HPL Blogs

The final lineup of panelists and performers has been set for HPL’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration, taking place on Monday, October 12 at 6 pm.

The program, called “Indigenous Futures,” will be shown live on HPL’s Facebook Page.

This Indigenous Peoples’ day join HPL and the Greater Hartford Arts Council to hear local Indigenous peoples’ visions for tomorrow. Over the summer we saw Indigenous artists and organizers shifting culture and society in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement: taking down statues of Christopher Columbus and other colonizers around the world, continuing to fight for and win legal victories in land treaties, and changing the name of the Washington Football Team are just a few examples. How do we continue decolonizing the land, our communities, as well as our minds and hearts? What does a pro-Indigenous future look like? Hear perspectives from Indigenous artists, academics, and community leaders.

Featuring panelists Meghanlata Gupta, Melissa Wesaw, Kaleb Garrett, Leslie Caromile, Mark Allen, and moderated by Patricia Kelley.

Featuring performances from Lee Mixashawn Rozie and Bobby Sanchez.

Panelist and Artist Bios:

Meghanlata Gupta (Bahweting Anishinaabe, Mikinaak Doodem) is a current senior at Yale University and president of the Association of Native Americans at Yale. Her research and organizing work focuses on Indigenous education, history, and advocacy. She is the founder of Indigenizing the News, a digital magazine dedicated to Indigenous contemporary news.

Kaleb J Garrett is a Hartford resident of mixed heritage. He is African American and Native American of Nansemond, Haliwa Saponi and Tuscarora tribes.

Melissa Wesaw is a member of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation located in Kent, Connecticut. Wesaw graduated from Rivier College with my B.A., then attended PLSI in Albuquerque, New Mexico and obtained a law degree at Michigan State University College of Law. After law school Wesaw worked as an attorney on the Wind River Reservation as a public defender and a prosecutor for child support. Wesaw now lives in Connecticut with her husband and children.

Patricia Kelley is a former U.S. marine, award-winning community leader and equestrian trailblazer with a storied history as a Black cowgirl, Patricia E. Kelly has been at the helm of the Hartford, CT-based non-profit youth organization Ebony Horsewomen, Inc. Equestrian & Agricultural Center for the past 30+ years.

Lee Mixashawn Rozie is an internationally known jazz performer, educator, grandfather and longtime resident of Hartford. From the community known as the Windsor Indians.

Bobby Sanchez is Peruvian American born and raised in New York.  Sanchez is a full time performing artist, performing mostly poetry and hip hop music, teaching music & poetry workshops at New York Schools, and curating local shows in the NY area.

Mark Allen

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There were two things artist George Sweetland was sure about when he was growing up – that he wanted to work with kids and that drawing was a huge part of his life.

Sweetland is sharing his artistic gifts with the Hartford Public Library community. He has created a set of cuddly monsters, called the Mammoth Monster Squad, which have taken up residence in the children’s room. The monsters made their first appearance last year as part of a HPL/Boundless science curriculum, serving as the amusing sidekicks to the lessons.

As a kid growing up in Portland, Sweetland watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, and He-Man. He liked the old stop-action Sinbad movies. He loved comic books. “With that and the action figures, my imagination was going all the time,” said Sweetland, a 37-year-old third grade teacher at Buckley Elementary School in Manchester.

It was the joyful anarchy of Maurice Sendak’s drawings in “Where The Wild Things Are” that made Sweetland believe that his hobby of drawing fantastical images of monsters could become something more.

He grew up, went to Eastern Connecticut State University, majored in theatre, decided to become an elementary school teacher. Throughout all of it, he never left drawing behind. It was just a matter of how this love was going to manifest itself. “For a long time, I kept my art to myself,” he said.

Sweetland sketched with colored pencils, finding that there were limits to what he could accomplish in that medium. It was only a few years ago, with the development of the Procreate app for IPad that he was able to truly make the art he imagined.

Rest assured, Sweetland’s monsters are far from scary. The line drawings are whimsical and inventive, the personalities of each character leaping off the page. The colors are bright and the overall sensibility is playful.

“I like to play with shapes,” he said. Sweetland’s monsters are often squares or cylindrical with large round eyes. “I want them to look like something that a kid would never be scared to go near, a monster that would be their friend … I hope that (a kid who sees his work) will want to pick up a pencil and draw too.”

Sweetland likes to ground his work in something realistic and introduce the fantastical element as a twist. He grabs the ideas for his work everywhere. The list of mock book covers on his website show the breadth of his imagination – “The Neighborhood Dragon,” “Got Ducks,” and “The Everyday Life of a Superhero.” They might just be covers and ideas now, but Sweetland fully intends to write those stories.

“They come from my head and places I don’t know,” Sweetland said.

Sweetland loves being a third grade teacher – and said that his students are often his best focus group. His long term dream is to be a full time children’s book author and illustrator, yet one more way he believes he can have a positive impact on the lives of children. The path is a difficult one. He has certainly experienced his share of rejection. But he believes that thanks to his immersion in the world of picture books at schools and his own fortitude, the future is bright.

“Things are starting to pick up a bit more for me,” he said. “You have to stay true to yourself and you can’t give up. I took (the rejection) as motivation to keep pushing myself. If I can keep working on this, I’ll find an agent who will believe in my work. If you keep working hard, things will happen.”

There are some nights Sweetland’s wife will call him to bed. It will be about 10:30 or so. He’ll be working, immersed in his drawing, the pen and pencils capturing the visions in his mind, and he’ll assure her he’ll be up in a few minutes. Before he knows it, it’s 1:30 am, the monsters are dancing across the page and Sweetland is happy. “It brings me to a place like nothing else does,” Sweetland said.

For more information about George’s work, visit georgesweetland.org.

By Steve Scarpa, Manager of Communications and Public Relations

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Hartford Public Library received a $211,194 grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund a new digital literacy training program.

“This was a very competitive process, and our success in securing federal grants is a testament to the reputation, proven results, grant writing skills and experience of our This American Place staff, under the leadership of Homa Naficy,” said Bridget Quinn-Carey, Hartford Public Library’s president and CEO.

The funded projects were selected from 1,701 applications. The grants will support only 68 museum and library service projects that will take place over the next two years.

The funding will enable HPL to provide critical digital literacy skills training for Hartford residents.

In Hartford, a city with a poverty rate of 31%, the Digital Divide continues to be a pervasive issue and contributes to the persistent opportunity gap facing large segments of our community. The share of Hartford households with Internet access is 57.7% and at least 20,000 households are without Internet access.

“Unsurprisingly, those areas with the least connectivity are also the most economically disadvantaged,” Quinn-Carey said.

In addition, the pandemic has exposed the fact that U.S. industries are lacking in employing adequate numbers of skilled workers able to respond to the high demand for services and goods related to keeping healthcare workers, patients and the general public, healthy and secure. HPL’s training program will join the effort to create and advance programs that expand economic opportunities for workers and their families while boosting local businesses’ capacity.

The training will utilize a flexible Blended Learning approach, combining online educational coursework with remote live daily tutoring, including weekends and evenings. “We believe, individualized attention provides our learners not only with academic and technical support, but more importantly, it offers ongoing encouragement during these difficult times,” said Homa Naficy, executive director of The American Place.

This project will deliver integrated digital and industry-certificate trainings. It will target low income adults enrolled/enrolling in a high school diploma or certificate training program. It will prioritize those individuals residing in Hartford’s federally designated Promise Zone, which encompasses one of the highest rates of poverty and digital exclusion in the region and nation.

The online coursework provides lessons in computer basic literacies and productivity skills as well as industry certificate trainings. The coursework may be completed at the Library or any place with Internet access. Once enrolled, progress is monitored by staff from The American Place. Students will be contacted regularly to make sure they are on track to finish the program in a timely manner.

“Digital literacy is more than just an educational concern. The pervasiveness of the digital divide is a social justice issue, preventing the vulnerable in our communities from improving their lives and providing for their families. The fallout from this problem is wide-reaching. This program will allow HPL to address the problem directly. By helping to increase people’s skills, we hope to make a large impact on the quality of life in all of Hartford,” Quinn-Carey said.

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Hartford Public Library, in partnership with the Greater Hartford Arts Council, will host a conversation and performance called “Indigenous Futures” taking place on Monday, October 12 at 6 pm

This event will celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day and was planned in collaboration with local Indigenous HPL patrons and the Greater Hartford Arts Council Artist Advisory Committee. The event will feature poetry readings and musical performances, will be streamed live on HPL’s Facebook channel.

This Indigenous Peoples’ day, hear local Indigenous peoples’ visions for tomorrow. This summer we saw Indigenous artists and organizers shifting culture and society in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement: taking down statues of Christopher Columbus and other colonizers around the world, continuing to fight for and win legal victories in land treaties, and changing the name of the Washington Football Team are just a few examples. How do we continue decolonizing the land, our communities, as well as our minds and hearts? What does a pro-Indigenous future look like? Hear perspectives from Indigenous artists, academics, and community leaders.

“Hartford Public Library and the Greater Hartford Arts Council recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day by celebrating and highlighting local Indigenous artists and hosting a space for connection and education around issues important to Indigenous communities in Connecticut. We are especially interested in hearing how local Indigenous people are visioning the future of their communities and how all of us can support those visions,” said Liz Castle, HPL’s programmingmanager.

Featuring panelists Meghanlata Gupta, Kaleb Garrett, and others.

Lee Mixashawn Rozie

And featuring performances from Indigenous artists Bobby Sanchez, Lee Mixashawn Rozie, and others.

Panelist Bios

Meghanlata Gupta is an Indian and Ojibwe student at Yale University and works at the Native American Cultural Center. Her research and organizing work sits at the intersections of Indigenous advocacy, histories, and storytelling. She is also the founder of Indigenizing the News, a digital magazine dedicated to increasing Indigenous visibility in the news media and education.

Kaleb J Garrett is a Hartford resident of mixed heritage. He is African American and Native American of Nansemond, Haliwa Saponi and Tuscarora tribes.

Bobby Sanchez is a two spirit poet from New York. They are a performing artist, performing mostly poetry and hip hop music. They also teach music & poetry workshops in schools, and curate local shows in the NY area.

Lee Mixashawn Rozie is a practicing multi-disciplinary and internationally acclaimed Jazz artist. Mr. Rozie holds a degree in History and Ethnomusicology from Trinity College and is equally at home in academic and cultural settings. Beginning from the point of Indigenous artist, using ancient cultural principles, maritime arts and historical data, both written and oral, he has developed a system of “Hemispheric Principles” to inform and guide his artform, more directly referred to as “Wave Art” : sonic, aquatic percussive and harmonic.

For more information about Hartford Public Library, visit hplct.org.

For more information about the Greater Hartford Arts Council, visit letsgoarts.org.

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In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Graciela Rivera, branch manager of the Park Street Library and curator of HPL’s Spanish language collection, has put together a collection of important fiction and non-fiction books written by Hispanic/Latino authors.

“When I think of Hispanic Heritage month, I think of an array of Hispanic/Latino authors who although they may not live here, have made an impact on the United States through their writing,” Rivera said.

FICTION

You Had me at Hola by Alexis Daria, ** HPL staff favorite

“Alexis Daria is a native New Yorker and award-winning author writing stories about successful Latinx characters and their (occasionally messy) familias. Her debut TAKE THE LEAD won the 2018 RITA® Award for “Best First Book” and was one of the “Best Romance Novels of 2017″ in The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly”. (info. from Amazon.com). Available at HPL as hardcopy from Barbour.

With the Fire on High, by Elizabeth Acevedo

“Elizabeth Acevedo is a slam poetry champion whose sophomore novel With the Fire on Highleaves no doubt that Acevedo is an author to watch. This book follows Emoni, an Afro-Dominican chef-in-training and teen mother set on pursuing her culinary dreams. This book is an ode to family, food, and forging your own path.” (info. from themujerista.com). Available at HPL as an audio book, ebook, and hardcopy.

Halsey Street, by Naima Coster

“A debut novel from Dominican-American writer Naima Coster. In a vivid, realist style, Halsey Street blends African American and Latin American narratives of gentrification and immigration. The story carefully examines complicated family relationships, love, art, and healing.”(info. from themujerista.com). Four hardcopies available at HPL.

“Afterlife” by Julia Alvarez

“A literature professor tries to rediscover who she is after the sudden death of her husband, even as a series of family and political jolts force her to ask what we owe those in crisis in our families, biological or otherwise”– Provided by publisher. Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults.” (info. from Amazon). 3 hardcopies available at HPL. HPL also owns copies of all of Julia Alvarez’s books.

Mario Vargas Llosa, “Feast of the Goat”

Haunted all her life by feelings of terror and emptiness, forty-nine-year-old Urania Cabral returns to her native Dominican Republic – and finds herself reliving the events of l961, when the capital was still called Trujillo City and one old man terrorized a nation of three million. Rafael Trujillo, the depraved ailing dictator whom Dominicans call the Goat, controls his inner circle with a combination of violence and blackmail. (Amazon.com)

Noble Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer who is one of the most significant Latin American personalities of his generation. He is also a politician, journalist and essayist. Llosa was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature. (www.famousauthors.org) Two hardcopies available at HPL in English, and two hardcopies available in Spanish.

NON-FICTION

​Reyna Grande. A Dream Called Home: A Memoir.

“An inspiring account of one woman’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time. Told in Reyna’s exquisite, heartfelt prose, A Dream Called Home demonstrates how, by daring to pursue her dreams, Reyna was able to build the one thing she had always longed for: a home that would endure.” (info. from Amazon). Twenty-five hardcopies available at HPL.

*Please note Reyna Grande was HPL’s Beyond Words Special guest author last year. She was also featured on our winter 2020 magazine.

“Loose Women” by Sandra Cisneros

Most famous for writing “The House on Mango Street”, has sold over six million copies, which have been translated into over twenty languages, and is required reading in elementary, high school, and universities across the nation.”  (info. from Sandracisneros.com).

Although published in 1995, “Loose Women” recently became winner of the 2018 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. Two hardcopies available at HPL

Sonia Sotomayor,  “My Beloved World”

“An instant American icon–the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court–tells the story of her life before becoming a judge in an inspiring, surprisingly personal memoir…(info. from HPL’s catalog). Four hardcopies available in English, and one in Spanish at HPL

Maricel E. Presilla, Gran cocina latina : the food of Latin America,

The co-owner of two Latin restaurants in Hoboken, New Jersey, presents 500 recipes from the Latin world ranging from Mexico to Argentina and all the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean including adobos, sofritos, empanadas, tamales, ceviches, moles and flan. (info. from HPL’s catalog) Three hardcopies available at HPL.

Latin music USA highlights the great American music created by Latinos, and celebrates the Latin rhythms at the heart of jazz, rock, country, and rhythm and blues. It’s a fresh take on American musical history, reaching across five decades to portray the rich mix of sounds created by Latinos and embraced by all. One copy available at HPL.

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September 17^th was Citizenship Day, also known as Constitution Day, when we commemorate the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution and all that it brings to our republic.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Nuri is a beekeeper and Afra, his wife, is an artist. Mornings, Nuri rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, Afra sells her colorful landscape paintings at the open-air market. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo—until the unthinkable happens.

Moving, intimate, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a book for our times: a novel that at once reminds us that the most peaceful and ordinary lives can be utterly upended in unimaginable ways and brings a journey in faraway lands close to home, never to be forgotten.

**

The Far Away Brothers by Lauren Markham

Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores—until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA.

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Hartford Public Library is now offering free online homework tutoring for students from kindergarten through 12^th grade.

It’s called “Brainfuse: Help Now” and offers live online tutoring every day from 2:00 PM to 11:00 p.m. To login in, you need your library card number and a PIN, which is the last four digits of your library card.

HelpNow’s features include:

• Homework Help Interact with live tutors in math, science, reading/writing, social studies, PSAT/SAT, ACT, AP and state standardized tests.
• Skills-Building Choose your topic to receive real-time help.
• Personalized eLearning Tools My File Sharing, My Session Replay, My Tutoring Archive, My Tests Archive, and more!
• 24-Hour Writing Lab Submit essays and other forms of writing for constructive feedback.
• Homework Send Question Submit homework questions for expert guidance.
• Adult Learning Center Access a library of rich adult learning content (GED) and live, professional assistance in resume/cover letter writing, U.S. citizenship prep, MS Office Essential Skills Series, and more!
• Foreign Language Lab /Spanish-Speaking Support

This new offering is part of HPL’s continued efforts to coordinate with the Hartford Public Schools to address learning needs missed when students aren’t in school.

In addition to Brainfuse, the library has been offering virtual STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programming. It has continued its successful storytime series and added “Dial-a-Story,” a 24-hour service where by calling 860-695-6288 children can hear a story in one of several languages.

“The library understands how difficult it has been for families during the pandemic to reach their educational goals. Moving forward we understand that some families need more support,” said Denise Martens, HPL’s youth and family services manager.

By Steven Scarpa, Manager of Communications and Public Relations

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Hartford Public Library and Hartford Stage invite the community to a new book club, called “Deep Appreciation,” a heart-led gathering featuring live readings, interactive dialogue and reflections on fiction and poetry by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) authors, past and present.

The book club will meet quarterly to discuss the selection with teens and adults, as well as provide a family friendly book pairing for those who wish to continue the conversation at home. Everyone is welcome. To register, click here or call 860-695-6320.

“Among the many values Hartford Stage and Hartford Public Library share is empathy. We believe that cultivating understanding between people, and then acting on what is learned, is a fundamental good. That’s why this book club project is exciting to me – it’s an opportunity for people to engage with great literature with an open heart and an open mind,” said Bridget Quinn-Carey, HPL’s president and CEO.

The meeting schedule is as follows:

First Meeting: November 19, 7:00-8:30pm, to discuss “Red at the Bone” by Jaqueline Woodson and “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers

Second Meeting: January 21, 7:00-8:30pm, book selections to be announced

Third Meeting: April 29, 7:00-8:30pm, book selections to be announced

Fourth Meeting: July 22, 7:00-8:30pm, book selections to be announced

The Book Club was inspired Black Lives Matter activists and by Black author Jasmine Guillory, who writes “…when we say Black Lives Matter, we mean the whole of Black lives—not just when we die at the hands of the police and not just when our lives intersect with white lives to our detriment. Racism is not the only thing to know about what it means to be Black. Our joys, our sorrows, our love, our grief, our struggles to fit in, our families, our accomplishments and our triumphs—these things also matter.”

Together we will honor BIPOC stories of joy, grief, healing, sorrow, and love. In this spirit, the book club will live by a shared set of values, including committing to the practice of anti-racism in its gatherings.

“As two neighboring institutions dedicated to amplifying storytelling and storytellers on our bookshelves and on our stage, we are thrilled to have found a new way to come together. ​We are looking forward to the inspiration and insight we will gain from the writings we will share, helping us to forge new connections, and to better know ourselves and each other at this challenging time,” said Melia Bensussen, Hartford Stage’s artistic director.

Since 2018, Hartford Stage has partnered with the Hartford Public Library to create a program inviting Hartford residents to attend shows at the theatre, free of charge. Through the Library Pass Program, Hartford residents with an adult or teen library card can reserve a two-ticket pass per eligible show from any community library in the city. Since its inception, nearly 2,000 Hartford residents have enjoyed free performances at Hartford Stage. HPL @ Hartford Stage – a micro-branch of the Hartford Public Library housed in the Hartford Stage lobby – gives theatre-goers the opportunity to browse through a selection of carefully curated titles directly related to the themes of each production.

The partnership has evolved to include programs that unite the theatre, the library, and the community to create deeper connections all across the city.

For more information about the library, visit hplct.org

For more information about Hartford Stage, visit hartfordstage.org.

About Hartford Public Library

Now celebrating its 126th year, Hartford Public Library remains at the forefront of redefining the urban library experience in the 21st Century. With seven locations throughout the city, the library provides education, intellectual enrichment and cultural development for thousands of children, youth and adults every year. Hartford Public Library has also gained local and national recognition for its wide range of new initiatives and partnerships designed to meet the needs of a diverse and dynamic city and region, including immigration services, employment assistance and youth leadership training. www.hplct.org.

About Hartford Stage

Hartford Stage’s mission is to enlighten, entertain, and educate by creating theatrical works of the highest caliber that have a transformative impact on audiences, the community, and its field. Led by Artistic Director Melia Bensussen and Managing Director Cynthia Rider, Hartford Stage has presented the world premieres of the new musical Anastasia; Rear Window with Kevin Bacon; Reverberation by Matthew Lopez; Big Dance Theatre’s Man in a Case with Mikhail Baryshnikov; Breath & Imagination by Daniel Beaty; A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, winner of four 2014 Tony Awards; and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. www.hartfordstage.org

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Anyone who’s ever shopped online has seen the chat button – just a click away from answers or help in real time.

HPL is borrowing an idea from our friends in retail and will offer a new chat service to provide an extra layer of service to our customers.

The service, called LibChat, is available throughout HPL’s website. Customers can type their questions into a text box and, during certain hours, receive an answer from a librarian in real time. Customers will be directed to a FAQ page when librarians are not available to answer questions (rest assured that a librarian will answer questions once they are back online.)

The global pandemic prompted HPL to seek out new and innovative ways to keep in touch with their customers when the library was closed. A chat service is a good tool to help accomplish that goal.

Online chat will not be the only way to communicate with HPL. This service also allows people to text their questions to a librarian.

LibChat was live on the website for the past couple of weeks as a kind of soft launch, said Julie Styles, manager of public services at HPL’s Downtown Library. Thus far, people wanted to check on the library’s status or learn how to use the collections from home, she said. Nothing different from usual, but Styles and her team are ready for anything.

“I am excited to see what happened when we start to roll this out a little bit. We answer questions all day long. That’s what we do,” Julie Styles, manager of public services at HPL’s Downtown Library.

By Steven Scarpa, Manager of Communications and Public Relations

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