Arts & Entertainment
Five Dynamic Women Present: March is Women's History Month
During March, Women's History Month, and beyond these women are bringing their expertise to the Woodridge community through virtual programs
Touching on history, travel, plant biology, literature, and astronomy, five women, each well respected in their discipline, will present a variety of Zoom presentations for the Woodridge Library in the coming weeks and months. We invite you to be entertained and informed as you join us for the following expert presentations during March, Women's History Month, and beyond.
Find out what's happening in Woodridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Find out what's happening in Woodridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Presented by IGA-certified Arborist Debbie Fluegel
Tuesday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Debbie Fluegel is the Illinois Program Manager for Trees Forever, and an ISA certified arborist, with ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. She also serves as the Operations Manager for the Illinois Urban Forest Strike Team, which is a group of specially trained arborists and foresters, who volunteer their time to provide rapid tree risk assessments of public trees and privately-owned trees that may pose a threat to people or public land, in under-resourced communities, impacted by natural disasters.
Image: https://treesforever.org/staff/
Everything Old is New Again: Get Ready for the "1950 U.S. Census"
Presented by Genealogist Laura Kovarik
Wednesday, March 23, 7 p.m.
Laura Kovarik has been involved in genealogy for more than 25 years, including leadership and educational positions at the local and state levels. Laura has enhanced her genealogical education through conferences, institutes, and study groups. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists as well as the National Genealogical Society, Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS), and other local genealogical and historical societies. Her writing has appeared in Fox Tales and The Quarterly, the ISGS magazine. Laura’s areas of interest include the 1950 US Census, Norwegian research, how to use timelines to assist with research, and creating genealogy games. Her current project is using ephemera to document the social life of an ancestor in the late 1880s Chicago. Laura has a Master of Urban Planning which offers a solid background for exploring census records.
The Great British Baking Tour
Presented by Claire Evans
Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m.
Claire Evans is a former journalist, attorney, and college lecturer who started her love of most things British as she and her mother watched countless episodes of "Are You Being Served," "Fawlty Towers," and "The Vicar of Dibley" on PBS. She went on to study abroad in London and, against the odds, she married a Brit she met in Peoria, Illinois. They moved to England, where they lived for a number of years. Outside of her work for a legal advice charity, Claire became a student of historical sights, pub dining, and tea shops. Her business, Tea with Claire, grew from friends asking for travel and relocation advice.
Poetry Reading with Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson
Tuesday, May 10, 7 p.m.
In recognition of her selection of as Illinois' Poet Laurate, the Illinois State Senate passed SR142, celebrating November 25, 2021 as Angela Jackson Day. Angela Jackson is an award-winning poet, novelist, and playwright who has published three chapbooks and four volumes of poetry. Born in Greenville, Mississippi and raised on Chicago's Southside, she was educated at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. She has received the Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, TriQuarterly’s Daniel Curley Award, Illinois Center for the Book Heritage Award, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Fuller Award, Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent from Chicago State University, the Academy of American Poets Prize, and grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. She was a twenty-year member of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) Writers Workshop, succeeding the late Hoyt W. Fuller as its Chair. Ms. Jackson is a key figure in the Black Arts Movement.
Image: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/Ms.-Jackson's-Biography.aspx
Lunar Eclipse! Skywatching Using Your Eyes
Presented by Michelle Nichols, M. Ed.
Thursday, May 12, 7 p.m.
Michelle Nichols is Director of Public Observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, and has worked at the Adler since June 1995. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction from National-Louis University. Ms. Nichols leads all of the Adler Planetarium's telescope, observatory, and public sky observing initiatives and events. Ms. Nichols has served as an advisor for several children’s books: Superfast Rockets, Space: Surviving in Zero-G, Ellen Ochoa: Reach for the Stars, and The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion, as well as the Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers series: The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, The Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto: Dwarf Planet, and Comets.
March: Women's History Month
Women's History Month stems from International Women's Day on March 8, which seeks to celebrate the achievement of women and raise awareness of bias.
President Carter declared, "Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well," as he signed off on the first Women's History Week in 1980.
Visit the Woodridge Public Library this month to find two thought-provoking collections of books on display, "March is Women's History Month" in the Adult & Teen department and "Wonderful Women in History," with a fun Wonder Women theme, in the Children's Department. All books are available to check out.
