TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY AND HOLIDAY PARTY

Join us at the library for the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and Holiday Party, held in partnership with the Peters Township Parks and Recreation Department. Festivities will include lighting and decorating the outdoors township tree at 6:00, followed by holiday caroling. Refreshments, visits with Santa, and holiday crafts for children will also be offered in the library, as well as a special performance by the South Hills Brass Quintet.

We'll also be welcoming Rose Tennent, author of Thanking Our Soldiers and Susan Castriota, author of Wilson and the White House Pups and other Wilson books, who will be offering copies of their books for purchase and signing. It’s a wonderful way to get in the holiday spirit and spend time with family and friends!

Library welcomes noted author and poet Dr. Samuel Hazo

The Peters Township Public Library will welcome author of poetry and fiction Dr. Samuel Hazo who will discuss “Poetry in Public Speech” on Sunday, December 2 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the library. To attend this memorable event with Dr. Hazo, register online, visit the library circulation desk, or call 724.941.9430. A book signing and reception will follow the program.

Samuel Hazo is the author of poetry, fiction, essays, and four plays. In 1993, Governor Robert Casey named Dr. Hazo Pennsylvania’s first State Poet Laureate and he held this honor until 2003. From his first book, through the National Book Award finalist for Once for the Last Bandit, to his newest poems, he explores themes of mortality and love, passion and art, courage and grace in a style that is unmistakably his own.

Dr. Hazo suggests that “the absence of poetry in public speech can only be remedied by poetry itself. Poetry is the language of ‘felt speech,’ which is the only form of speech that is memorable. We cannot forget it even if we try. I will try to give examples of this from my own poetry and by the poetry of several other poets and let the differences speak for themselves. The unpoetic language that we hear and read on a daily basis simply does not answer the need we have for something deeper. Only poetry gives that.”

As the founder and Director/President of the International Poetry Forum, Dr. Hazo has brought more than 800 poets and performers to Pittsburgh in the past forty years. These have included Nobel Awardees (Heaney, Walcott, Paz, Milosz), Pulitzer Prize winners (Merwin, Kumin, Wilbur, Kinnell, Kooser and others), Academy Award recipients (Gregory Peck, Princess Grace of Monaco, Eva Marie Saint, Anthony Hopkins, John Houseman, Jose Ferrer) as well as public figures who understand the relationship of poetry to public speech (Senator Eugene McCarthy and Queen Noor of Jordan), playwrights and composers (Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Gian Carlo Menotti) and new poets of significance and promise.

Dr. Hazo is McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts degree from Duquesne University and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received eleven honorary doctorates and has been awarded the Hazlett Award for Excellence in Literature from the Governor of Pennsylvania, the Forbes Medal from the Fort Pitt Museum for Outstanding Cultural Contributions to Western Pennsylvania, the Elizabeth Kray Award for Outstanding Service to Poetry from New York University, and the Griffin Award for Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame. In 2003, Samuel Hazo received the Maurice English Poetry Award for his 2002 distinguished book of poems – Just Once: New and Selected Poems. His most recent book, The Time Remaining, was published earlier this year.

R.E.A.D. Library Cookbook Launch Party

The library's first ever cookbook will be available for purchase beginning October 21- the first day of National Friends of the Library Week. From 12 noon until 4:00 p.m., you can buy one for yourself, or buy copies as gifts - the good cooks at the library are offering 225 of their finest recipes, and all proceeds benefit the library!

We will be offering dessert samples from the cookbook during our launch party, along with a special story-time for children from 2:00 - 2:45 p.m. with local resident Nancy Hahn.

Cookbooks will be available at the library for $10 or by mail order. To purchase by mail, please send your check ($10.00 plus $3.00 for shipping and handling) to: Friends of the Peters Township Public Library, 616 East McMurray Road, McMurray, PA 15317, along with the address where you would like the cookbook shipped.

Choosing Your Best Natural Cosmetics and Skin Products

Choosing natural cosmetics is a smart decision for your health and for the health of our planet. Learn more about the products you are currently using and if there may be a better choice available for you. Peters Township Public Library’s GO Green Club will host “Choosing Your Best Natural Cosmetics and Skin Products” on Saturday, October 20 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

GO Green Club member Pam Kuhn will be providing an overview of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) web site, whose mission is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. Persons attending the program are asked to bring a cosmetic or skin product with them that they would like to learn more about. Register for this program online or call 724-941-9430.

Library hosts Free On-site Shredding Event with BBB

The Peters Township Public Library and the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania are hosting “Secure Your ID Day” on Saturday, October 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the library’s parking lot. This identity theft and fraud prevention event will feature FREE on-site shredding plus tips to protect your identity.

Did you know that protecting your identity is largely in your own hands? Fifty-six percent of identity theft victims traced the theft to something that was stolen from their own possession. At the October 20 event, BBB volunteers will guide cars through a moving line in the library parking lot, offload your disposable items, shred them on the spot and distribute goodie bags with educational ID theft and fraud prevention materials.

Each vehicle may dispose of a maximum of 3 boxes/bags of paper-based materials.

Major sponsors of the program are the Peters Township Public Library, The Paper Exchange, and First Commonwealth Bank. For more information about “Secure Your ID Day,” call the BBB at 877.267.5222.

150th Anniversary of Civil War to be remembered through “Homegrown Heroes” program

As part of the state-wide commemoration of the150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the Peters Township Public Library and Pennsylvania Humanities Council will host “Homegrown Heroes: Pennsylvania Communities in the Civil War” on Sunday, October 14 from 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Actor/storyteller Steven Anderson will share remarkable true stories of the Civil War as experienced by civilians who found themselves in harm’s way. How did people react when their neighborhood became a battleground? How did the ideas and concerns that matter to you play out in Gettysburg, along the Underground Railroad and throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? You might even hear Civil War stories that are rooted right in your own backyard. This classic American storytelling is performed in 19th century garb and invites audience participation and the use of imagination as you will learn than heroes don’t always wear uniforms.

Steve Anderson is a professional actor and storyteller with more than twenty years of performance experience. His credits include more than hundred stage plays, ten years with the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and five years as a certified living-history interpreter with the Pennsylvania Past Players. When he’s not performing live, he narrates audiobooks, writes and produces online videos, and explores Pennsylvania history. Anderson is also an experienced playwright and a former college professor.

This presentation is a program of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The PHC, a nonprofit organization, inspires individuals to enjoy and share a life of learning.

Register in advance to attend this free event online, at the library circulation desk, or call 724.941.9430.

International Program Series begins Thursday, October 4

The struggle between Russia and Great Britain over Central Asia in the nineteenth century was the original "Great Game." But in the past quarter century, a new " Great Game " has emerged, pitting America against a newly aggressive Russia and a resource-hungry China, all struggling for influence over the same region, now one of the most volatile areas in the world: the long border region stretching from Iran through Pakistan to Kashmir.

On Thursday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m., the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and the Peters Township Public Library will welcome Dr. Alexander Cooley, one of America's most respected international relations scholars. In his new book, Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great Power Contest in Central Asia, Cooley explores the dynamics of the new competition for control of the region since 9/11. All three great powers have crafted strategies to increase their power in the area, which includes Afghanistan and the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Each nation is pursuing important goals: shipping materials/equipment rights for the US, access to natural resources for the Chinese, and increased political influence for the Russians. This struggle for power and influence in Central Asia reflects a new multi-polar order. With three of the world’s largest superpowers competing for influence, how will Central Asia come to define geopolitics in the twenty first century?

Register in advance to attend this free program online, at the library circulation desk, or call 724.941.9430. The Peters Township Public Library is located at 616 East McMurray Road, McMurray, PA 15317.

Dr. Alexander Cooley is a Tow Professor of Political Science at Barnard College and an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also a Ph.D. Advisor in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Cooley has authored several books and he has published policy-related articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Affairs, and Washington Quarterly. Most recently, he has published an opinion piece in the New York Times.

The McMurray Veterans Foreign Wars POST 764 generously provides support for the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh International Program Series at Peters Township Public Library.