Comfy Chairs

Comfy Chairs
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Too hard?
Too soft?
Just right. .....
Just like Goldilocks, this student couldn't resist falling asleep in one of our comfy, cozy chairs.
As the end of the quarter approaches, more studying can be seen in every nook of the library. Some students study between catnaps.

A Solitary Moment

A Solitary Moment
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

The quarter is almost at an end, and our students are working very hard on finishing their assignments. Fortunately, there are still moments to dedicate just for yourself amidst all the academic frenzy...

Local Musician at the PAC Tomorrow

We have great pleasure of welcoming guitarist Bob Squires to The Governor's Academy. He will play a mixture of classical and pop pieces tomorrow, Thursday Oct 28th, at 7 p.m., in the PAC lobby.



Squires studied classical guitar at Lowell University. He has recorded with Essex County Symphony, North Shore Philharmonic, and the Slovak Radio Symphony, for example. He's also known as the former lead guitarist for the rock band Beatlejuice, the popular Boston-based Beatles tribute band. He has performed as a solo artist around the world.

Bob Squires frequently gives performances for the Boston Classical Guitar Society and other local venues in the Boston area, including the Hammond Castle Museum, the Beauport Museum, and the Cape Ann Historical Museum.

Monday's visitor!

Mrs. Toumayan looked up from her computer. "Are they messing with us?" she asked, referring to the Evening Staff. She thought that the bat on the shade was one of our paper decorations. I assured her it was 3-D. Mr. Pirie in the Science Department came to the rescue. He brought a fish net and trapped him (her?). Once outside, the little creature just lay there panting. Mrs. Toumayan made a little bat house from an amazon.com box with a note requesting all to let the bat nap. When we checked a little later, he had cuddled up to the side away from the opening. When Miss. Driskill went to dinner, she discovered he had moved on. This morning when I walked in, I looked up but he had found a better place to be.

New Graphic Novels!

Graphic Novels- October 2010
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Our latest batch of new books is out! They include these graphic novels. They deal with relationships, bogeymen, homelessness, and the Easter Bunny. Quite a selection, don't you think?

Look for them - and other recent arrivals - in the new books shelves (the window nook near the front desk).

Halloween Display

Halloween
Display
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

"The town was full of trees. And dry grass and dead flowers now that autumn was here. And full of fences to walk on and sidewalks to skate on and a large ravine to tumble in and yell across. And the town was full of....

Boys."

(Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree)

This and many other stories can be found on our colorful Halloween display, right at the front desk.

School Exchange Programs

School Exchange Programs
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Yesterday's all-school convocation was led by the students who participated in our 2010 foreign and domestic exchange programs. The travelers shared their impressions of their host schools and countries/ communities and showed us numerous pictures from their trips. Applications are due shortly for students wishing to participate in this year's programs. Please stop by the library to see our display of photos from last year's trips.

The Latest Issue of The Governors Is Out

The Governors Oct 15 2010
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

The October 15th issue of The Governor is now available! Pick up your copy at the library. Check out the picture of the raising of our covered footbridge, and stories covering the appointment of a new headmaster. Don't forget to read the article Nightmare on Elm Street on p. 5 for the inside scoop on our haunted school!

S'mores at the Student Center

Mr. Banister-Marx has his fire pit out at the back patio of the Student Center tonight. Come one, come all for comfy chairs, s'mores, and music! Mr. B will also be providing guitars from his collection for guitar playing.

School Library Journal Reviews

School Library Journal Reviews
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Mrs. Toumayan, our technical services librarian, is showing off the most recent issue of School Library Journal. She is one of their newest book reviewers. Her review of Deborah Ellis’ No Safe Place appeared in the September 1st issue. No Safe Place is the story of teen orphans, human trafficking, and injustice in the world. To learn why Mrs. Toumayan calls this an “exciting and moving story” read her review online at School Library Journal.

Haunted!

Haunted4
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

In addition to our Gothic display, we put together a collection of haunting finds. Inexplicable smells or sounds? Feelings of being watched? Come see what it's all about!

P.S. Did you know that Governor's had been haunted from the 1960s...?

Progressive Era

Progressive Era
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

This year we're highlighting the Twentieth Century, one decade at a time, in the library. This month's display focuses on the Progressive Era. Books on one side of the display show people and events that marked the first decade of the century. On the other side of the display are books relating to the social conditions that led to the reforms of the Progressive Era.

Gothic Nightmare

Often when we think of the word Goth or Gothic we think of teenagers in all black clothing, lots of eyeliner reading The Bell Jar and writing poetry such as, “my shoes are red/ my soul is black/ I hope you have/ A heart attack.” However, the term Gothic has a rich cultural history with almost nothing to do with the band Bright Eyes.

Ms. Struck is teaching an IDS (Interdisciplinary Studies) class in which she explores the many meanings and creative outlets of the Gothic ideal. Her class is covering a wide variety of Gothic topics; from Dracula to Big Fish. Through this diverse curriculum we can see that Gothic is a rather hard term to define. It can be a scary story, a long hallway, a romantic interlude with a boy in a leather jacket or a photo of a pale girl with bright red lip stick. It can also just be a feeling, fleeting and dark.

I’m sure that everyone has had one or two Gothic moments in their life. So re-watch The Crow and turn off the lights and indulge in your own Gothic Nightmare.

One Potato, Two Potato

One Potato, Two Potato Display
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Have you looked at our potato display? It may not offer you a sweet treat, but there are plenty of sweet details of the history of potato farming at the farms that existed on the current-day school grounds. You can get a glimpse of authentic, 18th century documents from the school archives, too, and details of the organic potato farming here at the Academy.

Friday Faculty Seminar

Friday Faculty Seminar
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

One Friday each month, a faculty member shares his or her expertise or avocation with the rest of the faculty as part of the library's Friday Faculty Seminar program in the Bragdon Reading Room. Today, Mr. Wann shared his Shakespeare expertise as he spoke of "Shakespeare the Phenomenon" and encouraged faculty members to try writing with a quill pen.

Nobel in Literature 2010

Nobel in Literature 2010
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".

He was born on March 28, 1936, in Arequipa, Peru. As an author, he had an international breakthrough with the novel La ciudad y los perros (1963; The Time of the Hero, 1966). This novel was considered controversial in his home land. A thousand copies were publicly burnt by officers. His well known works include Conversacion en la catedral (1969; Conversation in the Cathedral, 1975), La guerra del fin del mundo (1981; The War of the End of the World, 1984), and La fiesta del chivo (2000; The Feast of the Goat, 2001). Mario Vargas Llosa is also a noted journalist and essayist.
Read more at the official home page of the Nobel Prize.

Latest Reviews: October 2010

Sports - 700s - June 2010
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Looking for something to read to give your brain a break, and break up your routine?

The latest batch of reviews linked to our "virtual collection" include Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf, The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, and Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield, for example.

You can always find even more reviews through our LibraryThing profile.

Junior History Research Topic Ideas

Wall Street: A History of the Stock Market
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

Juniors are busy choosing topics for an in-depth research paper on a topic in American history. We’ve compiled stacks of books, arranged by topic, in the library to give them ideas. Other great places to find ideas are found on our flickr page. Issues and Controversies in American History, one of our subscription databases, lists more than a hundred potential topics to write about. Our Junior History Moodle page has lists of topics previous students have used and links to databases and passwords so our students can view those databases from anywhere they have an Internet connection.

Banned Books

There is a strange dichotomy in this country. We are torn between what we want to be able to say and what we want others to be able to say. The first amendment clearly states ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’ These lovely lines written by the founders of this country seem quite clear. So, how is it possible that books can be banned?

You can trace the origins of this kind of censorship all the way back to 399 BCE. Socrates, the father of philosophy and one the greatest thinkers of all time, was put to death for corrupting the minds of the youth in Athens.

Just as Socrates was accused of corrupting young minds so are some works of literature. The precedent for banning books was not set until 1982 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that books could be banned from public libraries and in particular from school libraries for being ‘pervasively vulgar.’ This begs the question, what does ‘pervasively vulgar’ mean?

It is here in the vagueness of language that censorship becomes a terrifying tool. ‘Pervasively vulgar’ means something different to everyone. Some people find violence vulgar, others sex, still others find the idea of a woman being allowed to drive a car vulgar. Whose definition of vulgar is correct? The answer is everyone’s. Everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe; again the first amendment clearly denotes this. There is nothing wrong with finding something offensive, there is something wrong with trying to force your beliefs on others. That is what book banning is trying to do.

Rather than simply putting the book down, many people take up arms to try and get the offensive book banned. The trouble is people seem to want both freedom of speech and restriction at the same time. They want the right to speak out against a book but they don’t want the book to speak for its self. It is the ultimate double standard, similar to when you are driving a car.

When you are driving, pedestrians are the most irritating and inconsiderate people on the planet. However, when you are a pedestrian, drivers are all going too fast and should let you stroll leisurely through the streets. It is the same thing with censorship; you don’t want anyone telling you what you can and cannot say, but you want to be about to forbid others from saying certain things.

Luckily, books have a means of fighting back. Books inspire curiosity and a desire for understanding and education. It is with these tools that books provide a means to overcome censorship. Great works of literature always speak of the human condition and part of being human is, in a way, vulgar. We do not want to read stories without turmoil and often this turmoil stems from humanity's many flaws, such as violence. Without our flaws we would not be human, just as without conflict books would merely be 3 page descriptions of butterflies or teddy bears (not that there is anything wrong with butterflies or teddy bears). Imagine how dull literature classes and libraries would be if every book was devoid of conflict. Imagine how dull life would be if all the banned books were no longer read.

Shakespeare Resources

A lot of our students are asking for Shakespeare's plays. Unfortunately, we don't have enough copies for everyone on our shelves. Since his works are public domain, MIT has them available online. You can select specific scenes from the index, or if you prefer, see the entire text of a play on one page. These online versions are of course searchable for particular phrases or expressions - a great tool for paper writing.

And remember, this Thursday David Wroblewski, the author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - a retelling of Hamlet - is coming to campus! If you're interested in dogs and/or Shakespeare, be there at 7:30 p.m. @ PAC!

Hot off the Presses

Hot off the Presses
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library

The October 1, 2010 issue of the school newspaper, The Governor, arrived today. Numerous copies were delivered to the library where eager students picked it up to see what their fellow students had to say. Our school president, Felix Emiliano, was interviewed for a front page article. Felix communicated his desire for the community to remain optimistic in order to make the school year ever better. Another front page article heralds the arrival on campus (tomorrow) of fifteen German exchange students. The articles in the Governor are very upbeat, suggesting that the writers and editors are optimistic about the new year. Library users have been very studious and hard-working, suggesting that the year’s early optimism will “lead to bigger and better things for the future,” as Felix suggested.