.
Where can I find the 2018 schedule of events?
You can find the schedule right on the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics website!
Do the Olympic medals look the same now as they did at the first modern Games?
No! The medals are redesigned each Olympic year. You can see the 2018 medals here and past medals here.
Where did the Olympic torch and cauldron tradition come from?
The Olympic flame can be traced back to the ancient Games. The Greeks considered fire to be a symbol of purity, and those values were carried over to the modern Games. Read the history here.
What does the 2018 Olympic torch look like?
See the 2018 Olympic torch and read more about it here.
Where is the Olympic torch now?
Follow the torch’s path here.
What are the Olympic rings?
They are the symbol for the Olympics! Pierre de Coubertin designed the original symbol, and it hasn’t changed much over time. Each represents one of the participating continents. Read more here.
How are host countries chosen?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), formed in 1894, oversees the selection of host countries. You can read about the election process here.
When and where are the next Olympics?
The next Winter Games will be in Beijing, China in 2022. The next Summer Games will be in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. To see a full list of host countries and years for the Summer and Winter Games, follow the links.
Where were the last Winter Olympics?
The last Winter Olympics were in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
Where were the last Summer Olympics?
The last Summer Olympics were in Rio de Janerio, Brazil in 2016.
Which sports are included in the Olympics?
Winter sports include alpine and cross country skiing, curling, hockey and more. For a full list of Summer and Winter Olympic sports, click here.
Is there a mascot for the Olympics?
There is a mascot for every Olympics! The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics mascot is a white tiger named Soohorang. For a full list of past mascots, click here.
For books and movies about
stop by the library today and check out our Olympics display!
By the way, did you know the Olympics has its own library? Check it out here!
Young Adults in the 6th through 12th Grade are invited to watch one of the most important movie of 2018.
Come to the Maccario Room on December 20th from 3:00 – 5:00 PM to watch the ground-breaking film based on the book “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas.
Snacks and drinks will be provided. This film is rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language.
We all know that iconic scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie, certain that his wish for a Red Ryder B.B. gun has gone unanswered, finds that final package hidden behind the desk which turns his dismay into utter delight. Now imagine yourself on Christmas morning as a child, hoping against hope for the baby doll you’d seen in a catalog. You find it under the tree. Gleeful, you pick up the doll and give it a hug, only to have it growl in your ear, “I’m Smokey the Bear.”
That’s probably not where you thought this story was headed, but that’s the shock Christmas day of 1955 had in story for little boys and girls. On Thursday, 22 December 1955, the Malden Evening News reported a creepy voice box mix-up in an Atlanta, Georgia toy factory that assembled talking dolls. Talk about a nightmare before Christmas! Read on for the full scoop.
“Doll Factory Error To Startle Some Girl Christmas Day
ATLANTA, (UP)—A toyshop mixup threatened today to ruin some little girl’s Christmas because a dainty doll that is supposed to say a goodnight prayer will instead growl a fire prevention rhyme in a bear-voice.
The mixup occurred in a toy factory commissioned to manufacture talking models of Smokey, the bear used on posters by the U.S. Forestry Service in its fire prevention campaign.
The same factory also makes a petite little doll equipped with a voicebox that says gently:
‘Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
God bless Mommy,
God bless Daddy,
Amen.’
The prayer and the voice are much different from the sounds created for Smokey, the forest service teddy bear.
It growls in a gruff voice:
‘I’m Smokey the Bear, I’m the Smokey the Bear.
‘Running and looking for smoke in the air.
‘I warn careless people and tell them “take care.”
‘Please prevent forest fires, says Smokey the Bear.’
The South Carolina Forestry Commission ordered 96 of the stuffed bears for use in its fire prevention campaign. The first of the 96 Smokey Bears to arrive in the commission office was immediately tested. It created pandemonium by uttering in a childish voice:
‘Now I lay me down…’
Regional employes [sic] speculated that the toyshop mixed the voice boxes earmarked for the Smokey Bear and the dolls.
One of the bearlike voice boxes was sure to end up in one of the dainty ‘praying’ dolls, they calculated.”
After some research, it seems that the two dolls mentioned in the story were manufactured by the now-defunct Ideal Toys. The praying doll was probably Ideal’s Patti Prays doll.