Your Shadow!
On Groundhog Day Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and supposedly that means more weeks of winter. Winter, what kind of winter has this been? Ice, freezing rain, sleet, and very little the snow. You know the big snowfall that brings the life’s busyness to a halt. Well maybe sometime during another few weeks we might get that big snowstorm.
Have you seen your shadow? Let’s assume yes. How are you going to spend the next few weeks of winter? Will you continue to complain about the cold, be fearful of going out because you may slip and fall and get really bored? Read a new novel, try something different. Maybe something by a new author. Try the Christie Affair by Nina de Granmont, or City of a Thousand Gates by Rebecca Sacks. During this winter season we have highlighted two genres of literature. Our Diversity movement has collected works of Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics as well as other minorities. Look at Black Girls Must be Magic by Jayne Allen, The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict. Another genre is the LSGBT, mostly for adolescent readings try Finke, Leigh. Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ 2020, and Mckenna, Miles. Out! How to be Your Authentic Self. 2020. Then there are more of the same from your familiar authors; Steal by James Patterson, City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman, Wish you were here by Jodi Picoult, Abandoned in Death by J.D.Robb, and there are over 30 more added to the collection. Maybe you will just take time to watch not read, we have Stargate Atlantis, fifth season, Clifford, the big red dog, Encanto, and several newer DVDs.
Maybe you did not see your shadow, and you are ready to move on. A challenge to try something new or do something different. You could jump into a new series by J.T Ryan Noble Intentions, Noble Beginnings, or Jane and the year without a summer by Stephanie Barron. Try Something new and different I’ll be there but I’ll be wearing sweatpants by Amy Weatherly. Nonfiction such as The 1619 Project: a new origin story edited by Nicole Hannah-Jones can change your thinking. A true challenge may be Influence your superpower: the science of winning hearts, sparking change and making good things happen by Zoe Chance. And there are Mo Williams’ stories to share with the young as they move on through life events; The Pigeon needs a bath, The Pigeon Goes to School, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late.
It is time to move now or in a little while after another few weeks of winter. Moving forward after the restrictions we have been through is not easy. Sometimes the hardest movement forward is not the advances we see, or the changes we go through, it is the invisible movements inside us. The try again movement when we have failed before. The movement that shows us how to forgive ourselves and forgive others so we can truly love our neighbors. In feeling stuck in place or time it’s these movements that begins the flow of life again. (Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Journal, fall 2021). So, shadow or no shadow it is time to move on. We can do it together, with the resources we have in the Otis Library, and throughout the Otis Community.
One last special note: The OTIS LIBRARY PJ DIVE in Conjunction with the BOSTON BRUINS has begun! Our goal is to collect 60 Pairs of PJ sizes 2T to Adult S for the Cradles to crayons. All items collected will remain in Berkshire County. Collection at the Otis Library from February 1, 2022, thru March 15, 2022. For questions or more information please call the Otis Library 413-269-0109 or email kbort@otislibraryma.org
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