Paul Szmal: Alright, it's official. I think I did break my Zoom. That's why we have the telephone. It's 837FLXMorning. A little glitch in our first ever All Jessica Day. We had Jessica DeFazio earlier and now we have Jessica Winnem with the Geneva Public Library. Good morning.
Jessica Winum: Good morning. How are you?
Paul Szmal: Good. I'm glad to have you here. I don't know what happened. Sometimes technology is great and sometimes it's not so great. So we've got all kinds of different events that we're going to talk about. Let's start with the Trunk or Treat for Halloween coming up on the 19th.
Jessica Winum: Yes, it's our annual Trunk or Treat. It is our ever popular program. Our parking lot gets full of trunks. So if anybody's wondering what Trunk or Treat means, we have organizations. I apologize if you can hear a kitten in the background. We had a kitten show up and it's meowing to get out. I tried to open the door. So if you hear a kitten in the background and it's overwhelming, I'll try to go somewhere else.
Paul Szmal: No, no, no. I don't even hear it. And we've heard since we went to remote interviews, I've had garbage trucks and birds. So fear not. And what's more cliche than a librarian with a kitten in the background, right? So anyway, we have organizations like Geneva Reads and Interact. They get so creative. They pull up their cars in the parking lot and then they open up the trunks and they all kinds of themes. And then the kids, you can test out your costume early and bring your pillowcases or your little pumpkins or whatever you're ready to collect candy in and come and you basically go trunk to trunk and trick or treat. So it's really, really fun. We always have a big turnout for that. So that is, like you said, on October 19th from 3.30 to 5 p.m.
And if you go to the website, Geneva Public Library at gplny.org, you can look at the calendar and see all the events. The next one is, this is fun, a comic book drawing class.
Jessica Winum: Yes. Comic book drawing class. And that is for, let's see, I always forget the ages. So let me pull up here. This is all stuff that our ground floor is doing. And our ground floor, they have so much great stuff going on.
Paul Szmal: Oh, my gosh. Is Mercury in retrograde? Because now my computer isn't working.
Jessica Winum: Oh, no. So I think that is third grade up to high school. And all of these events, like you said, are on the computer. Hopefully yours will work today.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So you can sign up. But it's about comic book drawing. So they're going to go into all of the different aspects of drawing a cartoon, comic book drawing. So drawing what's in the bubbles, the different expressions, how to color everything properly. So that is somebody coming in to give that class, too. So if you're into that kind of particular – because that is a definite art to doing that. So that's October – this Friday at 4.30 p.m., grades three to eight will explore the different languages, the eyes, the body postures, the actual language, the way they talk in the speech bubbles.
Wow. So it's interactive and creative. So yeah, that should be fun. And everything on the ground floor, they really appreciate registration.
Jessica Winum: Yeah. A lot of times you will have to be on a waiting list. But they're always really good when the wait list opens up that they will let you know that the spot has opened up for you. And that's true even for Trunk or Treat, that you need to sign up for it. With that event, if you haven't signed up, don't feel like you can't come. But they do make bags ahead of time. So if you haven't signed up for it, you may not get a bag. But try to go ahead and sign up for it. And that's really easy to do. Again, if you go to the website, the calendar is searchable. So you can just type in the first word of what you're looking for, you'll find it. And the link to click is right there.
Paul Szmal: This is October 4th, the one you just talked about. The next Friday, the 11th, you have a collaboration with Hobart and William Smith. You're going to see a performance of African dance and then learn how to do it yourself.
Jessica Winum: Yes, and I'm so excited for that one. I've been hoping for something like this for at least a year, a year and a half now. So the teachers, the dance department over there is so fantastic. So they're going to be coming. And that is the one that is grades 3 up to 12. And African dance is such a rich history. It's such a rich way of moving. I remember in my dance days, way back in ancient histories, getting to learn that movement. And I encourage everybody within that age group to sign up for it and give it a try. So that's October 11th at 1130 AM. So the kids have the school day off. So get off your phones, get off the couch, get into the library and try to get in there and learn a different culture, a different style of dancing.
Paul Szmal: And it looks, I'm not sure, but it says enjoy the sounds of African drumming. So I wouldn't be surprised if they have somebody actually in there actually doing the drumming. It says please wear sweatpants or shorts and a t-shirt. And feel free to go barefoot. So you really want to get into the ground and feel yourself get grounded. So it's a really good practice. So definitely want to try signing up for that program. That's going to be a good one.
You have a series of family movies and one of those is Despicable Me 4, which is just brand new this year.
Jessica Winum: Yeah, I can't believe they made a Despicable Me 4. I may have to stay for that one. But I'm going to have to try to catch up. I don't think I've seen two or three. I'm a little bit behind. But yep, we always get pizza and popcorn. The kids get to spread out on the floor. We put it up on the big screen with the speakers. So it's just a fun night out and it's free. So it's a money-saving way to get a movie night out and get out of the house. So Despicable Me 4 is the movie, like you said. And I believe that's on the third Friday. So that's October 18th at 6.
Paul Szmal: So here's a cool thing. My wife started this in Rushville. It's a BYOB book club where you just bring whatever book you've read lately and you talk about it a little bit. And then maybe someone else says, ooh, I'd like to read that one. And you do yours off-site at a real cool place, Empire Coffee and Donuts, right down the road from us on Preemption Road. So tell us about how the BYOB book club works.
Jessica Winum: Yeah, this is our librarian Susie's program. And we really love to partner with other businesses in town. And Empire Coffee and Donuts is one of our favorites because they've really become a big community coffee shop. And BYOB is a great program because sometimes traditional book clubs don't work for people. You may not like to have to keep up with everybody. Or you may not like the particular title. Or you may be like me and not like to be told what to do or what to read. You might just like to get together with other readers in particular. So that's what this is about, just get together with other people who like to read. And in this case, you're not limited to fiction or nonfiction. You can read either or. You can read poetry. You can just come and share.
Paul Szmal: And this is a great way to grow your to-be-read pile. So somebody can recommend a title to you and you can say, oh, that's something I really want to read. And again, it's just, you know, everybody's talking about that third space, the need to have that third space to cure that loneliness epidemic. And this is the way to get out of the house and find that third space for you and find like-minded people.
It sounds good. Now you have a Euchre program. I've heard of the game, but I don't know anything about it. So can you describe Euchre in 60 seconds or less?
Jessica Winum: Okay, so I'm terrible at card games, but I know it's a game for four people. It is super popular. I believe it used to be popular among the high school crowd as well. But this one is during the day, so it's among the retired folk. You can get several groups of four people. Beyond that, I don't know the rules. So sometime I'd like to get in there and have them teach me. This crowd has so much fun. We have anywhere in there from four people to 16 people. Susie rolls out the coffee cart, so they just sit there for a couple of hours and have a lot of fun.
Paul Szmal: When I was director at the Bristol Library, we had a regular group on Thursday afternoons who came in and played Euchre. So this is a group that's been – I think we've had Euchre in there for about six months, and they come and we set up tables in our beautiful reading room. And like I said, Susie pulls out the coffee cart, and that is on Mondays from – what time is that?
Jessica Winum: From 1 to 3 about. So for a couple of hours, you just get together. So you can hop in if there's four. If there's an uneven number, I think then the one odd person has to sit out until they can jump in. But if you don't know how to play and you want to learn, they are always willing to teach you. And I don't think it's hard unless you are not super great at numbers like me.
Paul Szmal: Oh, that sounds fun. But what better way to learn and get better at numbers? Coming up. And it's for any ages. So if you have a homeschooler and you want to come and start a homeschool group, by all means, come and bring a homeschool group and start Euchre. It just happens to be retired people right now, but there's no reason it's not limited to any age group.
The next adult craft is next Thursday the 10th from 1 to 3 in the community room, sock and sweater pumpkins. They look cool.
Jessica Winum: Yes. Yes. Suzy always comes up with these super cute crafts. And so this is where you take – she's taking a sock and then stuffing it and then folding and plumping and doing everything so that at the end, you come out with a cute little pumpkin, which is so cute to add to your fall decorations.
Paul Szmal: Now if you like the traditional kind of book club where everybody reads the same thing and talks about it, the book is called Solito, a memoir. It's the story of an immigrant from – and I had it right there in front of me a second ago – from where?
Jessica Winum: Anyway, who comes to the United States.
Paul Szmal: Oh, El Salvador. There it is. A young El Salvadoran boy who comes to the U.S.
Jessica Winum: Yes, and that is by Javier Zamora, and I haven't read that book myself. And again, my – oh, here we go. Okay. Let's see. Now I'm not in that book club, so I don't know that much about it, but immigrant stories and immigrants are at the top of everybody's minds lately. So it's particularly good, and books are a particularly great way for us to get inside somebody else's shoes and travel in their story right now. So if you don't happen to know anybody who's an immigrant or it's been a little while since – we were all immigrants, or somebody in our family was an immigrant, but it's been a little while since that relative was your family member, this is a great book to read to learn about that person's story. So particularly good time of year to read that, even if you're not coming to book club.
Paul Szmal: And book club, they always have a really good time. They meet in the reading room. They get in a circle. You don't have to – if this is not one of those, if you haven't read the whole thing, don't come. We don't want to hear from you. Get as far as you can and come bring your thoughts. It's very open-ended. Come and share and hear everybody else's thoughts as well. And they laugh and they have a good time.
Here's a brand new thing. That's another one of these programs. Brand new club that started – it'll be on Friday, October 25th. You have a brand new science fiction and film fanatics club, and they'll be watching a Vincent Price movie, The Last Man on Earth.
Jessica Winum: Yes, thank you for bringing that up. That is our librarian Cheryl's program. So she thought it would be fun and that this is an interest of hers. And she said, you know, there must be other people out there like me. So one month they're watching a film, and the next month they're reading a book and discussing. So this is Vincent Price's movie, old movie. I don't know. Have you ever watched this movie?
Paul Szmal: I don't think I have. It says it's a 1964 film.
Jessica Winum: Yes. So we were talking about it because we share an office, and she said it's kind of a precursor to that movie, I Am Legend. Oh. It was the one with Will Smith in it where basically he's kind of the last, you know, everybody else dies. And he was like the last man on Earth except that there's all these – everybody else is kind of turned into these freaky zombies, and he has to try to survive. So science fiction-y, edge of your seat kind of thing. And I'm guessing Vincent Price was in his younger days.
Paul Szmal: Wow. So I've got to jump in here because we're almost out of time, and we didn't get to everything. So just go to the calendar on the website, at the library website. And also Geneva Writes is holding an event October 26th, and we're going to have a segment coming up on that, and a brand-new Roots Fair for immigrants and refugees that will be held October 17th. So check out all that and a whole bunch more at the library website. And remember to pre-register so they can tell how many people are coming.
Jessica, thanks. We appreciate it.
Jessica Winum: Thank you so much. There's always too much to talk about. We're always bursting at the seams with everything, and we always appreciate you giving us the time to share it.
