Pasadena Library's 2nd Annual Author Fair

Are you coming by Pasadena's Central Library (285 E. Walnut St.) this Saturday, February 21st? Of course you are, because it's highly likely that at least one of your author friends (me) will be there. And probably more than one.

It's the library's 2nd annual Author Fair, 10am-2pm, and oh boy! Everyone's going to be there! Look at this list of authors:

Marcella Adams, Maria Alexander, Cindy Arora, Ontresicia Averette, Anne Louise Bannon, Julie Berry, Boualem Bousseloub, Mary Brodsky, Petrea Burchard, Stuart Douglass Byles, Christina Cha, Justin Chapman, Regina Conroy, Joey L. Dowdy, Quoleshna Elbert, Carol Elek, Jamie Eubanks, Jess Faraday, Kenneth Grant, Anjeza Angie Gega, Steven Gibson, Ken Goldstein, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Reg Green, Claudia Heller, Lisa Hernandez, Rubin Johnson, Lloyd Kaneko, Gay Toltl Kinman, Sarai Koo, Ph.D./ Gail Taylor, Jay Mathews, Dan McLaughlin, Kay Murdy, Elizabeth Pomeroy, Adrienne Ramsey-Harris, Raquel Reyes-Lopez, Thelma Reyna, Susan S. Rosvall, Jo Anne Sadler, Kathy Salama, Gisele Samaan, Yvette Samaan, Yvonne Senkandwa, Jason Silva, Lucie Simone, Frederick Smith, Ellen Snortland & Lisa Gaeta, Lynn Martin Snowden & Kyle Sydney Powell, Rick Stepp-Bolling, Diane E.M. Tegarden,Mary Terzian, Larissa Theule, Alicia Thompson, Marcia L. Thompson, Sarah Thursday, Cherie Mercer Twohy, Erika Wain Decker, Nancy Woo, Nancy Young, and last but absolutely not least, Desiree Zamorano!!!

All during the Fair, authors will read from their works in the Auditorium. While Desiree reads from The Amado Women at 10:30, I'll be covering for her at her signing table (no, I will not sign her books). At 11:10am she'll cover for me while I read something funny, or maybe something poignant—poignant, yeah, that's it—from my new book, Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand.

You can buy an autographed copy from me and I'll have a few copies of Camelot & Vine on hand as well. Or just stop by and say hi. There's no pressure to buy anything, though you might want to get yourself a treat at the Espress Yourself coffee shop (pictured) on the library grounds.

All these authors will be there to sign their books and answer your questions. Or maybe ask you some!

Art Night II

Art Night Pasadena brings happy crowds to Pasadena's many art venues and last night that included the Central Library. It was a family-friendly event with local authors, artists, dancers and musicians and it was a huge success.

How often does my book get its picture taken with celebrities?

The Reiyukai Creative Recycling display was particularly striking. Their table was busy all evening, with kids making beautiful boxes and decorations out of milk cartons. They teach workshops! Contact them here.

Throughout the evening Terry Bailey was creating interactive books on her iPod with art and music along with the words. When Terry comes to your book group she brings her iPod and plays the book's music for you.

I'm constantly amazed by the high quality and sheer number of programs offered by our library system. Adults, kids, teens, Shakespeare lovers, manga lovers, you name it. I highly recommend you subscribe to their monthly newsletter and enjoy the free amazingness our libraries have to offer.

Random Acts of Reading

Here's my way of keeping visitors from sitting on a bench that would collapse if they did. I call it backyard art. It has nothing to do with today's post, but I didn't have a picture of the library.

Come one, come all to the Central Library this Saturday, February 22nd, 10am-12pm, for the Love Our authors Celebration!

 

Many, many local authors and publishers will be in the auditorium with their books, looking forward to a chat with you. Even the Pasadena Symphony will contribute Random Acts of Music. I imagine if you don't show up we'll talk amongst ourselves, but it would be nice to see you.

You can buy a book or not buy a book or buy twenty. The event is free, so come and snoop/browse/schmooze. 

While you're at it, I suggest you sign up for the library's newsletter. There's so much going on there it's the only way to keep track.

Librarians Rule

looking out over the north entrance of Pasadena's Central Library

It's no secret I'm a fan of libraries and, by extension, librarians. You can imagine my glee when I received the press release with the following headline:

CALIFORNIA’S LIBRARIANS TO GATHER IN PASADENA TO DISCUSS THE CHANGING WORLD OF LIBRARY SERVICES

It's not like I'm going to the California Library Association Conference, or that I expect to meet any of these librarians while they're here this weekend (the 11th to 13th). It's just nice to know they're coming to town.

I hear they're a raucous bunch. In fact I know they are, my sister's a librarian. She's not a California librarian, but I know what I'm talking about. Don't let all that shushing fool you. These Dewey-eyed fans of Melvil and Melville are into space-age information distribution and wild, late-night author signings. They support literature of all kinds even if they don't agree with it. They read banned books.

From the press release:
“We’re very pleased to host the conference and showcase our community and our library system for librarians from across our state,” said Pasadena Library and Information Services Director Jan Sanders. “It’s a chance for us to learn to better meet the needs of library users.  We also look forward to having conference attendees visit our libraries while they are here.”

They'll be in the libraries! Look out!

More information about the conference is available at www.cla-net.org.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week officially began yesterday, but we have all week to celebrate.

Because Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association (among a host of others) and because Pasadena has ten libraries (counting the Central Library and nine branch libraries), this seems like the perfect week to visit some libraries here on the old blog.

It's also a good week to check out a banned book you've been meaning to read. The classics that have faced bans or challenges is a surprisingly varied reading list.

The Particulars

Who: would be so negligent as to lose their library card? Uh, that would be me.

What: This is the dome of Pasadena's City Hall reflected in a window of the Central Library.

When: During the month of September, you can renew a lost library card for free. Usually it's $10.

Where: 285 E. Walnut St, Pasadena.

Why: Because I like it. Not the library card. I mean yes, I like the library card (or I will when I get it). But the picture. I like the picture. And the library. City Hall, too.

Haunting the Library

If my mother were alive, today would be her 90th birthday. She and my father taught me and my siblings to love books. It worked: I'm a writer, like Mother was. One of my sisters is a librarian. My brother is a book seller. My one sister who isn't in the book business has a Ph.D, like my dad did. We all seem to be partial to book learnin'.

I went to the library yesterday to research a new book. It was about 100 degrees out. On hot days people come in, find a book and a comfy chair and snooze in the air conditioning. Added to that, "the collection is being rearranged," or words to that effect, adding to the busy feeling at the library. I don't know if the new fourth floor teen center (pictured here in its larval phase) is a cause or an effect of the rearrangement. I found a quiet bench on the fourth floor near the construction area and read for a while.

After I checked out my books I stopped at the Friends of the Library book store to see if I could snag a bargain. A woman there was buying almost all of the children's books. She reminded me of someone who would be very old today if she were still here. But she'd have no trouble finding her way around a busy library.

Sunday, Sunday

There are worse things you could do than sit on the back steps of Pasadena's Central Library on a Sunday. (Not all branches are open today, but this one's open from 1-5.)

You could go north, where the Friends of the Altadena Library conclude this year's book sale from 1-4pm.

You could catch five free museums at Museums of the Arroyo Day (MOTA). 

And it's open house weekend at the Jet Propulsion Lab, when our normally modest rocket scientists get to show off.

No matter your plans, keep in mind that the Pasadena Marathon is also today, so check the map for street closures before you head out if you want to find the runners--or if you don't.

Guest Author: Victoria Patterson and "This Vacant Paradise"

Today I'm honored to host guest author Victoria Patterson, the South Pasadena writer whose novel, This Vacant Paradise, was published March 4th. Victoria will be appearing at Vroman's this Thursday, March 24th at 7pm.

 

For the most part, my fiction takes place in Newport Beach, but I live and write in South Pasadena. A tour of the places in South Pasadena (and surrounding areas) where I’ve written, and where my story collection, Drift, and my novel, This Vacant Paradise, came to life, would take quite some time, especially considering the seventeen years we’ve lived in South Pasadena. 

           
For years I worked at the South Pasadena Library (and I still do at times).  I’ve staked out every quiet and isolated work area at S. Pasadena Library, my favorite being the upstairs conference room, although that didn’t last long, considering there was just solitary me. The downstairs partitioned workspace desks near the teen section are great—while said teens are at school—except during “Storytime”(which I used to take my kids to), when the massive avalanche of toddlers’ feet boom from overhead.

Buster’s Coffee on the corner of Meridian and Mission was a mainstay, though ultimately I knew too many people, and would end up visiting and talking rather than working.

For close to three years, I worked at the coffee shop at Vroman’s, and I actually wrote an essay about it.

Pasadena Library, check. Starbucks, check.

For a long time, I worked at Caltech library, on one of the upper floors, with its spectacular view of the mountains. But then it was discovered that a Hummer-graffiti-terrorist civilian was also taking advantage of the library, and Caltech became understandably more restrictive.

This is a small sampling—I could go on and on, because South Pasadena (and Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Sierra Madre) is home to my writing, even if the writing takes place elsewhere. 

Cozy Up to the Library

Pasadena Central Library's Centennial Room

Yesterday, several of my neighbors packed their kids in their cars and headed to Altadena to play in the snow. My friends in Burbank said they made a snowman, but I haven't seen pictures.

I grew up in a cold climate and I moved to the west coast for a reason. To my mind, if you didn't have a fire going in your fireplace yesterday, it was a good day for the library.

Today's good, too, except the Central Library is open only from 1-5 on Sundays and the other branches are closed. I guess the librarians have a right to take a day off and freeze just like everyone else.

The travesty is that on Sundays, Central Grounds is closed.

Four Stars, To Be Exact

I learned from the 1/17/11 issue of Wired Women, Monica Hubbard's packed-with-Pasadena e-newsletter, that the Pasadena Public Library earned a four star rating from the The Library Journal "for providing exceptional response to patrons and superior customer service."

The Library Journal, a trade publication for libraries (as opposed to, say, itinerant rodeo riders), was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey, the guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System. It has the highest circulation of any library journal. I mention these things because I think they make recognition of our library by this publication especially brag-worthy.

I enjoyed reading about library director Jan Sanders, who in 1999 was named to the Intellectual Freedom Hall of Fame. Could there be a cooler hall of fame? Maybe, but this one's way up there. Apparently it's not like the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in that it doesn't have an actual hall. I couldn't find it on the internet. But still.

Congratulations to Ms. Sanders and the Pasadena Public Library. May your (our) funds not be cut too deeply.

Be made whole by books as by great spaces and the stars. I love the library.

Susan Stroh: Coaching it Out of You

Susan Stroh is one of those people who asks about you first. To start a conversation she says something nice about you--not your outfit, you. She points out something intriguing she heard you say, or mentions how well you carry yourself or how interesting your work is. She knows how to focus outside herself. I imagine this skill comes in pretty handy in her work. But I wanted to focus on her this time.

Susan and I met through the Women's City Club Business Boot Camp. A writer and editor (she published 15 personal essays in 2009 alone), Susan has an office but she'd rather work at Pasadena's Central Library, so we met for a cup of coffee at Central Grounds. With our shared backgrounds in acting and writing, we found a lot to talk about--my acting, my writing, my blog--wait a minute--I was supposed to be interviewing her. How does she do that?

Besides her own writing, Susan's in the business of coaching other writers. It fits. Her gifts for getting people to open up and for seeing an individual's strengths are ideal for a writing coach, because each writer is different. With novelists, for example, coaching might involve a good deal of brainstorming. With those working on a memoir, a session with Susan might be about coaxing an idea to fruition. Susan describes part of her process as "finding what the client is doing right and encouraging them to do more of it."

I told her I'm so intent on my own work I don't think I could focus that hard on someone else's. I asked how she does it. Her answer: "Standing back and creating a vacuum for the writer to fill is so satisfying to them that it's satisfying to me."

She can be tough. She expects agreements to be kept and deadlines to be met. "So many people mean to write, plan to write, say they're going to write, and put off writing. I help them keep the promises they make to themselves."

"I know," I said. "I had to set a deadline, then tell people about it so I'd be accountable."

"What's your deadline for?" she asked.

And I was off again, telling Susan my story instead of getting hers. I'm not selfish. Really I'm not. She's just that good at coaxing my story out of me.

Morning classes for Susan Stroh's ten-week Memoir and Personal Essay Writing Workshop begin January 20th. Evening classes start February 2nd. For more information and to sign up, contact SusanStroh (at) sbcglobal.net or call (818) 497-7486.

Library Window

The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm
by Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955


The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night

Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.

The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,

Wanted to lean, wanted much to be
The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.

The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.

And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself

Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there.

1923

Some Definitions, Kinda

As long as we're on the subject of the Pasadena Public Library and its coffee shop, Central Grounds, I thought I'd post this shot I took while waiting in line for my coffee the other day. Central Grounds is located on the east patio of the library and as you can see, the patio's open to the sky.

Kinda the definition of a patio, really.

That black-shrouded, sad-looking corner of a building beyond the patio roof is just about the same spot at which I was gazing when I took this photo. I like the shot. But the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse is not the most popular edifice in town. Perhaps its current face-lift will make it more attractive.

Kinda the definition of a face-lift, really.

I wasn't able to find out anything about the construction on the web. The current job might not actually be a face-lift. When I was there to snap this shot, a man on the construction crew said something about it having more to do with securing the facade to the building than making it pretty.

Like, keeping the facade from falling off? I guess that would keep the streets safe.

Which is kinda the definition of a courthouse, really.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I've been taking a vicarious vacation on Turquoise Diaries lately because Aysegul's visiting the most glorious places. Yesterday she said she loves Ghost Whisperer, which was shooting at the Pasadena Public Library last Friday (see yesterday's post). So for Aysegul, here's a shot of the library's main hall, in case it shows up on Ghost Whisperer.

Something I recently discovered about the main hall: you can drink your coffee in there! I KNOW! (Oops. Shh. I mean, I know! I was shocked!) I've visited the library's coffee shop many times. Central Grounds is outdoors on the front patio. It was the first stop in my quest for the perfect coffee shop in which to write (a quest I promise I'll take up again.) But it wasn't until last Friday, when it was nine million degrees out, that I discovered I could buy my coffee at Central Grounds and take it inside to the air-conditioned comfort of the main hall. (I'd make the main hall #10 in The Quest if I didn't think it was cheating.)

You may not drink your coffee in the stacks. You may not have it in the computer room or the study rooms or beyond the reference desk. Only in the main hall. But click on that picture and enlarge it. Isn't that a nice place to plug in your laptop, drink your coffee and write?

Lovely as it is, I don't suppose Aysegul would trade places with me. Not even for a glimpse of the Ghost Whisperer.

Shh!

In comments July 17th I mentioned I was "coming to you from the Pasadena Public Library," where a crew was shooting scenes from Ghost Whisperer.

Many Hollywood productions use filming locations in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena and the surrounding area. Our parks and institutions stand in for places all over America and Europe. The Ghost Whisperer crew is in town so often they've probably all given in and bought property here.

The shoot itself was inside at the northeast end of the building. I didn't see any of the performers. I'm a performer myself and I respect their workspace, so I didn't try to get near the set. But even on the outer edges of the shoot, where I could glimpse lights and crew, I was asked not to take photos.

They asked nicely, so there you have it. I'm sorry I didn't get you a picture of a crew guy in a tool belt. I think a lot of us would have enjoyed that. But I did get this pic of some of the essential equipment outside the library's back door.

Model Library

This model of the early Pasadena Public Library is encased in glass in the lobby of Pasadena's present main library on Walnut Street. Wei mentioned it yesterday in the comments, beating me to the punch! A plaque below the model reads:

"Model of 1887 Pasadena Public Library built to scale from original stone. With copper shingles, gutters, downspouts, and real glass windows, donated by builder, Rex Petty, to Pasadena Public Library."

The model seems to have been made in the late 1950's, a guess I made from a 1958 headline I found from the Pasadena Star-News. (I was unable to locate the article.)

See yesterday's post for a photo of what remains of this building: the main archway that led to the front door. Then head on over to the library! We have a terrific library system in Pasadena, with our great central library and wonderful neighborhood branches. And it's free.

Being Have

Yesterday I attended a movie at the Central Library with Miss Havisham, her Secretary, Mary Kathleen O'Looney, Mademoiselle Gramophone and Dr. Burchard. We're usually a raucous crowd, but not only were we at a movie, we were at a movie at the library, so we were doubly quiet. As my Uncle Max used to say, we were "being have."

The movie was Miss Potter starring Renee Zellweger (love her!). Because the film was about a writer and her books, they showed it at the library for free. YES. FREE MOVIES at the library at 1PM on Wednesdays. A comfortable, intimate theatre, quiet crowd, small screen and a bunch of my friends. You can't beat it. We sat right up front and it wasn't screamingly loud like in the multi-plexes. Heavenly.

The photo above is a view of City Hall from the children's section of the library. After the film we all piled in there. (As it was a school day, the room was devoid of children. Thank goodness we didn't have to set an example.) We asked for the Beatrix Potter books and they had a good selection. Mary Kathleen nosed through The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (the Secretary admonished her to read with her mouth closed), Miss Havisham seemed interested in The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, and Dr. Burchard checked out a copy of The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin for further study.

I became completely absorbed in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies. The librarian did not have to shush us.

Central Grounds (The Quest Begins)

I've been finding it hard to write at home. Too much needs doing here: floors need to be swept, dishes need to be washed, the web needs to be surfed.

So I'm going to try every coffee shop in town until I find the perfect place to work. First stop: Central Grounds, the outdoor cafe at Pasadena Public Library.

Ben posted a picture of the Library's front steps. Once you've entered any of the main portals in Ben's photo, you're in the entry courtyard. Central Grounds is at the east end.

There's always a lot going on at the Library. We receive a newsletter telling us about seemingly endless programs happening there all the time. Miss Havisham posted photos of textiles on display there now, inside the back door. There's a bookstore and countless reading rooms. Oh - and books.

As for Central Grounds, it has good points and bad points from a writer's standpoint:

Good:
I like the courtyard setting.
It's outdoors, and yesterday was a good day to sit outside.
The coffee's good.
The service is very friendly.
Free wifi with your library card, and it's easy to get one of those. (Not that I used the wifi, of course. I was there to escape the internet.)

Bad:
Besides coffee, the menu's limited to muffin-type stuff, yogurt, fruit (sold out by 11:30) and bottled soft drinks. I noticed, however, that people brought take-out food from other places and no one seemed to mind.
Helicopter fumes. There's a helicopter pad atop the police station across the street.
Music. The stuff they played wasn't obnoxious, but when I write I find any music distracting, especially if it has lyrics.
The chairs are hard on the old behind after a while. No cushions.

I got a lot of work done. And darned if I didn't come home to find out the house didn't fall apart and the internet managed to get by without me all day.

I may have to try several places until I find the perfect writing spot. I mean, how many coffee shops don't play music? I'm going to enjoy the search. Meanwhile, Central Grounds is a great spot to meet for a cup of coffee and a quiet chat in Pasadena's Civic Center.

One City, Many Stories

With one of the best independent bookstores this side of the Mississippi, a popular annual city-wide reading program and ten library branches within the city limits, Pasadena is a reader's paradise. In this town, you can buy or order just about any book you want. If you'd rather check it out, there's a good chance you'll find it at the Pasadena Public Library branch near you. Lazy? Stay home and look it up online.

On days like this you might want to enjoy your book outdoors. These palm trees grace the facade of the Central Library at 285 East Walnut Street. Grab a cup of coffee and sit on the patio at Central Grounds. You can see the trees from there if you can get your nose out of your book.