Deja_Vu

But most of us won't be able to watch the game. What's in the media resources collection to put us in the mood of America's national pasttime?

Well, we have Forever Baseball, an episode from the PBS American Experience series, which gives an overview of the sport.

For a completely different look at baseball through a feminist lens, check out A Spy in the House That Ruth Built.

An entertaining (although Canadian, so really, how can he be a true fan?) Red Sox fan blog ishttp://joyofsox.blogspot.com/

And Curt Schilling's blog is pretty good reading: http://38pitches.com/

The Media Librarian is sad that Kurt Vonnegut, important, funny, and humane writer has died. His novels, especially Cat's Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Slaughterhouse-Five, impressed upon her the horror and absurdity of suffering inflicted on human beings by other human beings. He wrote with clarity and humor "the kinds of books you pass around", as author Jonathan Safran Foer said in a recent tribute.

We have the film adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five in our collection (V 308), as well as films made from two of his short stories: D.P. (V 753) and Who Am I This Time? (V 851). See them, but read his books too.

In his later years, Vonnegut worked as a senior editor at "In These Times." Here's something he wrote in August, 2004:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/903/i_love_you_madame_librarian/

In celebration of Earth Week, Media Services will make the following environmental documentaries available for circulation to the entire Emerson Community for the rest of April: yes, you too, students, can borrow these titles (24 hours or over a weekend, one at a time . . . the usual deal):

Pale Male: (DVD 1083)
Winged Migration: (DVD 571)
Blue Vinyl: (DVD 797)
Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: (DVD 970)
Fed Up! (DVD 759)
and the entire Evolution series: (DVD 586 A, B, C:) because Earth Week is the perfect time to remember our teacher and colleague Alan Lee Hankin, and this series was a staple of his instruction.

For futher inspiration on living green, check out No Impact Man's blog about a couple and their young child living in as environmentally pure way as possible in Manhattan:
http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

It is really hard for me to believe, even after two years have passed, that Alan's absence from the Emerson campus is permanent. His unexpected death at age 56 in March, 2005, was shocking, not just because it was sudden, but because of Alan's incredible vitality. He was always talking, always in motion. That he used his energy to educate Emersonians about environmental science was a real gift to our community.

A good customer of Media Services, Alan used the media resources collection, borrowed still and video cameras when he took students on his famous New York City and Harbor Island "field trips", and was an enthusiastic user of new technology in the classroom. It seems fitting, therefore, to honor him by adding a new video title on environmental science in his honor each year.

This year we selected the documentary Thirst by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, and we'll be showing it tomorrow, April 25, in the Media Services Conference Room, 3rd floor, the Ansin Building, at noon. Stop by, remember a fantastic teacher and scientist, and enjoy a beverage! (We can't in good conscience show a movie called Thirst and not provide drinks.)