A Whale of a Tale

Charlotte Canelli is the library director of the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Charlotte's column in the January 29, 2015 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

           Over the recent holiday break, my husband, Gerry, and I toured the New Bedford Whaling Museum on the south coast of Massachusetts.  We’ve developed an appreciation for New Bedford, a city that has been undergoing a cultural Renaissance in recent years - much like that of Providence, RI, and Worcester, MA. New Bedford claims to have had one of the highest per capita incomes in the world during its whaling-capital heyday in the 19th Century.>

Curing Cabin Fever Blues

Read Jean Todesca's column in the January 22, 2015 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin. Jean is the Head of Children's Services at the Morrill Memorial Library.

Oh No! The days are shorter and winter’s cold has settled in.  The kids are getting restless and cranky. It’s time to find cures for “Cabin Fever”. Bundling up everyone and getting some outside activity is an answer, but some days it’s too too cold.

Cure 1. Let’s get moving! The library offers books and DVDs to enhance your fun. The DVDs; “Yogakids” and “Barney. Shake Your Dino Tail!” will get them exercising. “Llama Hoppity Hop”, “From Head to Toe” and Doreen Cronin’s titles “Bounce” and “Stretch” are books you can move to.

Cure 2. How about cooking?  You can eat like a super hero with “The Official DC Super Hero Cookbook” or enjoy cupcakes from the “Pinkalicious Cupcake Cookbook”.  Why not travel the USA with “The United States Cookbook:Fabulous Foods & Fascinating Facts From All 50

Cure 3. Get crafty!  The Children’s Department offers books covering sewing, papercrafts, knitting and more. Kids can recycle egg cartons, milk jugs, and cardboard tubes. Titles like “Fun Things to Do with Egg Cartons” and “Fun Things to Do With Milk Jugs” have fun ideas. Budding artist will find titles to enhance their skills. Titles include “Oil Paints” by Mari Bolte and “365 Things to Draw & Paint” by Fiona Watt.

Cure 4.  Learn a new game.  The library offers many books that contain instructions for Chess, Minecraft, Checkers, and more.

Cure 5.  Just sink into a good book.  Librarians are here to assist in finding the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winters day.

So, bundle up, stay warm and use the library to help you enjoy our winter season.

Airports: A Local Experience

Victoria Andrilenas is an Information Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Vicki's column in the January 15, 2015 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

My husband and I moved to Norwood a few years ago and have enjoyed learning about the town and community.  One local feature that was a nice surprise for me is Norwood Airport.  I grew up near a small airport and my family has long been interested in aviation and airplanes.  For me the noise of planes flying overhead brings back memories of being out in the backyard during the summer and looking up to see what kind of plane was overhead; one summer there were some gliders which was exciting. 

Many of today’s municipal airports were sites of major events in aviation history and served as training fields during World War I and World War II.   “Norwood: a history” by Patricia Fanning provides some history on the Norwood Airport.  In 1942 a small airfield was approved by the town as the site of the Norwood Airport.  The new airport was used for military training until the end of World War II.  After the war, local aviation company Wiggins Airlines moved their aircraft sales and repairs, and flight lessons from Canton to Norwood and expanded their business to include passenger and cargo operations (150-151).  This past fall the Wings of Freedom tour of historic World War II made its annual stop here on Norwood Day.  College Park Airport in Maryland is considered to be the nation’s longest continuously operating airport and was the site of the Wrights’ early military demonstrations.  Today it has a small museum and is used for general aviation.  Pearson Airfield in Vancouver, WA is part of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and was the landing site of the first transpolar flight from Moscow in 1937.  My childhood airport was near several early airplane manufacturers.   Alastair Gordon’s “Naked airport: a cultural history of the world’s most revolutionary structure “examines the history of airports.

New Year?

Liz Reed is the Adult and Information Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Liz's column in the January 8, 2015 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.
As the new year blossoms, the trope of New Year's resolutions overwhelm us. We quickly assess our lives and find them lacking just in time for a clean slate. Just like the first fresh page of a new notebook, there's so much opportunity to the new year. Maybe I'll get in shape and lose that weight this year, maybe I'll read "War and Peace," maybe I'll quit smoking, or finally organize my shoe collection. All of these are great ideas but usually by Feb. 1 they end up crumpled in a corner. So how do we make New Year's resolutions stick?

No Need to Wait for the New Year

Jillian Goss is a graduate student of library science at Simmons College in Boston while she also works as a Library Assistant at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Jillian's column in the January 1, 2015 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

As the new year blossoms, the trope of New Year's resolutions overwhelm us. We quickly assess our lives and find them lacking just in time for a clean slate. Just like the first fresh page of a new notebook, there's so much opportunity to the new year. Maybe I'll get in shape and lose that weight this year, maybe I'll read "War and Peace," maybe I'll quit smoking, or finally organize my shoe collection. All of these are great ideas but usually by Feb. 1 they end up crumpled in a corner. So how do we make New Year's resolutions stick?