Events Calendar

Is this group for you? Are you over the age of 50? Do you want to increase your awareness of the natural process of aging, and feel more open hearted and happier?

To be aware simply means to know. Even though knowing (awareness) is always available to us, we often get lost. Most often we are too caught up in our thoughts, thinking about the past, planning for the future, and moving quickly through the present moment. Getting lost is simply a habit of mind.

Join facilitator Vicki Goodman-Strenski in practicing awareness. Vicki has worked with humans of all ages over the past thirty years, supporting their curiosity and their willingness to be more accepting and less anxious. As we all know, aging is not for the feint of heart!

Attend all three sessions to explore three different aspects of awareness, or come when you can. 

Thursdays, 9:30-10:15 am

May 18

May 25

June 1

We’re here to mend anything you need for the colder months, including clothing, coats, and any other fabric-related repairs, except for zippers. Sewers from the Sewing Machine Project will be available to mend your things for free every Thursday of the month.

In partnership with Madison Public Library, the African Center for Community Development provides assistance* with applications for services, jobs, and benefits for community members.    We provide help for people navigating application processes and filling out forms required for housing, immigration, food, health, and other community services.  Please drop by at the hours and locations listed below to request assistance with your applications.  For questions about the program, please call African Center at (608) 957-5623 or (608) 294-0066. More info at https://africancentermadison.org/housing-support/ (link is external)

*Neither The African Center for Community Development nor Madison Public Library can provide legal assistance or advice.  We are not able to fill out applications on your behalf, or assess program eligibility.  

Library hours:

Hawthorne Library: Mondays, 11:00-6:00
Lakeview Library: Tuesdays, 11:00-5:00
Pinney Library: Thursdays, 11:00-3:00

Madison Metro staff will be available to help you plan trips for the Network Redesign routes (going into effect on June 11). Stop by the table on 1st floor, 11am-2pm, just inside the Fairchild St. entrance.

Presentado por University League en asociación​ con la Biblioteca Sequoya. Todos son bienvenidos--no hay necesidad de ser miembro de la University League. Los libros y las discusiones son  completamente en español. Se puede prestar un libro, Como agua para chocolate por Laura Esquivel, en el escritorio marcado con "Ask Here" (Biblioteca Sequoya, 4340 Tokay Blvd.).

Presented by the University League in partnership with the Sequoya Library. Everyone is welcome, one does not have to be a member of University League. Books and discussion are completely in Spanish. Please ask about obtaining a book at the Sequoya Library "Ask Here" desk.

Este evento se realizará virtualmente a través de Zoom. Más información sobre este programa se le enviará por correo electrónico cuando se registre. Zoom es una plataforma de video gratuita, y puede mirar en un navegador, a través de la aplicación móvil gratuita para ios o android, o llamar para participar solo por voz.

This event will be hosted virtually through Zoom; more information will be emailed to you upon registration. Zoom is a free video platform, and you can watch on a browser, through the free mobile app for ios or android, or call in to participate by voice only.

Powder

Directed by Victor Salva.  Performances by Sean Patrick Flanery, Mary Steenburgen, Lance Henriksen, Jeff Goldblum, Brandon Smith. Walt Disney Pictures, 1995.  Rated PG-13.  111 min. Drama / Fantasy / Thriller.

A mysterious albino teenager, Jeremy "Powder" Reed (Sean Patrick Flanery), is rescued from the basement in which he's lived since birth. But the extremely intelligent Reed is not welcomed into the community. Students at his school fear the outsider because of his bizarre ability to harness extrasensory perception and heal the sick. His relationship with a fellow student, Lindsey (Missy Crider), doesn't help matters either, despite the help of two teachers (Jeff Goldblum, Mary Steenburgen).

Join the Alicia Ashman book club for lively, thoughtful discussions every first Thursday of the month (excluding December). Everyone is welcome and books are available at the Checkout Desk week of the event.

June 1st: Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Color Play: Making the world a little more rainbow

bernie & zuzu's residence term at Pinney Library Studio: February 2023 - October 2023

bernie & zuzu's in-Studio work time: Thursdays from 12-2 pm

bernie & zuzu's drop-in open Studio time: Thursdays from 2-4 pm at Pinney Library

bernie & zuzu wants you to come make the world a little more rainbow! Bernie invites the Madison community to explore color at weekly open studios and drop-in art making sessions that focus on color, shape, and mark-making in abstraction through the mediums of drawing, collage, block printing, stenciling, screen printing and painting. Throughout the residency, Bernie will invite the community to assist her with making the art studio into an installation and exhibition space that explodes with color: a rainbow room! Come play and be part of the fun!

bernie & zuzu is named for Bernie Witzack (she/her, a human) who is the creative force behind bernie & zuzu, and the extraordinary zuzu (a cat) who takes care of the business side of things. At bernie & zuzu, we create handmade, hand-painted, and screen-printed goods in small batches. We specialize in unique, one-of-a-kind art, home goods, accessories and prints with an emphasis on bright, bold color and playful shapes. bernie & zuzu is run out of a studio in the Madison Enterprise Center and we screen print at Polka Press, Madison’s local printmaking collective. We hope our artwork and goods inspire tiny moments of beauty, wonder and joy. 

Bernie studied Studio Art at Beloit College and has been making and exhibiting her art ever since. She earned an MFA in Fine Art & Design from the University of Michigan in 2013, focusing on improvisational drawing and painting. She then went on to study graphic design at Madison College, falling in love with screen printing along the way. She was working full time as a graphic designer and pursuing her art on the side when the pandemic hit in spring 2020. She left the design field in spring 2021 to focus on her art full time, launching bernie & zuzu in fall of 2021.

You can find bernie & zuzu’s goods at the Dane County Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings from April-October, at Little Luxuries, Hatch Art House, and Communication Madison. They also vend at local art markets such as The Eastside Winter Market, Femmestival, The Crafty Fair and the Madison Maker Markets. bernie & zuzu have an online shop at www.bernieandzuzu.com

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Join Keena Atkinson, founder of R’oujie Wellness for weekly beginner-friendly yoga classes at Goodman South Madison Library Thursdays in June. Each class has a 75-minute runtime that includes warm-up and cool-down. Participants are encouraged to bring their own mats. The library has 10 mats which can be used during the class on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Register online for the five-week series (June 1-29) or call 608-266-6395 by May 30th. Registration for this event begins on Thursday, May 18th at 10:00 am.

This program is part of Madison Public Library's LiveWell @ Your Library initiative. 

Read aloud to a furry friend from Alliance for Therapy Dogs. Bring a favorite book or try a new one from our collection. First come, first served.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Play Minecraft in both creative and survival worlds!

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Calling all kids, teens, and tweens! Join local artist Rita create an artistic masterpiece to celebrate Pride Month!

Gathers most Thursday evenings! Middle and high school students can meet other aspiring authors, bounce ideas off one another, share their stories, and feel the creativity flow! Writing club is led by local author Carole Madrzak.

Join us for a book discussion of "The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After" by Clemantine Wamariya. New members always welcome!

"Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were thunder. In 1994, she and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre and spent the next six years migrating through seven African countries, searching for safety—perpetually hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing inhuman cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were dead or alive.
 
When Clemantine was twelve, she and her sister were granted refugee status in the United States; there, in Chicago, their lives diverged. Though their bond remained unbreakable, Claire, who had for so long protected and provided for Clemantine, was a single mother struggling to make ends meet, while Clemantine was taken in by a family who raised her as their own. She seemed to live the American dream: attending private school, taking up cheerleading, and, ultimately, graduating from Yale. Yet the years of being treated as less than human, of going hungry and seeing death, could not be erased. She felt at the same time six years old and one hundred years old.
 
In The Girl Who Smiled Beads, Clemantine provokes us to look beyond the label of “victim” and recognize the power of the imagination to transcend even the most profound injuries and aftershocks. Devastating yet beautiful, and bracingly original, it is a powerful testament to her commitment to constructing a life on her own terms." -- Amazon.com