Learn how to avoid ‘false facts’ by citing sources in Asheboro library genealogy talk

ASHEBORO -- Many family researchers create “false facts” by failing to cite their sources. Join librarian and genealogist Ann Palmer for a primer on documenting discoveries at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Palmer will focus on citing media such as the Internet, books, magazines, newspapers, Bibles, interviews and cemeteries, as well as hand-written information on scraps of paper, to document your research.

Her presentation is free and the public is invited.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6815.  

WCU prof to feature Cherokee artisans in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Learn about the Elders, 20th century artisans who have kept key Cherokee craft traditions alive, in a talk by Western Carolina University professor Anna Fariello at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 11, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Fariello’s appearance, part of the North Carolina Humantities Council’s Road Scholars program, is free and the public is invited.

Focusing on the key traditions of basketry, pottery and carving, this highly visual event recognizes the Elders and the thousands of unnamed makers who created and maintained traditions during centuries past.

Fariello is author of the “From the Hands of our Elders” series, which includes three books and a website produced to share important archival collections of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians with the general public. For this project, she was honored in 2013 with a Guardians of Culture Award from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.

She also penned the interpretive travel guide Blue Ridge Roadways, and was named recipient of the 2010 Brown Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society.

This project is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide non-profit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Friends of the Library.

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

Live “Happily Ever After” in July during Summer Reading at Randolph’s libraries

Bright Star Touring Theatre will present "Happily Ever After"
at all libraries during July.

ASHEBORO – Live “Happily Ever After” as the Bright Star Touring Theater brings its hilarious rendition of Grimm Brothers stories to all Randolph County Public Library locations as the library’s summer reading initiative, “Build a Better World,” continues into July.

The theatre troupe will transform into Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumplestiltskin, and the Elves and the Shoemaker in their not-so-grim adventure loaded with audience participation and an endless stream of laughs. The shows will take place as follows:

• Archdale: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 19;
• Asheboro: 2  p.m. Wednesday, July 19;
• Franklinville: 2 p.m. Thursday, July 20;
• Liberty: 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 18;
• Ramseur: 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 20;
• Randleman: 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 27;
• Seagrove: 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 18.

Meanwhile, there will be more performances, storytimes, hands-on activities and movies at all the libraries. Highlights will include Balloon Magic with Asheboro native Clark Sides at Archdale and Seagrove; Magical Storyteller Mark Daniel at Randleman and percussive performer The Spoon Man at Liberty. The NC Zoo’s Animal Architects will visit Archdale, and the Flow Circus will bring its act to Randleman.

Find a full schedule of events at www.randolphlibrary.org/summer, visit your local library, or call 336-318-6804.

The Summer Reading Program is sponsored by Friends of the Randolph County Public Library with support from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s part of a national effort to keep children reading during the break from school; research shows that kids who read during the summer do better in school the next year.

Discover N.C’s moonshine history in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Get an overview of the history of illicit distilling in North Carolina in “White Liquor and White Lies” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 29, at the Asheboro Public Library.

The talk, presented  by K. Todd Johnson, executive director of the Johnston County Heritage Center in Smithfield, is free and the public is invited. It is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Johnson will explore the social history of the liquor trade from colonial times to the recent past, and share firsthand accounts from North Carolinians on both sides of the law, including legendary personalities such as firearms inventor Carbine Williams, bootlegger Percy Flowers and race car driver Junior Johnson.

He regrets that no samples of the product he is discussing will be provided to the audience.

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

Botanist to shed light on flowers in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Find out everything you always wanted to know about flowers, but were afraid to ask, in “It’s a What?!”, a talk by UNC-Greensboro biology professor Dr. Bruce Kirchoff at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 19, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Learn about the importance of flowers as plants propagate themselves, with a little help from the bird and the bees (and the bats and the lemurs, and the flies and the wind). Kirchoff, a botanist and winner of UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, will explore the marvelously varied world of plant reproduction, from a flower that appears once in 50 years to one that cannot reproduce without a specific kind of wasp.

He also will discuss why using native plants in your garden is so important.

His talk is free and the public is invited.

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

Teens can 'Build a Better World' at Randolph libraries this summer

ASHEBORO – A roller coaster, a wild scavenger hunt, video games, art classes, a Summer Pottery Slam, the 9^th annual LEGO Mania competition and more will empower teens to “Build a Better World” during Summer Reading activities at Randolph County’s public libraries.

All events are free and all teens are invited.

The Asheboro Public Library, 201 Worth Street, will offer teens ages 11-18 the opportunity to play video games on their own schedules. Teens can use their library cards or public school student ID numbers (“lunch numbers”) to check out Xbox or PlayStation game controllers and age-appropriate video games, and play in a conference room has been set aside for gaming when it is not booked for other uses.

Also at Asheboro:

• Teens can participate in the creation of a paper roller coaster during the week of June 12; drop in anytime to work on it until it goes into action on Friday, June 16.
• The movie Pete’s Dragon will be screened a 3 p.m. Thursday, June 22.
• During the week of June 26, the TeenZone Wild Goose Chase Scavenger Hunt will take place, with clues leading to prizes concealed in the library’s book collection.
• Marvel Comics artist John Czop will help teens hone their drawing skills and learn the ways of the comic book industry in classes at 2 p.m. on Thursdays July 13-August 3. New scribblers as well as accomplished artists are welcome. A final reveal of the works created in the class will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, August 10.
• LEGO Mania will challenge teams of teens to build a world or tell a story at 2 p.m. Friday, August 11.

Teens also can report the number of books or minutes they read for a chance at a reading reward.

At the Archdale Public Library, 10433 S. Main St., join area potters for guidance in creating your own piece of pottery, 2-5 p.m. Tuesday, June 20. Then, celebrate “Christmas In July” with crafts, contests and snacks from 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, July 25 (registration for this event is required; call 336-431-3811 to sign up).

The Liberty Public Library, 239 S. Fayetteville Street, will offer “#hangout: Just Teens” at 3:30 p.m. each Friday through the end of July, featuring makers activities such as Duck Tape Creations, Free Style String Art, Metal Washer Jewelry and more. The library also offers weekly Get Creative craft activities for teens and adults at 3:30 p.m. Thursdays.

“Mad Science” will take over the Randleman Public Library, 142 W. Academy St., as teens and tweens explore ecosystems, bubbling potions and radical robots. Sessions take place at 3:30 p.m. Thursdays, June 22, July 6 and July 20. Registration is required; call 336-498-3141 to sign up. Teens at Randleman can keep their check-out receipts and turn them in to be entered in drawings for two Kindle Fire tablets to be given away on August 22.

For more information about library summer activities for teens, visit www.randolphlibrary.org/summer/teens.htm, or contact your local library.

Poet Presnell to reflect on impact of war on families in Asheboro library reading

Barbara Presnell

ASHEBORO – The impact of war on families is the theme of a new collection of poems by Asheboro native Barbara Presnell.

Presnell will read from her work, Blue Star, in a Friends of the Library talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Her appearance is free and the public is invited.

In the poems, Presnell weaves military records, census reports, letters, journals and photographs into a tapestry that tells the 100-year story her family’s involvement in war from the Civil War to the present. To complete the collection, Presnell, her brother and her sister retraced their father’s World War II journey from Omaha Beach to the Elbe River in Germany, following his map and journal entries.

The title Blue Star refers to the stars on banners that family members hang in their windows when a son or daughter is in the service.

Presnell is author of five books of poetry, including Piece Work, a collection of poems built around life and work in Asheboro’s textile mills, where Presnell’s father worked until his death in 1969. Piece Work won the Cleveland State University (CSU) Poetry Center’s First Book Prize and was published by CSU in 2007.

One of its poems, “Pauline Loves to Sew,” was included in the April 2014 Our State magazine’s list of 10 poems every North Carolinian should read. In 2009, Piece Work was adapted for the stage by the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina, and performed in community colleges and other venues around the state.

Presnell, whose poetry also has appeared in many journals and anthologies, now lives in Lexington, and teaches in the writing and honors programs at UNC-Charlotte.

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

Best-selling author John Hart to make Asheboro appearance

John Hart

ASHEBORO — New York Times Best-selling author John Hart, winner of two consecutive Edgar Awards for mystery fiction, will make a special appearance in Asheboro at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at the [NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE] Asheboro Public Library, 201 Worth Street.

Hart’s visit, sponsored by the Friends of the Randolph County Public Library, is free and the public is invited. Journalist Chip Womick will talk with Hart in an on-stage interview format.

A North Carolina native, Hart is author of the 2016 best-selling novel Redemption Road and of four New York Times bestsellers: The King of Lies, Down River, The Last Child, and Iron House.

The only author in history to win the best novel Edgar Allan Poe Award for consecutive novels, Hart has also won the Barry Award, the Southern Independent Bookseller's Award for Fiction, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into 30 languages and can be found in over 70 countries.

Hart’s work has been compared to that of Scott Turow and John Grisham. His books take place in North Carolina, where he was born and lives. Before his appearance in Asheboro, he will make a stop in Charlotte with Grisham.

His newest novel, The Hush, is scheduled for release in early 2018.

A 1988 graduate of Davidson College and a former defense attorney and stockbroker, Hart spends his time in North Carolina and Virginia, where he writes full-time.

Hart will sign copies of his books after his talk. His books will be available for purchase at the Randolph/Asheboro Public Library, 201 Worth Street, from 5-7 p.m. prior to the event.

For further information, contact the Randolph/Asheboro Public Library at 336-318-6803.