Ernie Pyle, a roving reporter and war correspondent wrote of the average enlisted man in a folksy [...]]]> “Ernie Pyle and the Story of a Lost Photograph,” a World War II history presentation by Mark Foynes, executive director of the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro on Thursday, March 25 at 7 pm in the Chick Room at the Madison Library

Ernie Pyle, a roving reporter and war correspondent wrote of the average enlisted man in a folksy style that personalized the war for millions of Americans.

When Pyle was killed by Japanese fire in 1945, the U.S. government ordered the immediate destruction of a photograph of Pyle’s body, fearing that the image would shatter American morale on the home front. The Wright Museum’s collection includes one of the very few surviving prints of this rare photograph.

This presentation chronicles and celebrates Pyle’s career and writings, discusses the details of  Pyle’s final hours, and examines the persistence of his place in our historical memory.

All are welcome to this free program.

On order:

Madison Library’s Big Read NH events take place this week and next. If you haven’t picked up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, there are several available at the the library. But whether you read the book this month, or you read it years ago, or haven’t read it yet, everyone is welcome at [...]]]>

BigReadNH

Madison Library’s Big Read NH events take place this week and next. If you haven’t picked up a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, there are several available at the the library. But whether you read the book this month, or you read it years ago, or haven’t read it yet, everyone is welcome at all of these events.

On Tuesday, March 16 at 7 pm, Attorney Richard Hesse will speak about “Civil Liberties vs. Security” at the library. This is a New Hampshire Humanities Council program. Hesse (J.D., Georgetown University; Professor Emeritus, Franklin Pierce Law Center) will speak about lawyers engaged in unpopular causes, much as Atticus Finch was in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Hesse will link this issue to the present by discussing lawyers involved in questioning provisions of the Patriot Act and other national security efforts.

On Tuesday, March 23 at 12:45 pm, the To Kill a Mockingbird film will be shown at Silver Lake Landing, after the senior dining lunch. Later that evening, at 7 pm,  the Madison Library book group will meet to discuss the book at the library. As always at our book group meetings, refreshments will be served.

The Madison Library is one of more than 100 partners working with The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library to bring The Big Read: NH Reads To Kill a Mockingbird to the Granite State during March 2010. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

Come see what’s new at the library and sign up for a library card.

At 11 AM, singer/storyteller Stacy Sand [...]]]> Stories, songs, and crafts! Families are invited to come join us on Saturday, March 6 from 10 am to 1 pm to celebrate reading as we help wrap up Madison Elementary School’s celebration of Read Across America week March 1-5.

Come see what’s new at the library and sign up for a library card.

At 11 AM, singer/storyteller Stacy Sand will share stories, songs, sing-alongs, and more with a “wild thing” theme. After the performance, stay and make your own reading log and fancy bookmark.

Parents will take home a free copy of “A Child Becomes a Reader: Kindergarten through Third Grade.”

Note that this event was rescheduled from February 27.

“Before there was Google, there was Ask the Globe, and journalist Mary Meier played a key role in the column’s success for 20 years.”

Across the ocean of my life there blows a wind to skirt the shore. This womb is old. From me no more will spring new limbs, new life. The loves are cold that warmed my blood. And yet this wind brings other dreams– New ships embarking– I alight.

Madison, NH

A memorial service for Mary will [...]]]> In Memoriam
Mary Henry Meier
Journalist – Poet
July 19, 1934 – February 21, 2010

Across the ocean of my life
there blows a wind
to skirt the shore.
This womb is old.
From me no more
will spring
new limbs, new life.
The loves are cold
that warmed my blood.
And yet this wind
brings other dreams–
New ships embarking–
I alight.

Madison, NH

A memorial service for Mary will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 2 PM at the Madison Church.

Videos on DVD: