Milton Public Library adult programs announced for May 2022

In the month of May, the Milton Public Library is offering some educational and entertaining programs for adults and families.  Our ongoing programs continue with The Celebrity Book Club happening on Thursday, 5/5 as a hybrid program starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Keys Community Room.  Read what the celebrities are reading!  Library staff members Sally and Sara will lead you in a fun, relaxed discussion of books recommended by popular celebrities and this month’s pick is: Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (recommended by Reese Witherspoon).  Please sign up in advance at our website starting on April 21st (www.miltonlibrary.org), and call the Reference Dept. to place a hold on the book.  We hope you might join us!  The Milton Knitting Group will meet in the lower level Conference Room on Thursday, 5/5, at 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday, 5/21, at 10:00 a.m.  If you enjoy knitting or crocheting and would like to share your project and ideas with others, you can just drop in to join, and if you would like to get on the organizer’s list to receive reminders, send a message to Librarian Jean Hlady at [email protected] and she will make sure you are added.  Also the MPL Walking Club continues to meet in May on Thursdays at 12 noon starting in the MPL parking lot, and the dates this month will be: 5/12 and 5/26.  Please sign up in advance to participate at our website’s events list, to get some exercise and meet like-minded walkers.

Instructor Marianne Zullas continues to teach her Yoga Class for Adults on 5/7 at 11:00 a.m. in the Keys Community Room.  This ongoing program will be a one-hour in person gentle vinyasa flow yoga class which is designed to create movement and space in the body.  Students will practice breathing techniques, asanas (yoga poses) and will also be introduced to exercises that will open some of the meridian pathways in the body to create a better flow of energy.  Please go to our events list at: www.miltonlibrary to read more about this enjoyable activity like what to bring with you, and to register in advance as there is an attendance limit. This will be the last yoga class at the MPL until October when it will again resume.  A captivating speaker – Lou Del Bianco – will be back on Tuesday, 5/10, at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom to give a presentation called “Abraham Lincoln – From Rail-Splitter to President.”  In this 45-minute interactive dramatic program presented virtually, this actor-storyteller will portray Lincoln as Civil War President, frontiersman and storyteller.  Lincoln’s values: honesty, love of family, thirst for education, sense of justice and perseverance shine through in this dynamic new program.  For more details about this fun and entertaining event, please go to our website and register in advance; once signed up a Zoom connection link will be Emailed to you.  Lou Del Bianco is a very talented speaker and has performed all over the country, from Chicago to Carnegie Hall, and he has been working with audiences of all ages since 1982.  Hailing from the New York area, Lou’s dramatic approach to storytelling “puts pow into passivity” according to the New York Times.  Please join us!

Next, on Tuesday, 5/17, at 7:00 p.m. in the Keys Community Room, there will be an in person presentation by author and former Bridgewater State University Professor Thomas Mickey called: “Garden Talk: Victorian Flowers We Still Love.”  This lovely program will be based on Mr. Mickey’s book called: All About Flowers: James Vick’s Nineteenth Century Seed Company (Swallow Press, c2021).  19th-century seed company owner James Vick (1818-1882) believed in being fair and honest with his customers.  That ethical stance inspired his communication methods with his customers at a time when business owners though “hype” was essential.  Vick had been an editor and writer before his seed business.  He wrote his catalog and monthly magazine with words inspired with what would most help his customers.  The book to be discussed in this presentation illustrates how Vick’s seed company influenced both gardeners and the kind of garden that became essential – the Victorian flower garden.  Please go to this link to read more and to register in advance:  http://www.eventkeeper.com/mars/xpages/m/miltonpl/ek.cfm  We hope you will join us!  (Please note that this event will not be available via Zoom.)

Adults and teens are invited to attend a fun in person art workshop with instructor Sue Hoy on Saturday, 5/21, at 2:00 p.m. in the Keys Community Room.  The title of this program is: “Adult Craft Workshop using Clay: Make a Trinket Dish and Ring Holder.”  No experience is required to participate so come and try out your art skills with Sue!  Advance registration is required however, and once signed up you will receive one reminder for the event.  If you would like to see a sample of the craft items, go to the MPL Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/miltonlibrary    There is no charge for this workshop and it will not be available via Zoom.  Come have some fun working with clay at the library, and please bring your teens too!  And finally, on Tuesday, 5/24, at 7:00 p.m., author Ted Reinstein will give a hybrid talk about his new book, called: “Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier” (Lyons Press/Rowman-Littlefield, c2021).  You may attend in person or choose to view the program via Zoom, but advance registration is required at our website.  Fay Vincent, former Commissioner, Major League Baseball, says: “This is a story never before told of how Black baseball survived our own apartheid and finally became part of MLB.  This part of baseball went unnoticed because of skin color until the country finally awakened.  Tragic in many aspects, this is a tale that is finally redemptive.”  If you would like to place a hold on the book, call the Reference Dept. at (617) 898-4964 or go online using your library card.  Ted Reinstein is best known in New England as a journalist and reporter for Chronicle, Boston’s celebrated (and America’s longest-running) TV news-magazine.  To read more about this program, please go to our website’s events list.

All of these programs are kindly sponsored by the Friends of the Milton Public Library and are free and open to all.  Mr. Reinstein’s appearance is sponsored by the Friends and in part by a grant from the Milton Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass. Cultural Council.  For more information about any event, please contact Librarian Jean Hlady at [email protected] or call the Reference Dept. at (617) 898-4964.