Monday, February 26, 2018


Rene Denfeld is the author of the acclaimed novels The Child Finder and The Enchanted, as well as essays in publications such as the New York Times.  Rene’s literary thriller, The Child Finder, explores themes of survival, resiliency and redemption   It has received much acclaim, including a starred Library Journal review, major press, and an Indie Next pick.  Landing as  the #1 fiction bestseller at Powell’s within its first week, the Child Finder became a top #10 bestseller in Canada and a bestseller in the United States.  Rene’s lyrical, beautiful writing is inspired by her work with sex trafficking victims and innocents in prison.  Rene was the Chief Investigator at a public defender’s office and has worked hundreds of cases.  In addition to her advocacy work, Rene has been a foster adoptive parent for twenty years.  She was awarded the Break The Silence Award at the 24th Annual Knock Out Abuse Gala in Washington, DC on November 2, 2017, in recognition for her advocacy and social justice work, and named one of 19 heroic stories of the year by the New York Times.  The child of a difficult history herself, Rene is an accomplished speaker who loves connecting with others.  Rene lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is the happy mom of three kids adopted from foster care.  http://renedenfeld.com/author/biography/


Hamburg has the biggest and busiest harbor in Germany, most of Germany's major media, the oldest stock exchange in Germany, more bridges than Venice--and even the world's largest fitness studio.
Germany's second-largest city has been a gateway to the world for centuries.  It is located at the confluence of the Alster and Elbe rivers, and has a direct link to the North Sea some 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream.  Located at the base of the crescent-shaped New City (which is divided from the crescent-shaped Old City by the Elbe River) the harbor covers more than 12 percent of Hamburg, and 78 million tons of goods pass through it every year.  Even away from the harbor, water is everywhere in Hamburg.  Foghorns can be heard downtown; shrieking sea gulls and an ever-present sea breeze enhance the maritime feeling.  The rivers Elbe, Alster and Bille all traverse the city, creating 64 kilometers of canals requiring 2,500 bridges, giving the city its nickname "Venice of the North."  A reporter once asked John Lennon what it was like growing up in Liverpool, and he replied, "I didn't grow up in Liverpool, I grew up in Hamburg."  And of course, the city’s greatest international recognition comes as a result of its being the place where the Beatles’ career took off. 

"Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.  It seem trite but necessary to say that the First Amendment to the Constitution was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.   If there is any fixed start in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."  Robert H. Jackson, Supreme Court Justice, 1942.  West. Vir. Board of Education v. Barnette  See quotes by Supreme Court Justices at http://www.scmidnightflyer.com/supreme.html

Dolly Parton has been honored by the Emmys, Guinness World Records and the Recording Industry Association of America.  Apart from her legend as a musician and actress, she'll be remembered for her Imagination Library, a program she started in 1995, which has mailed free books to millions of children between birth and the start of kindergarten.  On February 27, 2018, Parton will present the 100 millionth book donation from Imagination Library to the Library of Congress's collection.  Last year, the nonprofit—which now sends out more than 1 million books a month and has expanded into Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia—partnered with hospitals to sign newborns up for books immediately.  Kristi L. Nelson  https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2018/02/20/dolly-parton-donate-100-millionth-imagination-library-book-library-congress/354783002/

February 23, 2018  French customs officers making a random check on a bus at a motorway layby found a painting by 19th century Impressionist master Edgar Degas that was stolen nine years ago from a museum in Marseille.  The 1877 painting Les Choristes, or The Chorus Singers and sometimes called The Extras, was found in a suitcase in the vehicle’s luggage compartment during a stopover in Marne-la-Vallée to the east of Paris.  Its value is estimated at €800,000 (£700,000).  The colourful pastel, measuring 13 inches by 10, was on loan to the Cantini museum in Marseille from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris for an exhibition featuring some 20 works by Degas when it was stolen in 2009.  When the customs officers opened the suitcase on Friday of last week they were surprised to find a work of art bearing the signature "Degas".
They handed it over to art experts who said their preliminary examinations showed it was the Degas painting that depicts a depicts a line of men singing in a scene from the opera Don Juan.  The inquiry into how it came to be on the bus has been handed over to OCBC, the French agency which investigates art thefts.  There were no signs of a break-in, leading police to believe it was an inside job or that a museum visitor had hidden and waited till the venue was shut before unscrewing the work from the wall and escaping.  The confirmation of the find comes as a major exhibition about Degas’ relationship with the dancers at the Paris Opera closes at the Musée d'Orsay this weekend after attracting nearly half a million visitors.  "It is a wonderful happy ending to the story," said a spokeswoman for the museum, which holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist art.  "It is the centenary of his death, and we are organising a huge show about Degas and the opera for 2019.  It would have been a terrible loss for us to do it without this painting," she told AFP news agency.  Rory Mulholland  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/23/stolen-degas-painting-found-bus-near-paris/

Final Medal Count for Every Country at the 2018 Winter Olympics
by Jennifer Calfas   Norway’s dominance was apparent from the beginning of the Olympic Games, with 14 gold medal wins in sports like cross-country skiing and more medals from other skiing events from jumping to downhill.  Germany came in second with 31 total medals and 14 gold medals, and Canada finished in third with 29 medals, 11 of which were gold.  After a number of historic wins for the United States late in the Games, Team USA finished fourth with 23 total medals, including nine golds.  Read the list of all medals at http://time.com/5169066/final-medal-count-2018-winter-olympics/

Pyeongchang Olympics: Closing Ceremony Ends Biggest Winter Games Ever by Bill Chapelle   The Winter Olympics closes the door on the Pyeongchang 2018 Games, with a big party and a last farewell from the 2,920 athletes who competed on ice and snow in South Korea.  The number of athletes set a new record; so did the number of nations— 92.  The two-hour ceremony started at 8 p.m. on February 25, 2018 in South Korea–6 a.m. ET Sunday in the U.S.  It began with a segment called "Countdown:  Dream for Tomorrow," featuring performers paying tribute to the athletes.  It all starts with a montage of the achievements and notable moments of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, in a four-minute video piece.  Then, the Korean national flag and anthem are presented, followed by a six-minute meditation and celebration of hallyu—the "Korean Wave" that represents the country's progress on the international economic and cultural scene in recent decades.  In this section, guitarist Yang Taehwan, 13, plays a variation on "Winter" from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.  From the program:  "On the sloped stage reflecting the image of a guitar, loop dancers perform a mesmerizing dance that defies gravity.  Geomungo players perform together with the band Jambinai.  Korean dancers present a modern interpretation of a traditional dance while a solo dancer performs Spring Dance of Nightingale."  Tokyo is slated to host the Summer Olympics in 2020.  In 2022, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1848  February 26, 2018  On this date in 1832, the Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin made his concert debut in Paris at the Salle Pleyel.  Among the enthusiastic audience members was another composer-pianist by the name of Franz Liszt, who would rapidly become Chopin’s close friend and advocate.  Chopin dedicated his recently completed Piano Etudes, Op. 10, to Liszt, and once wrote to a friend these lines:  “I am writing without knowing what my pen is scribbling, because at this moment Liszt is playing my etudes and putting honest thoughts out of my head.  I should like to rob him of the way he plays them!”  When Chopin performed in public, he liked to share the stage with a sympathetic singer like Pauline Viardot-Garcia, or a fellow pianist like Liszt.  Despite his fame, Chopin’s concert appearances in Paris numbered less than a dozen.  Composers Datebook  Word of the Day  evitable  adjective  Possible to avoidavertible.  Wiktionary 

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