My good friend and neighbor, Brian Sanborn, and I were feeling (like everyone was) worn down by the pandemic as we headed into the Spring of 2021. We’d both been through our share of Zoom calls, rapid tests and masked-up, pared-down, outdoor, socially distanced get togethers with family and friends. That’s when we hatched a plan.

Both eager novices in the world of playing ukulele and both cancer survivors, we wondered, could we build a uke (or two or more) and give it as a gift – no strings (pun intended) attached – to someone fighting cancer?

I had tried building one myself (see my left thumb for proof of my trial, error and self-inflicted injuries) but could we, together, enjoy the fun of building but then (as it is hard to explain to wives why one needs more than a few ukuleles in one’s house) give them away to a cause we believe in?

Thus was hatched “SanZilius Ukuleles – Ukes Against Cancer.”  The idea is simple. When we have the time, aren’t too busy, aren’t too lazy, etc., we hand build ukuleles, one at a time, and give them to folks fighting cancer as we have both fought in our own respective pasts. (We’re firmly entrenching in our anti-cancer stance and we don’t care who knows it :- ) If you’re looking for us, we’re on Facebook and always searching for fellow survivors who might find enjoyment in a SanZilius Uke (though please keep in mind my earlier point that we are limited in how many we are able to build). Let us know if you know someone who you think would enjoy a lovingly crafted uke from a couple fellow survivors! There is absolutely no requirement that they have a musical background and no expectations that they need to commit to learning to play. The entirety of our hope is that the uke bring some joy and if it does kick off a love of ukuleles or any musical instrument, really, so much the better!

So, Dan, what does this have to do with the library that we all love? Great question; thank you for asking!

First, have you ever tried playing a uke? They are tremendous fun! In fact, there’s a famous saying that it is very hard not to smile while playing a uke! But who wants to buy one if it turns out it isn’t for you? Some folks make the mistake of buying an extremely cheap uke (like the ones you might see in a beach tourist shop) that is more of a child’s toy than an instrument. That can be unfortunate as those are usually nearly impossible to keep even sort-of in tune, and nothing is more discouraging to a new player than their music sounding bad due to a very poor-quality instrument. That said, I will note that a basic model from a music store can hold its pitch properly and sound lovely (and is far cheaper than other instruments like guitars and violins) – but why spend any amount on something before you even know if it suits you?

Enter the LIBRARY OF THINGS!  For those who don’t know, this is one of the incredibly cool… ahem… things that our wonderful Norwood Library offers. You can literally check out a uke (including an instruction book, too) any time you like and give it a try. Total cost? $0! And it’s not just ukuleles. The Library of Things contains an amazing assortment of items. There are lots of other musical instruments from guitars to drums to triangles to cow bells! And there’s a lot more than that, with items as diverse as Bocce Ball sets, Steamers to remove old wallpaper and Tarot Cards!

And while you’re at it, you can also look into the excellent selection of books the library carries both on specific topics, like Ukulele for Dummies, to music instruction videos, or even just books on music in general, like David Byrne’s book How Music Works which is available as an e-book via the Libby app. It’s all there at your fingertips! Finally, keep an eye out for the library’s varied and wonderful programming around music, from live performances to classes. There have even been a few beginner ukulele classes over the years!

So there you have it. Likely not surprising to many of the library’s patrons, it is just the place for budding ukulele and other musicians to get a taste of what can be (trust me) a long and happy obsession.

Dan Corzilius is the President of the Friends of the Norwood Library. Look for his article in the April 7, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

I remember sitting in the Introduction to Library Sciences class at Simmons as my professor waxed philosophic about the perception of librarians as portrayed in pop culture. Although I’m not one for relying on wide-sweeping generalizations and I like to think that we all bring something special to the table, I nevertheless concede that there are certain qualities that are common among many librarians – and probably steer people to the profession in the first place. For me one such attribute, above all others, is curiosity. It is followed closely behind by a love of learning, including quirky information that might sound improbable. Brief aside: in Mark Twain’s Following the Equator, one of the chapter epigraphs is, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.” I heartily agree with this notion, and can confirm from my participation in writing workshops that a writer is asked to defend artistic choices more than this world was ever asked to defend some of the events that have actually happened. But I digress.

My ongoing quest for fun facts is perhaps why I take such delight in trivia night at our local watering hole. The proprietors there hired a fellow who hosts weekly trivia at various locations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Andrew has clearly found his calling; his resonant voice carries over the chatter of the bar and the witty running monologue he maintains makes it sometimes seem that he’s having even more fun than we are. The term trivia might be a misnomer, given that the game’s first round is current events – and for anyone paying attention for the last several years, such happenings have been anything but trivial. Yet this element of the evening is one of the many things I appreciate about the experience: it offers a safe and structured platform for acknowledging what’s happening in the world while warding off any lengthier or weightier political debates by virtue of its position as the first round in the series. It is followed by a picture round, geography/history/sports, a music round and a general knowledge round. In short, there’s something for everyone.

One of the other elements of the evening that I enjoy is observing how team members shine in certain subjects. New music is the purview of our youngest member; we dread the times when she isn’t there and collectively mutter her name under our breaths with every sound sample that is followed by our blank looks and subsequent blank spaces on the answer sheet. Another of us is the history and geography buff, while my husband’s mind retains all things movie-related. Like a few others, I’m more of a generalist, although I have my moments with movies and music. Sometimes we all know an answer; sometimes none of us do. Noting a deficit in our team’s knowledge of presidents, my husband and I decided to brush up on the subject. After weeks of using nary a fact we’d learned, we were finally able to contribute the name of the B-29 bomber (Enola Gay) that delivered the atomic weapon Little Boy on Hiroshima at Truman’s order. There again is a topic that cannot be considered trivial by any standard. Whenever we have differing answers, the team tries to follow a process whereby we hear the rationale for each answer and vote on which one to submit. Occasionally we fall short of this ideal, as was the case one night last month when someone suggested what turned out to be the correct answer after we had jotted down our initial guess (canary) and which will hereafter be known as the Unfortunate Penguin Episode. Yet during our long, pandemic-imposed hiatus I realized that however trifling trivia is, the social support of this humble hobby is significant to me. I now enjoy this and other gatherings like my grandmother probably savored sugar after the Great Depression – with a deeper appreciation and with the knowledge that even the ordinary things we take for granted can be taken away. The not-so-trivial lesson here is that we should make hay while the sun shines.

If you’re looking to get into the trivia game, the library is of course your one-stop shop for information of all sorts. That said, you might not have the time to read a book on every subject, which is where compilations will come in handy. Minuteman has a variety of these, such as The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, which covers dozens of fields of endeavor, and the more specific Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, which focuses on world literature. Such offerings are useful stepping off points if you’re not sure where to begin. If, however, you’d like to look up particulars on a certain subject, the library has numerous online databases including the useful Britannica Library and Biography in Context. There is also an abundance of books on very specific topics, from Ranking the Vice Presidents to The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time. You can test your knowledge with Did You Know? Ultimate Trivia Book, a compact volume with 150 quizzes. One quirky resource I discovered in my search is the Timeless Trivia DVD series, which features old film clips, historic photos and quizzes. Available episodes include Famous Faces, Famous Places and Advertising Slogans, Jingles and Taglines. Now that libraries are lending physical items through Library of Things collections, you can even borrow Trivial Pursuit: Book Lover’s Edition, and Lit Wit: 100 Trivia Cards to Boost Your Books Smarts.

One word of advice: standalone facts learned only once then not revisited are unlikely to stick. Many’s the time I’ve discovered an interesting fact that later eludes me on trivia night. After doing some reading about memory, I’ve taken to creating mnemonic devices for the information I hope to remember. If you’re looking to level up your trivia game by improving your memory, I recommend Joshua Foer’s entertaining and informative account, Moonwalking with Einstein: the Art and Science of Remembering Everything.

Kirstie David is the Literacy/Outreach Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 31, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

Mask? Check. Short-sleeved sweater? Check. Wool lap blanket? Check. Wool hat? Check. Thick socks? Check. Earphones and phone fully charged? Check. Left-hand glove? Tums? Iron pills? Check check check.

This is my checklist for assembling my accessories bag when donating platelets. The onset of the pandemic in the US in early 2020 led to an immediate drop in blood donations to the Red Cross. At the same time, I and many other people were feeling powerless to help our overwhelmed medical systems, so when the Red Cross began pleading for donors to help replenish dwindling blood supplies, I started donating again – something I hadn’t done with any regularity for years. Then, during the 2022 holiday season, news outlets ran stories about how rising COVID concerns were once again leading to record-low donation rates and supplies of blood and blood products.

One marketing campaign in particular caught my eye: how to make the biggest impact with your donation, based on blood type. Donating blood is wonderful, giving, and absolutely vital to saving lives. Blood drives are scheduled for easy access in community centers, churches, workplaces, and empty storefronts throughout our communities, plus the Red Cross operates various regional dedicated donation centers. Many hospitals, clinics, and medical centers will also happily take donations, so you can give directly where blood donations are needed.

Blood is the most familiar kind of donation people are aware of, and one of the quickest. According to the Red Cross, someone in the US needs blood every two seconds, including accident and burn victims, sickle cell and surgery patients, and organ recipients. However, whole blood is only one way to give to help save lives, and while whole blood donations from every blood time are appreciated, some blood types can do even more good by making different kinds of donations.

The Red Cross takes several types of blood product donations: whole blood, Power Red, plasma and platelets. Power Red donations are concentrated donations of red blood cells and are typically given to trauma patients, newborns and emergency transfusions during birth, people with sickle cell anemia, and anyone suffering blood loss. Recommended donors include those with O positive, O negative, A negative, and B negative blood types. Plasma is most often taken from AB positive and AB negative donors because plasma from these blood types can, somewhat counterintuitively, be given to all other blood types. Plasma donations, also known as AB Elite donations, are used in emergency and trauma situations to help stop bleeding. Platelets are the tiny cells in your blood that allow you to clot to stop bleeding after an injury, and in a hospital setting they are a vital element of cancer treatments and organ transplant procedures, as well as other surgical procedures. Ideal blood types for platelet donations are A positive, A negative, B positive, O positive, AB positive, and AB negative.

Seeing that my maximum impact as a donor can be made by donating platelets, I made my first trip to a donation center on Christmas Day 2022. At a platelet donation, you first meet with a technician (aka phlebotomist, aka rock star) and are screened for any health concerns to make sure you’re well enough to donate. You have a chance to ask any questions about the donation process, and then after a quick trip to the bathroom (I sincerely recommend taking the offer of a restroom pitstop), you’re settled into a lounging chair and hooked up to an apheresis machine. This machine separates out your platelets and a little bit of plasma and returns the rest of your blood back into your body. At the end of your donation you get a snack before heading on your merry way.

 If you meet all the eligibility criteria for donating blood and you have the time – the entire visit can take 2.5-3 hours – I recommend giving platelets at least once to get the experience. And, if you make it through your first donation, try it again; platelets can only be stored for a few days before they must be used, and many cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy cannot continue their treatments without receiving platelet donations.

And why do I need to go into the donation center armed to the teeth with technology and cold weather gear? I take an iron supplement the day before and the day of my donation because occasionally I don’t meet the Red Cross’s baseline measure of hemoglobin. The donation center keeps a steady supply of Tums on hand because donors sometimes report a tingling numbness sensation – I usually feel it in my lips and tongue – that is caused by a chemical used in the apheresis process. After all, platelets are the cell that causes blood to clot therefore by nature are quite sticky, and the center needs to make sure your platelet donation doesn’t clot before it can be used. Thus, a chemical is used to suspend these cells in solution, and a little can be introduced back into your blood system. Calcium, a major ingredient of Tums, quickly counteracts the resultant tingling sensation.

The donation process can altogether take up to 3 hours, but donors can expect to be sitting in the donation chair for just over an hour to just over 2 hours, on average. Most centers provide streaming services and a DVD player for donors to watch shows and movies, but personally I have found audiobooks borrowed from the library to be the best boredom busters; visit Libby or Hoopla to browse our latest selection.

Finally, and for me this is the most unusual part of the platelet donation process, dressing in warm clothing and covering in blankets is one of the most important steps for the donor, since the donation process actually makes you cold. During platelet donation blood is drawn from one arm, run through the apheresis machine to separate the platelets, and then returned to your other arm. Your blood isn’t in the machine for long but it’s outside of your body long enough to begin cooling down, and when it’s reintroduced your body starts to cool from the inside out. It is essential that you don’t move your arms at all during the process, and I’ve found that the hand of my return arm (my left) must be gloved to stay warm.

Give donation a try, whatever form that donation takes. There is a constant need for blood units for patients yet only about 3% of age-eligible adults give each year, according to the Red Cross. In addition to the Red Cross, many hospitals and medical centers also take donations, so inquire locally or ask your doctor to find other donation locations. Every little bit helps, and it’s a powerful thing.

Liz Reed is the Head of the Adult Services Department at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 17, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

Being a librarian and compulsive reader, Norwood’s 150th anniversary celebrations made me think about the role books have played in the lives of Norwood residents over the years. Donated to the town by Mr. and Mrs. George H. Morrill in memory of their daughter Sarah Bond Morrill, Morrill Memorial Library has been serving Norwood residents since 1898. The Morrill family began manufacturing printing ink here before 1872 and had fourteen buildings in Norwood when they donated the library. During Norwood’s 50th anniversary in 1922, books were an important source of income and employment for residents at various socioeconomic levels. At that time Norwood was home to several printing companies and related industries, including a textile manufacturer and tanneries making fabric and leather for book covers.

To say entertainment options were much different than they are today would be an understatement. In 1922 reading books, magazines, and newspapers was a large part of what Americans could do to entertain themselves during any at home leisure time. The 1920s were the start of the Golden Age of Radio. Listening to the news, sports, music, and other programs on the radio was an option for homes that could afford the technology. In addition to radios, Victrolas and other early record players could also be found in private homes in 1922. Commercial television broadcasting was very limited until after World War II but by the mid-1950s TV had become the dominant medium. VCRs and cable TV didn’t appear in homes until in the mid-1970s. Cassette tapes came out in the 1960s and Sony’s first Walkman in the late 1970s. CDs followed in the early 1980s and DVDs in the late 1990s. Without the ability to record and watch on demand offered by VCRs and DVRs, TV broadcast schedules meant if you weren’t available during scheduled air time, you missed your program.

I was curious about what people might have been reading in 1922 and 1972 so I did some research into what books won awards or were published in those years. One author had books published in both years – Agatha Christie. Secret Adversary was published in 1922 and Elephants Can Remember in 1972. Mysteries are an enduring genre! Mysteries aside, reading tastes and society have changed quite a bit in the last 100 years so I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I started looking.

The Newbery Award, given by the American Library Association for distinguished contributions to American literature for children, was first awarded in 1922. I don’t think families today are reading Award Winner The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Willem van Loon or Honor Book The Windy Hill by Cornelia Meigs. However, at least one non-award-winning children’s book published in 1922 remains a beloved classic, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

As for adult books from 1922, few readers remember Pulitzer Prize winning author Booth Tarkington although his win for Alice Adams was his second Pulitzer. James Joyce’s Ulysses, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf on the other hand are still found on many high school and college literature reading lists. Fitzgerald had two titles out in 1922: The Beautiful and the Damned, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The latter was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt in 2008.

Two other titles from that year saw success on the screen. John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga has been made into a miniseries twice, in 1967 and again in 2002. Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April was made into a movie in 1991. 

Emily Post’s first etiquette book was published in 1922. There was a large market for etiquette books in the twentieth century and Post’s books were updated frequently to reflect changing social situations. Emily Post’s great-great-granddaughter Lizzie Post co-authored the 19th edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette published in 2017.

Children’s books from 1972 seem to have stood the test of time better than those from 1922. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien won the Newbery Award in 1972. Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Tombs of Atuan was a Newbery Honor Book that year. Marjorie W. Sharmat’s Nate the Great series began in 1972. Picture book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst remains popular as well.

Pulitzer Prize winners that year included: Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash for biography and Neither Black nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States by Carl N. Degler for history. Many authors whose names we recognize including: Isaac Asimov (The Gods Themselves), Michael Crichton (The Terminal Man), David Halberstam (The Best and the Brightest), P.D. James (An Unsuitable Job for a Woman), and David McCullough (The Great Bridge) had books published in 1972.

By 1972, the New York Times Best Seller list had been in existence for forty years. I found titles many readers have heard of, even if they haven’t read them. Although published in 1971, Herman Wouk’s Winds of War spent much of 1972 at the top of the list. Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Arthur Hailey’s Wheels also appeared on the list that year.

The popular current PBS series All Creatures Great and Small is based on a book published in 1972. The name of the program is also the first title in a series of books by James Alfred Wight, pen name James Herriot. It was originally made into a TV series in the late 1970s starring Robert Hardy and Peter Davidson. The second season of the current adaptation just aired on PBS in January of this year.

Check out these titles or others we’ve gathered from these Norwood anniversary years. For those of you who prefer technology over hard copy, some of the titles are available as audiobooks and/or e-books. If you do read or listen using digital media, remember such technology was the stuff of science fiction for Norwood residents in 1922 and 1972.

Victoria Andrilenas is a Reference Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the March 10, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

One of the truly great gifts humans are given is a drive to learn. Whether learning a new task for a job, a foreign language, or just pursuing a personal interest, we are always learning and taking in new information from which we can build knowledge. It is exactly that knowledge, and subsequently applying it to various situations that, in turn, builds wisdom.

This gift of learning is our most valuable trait because it fans those sparks of curiosity that develop into an interest in engaging with the world around us. It doesn’t matter what area of interest you may have, from learning about one’s heritage and ancestry, to classical literature, to cutting edge modern-day science and medicine, as long as you are keeping your mind active and engaged, you are growing and expanding your horizons.

I’ve often stated that if I could be paid to learn, that would be the greatest job in the world. I can think of no more exciting work than learning about a given topic of interest, to gain knowledge about things I find interesting, and to sustain my mind with the impetus to puzzle over things, to think about the “how” and the “why” of a particular subject, to realize an understanding of what had, prior to my investigations, seemed either confusing or unclear.

One of my many interests lies in the fields of Cosmology and Astrophysics; learning about how our universe may have come into being, why time flows as we experience it, and about the biggest, baddest, kids on the universal block – black holes. Modern physics and cosmology have provided us with absolutely mind-bending interpretations of how our universe works, grows, and develops over time. How our universe suddenly burst into being from a seemingly completely empty higher-dimensional void through some random quantum jitters that infused an infinitesimally minute area with energy, forcing a rapid expansion that created space itself, filled with searing radiation that, as it cooled, resulted in the wash of hydrogen and helium particles that eventually allowed for the creation of galaxies, stars, planets, and, thankfully, us. Beings that can now think about the environment in which they exist, and how we are a part of a much greater picture than our mere backyard, or tiny planet in a suburb of our Milky Way galaxy.

Interestingly, this love of Cosmology came to me through serendipitous discovery. I had always had an interest in space since I was very young, and I recall that the first career I ever wanted was to be an astronaut. Yet, because I couldn’t stand math, that desire was never anything more than an unattainable dream, and thus my interest in space always took a backseat to more pressing needs and realistic goals. However, one night I happened to be channel surfing and came across a PBS special on the program Nova. This program was called The Fabric of the Cosmos, and its host and author was a physicist named Brian Greene. I was absolutely enthralled by the new research and discoveries that have informed our modern understanding of the universe and its constituents. Greene’s narrative style opened up the world of modern-day cosmological thinking and new scientific fact. No knowledge of complex math was needed, and aside from an ability to think logically, and from a philosophical perspective, there was no heavy intellectual lifting required. This program was a pivotal point in my renewed love of science and space that has stuck with me for over 15 years and counting.

You can find this program for free through Hoopla, one of Morrill Memorial Library’s many electronic resource providers. I encourage you to check it out, as it could also spark, or revive, a similar interest for you. Yet, this is not the end of the story; this program was, for me, a motivation to continue learning about the ideas and perspectives raised by Greene’s program. I subsequently read the book of the same title, and then pursued other books by Brian Greene to continue to engage with the topic. As well, I began looking over other titles in the physics section, and before I knew it, my appetite for works about cosmology only continued to grow.

My research also led me to the work of Neil deGrasse Tyson, a popular host of numerous programs and books about physics and cosmology. His work entitled Astrophysics for People in a Hurry was a great read, and not nearly as daunting, from a mathematical point of view, as one might expect from the title.  This work, and others by Tyson, are available through the library’s electronic resources providers, Overdrive and the Libby app. Tyson also has an offering through The Great Courses, a provider of professor-taught lessons presented in a lecture format. These learning resources are all available to you at no cost, and all you need to access them is your library card!

I also greatly enjoyed the movie Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey. This film explores a potential future where the earth’s agricultural capabilities have collapsed due to a “blight” on crops, and the need for humanity to move beyond the earth to survive as a species. The film was produced with careful attention to the latest scientific understanding of black holes, interstellar travel, and the gravitational force. Indeed, there is so much science in this movie that it left me with more questions than answers. Then, one day, while perusing the physics shelf at a local bookstore, I discovered a book entitled The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne, a physicist who worked closely with Stephen Hawking. This title is fantastic, as it explores, both clearly and deeply, the science fact and careful thought that the film’s producers, directors, and consultants applied in bringing this epic story of exploration and discovery to the big screen.

James Perlman is the Information Technology and Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for his article in the March 3, 2022 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.