Events At Lakewood Public Library

by Leana Donofrio-Milovan

March 19
CPH Script Club: "Clybourne Park" by Bruce Norris
The Cleveland Play House Script Club is everything you love about a book club—but with a play in the spotlight! Check out a copy of the script and read it at home. Then join CPH Artistic Staff at the Library for a free-flowing exploration of the story and how CPH artists will take a play from page to stage. In "Clybourne Park" by Bruce Norris, neighborhoods change, but do people? This ferociously smart satire takes a hard-eyed, sharp-tongued look at the ways race, history and humor impact the owners of one house through fifty years of societal changes. No wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011.
Space is limited. Call 216-226-8275 ext. 127 to register.
Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 20
Judaism in Focus
Judaism Confronts Modernity

Presented by Dr. Brian Amkraut

This session explores the ways that Jews adapted their religion to confront the challenges and changes of the modern world. In this brief, but rich, survey, we will discuss the development of a spectrum of approaches that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Reform Judaism as it developed in Germany and the USA; the response from modern traditionalist forces that gave rise to Modern Orthodoxy; the reactionary approach that led to the formation of a specific ultra-Orthodox outlook; and a centrist approach, which gave rise to Conservative Judaism.

Dr. Brian Amkraut is the Executive Director of the Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at Case Western Reserve University. He served on the faculty of Jewish history at Oberlin College and Siegal College prior to becoming Provost at Siegal College, a post he held for five years. His book "Between Home and Homeland: Youth Aliyah from Nazi Germany," published in 2006, details the movement to bring Jewish teenagers from Germany to Palestine in the 1930s. He has published articles addressing the impact of changing technologies in contemporary Jewish life.
Thursday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 20

Booked for Murder: Laugh Out Loud Mysteries: "Live Wire" by Harlan Coben

Murder is serious business… But sometimes solving the crime can be a hoot. Come share the laughs and air your accusations with this fun and friendly group of readers. For full book descriptions, visit www.lakewoodpubliclibrary.org/bookclubs.

Thursday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Meeting Room

March 22
Lakewood Public Cinema: "High and Low" (1963)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

The plot of this movie is so simple that it’s hard to convey the thundering power of its human drama in words. A businessman named King Gondo is about to take control of the company he works for—the culmination of many years’ hard work—when he's told his son has been kidnapped. It turns out the kidnappers grabbed his chauffeur's son by mistake, but they still want him to pay. If he does, he will be financially ruined. If he doesn't, he will be reviled. This carefully measured film moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-the-clock thriller (with a terrific action sequence set on a bullet train) to an exacting social commentary, deeply critical of contemporary Japanese society. Kurosawa turns a B-movie plot into a meditation on honor and decency, shedding light on how the little steps we take can lead us to Heaven or to Hell—which, incidentally, is another translation of the film’s original Japanese title.
Saturday, March 22 at 6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 23
Sunday with the Friends: Jody Getz and Friends
Jody Getz is a musician's musician, known for the company she keeps. Her laidback group originally came together as a gathering of friends, but when they cut loose and fooled around with zydeco, blues, folk, rock and pop, they discovered a new sound that they just couldn’t put down. Now they want to play it for you. Bassist George Lee, Guitarist John Lucic and legendary blues man Wallace Coleman join the award-winning songwriter with her name in the title for funky new arrangements of popular songs and brand new original compositions that feel like old favorites. This is the sound of friends having fun with the music they love.

Sunday, March 23 at 2:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 23
Hands-On Help with eReaders

Do you own a shiny, new eReader, but don’t know how to download any of the thousands of free titles that are available through the Library? Make an appointment with a knowledgeable staff member who can show you around the bells and whistles of your device, whether it’s a Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone or something else entirely. Let’s talk.
Thursday Nights at the Madison Branch - Call (216)228-7428

Sunday Nights at the Main Library - Call (216)226-8275 ext. 127

March 25
What You Can Do Right Now to Prevent Stroke
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. Yet, eighty percent of all strokes are preventable. Dr. Megan Donohue, Neurologist at Lakewood Hospital, will lead a discussion on steps to manage your personal risk and how to respond to stroke signs and symptoms.
Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 26
Lakewood Historical Society: Ohio's Unsung Heroines: Women in the Civil War

The Civil War was more than just a few skirmishes on faraway battlefields. While its considerable costs are often measured in terms of money, resources and human lives, its massive footprint disrupted nearly every aspect of society and left its mark on the nation for generations to come. Many women left the homestead for the first time to do their bit, while those who stayed at home picked up the work of men to support their families and supply the troops. Cathie Clager, Vice President of the Brecksville Historical Association, looks back at how America was forced to reexamine the roles of women. She recounts riveting tales of spies, soldiers, doctors, nurses, abolitionists, wives and mothers who brought a woman's perspective to the waging of war.
Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 27
Internet Safety: A Guide for Parents
Technology changes rapidly. Keeping children safe on the Internet can be a daunting task. What are the warning

signs of misuse? Is your child really safe on the Internet? In collaboration with the Lakewood Hospital Teen Health Center, join Leah Hackney from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Division for an informative session on Internet safety.
Thursday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Multipurpose Room

March 27
Judaism in Focus

Jewish Diversity: Weddings Across the Globe

Presented by Dr. Alanna Cooper

Over the course of their dispersed history, Jews across the globe have maintained similarities and connections to one another, while simultaneously adapting to the various cultural worlds in which they found themselves. In this session, join Alanna Cooper to attend Jewish weddings in North Africa, in Central Asia and in the United States. Through photographic images and ethnographic depictions, we will explore the ways in which this rich life-cycle ritual provides a window into the ties that bind and the divisions that separate Jews from one another.

Dr. Alanna E. Cooper, a cultural anthropologist, is Director of Jewish Studies at Case Western Reserve University’s Siegal Lifelong Learning Program. She is an educator, administrator and author. Her book, Bukharan Jews and the Dynamics of Global Judaism, was published by Indiana University Press in 2012,

and her articles and essays have appeared in scholarly journals as well as the popular press, including Jewish Social Studies, AJS Review, Anthropology of East Europe Review, The Jewish Daily Forward, The Jerusalem Post and Jewish Review of Books. She has held research and teaching positions at Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, University of Michigan and Boston University.
Thursday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 29
Lakewood Public Cinema: "I Shot Andy Warhol" (1996)

Directed by Mary Harron

This is the true story of Valerie Solanas, the notorious radical feminist who grabbed her fifteen minutes by shooting the prophet of fame himself. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Solanas had a lousy New York City start in life, a victim of abuse and prostitution. As an eccentric with an inability to accurately judge the world around her—basically an optimist—she becomes fixated on Warhol, convinced that he is the key to changing everything. She gets so close... But when he inevitably spurns her appeals for friendship and collaboration, the rage that built up inside her over an entire lifetime explodes onto the art scene and an international icon drops to the ground. Strangely, we find ourselves cheering. And we like Andy Warhol!
Saturday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

March 30
Hands-On Help with eReaders

Sunday Nights at the Main Library - Call (216)226-8275 ext. 127

April 1
Poetry Month: "An Act of Courage: Selected Poems of Mort Krahling"
Edited by Judy Platz and Brooke Horvath

If Mort Krahling were better remembered as a bartender than as a poet, he might prefer it that way. He was not particularly interested in publishing during his lifetime and not impressed by the world of respectable poetry—but the literary community of Kent State University loved him just the same. Fellow Kent poet Maj Ragain wrote of Krahling, "There is an air of privacy about Mort’s poems as if they were casual personal notes that he might offer to a friend, over coffee, across a kitchen table. He had the gift of touching things lightly... At odds with much in the world, Mort lived most fully in these poems through which he became one of Kent’s enduring voices. These poems are his real home." This new book, published by Bottom Dog Press, represents the heart of Krahling’s body of work and distills the essence of living in a small college town in the American Midwest. Join editor Brooke Horvath, publisher Larry Smith and the aforementioned Maj Ragain for readings and remembrances of this rare, self-contained man. As Horvath writes in the introduction, "Mort Krahling met things as they were with a willingness to work with what he had, to find it meaningful and enough, and to trust that something better might well be on the way. Such traits are more than things, and you can see them enacted, embraced, throughout the poems collected here.” Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

April 3
Poetry Month: "A Bomb in Her Bosom: the Enigma of Emily Dickinson"

A Dramatic Presentation by Wordstage

The first word of the first poem she ever wrote was, appropriately enough, “awake.” Almost two centuries later, Emily Dickinson is still jolting us into consciousness. The legendary recluse, who spent most of her life hidden from the world in the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts, wrote poetry for four decades yet allowed only a handful of her poems to be published in her lifetime. It wasn’t until decades after her death, that all 1,789 of them were discovered and published in their original, unedited form. But according to recent scholarship and new biographies, the myth of the shy, virginal woman in the white dress hidden away in her father’s house, is too simple. The Dickinson of closer inspection reveals a fiercely passionate poetic pioneer with a withering wit and yearnings that, like a good poem, can lift the top of your head off. In truth, her avoidance of public life may have had a less romantic cause—epilepsy. (The most effective treatment available for such a condition to those who could afford it would have been to simply stay home.) The debate rages on and readers are welcome to make up their own minds. Whatever the case, Dickinson has never suffered from a shortage of fans and admirers and she is now widely considered one of the New World’s greatest poets. WordStage examines her life and literary legacy through dramatic readings of her own poems, letters and diaries, accompanied by the music of her time.

Thursday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

April 3

Friends Spring Book Sale Preview

Thursday, April 3 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

April 5

Friends Spring Book Sale

Saturday, April 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

April 5
Lakewood Public Cinema: "The Seventh Seal" (1957)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman

There's no doubt that this quintessential art house film delivers the heavy symbolism and philosophical discussion you would expect. You might be surprised, however, to find that it is not without humor and humanity and that its major themes—far from being pretentious twaddle—are accessible to any film lover willing to read the subtitles. There is a reason it’s become such an oft-parodied classic... A battle-weary knight returns from the Crusades only to find his countrymen dying of the plague. He has lost his faith in both God and mankind. When the specter of Death comes to claim him, the Knight challenges Death to a game of chess for his very soul. Death is a little distracted with the plague and religious hysteria creating so much extra work for him, but that does not stop him from being drawn into a spirited discussion with the Knight over the existence of God. Hardly any other film is this direct in raising such questions. Fewer still will leave the faithful and the faithless alike with the well-earned hope that things might get better.
Saturday, April 5 at 6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium