Birthday Spotlight: Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor was born this day in 1942 to Grace and John Keillor at Anoka, Minnesota. Keillor began his broadcasting career while in college on a student-operated radio station. In 1994, Keillor was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. You can hear his show, A Prairie Home Companion every weekend on Georgia Public Radio. In 1970, a fictional piece appeared in the New Yorker, thus heralding the beginning of Keillor's writing career. Keillor has written several articles for both magazines, newspapers, and websites. He has also authored books for both adults and children. Click on the picture to see his books at Spout Springs Library.

Birthday Spotlight: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born July 18, 1918 to a Tembu tribal chieftan at Qunu, near Umtata, in the Transkei territory of South Africa. Mandela renounced his claim to the chieftanship to attend the University of Witwatersrand to become a lawyer. In 1944 Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and quickly rose through its ranks to become one of its leaders, renouncing the apartheid policies of the ruling National Party. Mandela was subsequently arrested and put on trial for treason from 1956-1961, from which he was acquitted. During this period, Mandela abandoned his nonviolent stance and encouraged acts of sabotage against the South African regime. In 1962, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. During this time, charges were brought against Mandela regarding a raid that had led police to a large stash of arms and equipment of the military wing of the ANC, of which Mandela had founded. He pled guilty to a few of the charges brought against him and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. However, on February 11, 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk released Mandela from prison. Within two years, Mandela, now president of ANC, and de Klerk had brought about a peaceful transition to nonracial democracy in South Africa. In 1993 Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. In April 1994, South Africa voted and Mandela became President of South Africa. He worked to establish economic development initiatives and revamped many of the country's outdated policies. He did not seek a second term in 1999, and retired from active politics. However, he has since worked tirelessly to address injustices throughout the world. This is his ninetieth birthday. Please click on the photograph to see what you can learn about Nelson Mandela at your local library system.

Event Spotlight: Homeschooling 101

On Thursday, August 14, 2008, homeschool students and their parents are invited to come to this informational session on the services and resources Hall County Library System offers homeschoolers. We will also have a scavenger hunt and private tour of the new Spout Springs Library.

All ages of student are welcome.

Spout Springs Library

Thursday, August 14, 2008

1:00 P.M.

This program is limited to 30 people, so starting July 14, please call (770) 532-3311, extension 192 or come into Spout Springs Branch to register. Leaving a comment on this site will not count as a registered spot for this program.

Birthday Spotlight: Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood (originally Thoroughgood) Marshall was born this day in 1908 at Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were William Canfield Marshall, a railroad porter and steward at an all-white country club and Norma Williams Marshall, an elementary school teacher. Marshall graduated with honors from Lincoln University in 1930 and Howard University in 1933, graduating summa cum laude. Marshall had been rejected by the University of Maryland Law School for being black, but later won Murray v. Pearson in 1935, in which Marshall successfully sued the University of Maryland for denying an African American applicant admission to its law school simply on the basis of race. The next year, Marshall becomes a staff lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP and within four years is named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Over the next twenty years, Marshall established himself as the nation's premier lawyer, winning 29 of the 32 cases that he presented and argued before the United States Supreme Court, the most formidable of which was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Marshall was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by President John F. Kennedy, but Southern opposition delayed his confirmation for several months. President Lyndon B. Johnson named Marshall the United States Solicitor General in July 1965 and two years later, Marshall's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed by the U.S. Senate 69-11. Marshall led the Supreme Court as a stalwart liberal during the next twenty years. Marshall retired from the Supreme Court in 1991, and died January 24, 1993 at Bethesda, Maryland.

*Picture and information courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica, via GALILEO

Calendar Spotlight: Happy Fairy Day!

June 24 marks the official holiday for fairy collectors, believers, artisans, and the young at heart. Fairy Day is a holiday sprung from the imagination of a fairy artist and believer, and brought to life with the help of many of her talented friends and fellow fairy lovers. With the world enjoying a surge of interest in all things fairy, we feel that now is the perfect time to introduce a yearly holiday to celebrate the fae. This holiday is for everyone who believes in the magic of fairytales. It is for those imaginative souls who dare to dream impossible dreams. It is for the children of the world, wide-eyed and open to the magic that surrounds them. It is for adults too, who long to capture a bit of that magic they remember from their own childhood. Check out what Spout Springs Library has to offer by clicking on the picture.

History Spotlight: First Manned Private Spaceflight

Four years ago, Michael Melvill, flying the privately financed SpaceShipOne, flew 62 miles in altitude, leaving the Earth's atmosphere. The spacecraft was designed by Burt Rutan, chief of Scaled Composites, a California-based aerospace company, and financially backed by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. SpaceShipOne made the flight at Mojave Airport at Mojave, CA.

Birthday Spotlight: Jean-Paul Sartre

On this day in 1905, Jean-Paul Sartre was born at Paris, France. Known as the "father of existentialism," or "Emo King," Sartre rejected the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964 when it was awarded to him. He died on Aril 15, 1980 at Paris. He wrote: "All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books." Click on Sartre's photograph to see works by him or about him in the catalog.