Come join us in April for our ever-popular “Joy of Learning” series! We have offered Joy of Learning classes for many years, in April and October. They are taught by educators and other experts on a volunteer basis, for adults and for teens at a high school/college learning level. Come learn something new and have fun! This program is free, sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library.
We are offering three classes beginning on the first week in April; two will be online via Zoom, and one will be in-person (update: the Meditation and Mindfulness class is now full, but the first two have space!). Go to falmouthpublic.library.org/events for more details, and to register for any or all classes! You can register at the first week’s class. We recommend registering early, as some classes have smaller limits. For more information, call the Reference Desk at 508-457-2555 x 7, or email us at info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org.
My Antonia (online via Zoom)
Mondays, April 4, 11, 25 and May 2, 10-11 AM (doesn’t meet on Patriots’ Day)
Join Joanne Holcomb, a retired English teacher and English department head at Falmouth High School, as she leads a four part discussion of assigned readings from My Antonia by Willa Cather. The novel tells the stories of an orphaned boy from Virginia, Jim Burden, and the elder daughter in a family of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia Shimerda, who are each brought as children to be pioneers in Nebraska towards the end of the 19th century. The first year in the very new place leaves strong impressions in both children, affecting them lifelong.
This novel is considered Cather’s first masterpiece. Cather was praised for bringing the American West to life and making it personally interesting.
Space is limited to twenty participants. Registration is required, go to falmouthpublic.library.org/events. Please read Book I (plus the dedication on the opening page) before the first session. Library copies will be available at the reference desk to check out.
Rituals and Festivals: Cape Verdean, Portuguese and other Immigrant Place-Making Celebrations in Falmouth and the Cape (online via Zoom)
Tuesdays, April 5, 12, 19 and 26, 10-11 AM
Based on recent historical research, this course with returning instructor Miguel Moniz will examine rituals and festivals in Falmouth from an anthropologist’s perspective. Case examples to talk about these concepts will be drawn from the history and importance of various community rituals in Falmouth, using the celebrations in migrant communities as a starting point. These include the Holy Ghost/Espírito Santo Feasts, Strawberry Festival, the Cape Verdean Club’s Regional Beauty Pageant in the 1960s, the Day of Portugal, clambakes, the Fourth of July, the Falmouth Christmas Parade, war memorials, Jamaican Buffet Night at Coonamessett Farm, the Village Green Nurse’s Fetes, church festivals, Firemen’s Memorial Sunday, and celebrations around the Pilgrim monument anniversary in the early 1900s.
From Falmouth, Miguel Moniz (PhD, Brown University) is an anthropologist at the Center for Research in Anthropology (CRIA)-ISCTE/Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in Portugal and Director of the Migrant Communities Project (New England/Portugal). He was a visiting scholar at Brown University from 2019-21 where he was the Michael Teague visiting Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies (FLAD) in Fall of 2019. Moniz’s research examines migration, labor history, race and ethnicity, civil society organizations and rituals.
Guest speakers who have first-hand knowledge of these events will be invited to participate, including Lew White, author of the book Sopas about the Fresh Pond Holy Ghost Feast, and others TBA.
Registration is required to get the Zoom links, go to falmouthpublic.library.org/events. Registrants can attend any or all sessions!
Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (in person, Hermann Foundation Room)
(update: this class is now full, waitlist only)
Wednesdays, April 6, 13, 20 and 27, 3:15-4:15 PM
Jon Kabat-Zinn is an internationally known scientist, author, and meditation teacher who founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Over the four weeks of this Joy of Learning seminar, we will read and discuss one of Kabat-Zinn’s most influential books: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (library copies will be available at the reference desk to check out).
In addition to the book discussion, approximately half of each session will be spent learning and practicing specific meditation and mindfulness techniques discussed in the book, including guided and silent meditation, mindful movement and walking, mindful eating, compassionate kindness meditation, and more.
Janet Gardner earned a certification in teaching mindfulness meditation as part of her training through the Kind Yoga School in Centerville, MA. She has been leading group meditations and teaching yoga around the Cape since 2016, and has recently taught Chair Yoga at the library! Having meditated regularly for several decades but not (yet) achieved enlightenment, she considers herself an advanced beginner in the practice of mindfulness. She also works at the library, in Acquisitions.
Space is limited to 20 participants. Registration is required, go to falmouthpublic.library.org/events. Library copies of the book will be available at the reference desk to check out.