A Fun Memorial Day

For many the Memorial Day holiday we celebrated Monday signals the beginning of summer. When I think summer I think new ways of cooking and new foods to cook. You have access to a lot of cookbooks through the library, some of them electronic, and you can find them in a very long list using the very silly subject heading Cookery. But if you want new ideas on how to handle summer's bounty, check out Vegan Planet, a huge book of vegan dishes. And if you want to take the party outside, try James Beard's classic Complete Book of Outdoor Cookery. Feed more than your mind at the library.

Connection: HSRT's Production of "Kiss Me Kate"

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre's 2008 season begins June 13th with Kiss Me Kate. Before you attend, read a 1948 New York Times review of the original production. Remember that you can read any article or other feature from The New York Times online thanks to archival access in ProQuest's Historical Newspapers database. Ask about finding the database and content within it at the Reference Desk.

A Solemn Memorial Day

Memorial Day has its origins in the end of the U.S Civil War. There are many ways to read about the civil war, two very recent titles look at how the war shaped American ideas of death. In This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War Drew Faust contends that the massive loss of life had a fundamental effect on political, intellectual and spiritual thought in America. On the other hand, Mark Schantz postulates in Awaiting the Heavenly Country: The Civil War and America's Culture of Death that Americans already had a fairly well developed view of death which helped them face the costs of war. Two new books, two different points of view; you'll find them both at the library.

Connection: Voorhees Hall Gets a New Roof

Hope's beloved Voorhees Hall is getting a new roof this month. Voorhees has a long history, one filled with renewal as told this past fall in The Joint Archives Quarterly by May 2008 Hope College graduate Lauren Berka. Bring your questions about Hope College history to the Reference Desk or to the Joint Archives of Holland.

The Third Saturday in May

Saturday is Armed Forces Day, a day first set aside to honor those serving in all branches of the armed services in 1949. "It is our most earnest hope that those who are in positions of peril, that those who have made exceptional sacrifices, yes, and those who are afflicted with plain drudgery and boredom, may somehow know that we hold them in exceptional esteem. Perhaps if we are a little more concious of our debt of honored affection they may be a little more aware of how much we think of them." (New York Times, May 17, 1952) Today there are many in harm's way, and you can learn about them at the library. Tommy Franks, a career soldier, wrote American Soldier. The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell's author thought he was just getting a college education out of the National Guard. See No Evil is about intelligence officers, Blackwater: the Rise of the Most Powerful Mercenary Army is about soldiers for hire. Tell Them I Didn't Cry was written by a young, female, embedded journalist. Set aside some time this summer to read a story of modern military life.

Connection: NCAA Golf Championships

Hope College's men's golf team plays in the NCAA Division III golf championship this week. NCAA men's golf is undergoing a change in how teams reach championship play. Read about the new criteria and how teams are responding in an April Golf World article. For more information about the game of golf, ask for source ideas at the Reference Desk.

Connection: Orchid Show

The Orchid Show is open in the A. Paul Schaap Science Center this week. The world's largest orchid show is an annual event in Miami, Florida described in a Miami Herald article earlier this year. For more information about the increasing popularity of orchids and how you might start cultivating a few orchid plants of your own, ask at the Reference Desk.