Andersen Library’s Summer Semester hours start Monday, May 24th and end August 13th.
Exceptions:
Sunday-Monday, May 30-31: CLOSED
Sunday-Monday, July 4-5: CLOSED
Stencil Nation:
Graffiti, Community and Art
by Russell Howze
NK8654 .H69 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor
One thing that has always fascinated me is graffiti and street art. Being from a small town in the middle of cornfields, there weren’t a lot of opportunities to see examples, with the exception of the passing freight trains. Then I traveled to Barcelona and noticed a different form of street art: stencils. It turns out that it’s a whole movement, and this week’s featured title tells all.
Howze, founder and curator of Stencil Archive, has compiled a volume on the work of street artists around the world. From San Francisco to New York, Argentina to Thailand, stencil art is popping up everywhere, and not just on the sides of buildings. Any surface becomes a canvas, and the variety is astounding. Howze profiles the ‘aerosole pioneers’ like John Fekner and Jef Aérosol, and artists, as well as those the documentarians, those that have captured the evidence for others to see. He also provides a chronology stenciling (back to 30,000 BC!) and tips for making your own stencils from the artists themselves.
Whew! Felt like a lo-o-o-o-o-ong semester, didn’t it? Well, it’s nearly over!
Andersen Library’s hours will be reduced during the week between Spring & Summer semesters:
Summer Semester hours start Monday, May 24th. See you then. Or if not, you can keep getting the Library blog entries…
I recently read an article in my daily newspaper about the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda asking 200 University of Maryland, College Park students to give up cell phones, iPods, TV, radio, computers, and even magazines and newspapers for one day. Yup, 24 hours unplugged. (Oh, the horror!)
The students blogged about their “Day Without Media” experience when it was over. You can read all about it, including their comments. And what do you suppose they said? The short version, as I read it, is that they suffered like their life support tubes had been squeezed. That must be why that young woman behind the wheel yesterday almost ran into me instead of stopping at the stop sign–she was too busy sucking at the life support through her cell phone… Ahem. Distracted driving is a topic for another blog, I guess.
Could you do it?? Some student comments revealed unexpected benefits:
“Studying was a million times more productive without the media distracting me with texts, calls, Facebook, email, games and other random internet sites.”
“I was very productive in my schoolwork and I was able to get ahead this week with all my midterms coming up.”
“I must say a good thing that came out of this assignment was I was able to be more aware and [knowledgeable about] my surroundings while I walked to and from class. By not being able to listen to my iPod, I could hear natural sounds like birds chirping or … people calling my name.”
“This assignment allowed me to take a step back and reflect. I probably had more ‘thinking time’ that day than any day spent at college.”
Interested in more information about the social effects of media and the Internet? Andersen Library has resources. Searching the HALCat online catalog will find titles such as The young and the digital: What the migration to social-network sites, games, and anytime, anywhere media means for our future and 24/7: how cell phones and the Internet change the way we live, work, and play.
Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.
The library just had four new scanners installed in order to keep up with the demand we have been seeing this last semseter. The locations are:
-1st Floor: Microfilm Room
-2nd Floor: Alcove (replacing a broken one)
-3rd Floor: Our “Blue Room” (the one with dark blue carpeting) and also in the room directly to the left of the stairs.
Scanning can be an alternative to copying and there is no charge involved. If you have any questions, please see staff at the Circulation, Reference or Periodicals desk.
Buddy System:
Understanding Male Friendships
by Geoffrey Greif
BF575 .F66 G735 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
Friends come in handy this week, don’t they? At the end of the semester, they’re there to encourage you while you write three papers and study for four finals in two days (they’re also probably the main culprits of why you have so much cramming to do in the first place). They’ll also be there celebrating the end of the semester and possibly your college career. When it comes to guys and gals, we all know that the groups of individuals treat friendships differently. This week’s featured title explores the world of relationships between the two men.
Greif, a social work professor at the University of Maryland, provides a much-needed volume that sheds light on the topic of male friendships. As noted in the text, there has been plenty of attention and research on the subject of female relationships, but the men have been overlooked until now. The researcher conducted interviews, nearly four hundred of them, to see how guys view their personal connections in their lives, as well as over one hundred interviews with women to get their point of view. He contends that contrary to popular belief, males have four types of friends, from the casual acquaintance to the BFF. Greif also profiles individuals at different life stages and analyzes the impact of the male friendships on life quality. This book is highly recommended for those researching men and their bonds with their fellow man.
Hear Dr. Paul Rybski, UWW Physics Dept., talk about “When fusion stops, what follows: The long retirement of stars as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes” on Fri., May 7 @8pm (Upham Hall 140), followed by public viewing at the UWW Observatory @9:15pm (weather permitting). It’s the last spring David Bertagnoli Memorial Lecture/Whitewater Observatory Lecture.
When stars initially greater than 8 solar masses end their lives in titantic explosions called supernovae, some if not all leave behind remnants unlike any stars visible today. Remnants between 1.4-4 solar masses are “neutron stars” we may observe as blinking objects (aka “pulsars“). Larger remnants are “black holes.” When smaller stars end their lives as faint but brilliantly-colored planetary nebulae, what is left behind are small remnants that radiate away the energy stored in their extremely compressed interiors over the rest of the life of the universe. Each of these objects produced by stellar evolution will be discussed, with an emphasis on how we know from observations that they exist.
Like to learn more? Andersen Library can help! Search the HALCat online catalog for books such as Observer’s guide to stellar evolution: The birth, life, and death of stars (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB857.5.E96 I54 2003) and Through the eyes of Hubble: The birth, life, and violent death of stars (3rd-floor OVERSIZE Main Collection QB806 .N34 1998). Search article databases to find articles such as “Making black holes in supernovae” (Nuclear Physics A, 1996, vol. 606, pp.137-150) and “The most massive progenitors of neutron stars: CXO J164710.2-455216” (The Astrophysical Journal, 2008, vol.685, pp.400-405). Search the web for sites such as NASA’s “The life and death of stars.”
Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.
The Newseum in Washington D.C. provides a clickable map to “Today’s Front Pages” from newspapers around the world. Hundreds of newspapers send their front pages to the museum daily for this virtual exhibit.
In October 2008 I blogged about the 2008 State of Working Wisconsin, a biennial publication of COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy). Now there is a 2009 update.
The 2008 report said that it was a “stressful time” for workers. Well, the 2009 report won’t give anyone a warm fuzzy feeling. It says, “Not surprisingly, the picture that emerges is fairly grim.”
“Wisconsin has lost 137,100 jobs since December 2007, nearly 5 percent of its job base at that time. More than half this loss has occurred in 2009.”
See the report online for the grim details.
COWS also publishes a monthly Wisconsin Job Watch, which “provides a snapshot
of Wisconsin’s job picture and reports on key recession trends.” The March issue was posted to the web site on April 20th.
Extended Library hours for spring 2010 exams start this Saturday:
Library hours between Spring and Summer terms:
Mon-Fri, May 17-21: 8am-4:30pm
CLOSED Sat-Sun, May 22-23
Summer Semester Library hours start on Mon, May 24th, at 7am.
