Boston Flora

Tag: Boston Public Library

  • Wednesday, November 8, 6:00 pm – Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City

    Join The Emerald Necklace Conservancy on Wednesday, November 8 at 6:00 pm EST with Dr. Ethan Carr for a talk on his new book, Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City (LALH 2023), which details the history of Franklin Park from the time of peak popularity to the current era of park revival.

    This talk will be held in person in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square. Following the talk, there will be time for audience Q&A, and the program will conclude at 7:00 pm with a book signing.

    Dr. Carr’s forthcoming book, Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City (LALH 2023), documents the design and history of Frederick Law Olmsted’s most mature expression of urban park design. In this comprehensive study, Carr affirms Franklin Park as one of great works of nineteenth-century American art. Since the 1980s, historians have described Franklin Park as unfinished, obsolete, or a casualty of changing trends in public recreation. Carr disagrees, offering a persuasive argument that the park’s decline was not a consequence of its design but of a lack of stewardship on the part of the city, an example of institutionalized racism.

    Ethan Carr, FASLA, is professor of landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. An international authority on America’s public landscapes and the author of many books, he is lead editor of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted: The Early Boston Years and coauthor of Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea (LALH 2022).

    Register at https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/event/ethan-carr-franklin-park/

  • Wednesday, July 26, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern – Foodways Book Club: An Exploration of How Food Connects Us Beyond the Table, Online

    The Foodways Book Club, sponsored by the Boston Public Library, will have its next online discussion on Zoom on Wednesday, July 26 at 6:30 pm. The next book to be discussed is Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry. Copies of the book have been set aside at the BPL, and of course it’s available at bookstores and as a Kindle and Audio Book.

    According to family lore, when Rabia Chaudry’s family returned to Pakistan for their first visit since moving to the United States, two-year-old Rabia was more than just a pudgy toddler. Dada Abu, her fit and sprightly grandfather, attempted to pick her up but had to put her straight back down, demanding of Chaudry’s mother: “What have you done to her?” The answer was two full bottles of half-and-half per day, frozen butter sticks to gnaw on, and lots and lots of American processed foods.

    And yet, despite her parents plying her with all the wrong foods as they discovered Burger King and Dairy Queen, they were highly concerned for the future for their large-sized daughter. How would she ever find a suitable husband? There was merciless teasing by uncles, cousins, and kids at school, but Chaudry always loved food too much to hold a grudge against it. Soon she would leave behind fast food and come to love the Pakistani foods of her heritage, learning to cook them with wholesome ingredients and eat them in moderation. At once a love letter (with recipes) to fresh roti, chaat, chicken biryani, ghee, pakoras, shorba, parathay and an often hilarious dissection of life in a Muslim immigrant family, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom is also a searingly honest portrait of a woman grappling with a body that gets the job done but that refuses to meet the expectations of others. Chaudry’s memoir offers listeners a relatable and powerful voice on the controversial topic of body image, one that dispenses with the politics and gets to what every woman who has ever struggled with weight will relate to.

    The book discussion is a free event. Registration required at https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/events/6451659f65e9014900d433f8. Questions? Contact Alea Stokes at astokes@bpl.org.

  • Thursday, June 22, 5:00 pm 7:30 pm Eastern – Charlesbank Landing Public Meeting, Live and Online

    Join The Esplanade Association for a public meeting to discuss the plan to build the Esplanade’s first year-round visitors center: Charlesbank Landing.  They will review the design plans and timeline, and want to hear from YOU to help plan for community programming. Refreshments, child care, and translation services will be provided. 

    Register for the event here: Charlesbank.eventbrite.com

  • Thursday, June 8, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – You are Here: Steve Curwood, Live and Online

    Executive Producer and host of NPR’s “Living on Earth” Steve Curwood will converse on June 8 with Boston Public Library President David Leonard as part of the 2023 Lowell Lecture Series You are Here: Climate Change and What’s Next. Their 60-75 minute conversation will followed by an audience Q&A from both the in-person and virtual audiences.

    Steve Curwood is the executive producer and host of “Living on Earth.” He created the first pilot of “Living on Earth” in 1990 and the show has run continuously since April 1991. “Living on Earth” is currently aired on more than 250 National Public Radio/Public Radio International affiliates and XM/Sirius Satellite Radio.

    This lecture is part of the BPL Lowell Lecture Series “You Are Here” on Climate Change and what’s next and produced by GBH Forum Network.

    This event will begin at 6pm ET in the Abbey Room at the Boston Public Library, 230 Dartmouth Street in Boston. Free. For tickets and registration, visit www.wgbh.org.

  • Tuesday, April 4, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – You are Here with Alexandra Cousteau, Online

    Ocean conservationist and environmental advocate Alexandra Cousteau will converse with Boston Public Library President David Leonard as part of the 2023 Lowell Lecture Series You are Here: Climate Change and What’s Next. Their 60-75 minute conversation will followed by an audience Q&A.

    Alexandra Cousteau builds upon the more than 60 years of global name recognition to engage people who expect to hear credible environmental information from the third generation of this pioneering family of explorers. Born into the family business, Alexandra joined her parents in Easter Island on her first expedition at just four months old. By the age of three, she had toured Africa, exploring Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, and Kenya in the arms of her father. While many of those memories are now out of reach, the experience of those expeditions with her father’s crew has shaped her sense of purpose, her connection to the ocean, and her love of adventure. She could swim before she could walk and was one of the few who learned to dive with SCUBA from Captain Cousteau himself at the tender age of seven. Her childhood friends were the sea creatures that inhabit the rocky shorelines of the south of France. The ocean has been her guide ever since.

    This lecture is part of the Boston Public Library Lowell Lecture Series on climate change and what’s next and produced by GBH Forum Network. This event will begin at 6pm ET. Free. Register at www.wgbh.org for link.

  • Monday, November 28, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Copley Square Tree Lighting

    Wreaths with red bows decorate Copley Square, and the Old South Church bell tolls when the lights go on Monday, November 28 at 5 pm – look for appearances by Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty, plus music by local groups including the Boston Children’s Chorus and the Boston Pops Esplanade Brass Ensemble. For complete details visit www.friendsofcopleysquare.org

  • Monday, December 5, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Foodways Book Club: An Exploration of How Food Connects Us Beyond the Table, Online

    Stephanie Chace and Alea Stokes are two librarians interested in foodways. Because food and foodways are multifaceted, we will be reading and listening to material from many disciplines, such as the history and anthropology of food, environmentalism, food justice, artistic expression, sociology and more.

    We will host discussions every six weeks and each meeting will focus on a different book. We will also share reading and listening material for additional understanding and enrichment of foodways.

    Please join us on Monday, December 5th from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM over Zoom as we discuss our first read for the Food Ways Book Club, Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva. Free.

    Books can be picked up at the Central Library in Copley Square at 700 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116, or at the Roxbury Branch at 146 Dudley Street, Roxbury, MA 02119. Additionally, copies are available electronically.

    For questions or comments and links, contact Stephanie Chace (schace@bpl.org) and Alea Stokes (astokes@bpl.org).

  • Monday, September 12, 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm – Plant-Based Eating Across the African Diaspora, Online

    Are you curious about vegetarian, vegan and plant-based diets and how these fit into a variety of cultural dishes? Join the Boston Public Library and Stop & Shop Grove Hall registered dietitian Christine in celebration of cultural plant-based foods and their contribution to health and wellness. Regardless of whether you joined Christine for the 2-part series earlier this year or are joining for the first time, you’ll learn some new ideas for preparing delicious plant-based meals that are good for your health and good for your soul!

    Note: This is a 4-part webinar series. Participants have the option to sign-up for all or individual sessions. Choose to your liking!

    • Part 1: Flavor & Spice
    • Part 2: A Trip To West Africa
    • Part 3: Four Ways To Play With Tropical Fruit
    • Part 4: Snacks And Desserts

    This program is presented in partnership by the Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library and Stop & Shop Nutrition Partners. Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cooking-series-plant-based-eating-across-the-african-diaspora-tickets-338431607047.

  • Tuesday, September 6, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Documentary Club: Eating Our Way to Extinction

    Join the Boston Public Library Documentary Club as we screen the film Eating Our Way to Extinction. This film, narrated by actress Kate Winslet, explores the connections between the food industry and climate change. Starring globally renowned figures and the world’s leading scientists, the movie will take you on a journey – a powerful cinematic feature documentary that opens the lid on the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. Alarming and entertaining, this compelling feature documentary will make you never look at your food or the food industry in the same way again. The film will be screened at the beautiful contemporary Mattapan Public Library Branch, 1350 Blue Hill Avenue. Registration required. Register for event

  • Tuesday, September 20, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Boston Groundwater Trust Forum

    The Boston Groundwater Trust is sponsoring a public forum on September 20 from 5:30 – 7:30 on How Climate Change May Threaten the Foundations of Boston. The event will take place at the Boston Public Library at Copley Square in Rabb Hall. Free. For more information on the Boston Groundwater Trust: https://www.bostongroundwater.org