Events

Family Story Time (birth-5)

Wednesday, May 22

10:30 am - 11:10 am

Registration Required It's time for Family Story Time! We'll sing, dance, and read together.  This event is designed for children birth - 5 but interested older siblings are welcome to attend. You only need to signup once for all the Family Story Time sessions. It is okay to miss sessions. Questions, please email Lisa at Lisa@marktwainlibrary.org Photos & videos from this event may be used on the Library's social media sites.

Navigating the Challenge of Dementia — Luncheon, Lecture & New Resources (In-person)

Wednesday, May 22

12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

Registration Required Below LUNCHEON, LECTURE & PRESENTATION OF NEW RESOURCES AT MTL Caring for someone suffering from memory loss? Interested in learning more about the condition? Join us for a light luncheon and lecture focusing on the risk factors, symptoms and disease stages of dementia.   In addition, learn about current research and strategies to better cope with challenges, including the Library's new Memory Kits. During the luncheon, MTL's Librarian Kathryn Zimmerman will unveil MTL's New Memory Care Kits.  These kits are designed to help caregivers create connections with a loved one who has dementia.  The kits have been made possible due to a grant awarded to the Mark Twain Library from the American Library Association/Libraries Transforming Communities. Following the luncheon, an expert from the Connecticut Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association will deliver a comprehensive talk on the impact of Alzheimer's.  Participants will learn about the difference between Alzheimer's and dementia, Alzheimer's disease stages and risk factors, current research and treatments and available Alzheimer's Association resources. This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) Co-sponsored with The Heritage Center Space is limited. Register below to reserve a seat for both the luncheon and lecture.  

The Klansman’s Son — Conversations: Truth, Myth & Democracy (Virtual)

Wednesday, May 22

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Registration Required Below The Klansman's Son: My Journey From White Nationalism to Anti-Racism By R. Derek Black       Join us as Dr. Daniel Barrett moderates this important Conversations discussion with R. Derek Black, an activist and author who shares important insight and lessons for these contentious times. As coded language and creeping authoritarianism spread the ideas of white nationalists, this is an essential book with a powerful voice. In a provocative new memoir, R. Derek Black (they/them) shares the story of being raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the United States and their journey toward renouncing their family's beliefs, apologizing for their past actions and their work today as an anti-racist. Derek's father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the internet’s first white supremacist website. Young Derek built the kids’ page and their mentor and godfather was David Duke. While in college in 2013, Derek publicly renounced white nationalism and apologized for their actions and suffering they had caused. The majority of their family stopped speaking to them, and they disappeared into academia, convinced that they had done so much harm that there was no place for them in public life. But in 2016, as Derek recognized the mainstreaming of the hate they had once helped cultivate, they knew they couldn’t stay silent. This virtual webinar will be hosted via Zoom.  Registered participants will receive an invitation with link prior to the program. Please include a cell phone number to receive text reminder. Panelists: R. Derek Black (they/them) is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Chicago. Since 2016, they have spoken to many audiences at universities, foundations, institutions, museums, synagogues, and churches. They received the Elie Wiesel Award and a humanitarian award from the Anti-Defamation League. The Klansman's Son is their first book.   Dr. Daniel W. Barrett is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Connecticut State University. A former resident of Redding, he graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University, earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University and served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.