WFU prof to explore ‘French Culture Today’ in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – With the Paris Olympics coming up, gain insight into contemporary French popular culture with Wake Forest University professor Dr. Amanda Vincent in “French Culture Today,” a talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 18, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Vincent’s talk, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

Her talk will touch on France’s thriving music, film and comics scenes, as well as traditions that remain popular, such as gastronomy and regional culture. Vincent also will discuss how Paris and its region are being transformed for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Her presentation will be accompanied by visuals and small display items. Typical French refreshments will be served. 

Vincent, who holds a PhD. in French Civilization from Penn State University, is an associate professor of French Studies at Wake Forest, where she teaches language, literature and cultural courses, as well as Business French. 

She travels regularly to France, and her research focuses on contemporary French culture.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Historian to examine southerners in French and Indian War during Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Learn about the role of native Southerners in the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, in a talk by UNC-Greensboro History professor Dr. Greg O’Brien at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Topics covered will include the war between the Cherokees and colonists supported by the British Army, 1759-1761, and efforts of native people throughout the region to forge peace with each other during a time of imperial war.

O’Brien’s talk, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

O’Brien is head of the History Department at UNC-Greensboro. His research and teaching focuses on American Indian history, environmental history and early America. He has penned several books including The Native South: New Histories and Enduring Legacies, and The Ultimate Guide to North America’s Indigenous Peoples.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Rich Powell

 ASHEBORO – "An Evening with Rich Powell" will feature the nationally-known, Asheboro-based artist and illustrator talking about his work and his new cartoon collection "Ignore this Singing Pig," in a special Friends of the Library Sunset Signature Series event at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 22, in downtown Asheboro’s historic Sunset Theatre.

Music will be provided by local singer-songwriter Jack Gorham.

The event is free and the public is invited. The Sunset Series is sponsored by the Heart of North Carolina Visitors Bureau, the City of Asheboro and the Friends of the Randolph County Public Libraries.

Powell is well-known for his work in Highlights Magazine, MAD Magazine and many other publications. His syndicated cartoon panel "Wide Open!" won the National Cartoonists Society Silver Reuben award in both 2001 and 2002.

His line of humorous wildlife art, Callahan's Quest for Adventure, garnered him another Silver Reuben for Product Illustration in 2013, and the Our State television show that featured him illustrating Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football" won the Emmy for Best Magazine Program at the 31st Midsouth Emmy Awards.

Powell’s talk will feature images of his work. A book signing will follow.

The Sunset Theatre is located at 234 Sunset Avenue. For further information, call 800-626-2672 or visit HeartofNorthCarolina.com.

Go aboard ‘Titanic: Ship of Dreams’ in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – The stories of people who boarded the R.M.S. Titanic on April 10, 1912, and sailed off into immortality will come to life in “Titanic: Ship of Dreams,” a talk by Belmont Abbey College professor Dr. Melina Ratchford at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Ratchford also will show her extensive collection of Titanic memorabilia.

Her talk, supported by the Friends of the Randolph County Public Libraries, is free and the public is invited.

Ratchford’s presentation offers a glimpse into the world of 1912 and the amazing people who traveled on Titanic, the largest and most luxurious ship in the world. Meet the young Robert Spedden and his Stief Teddy bear named Polar; the world’s richest man and his beautiful wife new wife who had to leave New York society under a cloud of shame; and the elderly man and wife who tested the vow “till death do we part,” and many others among the 2,228 souls on board. Experience the world of courage, fear, love and cowardice that is still alive over 100 years after the ship’s sinking.

Study of Titanic has been a 60-year avocation for Ratchford, who has visited all the sites that have Titanic connections, including Belfast, where the ship was built; Southampton, from where it sailed; and Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the bodies were interred. In 1996, she spent a week at the site of the sinking in the North Atlantic.

Ratchford worked in the North Carolina public schools for 31 years. She is currently an associate professor in the Sister Christine Beck Department of Education at Belmont Abbey College, where in 2002 she received the Adrian Faculty Excellence Award.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Panel of service members to mark Women Veterans Day in Asheboro library talk

Rita Honeycutt

ASHEBORO – Join three local women veterans at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at the Asheboro Public Library to learn about their experiences in the military, in recognition of Women Veterans Day observed on June 12.

Speaking about their service:

Rita Honeycutt served in the U.S. Air Force from 2005-2008 before being medically discharged. She was stationed at Port Hueneme in California and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey with the 108th Refueling Wing. She now serves as a Veterans Services Officer with Randolph County Veterans Services.

Lisa
Mckinney

Lisa McKinney served as a Personnel Specialist in the U.S Air Force from 2005-2013 and in the Air Force Reserves from 2013-2019. She was stationed in the United Kingdom, Arizona and North Carolina, and served one tour at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan in the Casualty Office. She is currently a Veterans Services Officer with Randolph County Veterans Services.

Merideth Porter served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2009-2013 and was stationed at the Navy and Marine Intelligence Training Center in Virginia Beach. She is an advocate for veterans, striving to empower veterans and their families with knowledge about health care, housing, career assistance and other needs.

Women Veterans Day marks the anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. The day honors America’s military women past and present.

Merideth
Porter

Currently, there are more than 2 million women veterans who make up 13 percent of the country’s military population.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Comic-Con returns to Asheboro library for second year

ASHEBORO -- Fans of comic books, pop culture, anime and superheroes are invited to the second annual Randolph County Public Libraries Comic-Con, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 18, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Hosted by Asheboro library Youth Services, the all-ages, family-friendly event will feature 15 comic book authors, illustrators and other creators who will demonstrate their techniques and display their work, which will be available for purchase.

Booths will include original art, rare comics, and related merchandise.  There will be a special effects makeup demo, and photo ops with the Ghost Busters vehicle and the Andy Griffith car.

The event will include an origami demo at 10 a.m. and an anime character drawing demo at 11 a.m. Dress as a favorite character or superhero for a costume contest; judging by age categories will take place at 11:30 a.m.

Artists, authors and others participating include:

• Victoria Aldridge — Andy Griffith car;
• Central North Carolina Ghostbusters — cosplay fan group with Ghostbusters car;
• Chris Gairrusso — writer and illustrator of the G-Man graphic novel series;
• Dan Johnson — writer and editor at RedLine Comics Studio and Comic-Con emcee;
• Jo Knorpp and Fern Singleton, artwork and demonstrations;
• Marshall Lakes — art demonstrations;
• Angela Lombardo — young adult fantasy author of The Katori Chronicles;
• Jennifer McCollom — film makeup artist (Hunger Games) offering special effects makeup demos;
• Hector Miray — books, stickers, merch focused on spiritual themes in geek culture; 
• Rich Powell, artist and illustrator known for his Mad Magazine and Highlights work, “Wide Open” comic strip, and new book Ignore This Singing Pig;
• Chris Rigo — comic books, retro video games and toys;
• Gene Shanks — cartoonist, author of self-published comic series, sketches by request;
• Brian “Smitty” Smith — former Marvel and DC Comics editor, and author of Pea, Bee and Jay graphic novels; 
• Casey Strothman-Evans — pop culture custom creations;
• Xela Strothman-Evans — digital art and hand-painted 3D prints.

Also present will be library Youth Services staff from Asheboro, Archdale and Liberty to promote the “Adventure Begins at Your Library” summer reading initiative.

Support for Comic-Con is provided by the Friends of the Library.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6804.

Historian Kevin Duffus to recount harrowing Outer Banks rescue in Asheboro library talk

Kevin P. Duffus

ASHEBORO – During World War I, on August 16, 1918, the German submarine U-117 torpedoed the
British freighter S.S. Mirlo off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

 As the freighter sank, six courageous Coast Guardsmen of the Chicamacomico Lifeboat Station at Rodanthe sped to the rescue.

The crew’s heroic effort to save the lives of the 51 British sailors is the topic of “Into the Burning Sea: the 1918 Rescue of the Miro,” a talk by researcher and author Kevin P. Duffus at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Asheboro Public Library.

The talk is free and the public is invited.

The Mirlo’s cargo was gasoline, forcing the rescuers to enter a hellish inferno of explosions and toxic fumes, and a maze of black smoke, imperiling their lives to save strangers in distress.

Duffus is a noted North Carolina author, filmmaker and research historian who has made numerous discoveries. At age 17, he found, explored and identified a sunken Confederate gunboat in an eastern North Carolina river.

In 2002, he found the 1853 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Fresnel lens, missing since the Civil War. His book The Lost Light: A Civil War Mystery, tracks the light’s 150-year odyssey.

Duffus also is author of Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks: An Illustrated Guide and The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate. In 2012, he penned War Zone: World War Two Off the North Carolina Coast, which won the Willie Parker Peace Award.

Television documentaries he has produced have received the George Foster Peabody Award, the World Hunger Media Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award and the National Education Award.

Named North Carolina Historian of the Year in 2014, Duffus will publish his fifth book, a history of Bald Head Island and Cape Fear, on June 1.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.