Join fellow community members for a lively discussion of the American classic To Kill a Mockingbird. We’ll consider the characters, plot structure, themes, and questions. How does this novel continue to resonate more than 50 years after it was first published? Why is it one of the books that has been challenged most frequently? Jenny Emery Davidson, Ph.D., will facilitate the discussion, and everyone is encouraged to participate.
Main Library
Nicole LeFavour on Civil Rights, Civil Disobedience, the Church, and the Idaho Legislature
As part of the Wood River Reads programming series join Nicole LeFavour for a talk on Civil Rights, Civil Disobedience, the Church, and the Idaho Legislature. Nicole is a former Idaho State Senator who served four years in the Idaho House of Representatives and four years in the Idaho State Senate. She has worked on issues from consumer protection, fair tax policy and prison sentencing reform to protecting the rights of people with disabilities and immigrants, opposing English only laws, and laws which would erode the rights of women.
She has spent two decades working to advance civil rights for LGBT people in Idaho, working on campaigns and educating the public as well as lobbying and negotiating with law makers for a decade to get them to “add the words” to include gay and transgender people in Idaho’s existing non discrimination laws. After over 200 arrests, finally in January of 2015 they held their first public hearing to listen to the stories of people impacted by discrimination. After two days of testimony, they failed to act and so, to this day, it remains legal to discriminate against gay and transgender people in Idaho. The issue will be before the legislature again next year and thousands of people will be pushing to have lawmakers do what’s right for their sons, daughters and loved ones and “add the words.”
A Talk by Charles Shields, Biographer of Harper Lee
As part of the Wood River Reads programming series, a lecture by Charles Shields, biographer of Harper Lee.
Since the publication of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (Holt 2006), Mr. Shields has spoken to thousands of readers across the country and abroad. His biography of Ms. Lee, the first ever published, became a New York Times bestseller and was a Literary Guild Selection, and a Book-of-the-Month Club Alternate. His young adult biography of Harper Lee, I Am Scout (Owl 2008) was chosen an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and a Junior Literary Guild Selection.
After the release of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, people knowledgeable about Ms. Lee as a beginning writer contacted him with new information not available to him when was researching the biography. The release of Go Set a Watchman in July 2015 and the subsequent media flurry generated even more details to the story of the author of one of the 20th century’s most popular books. Mr. Shields’ revision of his 2006 work, including this new chapter in Harper Lee’s life, will be available in 2016.
In 2011, Shields published And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life (Holt), a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year.
Currently, he’s completing the first biography of John Williams, author of Stoner and the National Book Award-winning, Augustus, which will be published by Lebowski Publisher in the Netherlands.
“Climate Change Dynamics” by Russ Brown
Join us for a special presentation on “Climate Change Dynamics” in partnership with the Environmental Resource Center (ERC). This program, led by Russ Brown, will begin with an introduction to the history of our planet’s climate cycles. The presentation will then move into an in-depth exploration of the Earth’s three most recent major climate changes, their effects on Earth’s life, and what this ultimately means for the future of our world. After this engaging 45-minute presentation, Aimee Christensen, Executive Director for the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, will moderate a Q&A.
Brown has a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology and has previously worked for several corporate and national laboratory research organizations such as the Allied Chemical Corporation, Idaho National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory. He has also served as the President of the Idaho Alpine Club, Idaho Environmental Council and Greater Sawtooth Preservation Council.
Tech Class with Paul: Google Drive I
Join our tech expert Paul Zimmerman for an introductory course to Google Drive. Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service created by Google. It allows users to store files in the cloud, share files, and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with collaborators. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, an office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more.
Tech Class with Paul: Google Drive II
Join our tech expert Paul Zimmerman for part II of an introductory course to Google Drive. Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service created by Google. It allows users to store files in the cloud, share files, and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with collaborators. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, an office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more.
