What I Would Say

Nancy Ling is an Outreach Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library. Read the published version of Nancy Ling's column in the September 27, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

The problem was it happened in a split second, as these things do. I was late and dashing out the door for book club at the Senior Center, when I glanced to my right. A young girl was standing near the Circulation Desk by the announcement of Essay Contest Winners. She was there with a woman I presumed to be her mother. In that split second as I’d rushed past my first thought had been, “I wonder if she’s one of the winners?” Now as I climbed into my car I realized the truth—the young girl had been crying.

Sailing Through Life

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli's column in the September 20, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Over 25 years ago, dear friends became intrigued by sailing, and within a few years they acquired their first 34 foot Catalina. In those earliest years of their maritime discoveries, I was lucky enough to sail a few times off the North Shore where they have moored their boat at Hawthorne Cove in Salem, just steps from the House of Seven Gables. I observed them maneuver around the decks working the lines, I bobbed my head when they altered course with the main sail, and loafed on the bow in awe of the sea and wind.

It had been well over a decade since I’d sailed with them on their boat, but Gerry and I were lucky enough to spend a delightful September Saturday on the water. The mild day started out overcast and still. Sometime after lunch in their roomy cockpit, we dodged the clouds by motoring past the Miseries and Cat Island. We reached sunshine and a pleasant wind somewhere off Marblehead Light and turned off the engines, relying only on both sails. Our hosts were gracious enough to give Gerry his first chance at the helm of a ‘real’ sailboat, and we achieved up to 6 knots all the way across Salem Harbor following the breeze that only practiced sailors know how to do.

At Home with the Alcotts

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli's column in the September 13, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

One of the things I love to do is tour Massachusetts with my out-of-state friends.  I had this honor in the last weeks of the summer with two of my oldest friends.  By oldest, I do mean my girlfriends who grew up with me bosom buddies in the suburbs of San Francisco.

I was transplanted from the Blackstone River towns of Massachusetts as a very young child.  I only rediscovered my New England roots as an adult, traveling past mills that stand proud (renovated or not), historic homes that held generations of families, and graveyards that tell the stories of amazing lives.

Last week, I was delighted to share part of the Massachusetts legacy of author Louisa May Alcott with friends when we visited the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts. Fruitlands is just under an hour’s drive from Norwood.   On a gently rolling hillside overlooking woods and walking trails, one can view (on a clear day) Mt. Wachusett in Princeton, MA and Mt. Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH in the distance.

Quiet

Bonnie Wyler is a Literacy/Outreach Librarian at the library.  Read Bonnie's column in the September 6, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin. 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain is a book that I recently enjoyed immensely.  I was drawn to this title because I’ve always seen myself as an introvert, but didn’t know much about what that meant, and I thought of it as a failing.  I belong to a book group with only three people because I know from experience that I don’t talk in a larger group.  I feel awkward introducing myself in a group, even if I know most of the people there.  Like many introverts, I tend to feel bad about myself when I react this way.  In reading Quiet, I came to realize that these traits are a normal part of an introverted temperament, and that, in fact, there are distinct advantages to this undervalued personality type.  Interesting chapter headings in Quiet give the reader an idea of what lies ahead:

            “The Extrovert Ideal,”

            “Your Biology, Your Self? – Is Temperament Destiny?”

            “The Communication Gap: How to Talk to Members of the Opposite Type.”  

From the first page, I was drawn in by this beautifully written book, filled with interesting individual profiles and the latest research.