Book Club ~ April 12

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The Pember Book Club will be reading “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” by Daniyal Mueenuddin April 12 1:oo PM.

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From GoodReads:

In the spirit of Joyce’s Dubliners and Turgenev’s A Sportsman’s Sketches, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s collection of linked stories illuminates a place and a people through an examination of the entwined lives of landowners and their retainers on the Gurmani family farm in the countryside outside of Lahore, Pakistan. An aging feudal landlord’s household staff, the villagers who depend on his favor, and a network of relations near and far who have sought their fortune in the cities confront the advantages and constraints of station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change. Mueenuddin bares – at times humorously, at times tragically – the complexities of Pakistani class and culture and presents a vivid picture of a time and a place, of the old powers and the new, as the Pakistani feudal order is undermined and transformed.

Bags, Buttons & Bows

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Please join us at the Pember on Saturday April 23 starting at 4PM for our Bags, Buttons & Bows fundraiser.

We’ve all done it: bought that perfect handbag, scarf, or piece of costume jewelry. And there it sits, years later, still in your closet with the tags on. Donate these lost items to the Pember. We’ll accept handbags and other accessories in good condition (no shoes or clothing please). Donations will be accepted until April 20. Then on Saturday, April 23, you’ll get a chance to buy what somebody else found in their closet. It may be perfect for you! You do not need to donate to take part in the sale.

For each item donated, you’ll get a playing card (up to three cards). Additional cards may be won or you may buy up to two additional cards. The top three hands at the end of the afternoon will each win a prize. There will be door prizes throughout the afternoon.   Light refreshments will be available. For more information, contact the Pember, 33 West Main St., Granville, 518 642-2525.

March First Friday

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The Pember Library and Museum invites members of the community to participate in its March 4th First Friday, which will be a collaborative show of creative work in various media from the hands of patrons. There is open call for the public to participate with one or several works of art or crafted items.

To date, twelve exhibitors are signed on to showcase everything from jewelry to paw prints: The Pember Quillers, Pember “A Good Yarn” Crafters, crocheted items by Ardyce Bresett, jewelry & antler art by Bernie Hoffman, painting on glass by Donna Henry, hand-painted items by Kristin Gibson, book art by Friends of the Pember, student art of Jennifer Dashef’s class, “Specimen” series graphic works by Christopher Smith, handbags by Gigi Zeitler, a historic home replica by Netty Lacroix and Creative Paw Prints by Lucy, the Pember cat. There is still time to submit work of your own! We will be utilizing both the library and museum for exhibition.

Two Bit Cowboys, an acoustic duo comprised of Jeff Gonzales and Aaron Hahn will be appearing for the first time at FF. The pair will perform original music, western swing, and some bluegrass and country that take you back in time. Gonzales’ finger picking is reminiscent of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed, but with his own twists, while Hahn supports his fine lead work with hard driving rhythms and a heavy downbeat to keep toes tapping.

Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Pember. The show opens at First Friday on March 4, and some of the work will be on display through March. First Friday is from 7 to 9 pm and admission is free. Anyone interested in showing should call the Pember by March 2 at 518-642-2525.

Saturday Story Time

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Join Holly for toddler & preschool story time and activities

 

March 5 ~ Turtles

March 19 ~ Ducks

April 2 ~ Dinosaurs!

April 16 ~ Rainy Days

May 14 ~ Trucks

May 28 ~ Bugs

Mapping Granville, a Community Storytelling Workshop

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MARCH 8, 3PM

In continuing our effort to revitalize Main Street, our next workshop is one which all those who want to reminisce about the past will enjoy.

Memories are important even if the complexion of Main Street will never be that again.  Scholar Anne Mosher will lead a program entitled “Mapping Granville Memories: A Community Storytelling Workshop” at 3 PM, March 8, at the Pember, 33 West Main Street in Granville.

Buildings, street corners, schools, churches, parks and trees; all can be “places” – sites that get woven into the fabric of daily routine and imbued with personal and public memories. Unfortunately, such places sometimes become taken for granted. If that happens, memories fade, places become endangered, and the genius loci – the general locale’s “spirit of place” – suffers.

How can we retrieve and share memories about local places before they are lost? Which ones seem to be essential to a healthy genius loci? What are the stories specific to them? We are hosting this “cognitive mapping” workshop so we can find out.

During this three hour program, participants get to draw and explain to workshop partner a personal sketch map of their neighborhood. As one speaks, the other listens, takes notes, and asks questions. Then, the roles are reversed. Each pair is then guided through tasks that culminate in the collaborative writing of stories about valued places within the community. All participants can then give readings of their stories in this small group setting, accompanied by a background Power Point slide show (that the facilitator prepares while the pairs are writing). After discussing themes and issues that seem to tie together, we will discuss what the author-artist could do next with this creative work. Is it suitable for a public reading to a larger audience, and exhibition, a website, a publication?

By the end of the workshop, participants will have identified valued places within their community, told and heard stories about them, pondered, laughed and perhaps even cried over the condition of genius loci. All this, while encountering firsthand the idea the cartography can be both mapmaking science and emotion-laden, life and place enriching art.

With participants’ permission, this may stay on display in the Pember and/or reproduced and kept in our local history section.

The group size is best kept to 15-20 people so please call the Pember 642-2525 and sign up ahead.

Book Club reading “Russian Roulette”

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March 8, 1:00PM

In 1917, a band of communist revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace of Tsar Nicholas II—a dramatic and explosive act marking that Vladimir Lenin’s communist revolution was now underway. But Lenin would not be satisfied with overthrowing the tsar. His goal was a global revolt that would topple all Western capitalist regimes — starting with the British Empire.
Russian Roulette tells the spectacular and harrowing story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia whose mission was to stop Lenin’s red tide from washing across the free world. They were an eccentric cast of characters, led by Mansfield Cumming, a one-legged, monocle-wearing former sea captain, and included novelist W. Somerset Maugham, beloved children’s author Arthur Ransome, and the dashing, ice-cool Sidney Reilly, the legendary Ace of Spies and a model for Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Cumming’s network would pioneer the field of covert action and would one day become MI6.
Living in disguise, constantly switching identities, they infiltrated Soviet commissariats, the Red Army, and Cheka (the feared secret police), and would come within a whisker of assassinating Lenin. As Giles Milton chronicles for the first time, in a sequence of bold exploits that stretched from Moscow to the central Asian city of Tashkent, this unlikely band of agents succeeded in foiling Lenin’s plot for global revolution.

T-Shirts available

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As part of Robert Birbeck’s show of sketches of the authors of Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century we are offering these t-shirts with some of your favorite authors!
$20 each. 50% of profits go to the Pember. Let us know if you want one.
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Pember Presents: Computers for Seniors

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Barb Young will again be teaching the popular “computers for seniors” at the Pember Library. Classes will run from 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon Wednesdays and Fridays from March 23 through April 8.

Classes will cover internet and email, word processing, and using the library card catalog with databases.

You must pre-register for the series of classes. Class size is limited to eight people. Please call the library to register or for more information 518-642-2525.

Pember Board Meeting

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February 18 6PM

A meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Pember Library and Museum will be held on the third Thursday of each month at the Pember. This is a regular meeting and open to the public. See Upcoming Events Calendar for dates of meetings.

First Friday: Robert Birbeck “Great Novelist Portraits”

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The Pember Library and Museum is proud to host Vermont artist Robert Birbeck for its February First Friday and month long collaborative exhibit at the Library.  Opening on Friday, February 5 at 7 pm, the solo show will display hand drawn pencil portraits of all 75 authors on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century List, along with their corresponding works. (Of the 100 novels, there are only 75 authors, since several writers have more than one book on the list).
All 75 author sketches will be on display at First Friday, then the display will rotate 24 portraits per week for the duration of the month of February. Circulating copies of novels will be available at the Pember for everyone to catch up on the list.
Known primarily as a painter and sculptor, Bob has exhibited at major New York shows and has received numerous awards for his sculpture. The author drawing series came to him as the result of a dry spell in which he struggled for new sculpting designs.
“I felt I was repeating myself,” said Birbeck, “and I decided to take a break, and began reading. I had come across Modern Library’s list of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century, and decided to start reading from that list. After finishing several of the books, I began doing pencil sketches of the authors, which turned out to be the start of this series of portraits. What began as a rest period from creating new sculpture, became a wonderful, new experience in itself.”
Bob will be present at First Friday to answer any questions.

 

Musician Stephen Havel will be performing.
Food and refreshments will be available.
First Friday is February 5th, from 7 – 9 pm.

Valentine card class

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12662734_10153927386549345_4891323303029715109_nJoin us at the Pember Thursday, February 11, at 6PM when Jo-Ann shows us how to make these cards. The first one is a cute little heart pop-up. The second one slides to reveal a secret message. A third card will also be available. Bring your supplies if you have them but there should be plenty if you don’t.