Tag: LibraryEvents2025

‘Blink’ Documentary Screening

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

Falmouth Public Library will be screening the 2024 National Geographic | Documentary Films documentary Blink on Friday, June 6th at 3:00pm in the library’s Hermann Room.  This documentary screening is free to the public and is courtesy of National Geographic | Documentary Films.  All are welcome to attend!

Blink, directed by Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, is a powerful documentary about a family that embarks on an epic journey to show their children the beauty of the world before it vanishes for good after three of their children are diagnosed with an incurable eye condition.

“ “Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier first noticed their daughter, Mia, was having vision problems when she was 3 years old. The diagnosis took years to pinpoint but, by the time Mia was 7, they had identified it as retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic condition that causes a loss or decline in vision over time. It skipped their second child, Léo, but both their younger sons, Colin and Laurent, received the same diagnosis. “We don’t know how fast it’s going to go, but we expect them to be completely blind by mid-life,” said the parents. The school’s vision impairment advisor suggested they fill Mia’s visual memory looking at pictures in books. “I thought, ‘I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book; I’m going to take her to see a real elephant,” Edith explains. “And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”

As the Canadian-based family began making plans to spend a year traveling around the globe, they canvassed the children’s opinions on what they wanted to do. Four-year-old Laurent said he wanted to drink juice on a camel. “We never found out where this crazy idea came from, but it was very dear to him and made us all laugh,” his mother said. Nothing was off limits. That bucket list became their North Star.

From the frozen fields of Nunavik to Egypt’s haunting White Desert and beyond, the film team spent 76 days with the family and created lasting bonds. “It was as if we had known each other for a long time,” said Edith. In addition to these new ties, the Pelletiers took as many pictures as possible to ensure that even when their children have lost most of their sight, they will still have something to look back on. “Maybe they’ll be able to look at the photographs and the pictures and they will bring back those stories, those memories, of the family together.” “

Blink is rated PG and has a running time of 1 hour and 27 minutes. English subtitles will be used if available. To register to attend, CLICK HERE or visit/call the library’s adult services desk at 508-457-2555 x7.

Country of the Blind

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

Our next narrative nonfiction book club pick is the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland.  Come pick up a copy of the book at the adult services desk, register to attend, and then join us at our book club meeting on Saturday, June 7th at 11am in the Hermann room to share your thoughts!  To register now, CLICK HERE!

Synopsis:  “We meet Andrew Leland as he’s suspended in the liminal state of the soon-to-be blind: he’s midway through his life with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that ushers those who live with it from sightedness to blindness over years, even decades.  He grew up with full vision, but starting in his teenage years, his sight began to degrade from outside in.  Soon – but without knowing exactly when – he will likely have no vision left.

Full of apprehension but also dogged curiosity, Leland embarks on a sweeping exploration of the state of being that awaits him: not only the physical experience of blindness but also its language, politics, and customs.  He negotiates his changing relationships with his wife and son, and with his own sense of self, as he moves from his mainstream, “typical” life to one with a disability.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural investigation, The Country of the Blind represents Leland’s determination not to merely survive this transition but to grow from it – to seek out and revel in that which makes blindness enlightening.  Brimming with warmth and humor, it is an exhilarating tour of a new way of being.”

Perkins Library Informational Session

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

Come learn about the Perkins Library from Mr. Erin Fragola and the services that they have to offer you or someone you know on Friday, May 16th at 3:30pm in the Hermann Room!  This event is free to the public and everyone is welcome.  Click here to attend.

 

Talking Book Player & Book Cartridges

The Perkins Library is a free, accessible library for Massachusetts residents who are unable to read standard print due to visual, physical, or reading disabilities. It provides audiobooks, braille, large print books, and playback devices at no cost via mail. The collection includes fiction, non-fiction, magazines, and audio-described DVDs. They also offer Tele-Fun, a remote social program with games, films, and group activities held by phone or computer. Materials and services are available to adults, teens, and children.

Mr. Erin Fragola is the Marketing and Outreach Manager at Perkins Library in Watertown, the Regional NLS Library providing accessible resources for people living in Massachusetts who have print disabilities as well as the institutions that serve them. Erin has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Worcester State University and a masters degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) from Valdosta State University in Georgia with a focus on information access and accessibility.

Do you have questions about Perkins Library and their services but can’t make it?  Call Perkins Library toll free at 1-800-852-3133 or email them at library@perkins.org.

All We Carry Documentary Screening

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

In partnership with the Falmouth Jewish Congregation, the Falmouth Public Library will be screening the 2024 documentary All We Carry on Thursday, May 8th at 6:30pm in the library’s Hermann Room.

“This feature documentary All We Carry follows a young Honduran family as they flee persecution—migrating in cargo trains across Mexico, claiming asylum at the US border, and enduring separation in detention before being released in Seattle. There, a local synagogue sponsors the family for two years while they await the final decision on their asylum case. As the family tries to settle into their new home, they navigate countless life-altering and every-day moments where memory, joy, and grief collide.”

This documentary screening is free to the public and all are welcome.  All We Carry is Not Rated and has a running time of 1 hour and 28 minutes.  CLICK HERE to register to attend!

Check out the trailer below!

American Civil War Exhibit & Events

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

Fire and Thunder: A Massachusetts Black Soldiers in the Civil War Exhibit
Tuesday, April 1st – Wednesday, April 30th
Adult Collections Room

For the month of April, the “Fire and Thunder” 16 panel exhibit will be on display in the Adult Collections Room for the public to view during library hours.

“The institution of slavery was a disease deeply embedded in the tissue of the new American republic.  Though abolished in Massachusetts in the 1780’s, on the national stage it survived, to be destroyed only after a long and bloody civil war.  “Fire and Thunder” tells the story of how black soldiers in Massachusetts fought – in the press, on the streets, from the pulpit, the lecture podium, and the battlefield – in defense of human dignity and freedom.”

This exhibit is free to the public and is on loan from the Commonwealth Museum.

 

Ken Burns ‘The Civil War’ Documentary Screening
Monday, April 14th – Friday, April 18th, 1pm
Hermann Meeting Room

‘The Civil War is an epic nine-episode series by the award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.  Heralded as an unforgettable introduction to a four-year conflict fought in 10,000 places, the film vividly embraces the entire sweep of the war: the complex causes and lasting effects of America’s greatest and most moving calamity, the battles and the homefronts, the generals and the private soldiers, the anguish of death in battle and the grief of families at home.

The library will be screening this entire Civil War documentary series over the course of a week from Monday, April 14th to Friday, April 18th.  It is free to the public and is supported by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library.  If you can’t make it to our Ken Burns Civil War screening but still would like to watch it, you can watch the entire Civil War series from the convenience of your own home using Kanopy, a free streaming service with your Falmouth Public Library card.

Monday, April 14th: 1pm-2:45pm . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
1861: Episode 1 ‘The Cause’

Tuesday, April 15th: 1pm-3:25pm . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
1862: Episode 2 ‘A Very Bloody Affair’ & Episode 3 ‘Forever Free’

Wednesday, April 16th: 1pm-3:35pm . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
1863: Episode 4 ‘Simply Murder’ & Episode 5 ‘The Universe of Battle’

Thursday, April 17th: 1pm-3:20pm . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
1864: Episode 6 ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ & Episode 7 ‘Most Hallowed Ground’

Friday, April 18th: 1pm-3:20pm . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
1865: Episode 8 ‘War is Hell’ & Episode 9 ‘The Better Angels of our Nature’

 

Bravery & Honor: Falmouth Soldiers & Sailors ~ A Walking Tour at Oak Grove Cemetery
Saturday, April 26th, 1pm
Oak Grove Cemetery (46 Jones Road) . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

“When Abraham Lincoln sent out a call to arms Falmouth men bravely responded, reporting in large numbers to the Union army and navy.  Many of these Veterans are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.  Come hear compelling stories of a select few as this tour stops by personal grave and the renovated Grand Army of the Republic plot – one of the few examples in Massachusetts of this early type of memorial.”

This approximately 75-minutes long tour will be on Saturday, April 26th at 1pm.  It is free and open to the public and will be held rain or shine at the Oak Grove Cemetery located at 46 Jones Road in Falmouth.  We will meet inside the chapel at the cemetery, which is handicap accessible.  If the weather is inclement, we will stay inside the chapel; otherwise, plan on an easy stroll in the park-like setting.

 

Narrative Nonfiction Book Club
Saturday, May 1st, 11am
Hermann Meeting Room . . . . . . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER


The narrative nonfiction book club is back from hiatus and returns with our first book pick of the year The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson.  Come pick up a copy of the book at the adult services desk, register to attend, and then join us at our book club meeting on Saturday, May 1st at 11am in the Hermann room to share your thoughts!

“On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president.  The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one State after another seceding and Lincoln, powerless to stop them.  Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.  Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter, a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals.”

The Christmas Tree Shops with Anthony Sammarco

Posted on by Jessica O'Connor

The Christmas Tree Shop was not just an icon of New England, it was a destination with stores that boasted a diverse assortment of merchandise from seasonal decorations, home decor, housewares, food, giftware and just about everything else that the public just had to have. These were items you never thought you needed before stepping through the door, but who could resist a bargain?

Interested in learning more about the history and local charm of the Christmas Tree Shop? Come join us on Saturday, January 25th at 1pm in the Hermann room as local author Anthony Sammarco presents an illustrated lecture on his newest book, The Christmas Tree Shops: Don’t You Just Love A Bargain? After the lecture, there will be a book signing with books available for purchase by Eight Cousins.

Referred to as the “Balzac of Boston History” by the Boston Globe, Anthony Mitchell Sammarco is a noted historian and author of many books on the history and development of Boston, and he lectures widely on the history and development of his native city. He commenced writing in 1995, and his 89th book, published in 2024, was The History of the Christmas Tree Shops. He received the Bulfinch Award from the Doric Dames of the Massachusetts State House, the Washington Medal from Freedom Foundation, a lifetime achievement from both the Victorian Society and the Gibson House Museum. He is president of the Osterville Village Library; past president of the Bay State Historical League and he served as a corporator of the New England Baptist Hospital for a decade. He lives in Boston and in Osterville on Cape Cod.

This event is free to the public and is sponsored by the Board of Library Trustees. Register to attend by CLICKING HERE or by visiting/calling the adult service desk at 508-457-2555 x7.