In mid-December I attended an advanced screening of Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women. The film opens in Bowling Green on Christmas Day and by all means GO SEE IT, but first, a tiny little spoiler on this Louis May Alcott classic. The film depicts Josephine March scribbling with her right hand and then swapping to her left. As a writer, I had to know if this was true and consulted Professor Google, who gave me a short lecture on Alcott’s tenacity. No, she was not ambidextrous; she was right handed, but taught herself to write left handed while penning Little Women so she wouldn’t have to stop. (I have a feeling she and Alexander Hamilton would have been big buddies.)
I don’t have Alcott’s talent, but I have her desire and some of you do, too. January is the month we write things like “Learn to be ambidextrous” on our goals list. January is the month we leap over buildings, stop smoking, take up yoga, and decide we will finish our novel. In January, we go back to Bible study, pay off student loans, and spend less time on Facebook. No more excuses. No more wasting time. There’s more daylight coming back, and we want to burn that sucker at both ends.
With that in mind, I have a gift for all you list and goal makers who want to try something new or take up pottery or be more social. I happily present you with the current Special Events Year-at-a-Glance calendar. (Did you hear the trumpets? There are supposed to be trumpets.) More events are being added every day.
SPECIAL EVENTS – YEAR AT A GLANCE
January 10– End of Winter Reading “Sensational Snow Days” Program
February 28-29 – 1st Used Book Sale for SOKY Book Fest
February 4 – Waffles for Dinner Event
March 7– Sign Up for WCPL Summer Camps
March 20-21– SOKY Book Festival
April 16 – Amy Sedaris Author Visit
June 4– Summer Reading Kickoff Party at the Corvette Museum
August 2– End of Summer Reading Laser Tag Party at Ephraim White
September – Library Card Sign-Up Month
September 10 – Jason Reynolds Author Visit
October 20– Ruta Sepetys Author Visit
October 16– Harvest Festival
November – DINOvember Month
December 6– Winter Reading Launch at the Ice Rink
Let me also highlight a few additional January dates…
January 5 – Curl Up with WCPL – Skillet Curling Tournament
Warren County Public Library is proud to host the first Skillet Curling Tournament in Bowling Green. (Think Bocce ball/cornhole on ice but without the skates.) No skill required. If you’ve never heard of this sport and aren’t in shape, that’s okay; neither are we. Put together your team of highly inexperienced skillet sliders, be ready to laugh, and help us give away books to local students. Tournament complete with Food, Fun, and Music! (and alcohol – nearby, but not on the ice, you crazy people!)
$50 per team. (Teams are 2-6 people) Register at www.warrenpl.org/events
January 10 – End of Winter Reading “Sensational Snow Days” Program
Turn in your winter reading logs at any branch for a prize pack.
January 16 – Dollars & Sense with Joanie Evans – 6-8 p.m. – Bob Kirby Branch
Joanie Evans is the founder of Creating Financial Order. With over 30 years in the financial services industry, she has a passion for helping clients understand and take control of their finances. Free tickets are available online.
January 16 – Writing Workshop with Courtney Stevens – 5:30-8 p.m. – Bob Kirby Branch
Courtney Stevens is the author of five coming-of-truth novels from HarperCollins (and this article). She will be teaching a workshop for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators on Planning and Plotting the Novel Only You Can Write. Free tickets are available online.
January 21– Girl Singer: The Story of Rosemary Clooney featuring Rachel Lee Rogers – 6 p.m. – Bob Kirby Branch
This one-woman show was written and will be performed by actor Rachel Lee Rogers of Versailles, Ky., who will be familiar to many from her Kentucky Chautauqua performance of Jean Ritchie: Damsel with a Dulcimer. Free tickets are available online.
January 25 – LEGO Saturday 2-3:30 p.m. – Main Library
Experience LEGOs like never before with the Tennessee Valley Lego Club. Build, play, and learn from the best semi-professional hobbyists in our area. From “big builds” to engine powered LEGO constructs, we have it all.
I shared the Alcott story in the office one day and while they were impressed, they were also like, whoa whoa whoa, Louisa, slow your roll, and I was reminded there are people who do not long to be ambidextrous, people who do not pray for higher-productivity, people who hate all the fuss of newness and goal-making in January. The only list you make reads Buy more Nutella for The Good Place marathon and don’t even get you started on the return labels you need to print for Amazon, and gosh, that means you need to go to the Post Office, and you hate the Post Office, so you’d better just take a nap on the couch before all that adulting wears you out. If I’m speaking your language, I have a gift for you too.
Here is an easy-to-access Winter Reading Log.
Write down five books, events, or activities you participated in this season, cut out, and return it to any library branch for a prize pack. Adults and teens, you get free pizzas. Kiddos, you get food coupons galore. (Dairy Queen and Chuck E. Cheese and McDonalds, oh my.)
– by Courtney Stevens
About the Author: Courtney Stevens is the Community Outreach Manager for Warren County Public Libraries. She is also the author of some well-know young adult fiction. Her latest novel, The June Boys, releases March 3 and is available for pre-order. She can be reached at courtneys@warrenpl.org or 270-781-4882 or check out her website at www.courtneycstevens.com.
