Welcome!

Welcome to my professional blog, where I talk about projects I’m doing in my library, relay job-hunting or education related news I stumble across, and write annotations for books I’m reading (among other things).

At any given time, the most recent posts on my front page may all look pretty much the same.  I might get on a kick of reading teen graphic novels, or it may be a big week in financial aid news, etc.  If you want to see a list of all my posts grouped by subject, check out the INDEX.

I also hope to hear from you!  Please comment freely on my posts, or send private messages to dtowarnicki at gmail dot com.

(PS – Denise Towarnicki really hopes that this page on Denise Towarnicki’s blog starts coming up in Google searches for “Denise Towarnicki.”)

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CLPTeensburgh – Dive in…

Today on CLPTeensburgh, I shared some books about the ocean.

CLPTeensburgh – FAFSA assistance

Today on CLPTeensburgh, I blogged about the free FAFSA Assistance session I set up at CLP – Main.

Eleventh Stack – It’s not you; it’s me.

  Today on Eleventh Stack, I discuss a few books on introversion.

CLPTeensburgh – Don’t Be a Stranger to Strange Lands…

Today on CLPTeensburgh, I talk about my recent trip to Baltimore.

What I’m Reading – Riot

Riot by Walter Dean Myers

This book takes place in New York City during the Civil War.  There weren’t enough troops in the Union Army, so Abraham Lincoln decided to start a draft.  That meant that every able-bodied young man had to join the army… unless they had $300.  That was a huge amount of money at the time, and some recent Irish immigrants were especially upset about it.  Some of them blamed the African American community for their problems.  Then, in the long hot summer of 1863, a draft protest erupted into the worst race riots the country had ever seen.

That much is history.  The main character of this story is Claire, whose mother is Irish, and her father is African American.  While these events are unfolding, she watches people she’s known and loved her whole life begin to see her differently, and even treat her differently.  Claire is forced to think about her identity, in the context of these new tensions.

Side note – this book is written like a screenplay, which means it has camera directions like “zoom in” and “aerial shot,” and the characters’  dialogue is written out like actors’  lines in a script.

What I’m Reading – Zora and Me

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond

This book is about the famous author Zora Neale Hurston, when she was a little girl in Eatonville, FL right around 1900.  Even then, everybody said nobody could tell a story as good as Zora.  The trouble is, they can’t always tell when her stories are the honest truth, and when she might be exaggerating just a little bit.  Like the time she decided Mr. Pendir, the old man that lived by himself at the edge of town, was really a half-alligator, half-man.  It seemed like the entire town said Zora was lying, and some of them were outright calling her crazy.  Even her best friend Carrie couldn’t decide if she believed Zora .  But after the girls meet a man named Ivory, and the next day he turns up dead, Zora convinces Carrie that they need to investigate Mr. Pendir, at the very least.

Eleventh Stack – What’s New in JCEC

Today on Eleventh Stack, I talk about what’s been going on in the Job and Career Education Center.