New Tools for Finding Jobs

According to the Star-Telegram’s article on October 10, 2011, there are “better-than-expected employment numbers” with employers adding 103,000 jobs in September.  Good news. Yet the same article in the Star-Telegram states that “the number of Americans out of work for six months or longer crept up to 6.2 million.”  Not so good news.

  

The unemployment rate is staying at 9.1 percent which means, chances are, that you or a family member or a friend is unemployed and looking for a job.  This is true for me and a friend of mine.  We both have adult children currently unemployed and looking for work.  My friend and I were discussing yesterday about how frustrated her daughter, a recent UTA magna cum laude graduate, felt when she received feedback from a prospective employer that her resume needed minor tweaking.  I, being the Library Blog Mistress, suggested that she contact the Haltom City Public Library as at one time they had held classes on resume writing.  

That’s when I learned that the classes are no longer available as NTRLS (North Texas Regional Library System) suffered major budget reductions due to cuts from the State Library, their funding source (the State Library sustained  a 64% budget cut, largest of any state agency).  But there is good news according to Lesly Smith, our Library Director.  The Haltom City Public Library has just subscribed to a new database called ResumeMaker.  It can be found on the Library’s website, http://www.haltomcitytx.com/HC_Public_Library/PublicLibrary.html and is free to all Haltom City Public Library card holders.  I wish I’d known about this website before my son paid $150 to have his resume written!  Another new database, www.TWDL.org  which offers multiple job listing websites, will be available on the Library’s website as well. 

Looking for employment is a hard and often discouraging process with the job seekers to wonder: Where do I look for job opportunities?  Why haven’t I gotten that interview?  And how much longer can I go without any income coming in?  Thanks to the Haltom City Public Library, job seekers will now have new avenues and resources to help make their search a more successful venture.

Arts In Haltom City Are Well And Thriving

HEADLINE:  Sue Sylvester, cheerleading coach for the “Cheerios” on “Glee”, one of my favorite TV shows, is running for Congress in her home state of Ohio.  Her platform (or should I say agenda) is anti-arts in public schools.  “Arts are expensive,” she says, “and we can’t afford them anymore.”  Of course, if you have ever watched “Glee”, you know it’s a musical satire and the character of Sue Sylvester is portrayed as being more than slightly skewed. 

  

Still, as in most fiction and fantasies, there’s an ounce of truth in Coach Sylvester’s platform.  Many states and cities across the nation are struggling financially and public funds for the arts have been or are threatened to be drastically reduced, leaving the communities and libraries to fill the voids.  Thankfully, there is not a lack of arts in Haltom City, nor a lack of support for the arts here, not with two major artistic events being held at the Haltom City Public Library starting in the month of October, 2011. 

On Saturday, October 1^st, the City of Haltom City will hold its first ever Art in the City at the Haltom City Public Library!  The responses from local artists have been overwhelming, guaranteeing that all types of art media will be available for you to purchase and treasure.  (Early Christmas shopping mecca??)  The art event will be from 10:00 to 5:00 and admission is free.  Your library blog mistress plans to be there and hopes that you will be there too.

Starting on Saturday, October 15, 2011 and continuing through November, even perhaps early December, Watercolor Painting Classes will be available at the Haltom City Public Library.  Haltom City’s very own award-winning “Artist in Residence”, Bennie Johnson Woods, will be teaching the classes.  Cost is $90 and the class is limited to 20 participants.  Please look for the outstanding article on Bennie Johnson Wood in your latest Haltom City’s newsletter, Crossroads.

These may be difficult times for the arts but your community and your library are not only keeping up with the pace, they are setting it!  So how about letting them know what a good job they’re doing?   They’d love to hear from you.  E-mail me at:  libraryblogmistress@gmail.com and I’ll forward your comments and suggestions to them.

Happy Reading from your Library Blog Mistress

Blog Postings Moved to Fridays

Please come back on Friday.  Typically I have been writing the library blog on Wednesday evenings and posted it either Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.  I'm embarrassed to say this but since I've started exercise boot camp which meets on Monday and Wednesday evenings, I've found that I'm left with  little time and even less energy to write the blog after class on Wednesday nights.  This proves my theory that exercising is not that good for you.... or maybe that if I had started exercising years ago, I wouldn't be in such bad shape.  lol   Regardless, I'm sticking to the exercise class and my commitment to the library blog; just rearranging my schedule a bit.  Especially since the boot camp instructor states that every hour of exercise adds 3 years to one's life.... or was it every 15 minutes of exercise?  Hum.  Maybe I need to ask one of the librarians to research that for me.  I don't want to overdo a good thing if I can help it.

Thanks,

Library Blog Mistress

Join an Email Book Club!

Have you ever wanted to join a book club but can’t find one that matches your book taste or meets at a convenient time?  Have you ever faced the dilemma of trying to decide which book you want to check out of the library or check out a book only to find out that you don’t like it after the first chapter or so?  The answer to these questions is as simple as logging onto the Haltom City Public Library’s website and clicking on this photo of Suzanne, of dearreader.com.

Then sign up for the Email Book Club of your choice and start reading.    There is Fiction, Nonfiction, Teen, Business, Romance, Good News, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Audio, Classics, Authorbuzz and Kidsbuzz to choose from.

Every day, Monday through Friday, you will receive in your email a five-minute selection from a chapter of a book.  By the end of the week, you'll have read 2-3 chapters and will know if this is a book that you'll want check out of the library to finish reading.  Each Monday, deareader.com starts with a new book.  The Email Book Club is free, fun and you will make a new friend, Suzanne,  the face behind dearreader.com. Her comments are delightful and helpful and she evens shares her favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip Muffins with you.

Fun Escape-From-The-Heat Read

From Guest Book Reviewer, Carolyn Davidson Brewer.....

I decided this time that I wanted a light, fun read and selected Pampered to Death by Laura Levine.   This title is part of the Jaine Austen Mystery series – a modern day sleuth.  I expected a tale similar to a Murder, She Wrote TV episode.   And I was not disappointed.

Even though a murder is involved, this was a fun read.  Jaine Austen is headed to a retreat, which she believes to be a quiet time to read, nap and enjoy culinary treats.  What she gets is sweaty hikes, a hunger diet and the joy of being badgered for her muffin top.   I could really identify with this character, very aware of her flaws, but has accepted them, put on her lipstick and is heading out to skip through life. 

There are several quirky characters: Mallory Francis – a mouthy, diva movie star, studly Clint – another movie star and Cathy – who is always babbling and happy – even while starving!  And I can’t forget the cat, aptly named Prozac.  If you have ever owned a cat, you get the name. 

Pampered to Death is a quick read that is a great get-away book.  Be a sleuth, have some fun and get some snacks – the talking about food will make you head out for pizza.  A side note are the emails sent by Jaine’s parents – not part of the plot – but hysterical. 

As always, Carolyn, we love your book reviews and we really appreciate your support for this blog.  Again, folks, this is your blog so if you read a book that touches you in some way, please submit your book review to the: libraryblogmistress@gmail.com.  All ages of readers are welcome to contribute book reviews and suggestions for other subjects to include in your Haltom City Public Library blog.

Haltom City Stories Project

The year-long Haltom City Public Library’s 50^th Celebration has not only honored the library’s beginning, it has honored its future with their evening of To Kill a Mockingbird panel discussion and dramatic readings this past Thursday. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said it best in their editorial on Saturday, August 6^th, 2011. “The Haltom City library, which began in small, cramped quarters five decades ago in a community that still practiced segregation, now has sprawling facilities offering a variety of entertaining and challenging programming. It is symbolic of the change that has occurred in America and the community that it serves over the past 50 years.” 

The library continues to stretch out to their community to embrace its history with an upcoming program on Saturday, August 20, 2011 titled “Haltom City Stories Project”.  This unique program, held by artist Christopher Blay in collaboration with the library and a grant from the Arts Council of Northeast Tarrant County, offers an opportunity for Haltom City residents to share and document their personal stories of what it was like to live in Haltom City.  Christopher Blay's inventive project will create an artistic audio/visual archive that defines the city and it residents.  Participants will be photographed and have 3-5 minutes to tell their story for this project.  The recordings will be available for check out from the library and will become part of the library’s archives. 

The standing-room-only audience last Thursday evening got to be part of a “frank, passionate exchange…on their lives, their experiences with race and class and the state of American justice.” as written in the Star-Telegram editorial.  The “Haltom City Stories Project” is now an opportunity to record your personal experiences in Haltom City and its significance in your life.  I hope that you don’t miss it.  Artist Christopher Blay, the library, and the Arts Council of Northeast Tarrant County is giving you a chance of a lifetime to help define the special qualities of Haltom City that has made it a special place for you to call home.

Ann's Travel Tips

I love to travel, but I just might love to PREPARE for travel more. I can extend an eight-day vacation to weeks and even months by making lists:  what to pack or leave at home, what to turn off or unplug. After the airline or train tickets are purchased, the rental car reserved, the hotel/B & B/vacation home is found, I then get to the FUN part. I go to the library and search for books SET IN my travel locale and books by authors FROM that city, region, or country. 

 

 

In the late 1970s, I read Watership Down by Richard Adams when planning--—and during --a trip to England and Scotland. The main characters (rabbits) Fiver, Hazel and Bigwig made engaging travel companions.

Traveling to New Mexico (Santa Fe, Taos and Cimarron)   I read Georgia O’Keeffe, the artist’s illustrated autobiography and The Stone Garden, the biography of Billy to Kid.  I also checked out books about Anasazi ruins, the Philmont Scout Ranch, the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, and Tony Hillerman mysteries.

Touring from Calgary to Vancouver by rail  I read about the construction of the Trans-Canadian railroad and resorts like Banff. I found an intriguing novel by Timothy Taylor about Stanley Park in Vancouver.  Taylor’s main character is a chef whose father lives in a crude camp in the city’s 1,000-acre park.

Going from Montreal to Halifax by rail   For this recent trip, I learned a new trick: read juvenile non-fiction if you are looking for a concise overview of your topic.  (the picturesque and efficient St. Lawrence Seaway, the remarkable tides in the  Bay of Fundy, the settling of British Halifax).   I should have read up on coping mechanisms. I slept on the floor at JFK Airport after a thunderstorm (and heavy air traffic from dignitaries attending a UN meeting) delayed our flight home.

Get thee to a library as part of your travel planning. Pick a vacation spot like Vermont, Newfoundland, New Orleans or Wyoming. Pulitzer-Prize winning-author Annie Proulx says her characters “fall out of the landscape” and has written about each in Heart Songs, Shipping News, Accordion Crimes, and Close Range: Wyoming Stories. 

Happy Reading and Traveling from Guest Blogger, Ann Bastable

Many thanks to Ann for submitting this article to the blog and giving the Library Blog Mistress a much-needed vacation.  The Haltom City Public Library Blog is YOUR blog so please feel free to submit articles or a book review to: libraryblogmistress@gmail.com.  No editing will be done without your permission and you will always be credited for your piece.