John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books.  He received the Pulitzer Prize for his The Soul of a New Machine (1981), about the creation of a new computer at Data General Corporation.  He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of Paul Farmer, a doctor and anthropologist, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003).  Kidder is considered a literary journalist because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing.  He has cited as his writing influences John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, and George Orwell.  In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model.  He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."  Kidder wrote in a 1994 essay, "In fiction, believability may have nothing to do with reality or even plausibility.  It has everything to do with those things in nonfiction.  I think that the nonfiction writer's fundamental job is to make what is true believable."  Kidder graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963.   He attended Harvard College, originally majoring in political science, but switching to English after taking a course in creative writing from Robert Fitzgerald.  He received an AB degree from Harvard in 1967.  Kidder served in the United States Army as a first lieutenant, Military Intelligence, Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969.  After returning from Vietnam, he wrote for some time and was admitted to the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  He received an MFA degree from the University of Iowa in 1974.  See selected awards and bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Kidder

The year was 1989.  John Eldred, owner of a successful video rental store, was encouraged by a customer to approach public libraries to sell his VHS tapes.  The first librarian John visited became a valued customer and mentor, teaching him about the unique needs of the library market.  That family-owned rental store soon evolved into a family-owned company called Midwest Tape.  The full-service library distributor offers a wide variety of workflow solutions to deliver products shelf-ready, digitally processed, and exactingly customized to each individual library’s specifications.  Midwest Tape is integrating into the future of the library with a digital services brand and platform:   hoopla.  Allowing people to read, listen to, and watch what they want, when they want, and where they want, hoopla levels the playing field for library patrons in the trending consumer world of digital content.  Libraries across North America partner with hoopla digital to allow patrons to instantly borrow eBooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, music, and more, 24/7 with a valid library card.  Using hoopla, patrons can instantly stream or download dynamic content.  All content is accessible via the hoopla mobile app and online at www.hoopladigital.com.  As the publishing arm of Midwest Tape, Dreamscape is a library-first, award-winning, multi-format media publisher of fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, book-based children’s read-along video programs, and unique documentaries and film.  Dreamscape offers customized distribution programs for publishers and filmmakers alike, and its titles can be found in library and retail channels—both physical and digital.  Read more at https://www.midwesttape.com/story  Privately held  library media distribution company Midwest Tapes LLC, located in Holland, Ohio, serves public libraries across the United States and Canada.

The Ohioana Library is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Ohioana Book Awards.  First given in 1942, the awards are the second oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding achievement by Ohio authors in five categories:  Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction.  “There is hardly a major Ohio author of the past 75 years who has not won an Ohioana Book Award,” said Ohioana Executive Director David Weaver.  Past winners have included humorists James Thurber and Erma Bombeck; novelists Toni Morrison, Anthony Doerr, and Paula McLain; poets Mary Oliver and Rita Dove; historians Wil Haygood and Douglas Brinkley; and children’s authors Margaret Peterson Haddix and Jacqueline Woodson.  Non-Ohio winners have included Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough.  Find the 77th annual Ohioana award winners at http://www.ohioana.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2018-Awards-winners.pdf  The Ohioana Library Association was founded in 1929 by Ohio’s first lady, Martha Kinney Cooper.  Ohioana’s collection includes books, sheet music, archival items, and more.  Ohioana Library contact information:  274 E. First Ave., Suite 300  Columbus, Ohio 43201  614.466.3831  http://www.ohioana.org/

July 6, 2018  Treasure hunters at Impulse! Records located a copy of a lost John Coltrane studio recording that had been discarded back in the late 1970’s, probably winding up in dumpster.  Released just last week, the newly-discovered tracks were recorded over 55 years ago at Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary Englewood Cliffs studio on March 6, 1963.   Called Both Directions at Once:  The Lost Album, less than a week after its release the album already shares the top 10 charts on iTunes and Amazon with mainstream pop and hip-hop acts.  It’s a tribute to the power of Coltrane’s music and his enduring legacy.  Tom Schnabel  Read more and link to music video at http://blogs.kcrw.com/music/2018/07/john-coltranes-lost-album-and-his-enduring-legacy/

Hydrogen peroxide--chemically represented as H2O2--is one of the most common household disinfectants in the world.  Remember to always exercise caution when using hydrogen peroxide--especially in higher concentrations--as the liquid and vapors can burn skin and lungs. Also, be very careful to never swallow hydrogen peroxide when using orally.  Hydrogen peroxide is for external use only!  Janice Taylor  Find 34 uses for hydrogen peroxide including its use in the kitchen and bathroom at http://www.naturallivingideas.com/hydrogen-peroxide-uses/

From:  Jeffrey Robert Kostrzewski   Subject:  A.Word.A.Day--collusion  This word brings back fond memories of grad school at OSU.  I worked with my friend Stephanie to create a computer program that assembled a digital collage of an image made from a database of many smaller images.  Similar to other photomosaics, but with an added twist that pictures would be rotated and resized as well.  Anyway, we called the project Collusions because the collage formed an illusion of the main picture.  We also liked that the smaller images colluded together to trick the viewer into seeing the main image.

July 11, 2018  This week’s recipe for Wicked Potato Salad with Dill from Bettina Campolucci Bordi’s book Happy Food is completely out of the ordinary.  Not a drop of mayonnaise in sight.  Instead she pairs up baby potatoes with beluga lentils, green apples, walnuts, handfuls of fresh dill and spicy greens and then douses it all in an apple cider-based vinaigrette.  Starchy things like beans and potatoes are delicious when you dress them when they’re still warm.  If beluga lentils are not to be had, those small French green lentils work just as nicely.  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/wicked-potato-salad-with-dill?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20180711&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=The%20Weeknight%20Kitchen:%20Wicked%20Potato%20Salad%20with%20Dill

Remains of bread baked 14,400 years ago found in Jordan by Tamara Qiblawi   The findings, excavated in northeastern Jordan's Black Desert, reveal the oldest direct evidence of bread.  Twenty four bread-like discoveries were found at two fireplaces in a Natufian hunter-gatherer site known as Shubayqa 1.  "The presence of hundreds of charred food remains in the fireplaces from Shubayqa 1 is an exceptional find, and it has given us the chance to characterize 14,000-year-old food practices," said University of Copenhagen archeobotanist Amaia Arranz Otaegui, the first author of the report.  "So now we know that bread-like products were produced long before the development of farming," said Otaegui, who added that the bread production could have contributed to the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic period.  The Neolithic flatbread--known nowadays as pita or Arabic bread--was made of domesticated cereals and club-rush tubers, according to the study released on July 16, 2018 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.  Read more and see pictures at https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/health/bread-jordan-desert-intl/index.html

If you mention Sea Club Rush among foragers they give you a very blank stare.  Understandably so.  It was a fall-back staple in Europe that has naturalized itself worldwide and along North American shores from Prince Edward’s Island to Texas, and California north.  It’s even managed to make its way up to Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota and Saskatchewan.  It is found in estuaries and salty marshes but can also in fresh water and other damp areas often with cattails.  Read more and see pictures at http://www.eattheweeds.com/scirpus-maritimus-a-tough-root-to-crack-2/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1920  July 18, 2018