Milton Public Library to hold events for adults and families for month of March

CONTACT: Jean Hlady, Head of Adult Services/Reference, Milton Public Library,

476 Canton Avenue, Milton, MA 02186 – (617) 698-5757, x. 3

During the month of March, the Milton Public Library is offering lots of fun events for adults and families. 

On 3/3 at 6:30PM, there will be a program to help celebrate Women’s History Month called “Suffragettes in Corselettes: The Evolution of Underwear and Our 19th Amendment.”  The speakers are Ehris Urban and Velya Jancz-Urban of the Grounded Goodwife, which is a Connecticut-based company that educates people about many subjects related to women.  This will be a funny and frank look at how women have allowed themselves to be squeezed, twisted, and swished to conform to desired shapes.  The history of women’s underwear reveals a lot about their changing roles in society over time in America and elsewhere and the 1910s saw an end to the hourglass figure with a tiny waist, so women could breathe more freely so how did their image affect getting the vote in 1920?  Underwear matters! Please come and check out this unique presentation.

On 3/4, starting promptly at 6:30, the hilarious comedy called “Isn’t It Romantic?” as part of “Wednesday Night at the Movies” will be shown. It stars Rebel Wilson and Adam Devine (c2019).  New York City architect Natalie works hard to get noticed at her job but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design the city’s next skyscraper.  And if things weren’t bad enough, Natalie, a lifelong cynic when it comes to love, has an encounter with a mugger that renders her unconscious. Upon waking, she discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare – a romantic comedy and she is the leading lady!  This film is rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material and a brief drug reference so is not appropriate for young children, and the running time is 88 minutes. We hope you will join us for a very funny and entertaining story!

Also on 3/4 at 7 PM in the lower level Conference Room, Library Director Will Adamczyk will hold his “Local History Book Club.”  The book to be read in advance is American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work (c2006) by Susan Cheever.  People assume that the men and women behind the masterpieces of 19th-century American literature were dull and staid, but in this book new life is brought to these well-known literary types.  The author’s dynamic work reminds us that these famous writers, who composed such tales as The Scarlet Letter, Little Women, and Moby Dick had lives which were sometimes scandalous and quite colorful, and they were often considered bohemian and avant-garde for the period.  No sign-up is required so please come and discuss an enjoyable book with Will in March.

Our ongoing Library Knitting Group will meet on Thursday, 3/5 at 7 PM and on Saturday, 3/21 at 10 AM, in the upstairs Trustees Room.  Drop by to share your projects, get good advice, and meet new friends. 

Also Technology Librarian Regan Mulcahy will offer her Drop-in Device Help on Wednesday, 3/11 at 3 PM and also on Thursday, 3/26 at 7 PM in the lower level Conference Room.  If you have questions about how to access downloads of Ebooks, movies, music, audiobooks, and more from our website using your library card, stop by with your device for some assistance.  No signup is required and Regan has all the answers!

The “Cookbook Club” with Sara and Connie is happening on Monday, 3/23 at 6:30 PM.  Calling all cooks!  Local chef Connie Spiros and Assistant Director Sara Truog invite you to its next session where each meeting features a selected cookbook, and members prepare a tasty treat from it to bring to the Library and share.  The cookbook chosen for March is Milk Street: the New Home Cooking (c2020) by Christopher Kimball.  In order to participate you will need to register at our website: www.miltonlibrary.org and then click on “events” from the main page.  All the details to sign up are shown there, and only registered cooks may attend this program.  Sign-up starts on March 2nd and once you register, you will receive more details about the club.  Bon Appetit!

On Tuesday, 3/24 at 7 PM, there will be a “Poetry Celebration” with authors Teisha Christie and Joshua Coban.  In honor of National Poetry Month which is coming up in April, we will host two prolific local poets who will read from their works and discuss poetry with the audience. Writer Teisha Christie became inspired to find her poetic voice by observing the community in Dorchester where she was raised, as it was plagued by a serious drug epidemic in the late 80s and early 90s.  She started to write at age 11 as a way to process her environment, and this led her to become involved in community service. Eventually she won a scholarship to Ghana, West Africa, as part of a community service project to assist in the building of a school. Inspired by the impoverished conditions there as the result of a lack of knowledge and information, she found her true purpose as an author.  Her first book, published in 2011, is called Everything Is True, and now Teisha is working on a novel, to be released in 2020.  Joshua Coben’s second book of poetry is called Night Chaser and it will be published this month by David Robert Books.  Night Chaser was a finalist for several prestigious poetry prizes, and his work has appeared in many journals including Atlanta Review, The Cincinnati Review, Pleiades, and more, and his first book is called Maker of Shadows (Texas Review Press, 2010).  Mr. Coben is a longtime classroom teacher in the Milton Public Schools, and he currently serves as the district’s elementary librarian.  Please come and enjoy meeting some talented authors this evening, where copies of their books will also be for sale.

Our second Spring musical program will be a concert on Saturday, 3/29 starting at 2 PM with the dynamic blues and R&B band called the “Part-Time Lovers.”  Named “Best Blues Band in Boston” in 2000 by the Boston Blues Society, this group includes ace drummer Brian Kelley, talented Berklee College of Music Professor Craig Hlady on guitar, fab bassist Cole Grinnell, and the always charming and charismatic Steve Matthews on vocals.  Exceptional organist Shinichi Otsu will also play with the group at this program, and these musicians will knock your socks off with their rocking and danceable versions of great blues classics like “The Thrill is Gone” and “Everyday I Have the Blues,” and you will also hear sweet R&B ballads like the Ray Charles classic “Georgia.”  This versatile and entertaining ensemble will have you singing along and wanting to get up and dance! You’ll be very glad you did.

And finally on Sunday, 3/29 at 2 PM, expert Kevin Gardner will give a talk called “Stone Walls in New England.”  The informal presentation covers the history, technique, stylistic development, and aesthetics of stone walls.  He explains how and why New England came to acquire it’s thousands of miles of stone walls, and their significance to the famous landscape here.  During this program Kevin occupies himself building a miniature wall and walls on a tabletop, using tiny stones from a five-gallon bucket. He will bring along his collection of books about stonework, and copies of the two books he has written will be available for sale.  Mr. Gardner is a lifelong resident of Hopkinton, NH and has worked at many different jobs, but has also been a stone wall builder for more than 40 years in a family business widely known for traditional New England stonework. Please come and learn about a fascinating topic this afternoon!

These programs are kindly sponsored by the Friends of the Milton Public Library and are free and open to the public.  They are held in the Keys Community Room unless otherwise specified here, and for more information contact Jean Hlady, Head of Reference, at (617) 698-5757, x. 3 or go to www.miltonlibrary.org