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Discover Your Library: The Arts

We're back again for your monthly Library Insider. it's the Did you hear? podcast and we are on part 4 of our Discover Your Library special. This month? The Arts! 

Music, art exhibitions, writing ... we have so much to offer artists and you!

In this episode:

• Musical guest The Wires
• Local Writer Martha Gershun reads her short story: "The Hatch"
• Local Arts Librarian Bryan Voell chats about exhibitions, our new Artists in Sight on demand offerings, and the local music blog 
• We sample an interview with Artist Sol Anzorena
• A talk with artist Dianna Bartel
• and so much more!

Art is transformative and transcendent. Let us take you away for the next hour or so.

Walk and Read – Daily, All Week

“Take a walk and read a book.” Not normally sound advice, but that is exactly what Johnson County Library is suggesting families do this week at Big Bull Creek Park, (20425 Sunflower Rd., Edgerton, KS) and at various locations throughout Johnson County. Walk and Read creates a family reading experience in the great outdoors! Families who participate will read two stories posted around the path, one going each direction. When you finish one story, you can flip around to the other side of the sign and begin the next story, which will lead you back around the path. 

English Language Conversation Classes Basic and Intermediate Level Interviews/Entrevistas para las Clases de conversación en inglés de nivel básico e intermedio  –  Tuesday, Aug 31, 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.

Practice using the language by joining our virtual English conversational sessions for basic and intermediate levels. You must register and be interviewed to assess your level of English proficiency. If accepted, you will attend the series of classes on Tuesdays: September 14, 21, 28; October 5, 12, 19; November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; December 2, 9, 16 at 6:30PM until 7:45PM.

Facebook Live Book Party –  Wednesday, Sept 1, Noon – 1 p.m.

Facebook Live Book Parties are live events where library staff members will booktalk a short list of titles around a certain genre or theme and staff will interact with patrons in real time. This Book Party will be held on Facebook live. Visit JoCoLibrary on Facebook and be sure to ‘follow’ us to get notifications when we go Live if you have a Facebook account. You do not need a Facebook account to watch our Book Party.

Caregiver Workshop Series –  Wednesday, Sept 1, 7 - 8 p.m.

Whether it's getting them to eat their vegetables or understanding what's going on inside their heads, being a caregiver of young children can be challenging. Each month's caregiver workshop explores a different topic to support and enrich relationships between kids age birth to 6 and their caregivers.

And much more …

Meet the Author & Illustrator: Sharice Davids with Nancy K Mays and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

Register for this program online or call 816.260.4600.

Kansas 3rd district congresswoman Sharice Davids loves encouraging kids to use their voice and lift up their communities. Join us for a reading and discussion with Rep. Davids, co-author Nancy Mays, and illustrator Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley as they talk about the art and story in Sharice's Big Voice. Their book tells the triumphant story of Davids, one of the first two Native American women ever elected to Congress and the first openly LGBTQ+ congressperson to represent Kansas in Washington.

This program will be hosted using the meeting software Zoom. A Johnson County Library staff member will contact registrants via the email you registered with to provide more information about the program and instructions on how to access the Zoom meetings. You do not need to download any software or create an account.

In connection with our author event with Congresswoman Sharice Davids and her debut children’s book, Sharice’s Big Voice, kids are invited to join our youth writing and art contest, Reaching for Your Dreams. In Sharice’s Big Voice, Sharice dreamed of making a difference in this world by pursuing politics and now represents Kansas as a Congresswoman. What are your dreams? How will you accomplish them? What stands in your way? How will you stay motivated and what happens if you fail? Any or all of these questions and more can be explored in your submission. Short stories, essays, poems and art can be submitted Sept. 1-14.. Winners will received a copy of Sharice’s Big Voice signed by the authors and illustrator. Open to ages 10 and under.

The Creation of Leawood City Park: An Interview with Jean Wise

When you’re a kid, summer means swimming, and when I was growing up in Leawood I did most of my swimming at the Leawood City Park’s pool. I also spent a lot of time on the playground where Lee Boulevard and I-435 meet. Both the pool and playground were thoroughly remodeled in 1997, when I was eleven, and the original playground has long lingered in my memory as a lost paradise – a Shangri-Leawood, if you will. I liked the remodel quite a bit, but once I became an adult I found that every time summer rolled around I started thinking back to the city park as I originally knew it.

I remembered sand pits separated by concrete slabs connecting them that had tunnels big enough to crawl through. I remembered a small, stepped hill-sized structure with evergreen bushes on it. One could ... Read the full article on the jocohistory blog.»