PARAPHRASES from the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz  *  He was the neighborhood B&E expert   *   I think I'm allergic to diligence--ha--you're allergic to trying  *  the libraries of Paterson were so underfunded that they kept a lot of the previous generation's nerdery in circulation  *  Jersey malaise--unquenchable longing for elsewhere  *  Why would anyone go anywhere when they have New Jersey  *  His favorite librarian said, Here, try this, and with one suggestion changed his life  *

SUMMARY of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)  The book chronicles the life of Oscar de León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as with the curse that has plagued his family for generations.  The middle sections of the novel center on the lives of Oscar's runaway sister, Lola; his mother, Hypatia Belicia Cabral; and his grandfather, Abelard.  Rife with footnotes, science fiction and fantasy references, comic book analogies, and various Spanish dialects, the novel is also a meditation on story-telling, the Dominican diaspora and identity, masculinity, and oppression.  Most of the story is told by an apparently omniscient narrator who is eventually revealed to be Yunior de Las Casas, a college roommate of Oscar's who dated Lola.  Yunior also appears in many of Díaz's short stories and is often seen as an alter ego of the author. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao 

Junot Díaz (born December 31, 1968) is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and fiction editor at Boston Review.  He also serves on the board of advisers for Freedom University, a volunteer organization in Georgia that provides post-secondary instruction to undocumented immigrants.  Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience.  He received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.  He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.  Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Díaz immigrated with his family to New Jersey when he was six years old.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University, and shortly after graduating created the character "Yunior", who served as narrator of several of his later books.  After obtaining his MFA from Cornell University, Díaz published his first book, the 1995 short story collection Drown.  Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junot_D%C3%ADaz

Maria Africa Gracia Vidal was born in Barahona, (Dominican Republic) on June 6th, 1912, daughter of Isidoro Gracia García, of Spanish descent, and Regla Teresa Maria Vidal, who was from Baní (Dominican Republic).  She was named Maria Africa in honor to her father’s native land, La Isla de La Palma, Spain (although it belongs to Spain, it is on the African continent).  Maria Gracia chose the name of Maria Montez in honor to the dancer Lola Montez whom Maria’s father admired a lot.  In 1942, she appeared in the first "escapist" movie, SOUTH OF TAHITI.  Maria played the role of the girl who lives in an enchanted island of an Asian continent.  Universal made this movie with the purpose of competing with Paramount Pictures, whose movies, with the legendary Dorothy Lamour, in the desert, in the jungle or in a tropical island filled the theaters with a public who wanted to escape the worries of World War II.  Maria Africa Gracia Vidal, died on September 7th, 1951, while she was taking a bath, in her house in Sureness, Paris.  Maria wrote 3 books, numerous poems, between them TWILIGHT, which won an award of the association The Manuscripters.  She also wrote the songs DOLIENTE and MIDNIGHT MEMORIES.  FOREVER IS A LONG TIME, HOLLYWOOD WOLVES I HAVE TAMED and REUNION IN LILITH are the titles of the books written by the actress.  But REUNION IN LILITH was never published.  http://www.mariamontez.org/bio.html

Daruma Doll:  History of Japanese Wishing Dolls  Usually red and round and made of a special type of Japanese paper, the bodiless head stares with fierce determination.  The eyes are left intentionally blank, so that it’s up to the user to draw in the pupils or irises.  The process of using a Daruma doll is simple:  Have a goal, wish, or promise to fulfill.  Paint in one eye.  Work for it everyday.  When the dream is achieved, paint in the other eye.  Daruma dolls are constant reminders of the what the Japanese call the ganbaru spirit.  Life is full of pitfalls and bumps on the road.  It’s inevitable that you’ll stumble sometimes.  But it’s up to you to get back up.  It’s in your own power and will to keep moving.  The doll embodies this popular Japanese proverb:  Nanakorobi yaoki.  "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."  So it’s always about the work.  No matter how tired, despite the circumstances, or even lack of rewards or motivation, the ganbaru spirit treads forward.  That’s why Daruma dolls have such determined expressions.  They never give up.  They are built to automatically bounce back when knocked over.  Like many religious figures, there is a historical person and the fanciful legend people spun from one generation to the next.  Daruma dolls are based on Bodhidharma (or known as Daruma-Daishi in Japan), a sage monk who lived in the 5th-6th century.  He is credited for introducing Zen Buddhism to China, Shaolin Kungfu, a type of meditation called Zazen, and green tea.  Read more and see graphics at https://www.domodaruma.com/blog/daruma-doll-history-of-japanese-wishing-dolls

Having a hard time trying to decide what to get for the person who has everything?  How about giving the gift of knowledge to the community in honor of that special person in your life?  The Name-a-Book gift is a wonderful tribute that honors your loved ones.  The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library will place a label on the inside of a new book's cover, commemorating the person of your choosing.  The library will also send them a card, letting them know of your very special gift.  $25 - You may select a general subject area and staff will choose a new book to receive your recognition.  $100 - You may pick a specific book* to receive your recognition.  * book is subject to Library approval  Please visit http://www.toledolibrary.org/llf/memorials to purchase your gift.  Questions?  Please reach out to Kathy Selking at 419.259.5123 or Kathy.Selking@toledolibrary.org for more information. 

New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine that began in 1936 as a fanzine called Novae Terrae.  John Carnell, who became Novae Terrae's editor in 1939, renamed it New Worlds that year.  He was instrumental in turning it into a professional publication in 1946 and was the first editor of the new incarnation.  It became the leading UK science fiction magazine; the period to 1960 has been described by historian Mike Ashley as the magazine's "Golden Age".  Carnell joined the British Army in 1940 following the outbreak of the Second World War, and returned to civilian life in 1946.  He negotiated a publishing agreement for the magazine with Pendulum Publications, but only three issues of New Worlds were subsequently produced before Pendulum's bankruptcy in late 1947.  A group of science fiction fans formed a company called Nova Publications to revive the magazine; the first issue under their management appeared in mid-1949.  New Worlds continued to appear on a regular basis until issue 20, published in early 1953, following which a change of printers led to a hiatus in publication.  In early 1954, when Maclaren & Sons acquired control of Nova Publications, the magazine returned to a stable monthly schedule.  New Worlds was acquired by Roberts & Vinter in 1964, when Michael Moorcock became editor.  By the end of 1966 financial problems led Roberts & Vinter to abandon New Worlds, but with the aid of an Arts Council grant obtained by Brian Aldiss, Moorcock was able to publish the magazine independently.  He featured a good deal of experimental and avant-garde material, and New Worlds became the focus of the "New Wave" of science fiction.  Reaction among the science fiction community was mixed, with partisans and opponents of the New Wave debating the merits of New Worlds in the columns of fanzines such as Zenith-Speculation.  Several of the regular contributors during this period, including Brian Aldiss, J. G. Ballard and Thomas M. Disch, became major names in the field.  By 1970 Moorcock was too deeply in debt to be able to continue with the magazine, and it ceased publication with issue 200.  The title has been revived multiple times, with Moorcock's direct involvement or approval; by 2012, 22 additional issues had appeared in various formats, including several anthologies.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Worlds_(magazine)

The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases—including “fetus” and “transgender”—in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.  Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden terms at a meeting December 15, 2017 with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing.  The forbidden terms are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”  In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases.  Instead of “science-based” or ­“evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,” the person said.  In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.  Lena H. Sun and Juliet Eilperin  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.ec58daf3547e

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1813  December 18, 2017  On this date in 1964, “Emblems”by Aaron Copland premiered in Tempe, Arizona performed by the USC Band, conducted by William Schaefer. In the section of his autobiography on the 1960s, Aaron Copland wrote:  “I have often called myself a ‘work-a-year’ man . . . and 1964 belonged to the band piece ‘Emblems.’  Among the invitations I received to compose new pieces was one from clarinetist Keith Wilson, who was president of the College Band Directors National Association, for a work to be played at the organization’s national convention.  Wilson wrote, ‘The purpose of this commission is to enrich the band repertory with music that is representative of the composer’s best work, and not one written with all sorts of technical or practical limitations.’”  Here’s how Copland explained the work’s title:  “An emblem stands for something . . .  I called this work ‘Emblems’ because it seemed to me to suggest musical states of being: noble or aspirational feelings, playful or spirited feelings.”  Close listeners may hear harmonic echoes of the spiritual “Amazing Grace” in the slow opening and close of “Emblems.”  Copland said, "Curiously, the harmonies had been conceived without reference to that tune.  It was only by chance that I realized a connection between my harmonies and "Amazing Grace!"  Composers Datebook  Aaron Copland, Emblems  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppFk5jxgEaU  9:59  Word of the Day  fit as a fiddle  adjective  (simile, colloquial) Perfectly fit; in excellent condition or health.  The Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari died December 18, 1737.  Wiktionary