Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner

Rachel Kushner in Telex from Cuba draws the story on her mother's and aunts' upbringing in Cuba in the 1950s. It is a portrait in many voices of the American presence in Cuba in the pre-Castro times, seen through the lives of the children and wives of American executives of "United Fruit Company" in Preston and "Nicaro Nickel Company" in Nicaro. For 50 years before Castro's revolution, Americans controlled Cuba's main exports - sugar and nickel. The executives and their families were sent to the island and the American companies built their own city complete with native servants. In this lush and idyllic environment they were dealing with Batista and in denial of the revolution. Meanwhile, a burlesque dancer Rachel K and a French traitor become involved in the growing revolution. Historic figures skim through the narrative like Hemingway, Prio, Batista, Fidel and Raul Castro, but more than history lesson, political intrigues, bitter romances are seen through the children's mind. Toward the end of 1957, the sons of two executives join the rebels, and within a month the United Fruit Company's cane fields are ablaze. The following year, the attacks on U.S. operated businesses intensify and the violence between the rebels and Batista's forces escalate. Finally, Americans are driven out after a Cuban investor got Batista's air force to strafe Nicaro. Americans who eventually evacuate the island and can never go back, reminisce their tranquil lives in Cuba in nostalgia.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

A new booklist can now be found under the Have You Read? section on the library's iBistro catalog.

Are You Ready For Some Football? provides a wide range of books from biographies about all-time greats Johnny Unitas, Gayle Sayers. Vince Lombardi and Walter Payton to current day players Tom Brady, Brett Favre and Eli Manning. In between are histories of great games and intriguing occurances to peeks into how football has grown and evolved and is run as the major monied entertainment business that is has become.

This should provide the Football fan with enough reading action to tackle and plenty to pass him or herself over with until next Sunday's action kicks off.

New This Week in AskWiki

CalMax is a state-run service for businesses, schools and other organizations to exchange goods. Need graffiti remover? A file cabinet? Horse manure? Look no further!

The Green Guide has buying advice, reviews, travel tips and lots of recommendations for greener living.

Smart voter offers non-partisan election information, polling-place look-up, as well as a local government guide.

And last but not least is this handy Truth-O-Meter, a fact-checker from Congressional Quarterly where you can verify or debunk candidates claims and statements.

Burbank Temporary Aid Center

We all know that this is a particularly difficult time financially for our country as well as our own community. The Burbank Temporary Aid Center is in need of monetary and food donations to stock the shelves of their food pantry, which is nearly bare. According to their press release, "BTAC has seen a 60 percent increase in the number of requests for groceries from the Food Pantry over the last 18 months." If you can help, please take any donations to BTAC at 1304 W. Burbank Blvd. between 9 AM and 5 PM. Drop-offs should be made at the loading area at the back of the building.

The following food items are needed:

Assorted Cereals
Peanut Butter
Jelly, Jam, Preserves
Tuna Fish
Canned meats
Canned Vegetables
Macaroni & Cheese

Please make sure that all items are sealed. Unfortunately, BTAC can not accept anything prepared at home.


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Burbank Public Library joins THE BIG READ!!!!

If you hadn't already heard, the Burbank Public Library is participating in the NEA's "The Big Read" and is reading The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

For the latest in programming about The Big Read, visit our sister Burbank READS blog and/or view our program online here!

See you over there!

Burbank Bulletin Board

The annual Taste of Downtown Burbank is right around the corner. Prepare to sample to your heart's content all the fine eats provided by 40 local restaurants on October 2, 2008 from 5:30 - 9:30 PM. The event takes place on San Fernando Blvd between Magnolia and Orange Grove. You can order your tickets online this year, and the first 100 that sign up via the Internet will receive a free gift. Proceeds benefit the Burbank Community YMCA financial scholarship fund.

Survey for Burbank bike riders

If you ride your bike around Burbank, the Community Development Department would like your input. They are in the process of updating the Bicycle Master Plan and have posted a survey on their website. Your participation is appreciated.

Burbank Bulletin Board

Attention cat lovers! Girl Scout Troop 19 and Burbank Animal Shelter will be having a kitten adoption fair and donation drive on Saturday, September 27, 2008 from 11 - 3 PM at the Burbank Police and Fire Headquarters. If you'd like to donate, the shelter could use the following items:

Dry food: Royal Canine "Baby Cat" or "Kitten" food
Wet food: "Kitten" by Wellness
Gerber Baby Food: Chicken or Turkey
KMR by PetAg: Milk Replacement for Kittens
Feeding bottles
Cat litter: Scoop or crystals preferred
Small litter pans
Heating pads
Digital scales
Scratching posts
Kitten shampoo
Flea combs
Feline nail clippers

200 N. 3rd Street, Burbank


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Burbank Bulletin Board

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is providing free prostate cancer screenings for the first 200 people to register for an appointment. The screenings will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2008, from 8 - 11:30 AM. To schedule an appointment, please call 818-847-4535. More information and additional dates/locations can be found on their website.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center
Radiation Oncology
501 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank


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Burbank Bulletin Board

On Saturday, September 20, 2008, come to the Burbank Historical Society's Gordon R. Howard Museum for a video on "The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Train Empire". Admission is free and the program starts at 2:00 PM in the Cunningham Room. Parking is available at the 1100 block of West Clark Street. For more information, please call 818-841-6333 and visit their website.


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Metrolink Updates on Twitter

If you use the train to commute to work, you may be interested in signing up for Metrolink updates via Twitter. You will need to register for your own account, but the process is simple and quick. These "tweets", as the kids call them, are limited to 140 characters so you'll never have to read very much. Be the first to know if your train is late by signing up today! You can read their FAQ page here.

What We're Reading - The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs.

Well, how was I to pass up a book with a title like The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs? Brought to my attention, this started out as a Is this a book your Aunt would like to read?, turned into a I-need-a-book-to-read-on-the-airplane and besides I was intrigued by the title. What makes a detective "highly effective"? After reading Richard Yancey's second book featuring Investigative Consultant Teddy Ruzak [he has yet to pass the Private Investigator's exam and the state of Tennessee has shut down his office], I may not be able to say what makes a detective highly effective but I can say this is a drolly amusing read with Teddy trying to sort out a variety of issues in his life, his career crisis and plenty of women...two of 'em potential love interests, Amanda a philosophy student who works at the Humane Society and Felicia, she of the "pleasant knees", a mysterious boyfriend Bob and currently his now out of work secretary. The third woman, Eunice, is equal parts elderly stalker and Teddy's biographer. Toss in Archie a rescued Beagle with a soulful stare, a dead homeless man who has Teddy's hat, and the tetragrammaton on his forehead and the search for "Jumper" who maybe a suspect or a witness and sit back relax and enjoy Teddy's actions [or at times inactions] as he tries to sort it all out and make sense of the case and his life.



In the end, I guess what makes a detective effective is solving the case, otherwise Teddy Ruzak might be better called the highly defective detective. Either way, the City of Knoxville, Tennessee will never be the same...most fortunately for all of us! Read and enjoy.

Burbank Bulletin Board

The Family Service Agency of Burbank counseling and education center has moved to a new location at 2721 W. Burbank Blvd. They will be having a community open house on Monday, September 15, 2008 from 3 - 7 PM. To RSVP, please call 818-845-7671. To see the services they offer, please visit the website above. At the time of this post, the address has not been updated on their home page.


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Books for September

You probably didn’t know that September is:

Mold Awareness Month! To be more aware of your mold may we suggest Fungi and Molds by Jennifer Viegas and What Every Home Owner Needs to Know About Mold and What to Do About It by Vicki Landarge?

National Chicken Month! We suggest Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow and The New York Times Chicken Cookbook.

National Piano Month! Play Piano Today! by Amy Appleby will get you started, and Play Piano in a Flash! by Scott Houston is good for those who can’t wait the whole day.

Lĭt / uh / ruh / sē Äw / fĭs

International Literacy Day - September 8

Focuses attention on worldwide literacy needs. More than 780 million of the world’s adults; nearly 2/3's are women do not know how to read or write.

Between 94 and 115 million children do not have access to education.

Literacy is the best remedy is the theme of International Literacy Day 2008. There is a direct connection between people's level of literacy and health.

“An illiterate person is simply more vulnerable to ill-health, and less likely to seek medical help for themselves, their family or their community,” notes the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, in the message he will issue for Literacy Day. “Literacy is a powerful yet too often overlooked remedy to health threats, with the potential to promote better nutrition, diesease prevention and treatment.”

Celebrating International Literacy Day Around the World

UNESCO - Paris
Award ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters for the winners of 2008’s UNESCO Literacy Prizes which honor outstanding local, regional, or national literacy programs. Literacy projects in Brazil, Zambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Morocco are the 2008 winners.

A round table on Literacy and Health on 8 September 2008, 10 to 11:30 am.

International Reading Association - Washington, DC

Reading Across Continents - Connecting Students & Teachers via Technology & Literature
Uniting Washington, DC, Nigerian, and Ghanaian students through the sharing of novels: Copper Sun (penetrating story of the slave trade) by Draper and Purple Hibiscus (heartfelt story of growing up in Nigeria’s political tumult) by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Public Library, 10 am - Noon

California - Budget Impasse

The recently released Republican proposal to eliminate the California Library Literacy Services and English Acquisition and Literacy Programs for a savings of $4.5 million.

For More, Please See:

California Library Literacy - Eliminate Funding @ literacyspace
When adults can't read - and what you can do to help ! @ PVLD Director's Blog

What We're Reading - The Best Game Ever by Mark Bowden

Beginning tonight, that familiar phrase will be echoing through the air...

"Are you ready for some Football?"

Well I know I am and to prepare for tonight's start of the NFL season, I just finished reading "The Best Game Ever" by Mark Bowden [of Black Hawk Down fame].

"The Best Game Ever" is a concise and very readable look at the famed 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants that gained the NFL its first major national exposure on television and provided the platform for the birth of the AFL, unprecedented growth, the Super Bowl and the immense entertainment behemoth that professional football is today.

The story unfolds in the 3rd quarter and leads to flashbacks of how football had changed and evolved in the 1950s [film study and the creation of the 4-3 defense], profiles of both teams, various players [Raymond Berry, Johnny Unitas, Sam Huff] who remain to this day among the greatest ever to play their positions and then moves back to the first half of this pivotal game and into the memorable 4th quarter and overtime periods that solidify this game as the best game ever.

Football fans will flat out love this one. It is colorful and a pure shot of football adrenalin into the systems of football addicts and this is one book that teen football fans will enjoy, so if you are looking for a book for a football fan to read...this is the one! [do your holiday gift shopping early!]

Two facts of note that I found interesting.

• Did you know that the two assistant coaches of the 1958 NY Giants were Tom Landry [defense] and Vince Lombardi [offense]. Both became legends as head coaches on their own. Has any team simultaneously ever had two better assistant coaches?
• Perhaps the two most important NFL games ever played due to their impact on the growth of the sport were this 1958 championship game and the 1969 Super Bowl won by Joe Namath, the NY Jets and led the way to the NFL/AFL merger. Both games were won by the same head coach Weeb Ewbank. Not a bad resume, no wonder that with a less than impressive 130-129-7 lifetime record he is in the NFL Hall-of-Fame.

New This Week in AskWiki

NationMaster offers country comparisons and the ability to generate maps and graphs using all kinds of statistics. If you need shaking up Monster Librarian is a wonderful reader’s advisory with separate lists and reviews of horror books for adults and teens as well as scary books for children 12 and under.
HowCast is a collection of instructional (and fun!) video and wiki-guides. Here’s where to look when you need a demonstration: put on a sari, get along with your parents or pretend you’re a real New Yorker.

What We're Reading: The Unthinkable

Remember that earthquake a couple months ago? I was at the reference desk when the shaking began, and I hesitated probably a beat too long before finally crawling under the desk. What can I say - I am a woman of the desert and I still can't accept that the ground lurches. However, as I peered back up, I noticed that several of our Internet users were still typing away, completely unfazed.

When a tragedy strikes - by air, water, earth or flame - how do we react? What causes a person to freeze or even to take on the role of hero? In her book The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes - And Why, Amanda Ripley studies numerous disasters and interviews the survivors to better understand what the body and brain do under extreme stress. From Hurricane Katrina to 9/11, from the Beverly Hills Supper Club to Virginia Tech, from the hajj in Saudi Arabia to the MV Estonia on the Baltic Sea, Ripley delves into some of the most tragic scenes the world over. By studying how we actually tend to react versus how we might imagine we'd react, we can improve our chances should the worst befall us. While it's certainly not good to dread the future, we should be prepared. This book will motivate you to do so.