Category Archives: From the Library – A Weekly Column

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli’s column in the May 17, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

As my 61st birthday raced past me this year, I was reminded of the occasion of my 8th birthday. That spring, my mother planned a butterfly birthday for me. This special day, as all my birthdays were, included a handmade dress. Colorful butterflies adorned the yellow polished cotton. The dress had a sash that was tied crisply at the back of the waist and its short-sleeves were perfect the California weather in May. That day, I most certainly wore turned-down lace-trimmed socks and my black, patent-leather Mary Janes.

Living in the college town of Berkeley, California was one of my childhood’s treasured experiences. School friends from my local public elementary school were comprised from nationalities across the world. Some were daughters of graduate students or professors. Others had parents who were missionaries and scientists. More were from families like mine with fathers in blue-color jobs and mothers who stayed at home. In short, my friends that year were as varied as the multicolored butterflies on that birthday dress.In addition to my dress, there were gifts wrapped in butterfly paper, butterfly decorations and an unforgettable homemade birthday cake.

In 1959, General Mills published the “Baker’s Coconut Animal Cut-up Cake book.” All the cakes in it were baked from scratch in round, rectangular and square pans. The baked cakes were cut up and arranged in animal shapes (or, in my case, an insect). They were then frosted and decorated.
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Norma Logan is the Literacy Coordinator at the Morrill Memorial Library. Read the published version of Norma’s column in the May 10, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Mother’s Day is right around the corner with the promise of flowers, warm sunny days and the time to reflect on the state of being that the holiday celebrates.  In reality, motherhood is a rollercoaster ride of joy, fear, hope, anticipation, energy and weariness.   American society and culture have changed over the years, and life has, in many ways, become more complicated.  However, the basic emotional ties of mothers to their sons and daughters, I believe, are ageless.

Since my daughter became a mother four years ago, I have watched her and my grandson, remembering some things and not remembering others.  I have been careful about giving her advice except, as always the educator, to tell her that it is never too early to read to him. I look for books that I can recommend to her from the professionals, much like I gravitated to the Dr. Spock books in the 70’s.

This adventure took me on a different course than I would have suspected.  At the same time I had been doing some genealogical research that led me to learn more about mothers of our founding fathers, and I saw a very interesting connection between famous men and their relationships with their mothers.

The Raising of a President by Doug Wead begins with Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “God bless my mother, all I am or ever hope to be I owe to her” and continues into chapters about the Roosevelts, the Kennedys and the Bushes.  George H. W. Bush is quoted as saying, “Dad taught us about duty and service.  Mother taught us about dealing with life”.

Especially poignant and interesting is Cokie Roberts’, popular Founding Mothers.  Her introduction states that her interest in historical women was born of family stories and genealogical knowledge, as well.  She writes of mothers who raised our nation like Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, and Deborah Road Franklin and their influence on future generations.

First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents by Bonie Angelo, tells the stories of  Sara Roosevelt, Martha Truman, Ida Eisenhower, Rose Kennedy, Hannah Nixon, Dorothy Ford, Lillian Carter, Virginia Clinton, Nelle Reagan, and Dorothy Bush.

Apart from historical mothers, a  new book, What a Difference a Mom Makes: The Indelible Imprint a Mom Leaves on her Son’s Life by Dr. Kevin Leman,  is a no nonsense advice book about raising boys to be men in a contemporary world.

Whether you are a new mom, a seasoned mother with older children looking for advice, or even a history buff, you can find lots of Mom books at the library.  Interestingly, they all echo the importance that a mother’s life and influence has on her son.   As a famous artist once said about his mother, “When I was a child, my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope.’  Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”

Happy Mother’s Day!

Read the published version of Charlotte Canelli’s column in the May 3, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

When I was a very young child, my mother whisked my brother and me from Massachusetts to a brand-new life on the Northern California coast. About a month later, a moving van deposited our family’s modest trove of clothing, pastimes and treasures into our new home in Berkeley. As a little girl, I was much more absorbed in in my own sorely-missed belongings and I hardly noticed my mother unwrapping her own treasures, tucking them into cabinets and closets.

Nevertheless, over the years, I became keenly acquainted with most of these family heirlooms. The Taft Family Revolutionary War sword and the Bruce Family Civil War medals were displayed with much pride. My great-grandmother’s hand-sewn quilt lay in a chest wrapped in tissue. Six antique glass goblets and a matching pitcher sat front and center in a china cabinet, rarely used.
I admit those glasses never impressed me much. They were stout and thick and bore lines up the stems. Stored in a cabinet, the sunlight never emphasized the fine honeycomb pattern that covered their bowls.

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Read the published version of Charlotte Canelli’s column in the April 26, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Today everything seems to be big business. Music, sports, the film industry, beauty and even education (with its online colleges and professional degrees) are some of today’s big businesses. And let’s not forget health care, one of the fastest-growing businesses today.

Big businesses always begin as a small business; often it is the result of a good idea of one or several entrepreneurs. And plenty of hard work.

Over a century and a half ago, four men were creating some of what would become the biggest businesses in the United States in the 20th Century. They were Andrew Carnegie (steel), John D. Rockefeller (oil), J.P. Morgan (banking) and Jay Gould (railroads). (more…)