The Psychic Lives of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield

Did you know that President Abraham Lincoln attended séances with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln?

There are even some who think Lincoln was psychic because he had precognitive dreams, including one about his own assassination.

Did you know that there are those who think President James A. Garfield haunts his former home? (The one in Hiram -- not the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. The best we can tell, that one is ghost free.)

While we can't say for sure if Lincoln knew he was predicting his own death or what Garfield is doing in the afterlife, we do know that there's more going on than was dreamt of in Horation's philosophy.

We also know that the Victorians of Lincoln and Garfield's era had a fascination with the psychic. Spiritualism, astrology, premonitions and phrenology -- the practice of using the bumps on someone’s forehead to predict their future -- were all the rage.

And the Lincolns and Garfields were aware and, to some extent, even participated in these interests. (The Lincolns held the aforementioned séances in an attempt to contact their deceased, 11-year-old son Willie.)

If you want to know more about where the presidents' lives intersected with the psychic and spiritual, you can visit the Mentor Public Library for the Beyond the Veil program at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at the library’s main branch.

Visitors will get a chance to join two grieving first ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln and Lucretia Garfield, around the séance table. The first ladies will also share how these psychic and astrological practices and beliefs affected their own families, as well as reveal some strange facts about their husbands’ deaths.

Lincoln and Garfield will be portrayed by Marian King and Debbie Weinkamer, respectively, of the re-enactor’s collective We Made History.

If mediumship, presidential history or both piques your interest, Beyond the Veil is well worth your time.

The program is free and open to the public. However, we ask that you register with us beforehand.

For more information on the program or to register call 440-255-8811 ext. 247 or log on to www.mentorpl.org.

Jane Still Reigns

Jane Austen is awesome.

Can we take this as gospel truth or do you require evidence?

Austen has reached that rarefied air -- which, unfortunately, is even more rarefied for women writers -- of ubiquity.

Even if you've never read any Austen, you're familiar with her stories. Just like you know the story of A Christmas Carol or Romeo and Juliet without cracking the cover, most people know Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility and, most of all, Pride and Prejudice.

They've become Academy Award-winning movies, critically acclaimed miniseries and even the odd zombie romp.

(Yup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is something that really happened. So is Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters. I'm still waiting for Minotaurs in Mansfield Park.)

In 2003, Pride and Prejudice was voted the second most popular novel ever in a BBC poll. She only lagged behind Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. It topped everything from Thomas Hardy to the Brontes to Douglas Adams. Perhaps, most impressively, she edged out J.K. Rowling.

While Austen's style has come in and out of vogue over the last couple of centuries, her influence has been absolutely everywhere for the last 20 years.

Moreover, Austen's themes of love, independence and marriage (and where the three intersect) have proven malleable. They still work when dropped in Beverly Hills, as Amy Heckerling did when she transformed Emma into Clueless.

Austen's work may be timeless, but her influence is as timely as ever. Some have even argued that she is the progenitor of the genre we call (some, derisively,) chick lit.

So the Mentor Public Library is celebrating all things Austen with Jane in June. It's a series of programs in which we look at the writer herself, her work and her influence.

The MPL Reader blog has been building to Jane in June for months by reviewing books that were directly influenced by Austen.

Check out their reviews of:

• The Three Colonels: Jane Austen's Fighting Men by Jack Caldwell
• Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
• Duty and Desire (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman #2) by Pamela Aidan
• These Three Remain by Pamela Aiden

Now, the Jane in June series begins June 1 with A Date with Jane Austen -- a performance by Austen impersonator, Debra Miller of TalkLikeJaneAusten.com,

Miller portrays Jane Austen in the most vibrant and hopeful time of her life – from Chawton Cottage in the autumn of 1815 after her first three novels – Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park – were published and Emma was complete

You can hear from Jane’s own lips what she is writing and all about her inspiration and life.

This one-hour performance delves deeply into Austen's personal life. Learn about her exotic cousin Eliza, her mentor and friend Madame LeFroy and the loves and losses that shaped her life and informed her perception of the world. 

(Patrons are asked to bring chairs and/or blankets to sit on during the performance.)

We follow up our date with a special Jane Austen-centric tea party June 6 on the Read House lawn.

The tea will be casual and everyone is welcome.

Read a Jane Austen book, an adaptation of one of her books or something inspired by Jane’s prodigious influence. The library will bring and serve the tea. Feel free to bring a dish to share and don’t forget the recipe.

Finally, we conclude our Jane in June series with a look at Austen's modern influence on June 10 in the James R. Garfield Room of Mentor Public Library's main branch.

Amy Patterson -- a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Cleveland chapter, as well as a writer and presenter of all things Jane -- will speak about modern adaptions of Jane Austen’s novels and the way her work is viewed today.

Whether participants love Austen’s writing style, her era or the themes in her novels, everyone is welcome to hear about where Austen came from and how her work is being revisited today.

All three of the Jane in June events are free to attend. However, we do ask that you register with us beforehand. You can register by calling (440) 255-8811, ext. 247 or online at mentorpl.org. 

So we hope to see you at the library soon. If you love Jane already, you'll find some like-minded individuals here. If you don't love her yet, check out Jane in June and you'll become a believer.

By the way, seeing as we are a library, we also have plenty of Jane Austen books (and movies based on her books) that you can check out.

The Library's Never Closed... Even When It's Closed

You and I are talking in this scenario.

I start by saying, "The Mentor Public Library is like Oscar the Grouch's eyes. Neither ever close."

But you say, "What do you mean the library never closes? Aren't you closed this Sunday and Monday for Memorial Day?"

Then, I say, "Sure, the buildings may be closed. But there's still a ton you can do with your library card -- download music and eBooks, watch indie films and take a class online -- even if all the branches are locked."

And you say, "Tell me more."

"It's all on our web site," I say. "You can still check out eBooks onto your tablets, smartphones, eReaders and laptops using Overdrive. They include books by best-selling authors like Janet Evanovich, James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks. You can even check out that new Dan Brown book everyone's talking about. By the way, this also includes audiobooks that you can load onto your mp3 players."

• Here's a link with step-by-step instructions on how to download eBooks and mp3 files of audiobooks onto your tablets, smartphones, Apple gizmos, laptops et. al.

Next you ask, "Didn't you say something about music?"

And I reply, "Yes, I did. Free music. All you need is a Mentor Public Library card and you can use Freegal to download music from hundreds of artists including Pink, Beyonce and Kenny Chesney. You can download up to three mp3s per week. And they're yours to keep -- load them on your iPod, burn them on CD, play them on loop ad infinitum -- forever. For free."

So you narrow your eyes and say, "But what if I want to watch a movie? I can't check out a movie if the branches are closed."

I smirk and say, "But you can still check out full-length and short indie films from festivals all around the world. (Seriously, no hyperbole, every continent besides Antarctica. I don't know if they have a film festival there yet.) It's called Indieflix. They have thousands of films that you can watch on your computer and it's free if you have a Mentor Public Library card."

"What if I want a magazine?" you ask. "How do I check out a magazine if you're closed?"

"It's called Zinio. It lets you check out digital versions dozens of magazines from Smithsonian to Cosmopolitan to Newsweek to Marie Claire to ESPN..."

"Let me guess," you interrupt. "All I need is a library card."

"That's it," I say, nodding. "It's a free service to anyone with a Mentor Public Library card."

You seem less skeptical now. So you raise your eyebrow and ask, "You talked about taking classes online through the library. How do I do that?"

"I love this service," I say. "It's called Ed2Go. Having a Mentor Public Library card gives you access to hundreds of online courses -- from Accounting & Finance to Writing & Publishing -- for free. Each course runs for six weeks and they're run by expert instructors."

"And I can take the course from home?" you ask.

"From home, from the coffee shoppe, from your kids' soccer practice, wherever."

"Even when the library's closed," you say.

And I smile because you've finally gotten it.

• Here's a step-by-step breakdown on how to use Ed2Go.

Then I say, "What about Breakfast at Tiffany's."

And you say, "I think I remember that film."

Then I say, "I think we both kind of liked it..."

And you say, "Never end on a non sequitur."

Here's a pretty concise breakdown of all the online services and digital materials we offer -- even when the buildings are closed.

Everything's More Awesome In Costume

If comic conventions have taught us anything, then it is this: Everything is more awesome while wearing a costume.

Don't believe me? Go to Zoup dressed as Batman or pick up your dry cleaning while wearing zombie makeup. (But be careful not to get the makeup on your freshly cleaned clothes.)

This lesson was reinforced at the first meeting of the Mentor Public Library's anime club last Saturday.

The teens painted kokeshi (which is a kind of Japanese doll), ate pizza and watched the first episode of Letter Bee.

All of that would have been cool enough by itself, but some of the teens made it even better by showing up in costume. Here's a shot of Meagan McLaughlin and Katie Hunziker dressed as Sebastian Michaelis from the anime series Black Butler and Rin Kagamine from Vocaloid, respectively.

The next meeting of the Anime Club will be 2 p.m. on June 22 at the Mentor Public Library’s main branch.

All teens are invited. The club will watch Hetalia: Axis Powers and have a Ramen-eating contest.

Come by. Wear a costume. You probably won't be the only one.

By the way, here are a pair of kokeshi, in case you were wondering what they looked like. This duo were painted to look like Naruto and Gaara from Naruto.

For more information on events and programs for kids, teens and adults, visit the Mentor Public Library web site at www.mentorpl.org.

Outdoor Cooking With Gander Mountain At The Library

We got to combine three of my favorite things Thursday evening at the library: grilling, chocolate cake and the folks at Gander Mountain.

(Here's a video if you're curious as to where these three things intersect.)

Gander Mountain store representatives Nick Young and Deb Barmess visited the Mentor Public Library to give a delicious demo and answer questions about outdoor cooking May 16 on the Read House lawn.

They used a charcoal grill and Dutch oven to make a chocolate-cherry dump cake from cherry pie filling, a box of chocolate cake mix and some soda.

While the cake baked, they answered questions from the crowd about campfire cooking, smoking, tailgating and other forms of outdoor cooking.

Here are just a few of their tips:

• Young recommended the classic road-trip grill with cast-iron grates for tailgaters -- though he said more ambitious tailgaters could try a deep fryer to make wings or even a turkey, as long as they remember to thaw the turkey first. 
• For backpackers, Young and Barmess recommended a MicroRocket Stove – a stove that’s not much bigger than a jewelry box that can boil a liter of water in fewer than four minutes, they said. 
• Barmess said the single most important thing (though not the only important thing) while cooking outdoors was to remember food safety. Don't mix your perishable and non-perishables and keep uncooked meat away from the rest of your food. 

And, yes, they shared the cake when it was finished.

The pros from Gander Mountain will be back at the library on June 20 for another installment of their seminar series for outdoor enthusiasts.

The next talk will cover walleye fishing, lure selection and trolling techniques.

The talk (like all the events at the library) is free but registration is required.

For more information on the Gander Mountain seminar series call the Mentor Public Library at (440) 255-8811, ext. 215 or visit the Mentor Public Library website at www.mentorpl.org.

For All The Anime Lovers (And Even The Anime Likers)

To all my anime fans out there, I have one question.

What hooked you?

Was it a hit series like Dragonball Z or something fringier?

Was it the action of Fullmetal Alchemist? The humor of Sgt. Frog? The romance of Kodocha?

OK, I lied. That was several questions. And now I have one more.

Do you want to watch anime with us and other like-minded fans at the library?

Mentor Public Library is hosting its inaugural meeting of the Anime Club from 2 to 4 p.m. this Saturday (May 18) at our main branch (8215 Mentor Ave. in Mentor;) and we'd love to have you join us.

The first meeting gets down to the basics: watching and talking about anime. You'll be able to vote on which series we watch at the meeting. Your choices include Letter Bee, Polar Bear's Cafe and Attack on Titan.

(Love me some Polar Bear's Cafe.)

There will also be pizza and pop; and you can make a kokeshi, if you like.

These are kokeshi -- in case you didn't know.

At the meeting, we'll also take suggestions from you on what other activities to do and what other movies and shows you want to watch in the future.

So come on in if you're an anime lover, anime liker or just curious.

If you want, you can register on the library's web site so we know to expect you.

Dewa mata atode.

In Defense Of The Adorable

Respected literary critic Dorothy Parker, under the nom de plume Constant Reader, once reviewed A.A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner in The New Yorker.

In what became one of her more famous critiques (in a career of sharp-tongued takedowns,) she wrote that Milne's overly precious prose made the "Tonstant Weader (fwow) up."

About 85 years later, Winnie the Pooh and his band may still be twee to some adults, but their popularity remains strong among their key demographic -- namely, children who have never heard of Dorothy Parker.

It's easy to pick on the cute.

Take, for example, the Pinkalicious book series by author and artist Victoria Kann. The books follow the adventures of a young girl – also named Pinkalicious – who madly loves the color pink, wears a tiara, brandishes a wand and has a pet imaginary unicorn named Goldielicious.

It doesn't take a rapier wit to cut through the silliness or the pink-inspired puns. (There are pinkerbelles and pink-a-boos galore.)

What it does require is a cynical sourpuss.

About 20 children and their parents came to the Mentor Public Library's main branch Saturday for its Tea-licious Tea Party, which celebrated (as you probably guessed) all things Pinkalicious.

It was a cynicism- and sourpuss-free zone.

Most of the girls were decked out in their pinkest, frilliest outfits. They made their own wands and tiaras. They sipped pink lemonade and ate pink cupcakes (as well as some green vegetables because, while pink food may be tasty, they're not always nutritious.)

Most of all, it was adorable.

And, yes, children's books like Pinkalicious might have caused Dorothy Parker some stomach discomfort; but the kids loved it. And to be surrounded by them is to share their enthusiasm.

After all, shouldn't we be excited about something that encourages children to read? (The Pinkalicious books also include morals about healthy eating, respecting nature and being true to your own sensibilities.)

Besides, to children there is no such thing as overly precious. That's an adult construct. To children, there is only precious.

For more information on events for kids and adults at the Mentor Public Library, visit mentorpl.org.

Teaching Old Books New Tricks

Do you have some old hardcover or picture books you never read and you're thinking about throwing them out?

Reconsider. Instead of dumping (or even donating) your book, you could repurpose it.

That unwanted tome could make for a cool, one-of-a-kind scrapbook or even a sculpture. To a creative crafter, an old book isn't just decomposing tree-stuff. It's a blank canvas waiting to be used.

You can turn it into a unique journal or a place to keep your alchemical ingredients. No, for real, see how artist Rachael Ashe turned a book into an alchemist's pantry.

Or check out this little library from the Tumblr From Within A Book.

They're called Altered Books and, while these examples are cool, your introduction to this world need not be anywhere near this ambitious.

You can start small.

Kristin Milks, one of the librarians at Mentor Public Library, recently turned an old Cinderella picture book into a photo album.

If you're looking for advice on where to start, TextileArts.net has a great beginner's guide. (Fair warning: you'll probably need to make a trip to the craft store.) Terri Sproul also has several useful how-to videos on her YouTube page and GoMakeSomething.com is filled with helpful tips and fun projects.

And if you're looking for inspiration, Pinterest is stuffed with some jaw-dropping alterations.

Have you tried altering any books? What did you make? Any tips for newbies? Tell us in the comments.

Mentor Public Library hosted a workshop on how to create Altered Books earlier this week. For information on more fun and informative events at the library, visit mentorpl.org.

May The Force Be With You

You want to know one of my favorite things about working at the library? (On second thought, that's not a fair question. I have a lot of favorite things.)

The answer is it brings people together through their shared interests.

May 4 was Star Wars Day. (May the Fourth be with you.) So we threw a Star Wars party for the children over on the Read House lawn.

It didn't take long for the kids -- who were strangers a few minutes earlier -- to start talking about their favorite Star Wars moments and (playfully) sparring with their light sabers.

These new friends might not have met if it wasn't for the library... and the awesomeness that is Star Wars.

But the party didn't just bring strangers closer together.

Betsy Hensel brought her 11-year-old daughter, Ashley, to the Star Wars Party. Betsy has loved the Star Wars films for decades but Ashley just recently became a fan of the franchise.

And while the two may not agree on everything -- Ashley is an R2-D2 girl but Betsy prefers Yoda -- they were still able to bond over the Star Wars books in our collection.

We always want Mentor Public Library to be a place where you can find new interests and nurture ones you already have. But it's even more fun to do that with like-minded people.

And now, for reasons of cuteness, a photo of an adorable child dueling Darth Vader on the Read House lawn:

If that's not enough cuteness, here's a quick video we shot at the Star Wars Party, as well. (John Williams, if you're watching this, please don't sue us.)

Till next time, see you at the library.