Happy Earth Day! We offer heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in our first ever Earth Day Poetry Contest. We were overwhelmed by the many beautiful and intriguing poems that were shared with us. We received thought-provoking poems that caution us to preserve and respect the environment, poems that celebrate animals and natural beauty, we even received a poem that syncs up with a TikTok video! You've made it very difficult for us to choose the winning submissions, because everyone who participated is a winner.

Write a poem about the environment, and share it with your library! One winner will be selected from three categories: elementary school, middle and high school, and adult. Submissions will be accepted March 1 through April 16. Winners will be announced on Earth Day, April 22.

Music played an especially important role in my life throughout this past year, given the unusal amount of time I spent at home. I'm happy to have the opportunity to share some of my favorites with you. This list is totally subjective, of course, and I hope that you find something here that you enjoy. There are many more musical artists I could have highlighted (Hum, Lomelda, Jay Som, just to name a few), but the following songs were an integral part of my 2020.

“Loner” - Dehd

In some cases, the definitive version of a song is the cover version. Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” is inarguably the definitive version, despite the fact that it’s a Bob Dylan cover. Some artists, notably Nina Simone, possess an uncanny ability to make every song they performed feel like an original. There is also the equally rare gift of incorporating a known song into an original composition, and making something completely new.

Join us at the Randall Oaks Library on Saturday, March 24, 1 to 2 p.m., for a fun sea-themed craft! All craft materials will be provided. Ages 5 to 8.

Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson passed away in February 2018. He was 48 years old.

Looking for new music? Continuing our Best of 2017 series, Jason Katsion highlights his favorite music of the year. For reading recommendations, check out our recent Best of 2017: Fiction Picks and our forthcoming Best of 2017: Non-Fiction Picks and Best of 2017: Children's Books.

“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.”
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!”
-- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1

John Ashbery, arguably the dominant voice in American poetry for the last half-century, passed away on September 3, 2017. He was 90 years old. News of his passing brought to mind these closing words from his 1977 poem “Blue Sonata”: