Monday, February 27, 2012

Library Video of the Week, February 27, 2012.

When I Rise, an Alpheus Media Production.  Directed by Mat Hames; Executive Producer, Don Carleton. Library Call Number: E185.93.T4W44 2011.
          This riveting documentary chronicles the extraordinary life of Barbara Smith Conrad, a world renowned operatic mezzo-soprano.  In 1957, at the University of Texas-Austin, she was chosen to play the female lead in the opera Dido and Aeneas, opposite a white male singer.  That decision caused turmoil throughout the state of Texas and culminated in the state Legislature passing a bill which barred her from performing.  The young girl from East Texas was subjected to hatred and bigotry out of all proportion, yet continued on at the University, despite the humiliation heaped on her, and went on to become a premier performer in international opera.  Revisiting that moment in the present day, Smith Conrad’s grace, poise and capacity for forgiveness reveal more than words can tell about the venality and petty hatreds of that sad era in American history.  The film, selected for screening at numerous film festivals, won several awards for its inspirational story.
This video is shelved on the fith floor of the library.

Browsing Area Boook of the Week, February 27, 2012.

When the Thrill is Gone by Walter Mosley.
Library Call Number: PS3563.O88456W45 2011
          From Publisher’s Weekly: Mosley fills his third thriller featuring New York City PI Leonid McGill (after Known to Evil) with insights even deeper than the mysteries McGill is trying to solve. Chrystal Tyler, a potential new client, tells McGill that she's afraid her billionaire husband is having an affair and may kill her. While McGill realizes the woman is lying, he needs the case and agrees to see what he can do to make her husband back off. Meanwhile, McGill's wife of 24 years, Katrina, is having an affair; his favorite son, Twill, has a new scam working; and longtime boxing mentor Gordo Tallman is living in his apartment, fighting cancer. Then Harris Vartan, a dangerous organized crime figure, asks a favor that will lead McGill on a journey of self-discovery.
          Readers will encounter the full panoply of complex Mosley characters, from deceitful women to ruthless killers, but it's the often surprising bonds of love and family that lift this raw, unsentimental novel.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Library Video of the Week, February 20, 2012.

Intruder in the Dust, staring Juano Hernandez, Claude Jarmin, Jr.  and David Brian. Directed by Clarence Brown. 1949. Library Call Number: PN1995.9.N4I67 2011.
       From the IMDB database:  Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence. “
          Nominated for two Golden Globes, a Writer’s Guild Award and and winning a UN award, the film, based on a William Faulkner novel, is a hidden masterpiece. Both noirish and progressive for its time, Intruder in the Dust provides an interesting look at white attitudes toward equal rights in the early post-war era.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Berg Fashion Library---Check it out!











The University Library is running a month long trial of the Berg Fashion Library.  For immediate ACCESS click HERE!
We need feedback! Please send an email to Cory Mitchell mitchellc@uwstout.edu with your thoughts about the Berg Fashion Library.
The Berg Fashion Library
The authority on world dress
     The Berg Fashion Library is a unique online portal which offers fully cross-searchable access to an expanding range of Berg content collections – including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion online, e-books, reference works, images, and much more.
     Students and scholars in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, art history, history, sociology, geography, folklore, museum studies, theater, and cultural studies as well as fashion and textiles will find the Berg Fashion Library a treasury of fascinating insights into people and cultures all over the world. (Summary courtesy of the Berg Fashion Library website).