Monday, October 2, 2017

Erasure is a form of found poetry or found art created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem.  The results can be allowed to stand in situ or they can be arranged into lines and/or stanzasDoris Cross appears to have been among the earliest to utilize this technique, beginning in 1965 with her "Dictionary Columns" book art.  d.a. levy also worked in this mode at about the same time.  Jonathan Safran Foer did a book-length erasure of The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz which he entitled Tree of Codes.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure_(artform)  See also Erasure and Blackout Poems:  Poetic Forms by Robert Lee Brewer at http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/erasure-and-blackout-poems-poetic-forms, Why erasure poetry deserves to be studied by Bessie Liu at http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2017/04/20/why-erasure-poetry-deserves-to-be-studied/, and  Erasures in Literature by Karen Gisonny  at https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/04/20/erasure-literature  See also List of 50 Poetic Forms for Poets by Robert Lee Brewer at           

What do the words wreak, wreck, wrote and wrought have in common?  Answer is forthcoming.

Quotes of John Dewey  “Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”   “The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning.”  “Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.”  “Art is the most effective mode of communications that exists.”  “Failure is instructive.  The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.”  “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”  See 112 quotes at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/42738.John_Dewey  Educator John Dewey (1859–1952) originated the experimentalism philosophy.  A proponent of social change and education reform, he founded The New School for Social Research.  https://www.biography.com/people/john-dewey-9273497

Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was born on December 10, 1851, to a poor family who lived in a small town in upper New York state.  Keenly interested in simplified spelling, he shortened his first name to Melvil as a young adult, dropped his middle names and, for a short time, even spelled his last name as Dui.  Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal Classification® (DDC) system when he was 21 and working as a student assistant in the library of Amherst College.  His work created a revolution in library science and set in motion a new era of librarianship.  Melvil Dewey well deserves the title of "Father of Modern Librarianship."  Dewey changed librarianship from a vocation to a modern profession.  He helped establish the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876; he was its secretary from 1876 to 1890 and its president for the 1890/1891 and 1892/1893 terms.  He also co-founded and edited Library Journal.  In addition, Dewey promoted library standards and formed a company to sell library supplies, which eventually became the Library Bureau company of today.  A pioneer in library education, Dewey became the librarian of Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York City in 1883 and founded the world's first library school there in 1887.  In 1889, he became director of the New York State Library in Albany, a position he held until 1906.  https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey/resources/biography.html

Ron Chernow, the historian who helped inspire the musical "Hamilton," has a biography of Ulysses S. Grant coming out in October 2017.  Chernow's previous book, "Washington:  A Life," won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011.  His 2004 work on Alexander Hamilton was the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning Broadway smash, for which Chernow served as historical consultant.  Chernow's new book will likely be the most high-profile effort yet to change the reputation of the country's 18th president.  As Penguin noted in its press release, Grant has been "caricatured as a chronic loser and inept businessman," a drunk whose Civil War heroism was overshadowed by his legacy as a "credulous and hapless president whose tenure came to symbolize the worst excesses of the Gilded Age."  Grant's competence is even challenged on the White House web site, www.whitehouse.gov.  His biographical essay, which has been on the site for years, contends that "When he was elected, the American people hoped for an end to turmoil. Grant provided neither vigor nor reform."  But writers ranging from Ta-Nehisi Coates to the historian Jean Edward Smith have argued that Grant is an underrated and even heroic president.  Hillel Italie  http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-hamilton-author-ron-chernow-has-grant-bio-coming-20170208-story.html  See also https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311248/grant-by-ron-chernow/9781594204876/

Most Americans in the 1730s had limited access to books.  Books, in early America, were rare and expensive.  There were no public libraries.  Only the very wealthy and the clergy had access to large numbers of books.  Even men of moderate means could not readily afford books.  Enter Benjamin Franklin.  On July 1, 1731, Franklin and a group of members from the Junto, a philosophical association, drew up "Articles of Agreement" to form a library.  The Junto was interested in a wide range of ideas, from economics to solving social woes to politics to science.  But they could not turn to books to increase their knowledge or settle disputes, as between them they owned few tomes.  But they recognized that via the Junto's combined purchasing power, books could be made available to all members.  So it was that 50 subscribers invested 40 shillings each to start a library.  Members also promised to invest 10 shillings more every year to buy additional books and to help maintain the library.  They chose as their motto a Latin phrase which roughly translates as "To support the common good is divine."  In 1732, the Company's first book order was sent to London.  James Logan, secretary to William Penn, assisted in picking the books.  He was considered "the best Judge of Books in these Parts."  In addition to having the largest personal library in Pennsylvania, the learned Logan knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.  Benjamin Franklin and others donated a number of works including A Collection of Several Pieces by John Locke and Plutarch's Morals.  Franklin also donated his copy of Merchants Mappe of Commerce to the company.  The books were kept in the librarian's lodgings.  The first librarian was named Louis Timothee.  But he soon left the post to become a printer in Charleston, one of the many franchise partners Franklin had in the printing business.  He was succeeded briefly by Franklin himself who was in turn was succeeded by a shoemaker named William Parsons.  In 1746, Parsons gave way to Robert Greenway.  Benjamin Franklin printed the oldest surviving catalogue of the Library Company's holdings which dates to 1741.  There were books on history, geography, poetry, exploration, and science. Now, only about 10% of the books were devoted to theology—this in stark contrast to college libraries at the time.  And where many university libraries or private book owners read books in Latin, the majority of the Library Company's Books were in English.  The library was open Saturday afternoons from 4-8.  Members could borrow books freely; non-members could also borrow books—if they put up a surety, something of value that could be sold if the book was not returned.  Philadelphia spawned new libraries including the Union Library founded in 1746 which had been incorporated from the smaller Association and Amicable Libraries.  In 1769, the Union merged with the Library Company.  In addition to books, the Company also built up an impressive collection of curiosities and antiques which included:  Coins, fossils, geological specimens, flora and fauna, as well as scientific instruments.  In 1739, John Penn sent an air pump to the Company and a cabinet was commissioned to hold the pump.  Soon the librarian's lodgings were insufficient to hold the Company's collection.  In 1739, the group moved into the newly finished rooms on the second floor of the west wing of the State House, the building today known as Independence Hall.  By 1770, after the merger with the Union Library, the Library Company's catalogue revealed 2,0333 entries.  The books were numbered by size—a practice which continues to this day.  By 1772, the Library had run out of space, and again started casting about for a new headquarters.  They petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly for permission to build on the State-House Square, but they were turned down.  Fortunately, by late 1773 the Carpenters' Company was putting the finishing touches on its headquarters on Chestnut Street and an arrangement was worked out to rent the second-floor space of Carpenters' Hall from the builder's guild.  In 1787, the Library Company offered delegates to the Constitutional Convention use of the library.  Thus, Philadelphia's Library Company was also the first Library of Congress too.  In 1789, needing more space and desirous of a building of their own, the Library Company bought a parcel of land near the corner of Philadelphia's Fifth and Chestnut Streets.  Today the Library Company is located at 1314 Locust Street in Philadelphia.  http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/library.htm

National Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15 to October 15.  Hispanic Heritage Month, whose roots go back to 1968, begins each year on September 15, the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries:  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  Mexico, Chile and Belize also celebrate their independence days during this period and Columbus Day (Día de la Raza) is October 12.  The term Hispanic or Latino, refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.  Today, 55 million people or 17% of the American population are of Hispanic or Latino origin.  https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.org/s://w https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.o/ww.hispanicheritagemonth.org

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1778  October 2, 2017  On this date in 1535Jacques Cartier discovered the area where Montreal is now located.  On this date in 1959, the anthology series The Twilight Zone premiered on CBS television.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2

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