Celebrate the 2026 One Book One Nebraska selection, The Antidote, with us on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, January 21 at 10am CT.
The One Book One Nebraska reading program is entering its twenty-second year. Nebraska libraries and other literary and cultural organizations continue to plan activities and events to encourage all Nebraskans to read and discuss the same book. Join us to hear more about this state reading promotion activity, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Library Commission.
We are excited to talk about the 2026 selection The Antidote: A Novel by Karen Russell (Knopf, 2025).
Join Nebraska Center for the Book Board Member Becky Faber; Nebraska State Historical Society Director of Historic Sites, Broc Anderson; and Nebraska Library Commission Communications Coordinator Tessa Timperley to:
Hear about this year’s selected book and ask questions.
Learn about how to create a successful local reading promotion using Nebraska’s year-long, statewide celebration featuring The Antidote.
Brainstorm strategies to read and discuss The Antidote.
Find tools to help engage your community in local activities to encourage them to come together through literature to explore this work in community-wide reading programs.
Upcoming NCompass Live shows:
Jan. 28 – Pretty Sweet Tech: How to Build a Virtual Makerspace
Feb. 4 – Homesteading at Your Library
Feb. 11 – Empowering Families Through Literacy: Tools and Strategies from Nebraska’s Statewide Initiative
Feb. 18 – Communicating Your Library’s Value and Getting your Board “On Board” to Help!
To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.
NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.
The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tessa Timperley 402-471-3434 800-307-2665
The Antidote: A Novel Chosen as 2026 One Book One Nebraska
People across Nebraska are encouraged to read the work set in Nebraska—and then talk about it with their friends and neighbors. The Antidote: A Novel (Knopf, 2025) by Karen Russell is the 2026 One Book One Nebraska selection.
The Antidote is a historical fiction novel during the dust bowl, set in a fictional town in rural Nebraska.
Karen Russell’s The Antidote is a haunting Dust Bowl epic that blends historical fiction with magical realism. Set in 1930s Nebraska, the novel follows Antonina Rossi—known as “the Antidote,” a prairie witch who stores memories—and the Oletsky family as they endure the devastation of Black Sunday’s dust storm and the catastrophic flooding of the Republican River. Through interwoven narratives, Russell explores themes of memory, resilience, and survival amid environmental collapse, crafting a lyrical meditation on how communities confront trauma and corruption while clinging to hope.
Karen Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received two National Magazine Awards for Fiction, the Shirley Jackson Award, the 2023 Bottari Lattes Grinzane Prize, and the 2024 Mary McCarthy Prize. The Antidote is a finalist for the National Book Award and a national bestseller. She serves on the board of Street Books, a mobile library for people living outdoors. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, son, and daughter.
Libraries across Nebraska will join other literary and cultural organizations in planning book discussions, activities, and events that will encourage Nebraskans to read and discuss this book. Support materials to assist with local reading/discussion activities will be available after January 1, 2026 at http://onebook.nebraska.gov. Updates and activity listings will be posted on the One Book One Nebraska Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/onebookonenebraska.
2026 will mark the twenty-second year of the One Book One Nebraska reading program, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss one book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. The Nebraska Center for the Book invites recommendations for One Book One Nebraska book selection year-round at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/obon-nomination.asp.
One Book One Nebraska is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission. The Nebraska Center for the Book brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at and supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”
Karen Russell’s The Antidote is set in “Uz,” a fictional Nebraska town during the Dust Bowl era. This historical novel unfolds against the backdrop of two actual weather catastrophes: the Black Sunday dust storm of April 14, 1935, and the Republican River flood that occurred a month later following a 24-inch rainfall. These disasters swept through the plains, damaging farmland and deepening the economic effects of the Great Depression. The story begins with Uz already in decline, suffering from both the Great Depression and the prolonged Dust Bowl drought.
Throughout the book, Russell blends real historical experiences with magical elements. The central character is Antonina, a prairie witch known as “the Antidote.” Acting as a healer, she claims the ability to treat her customers by removing the memories that torment them with grief and regret.
The book includes a serial killer murder mystery, basketball, an institution for unwed mothers, and much more. It also explores themes of immigration, settlement, the abuse of Native peoples, and environmental damage.
Other prominent characters include a teenage basketball star and witch’s apprentice whose mother was murdered by a serial killer; the girl’s uncle, a wheat farmer whose land was mysteriously spared from the drought and dust that plagued the region; and a New Deal Resettlement Administration photographer who arrives in Uz to document rural poverty and whose magical camera captures visions of the past and future. Memory serves as a central theme connecting the book’s four eccentric narrators.
The Antidote is Karen Russell’s second novel and a finalist for the National Book Award. Her earlier novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
My original intention was to write a bit about the Wisdom of Insecurity, authored by Alan Watts and published in 1951. The reasons for this include the fact that I just recently read it, and Watts demonstrates a directness and clarity that is refreshing. The book reads like it could have been written today:
“Human beings appear to be happy just so long as they have a future to which they can look forward – whether it be a ‘good time’ tomorrow or an everlasting life beyond the grave. For various reasons, more and more people find it hard to believe in the latter. On the other hand, the former has the disadvantage that when this ‘good time’ arrives, it is difficult to enjoy it to the full without some promise of more to come. If happiness always depends on something expected in the future, we are chasing a will-o’-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future, and ourselves, vanish in the abyss of death.”
And …
“For this stream of stimulants is designed to produce cravings for more and more of the same, through louder and faster, and these cravings drive us to do work which is of no interest save for the money it pays-to buy more lavish radios, sleeker automobiles, glossier magazines, and better television sets, all of which will somehow conspire to persuade us that happiness lies just around the corner if we will buy one more.”
Well, the appeal of Watts (described in many circles as playing a large role in bringing eastern philosophy to a western crowd) is not just in the one-liners. His writing appears to come at least somewhat from the perspective of the ever increasingly trendy “living in the moment” prescription, but also is perhaps at least a precursor to the deeper notions and variants of nondualistic pantheism. After reading Watts, it seemed fairly easy to sum these major points up; I was looking for something with a bit more depth. Oliver Burkeman’s the Antidote provides a little more of that. I say a little because much of what Burkeman writes about is quite similar to Watts, but there is some new material here that is worthwhile. Burkeman’s ideas might at least be a decent starting point.
Burkeman’s title provides some degree of a play on words (whether intended or not) in that the antidote he describes is something to counteract one’s unhappiness and the fact that he provides numerous anecdotes throughout the book. Burkeman draws from many sources, largely from the work of Stoicism and Albert Ellis and smally on things like the Museum of Failed Products, the self-help industry, Zen Buddhism, meditation, Mt. Everest climbers, Eckhart Tolle, and memento mori. Burkeman makes good arguments against the preoccupation with goals, less intensive planning, and ditching the modern day “cult of optimism.” Burkeman notes that “it is our constant efforts to eliminate the negative – insecurity, uncertainty, failure, or sadness – that is what causes us to feel so insecure, anxious, uncertain, or unhappy.”
It might be easy to conclude that Burkeman is advocating negative thinking. He’s not. There is a clear differentiation between negative thinking and the prescribed (stoic) rational thinking.
One perplexing notion, at least to me and requiring further thought and reflection is this aforementioned notion of “living in the moment”. It seems to me that consciousness plays a large role in it, and if a person is consciously thinking about something (including living in the moment), can they really be doing or experiencing it? If we perpetually read books, attend seminars, or participate in groups that bring this idea front and center, can we ever really achieve it under those circumstances? Probably not, and I think Watts would agree: “To understand music, you must listen to it. But so long as you are thinking, ‘I am listening to this music,’ you are not listening.” At any rate, if you are looking at an alternative to the positive thinking machine, the Antidote might prove to be a good read, and might turn you on to some other thought provoking stuff.
Are you considering building a new library or renovating your current library? Hear about one library’s experience ‘Navigating New Building Projects’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, January 14 at 10am CT.
Public library building and renovation projects are often once-in-a-generation events. Staff and leaders may never have done a similar project and may never do one again, making it imperative for libraries to learn from one another.
Our library opened the doors to its new building on April 1, 2024, after raising more than $3.3 million to help fund construction. After an overview of this project and process, I’ll discuss ways to help manage input, communication, and expectations during the building process, and share practical lessons learned about fundraising, moving, and building design.
Jan. 21 – 2026 One Book One Nebraska: ‘The Antidote: A Novel’
Jan. 28 – Pretty Sweet Tech: How to Build a Virtual Makerspace
Feb. 4 – Homesteading at Your Library
Feb. 11 – Empowering Families Through Literacy: Tools and Strategies from Nebraska’s Statewide Initiative
Feb. 18 – Communicating Your Library’s Value and Getting your Board “On Board” to Help!
To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.
NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.
The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
I’m breaking with tradition and using my Friday Reads post to talk about the three books on the short list for the 2026 One Book One Nebraska selection. We wanted to give a short overview of each book, some author information, and include comments by the readers on the selection committee. The winner will be announced Saturday, November 15th at the Nebraska Celebration of Books literary festival’s awards ceremony. Let us know which book you would pick to be the next One Book One Nebraska read, or nominate a book to be considered for 2027.
Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf. Vintage Books/Penguin Random House, 2015. Genre: Fiction
Set in contemporary Colorado, Haruf has crafted a love story between a widow and her widower neighbor. Life has given them a second chance to find happiness despite the nosiness of the townsfolk and a lack of support from family members. Readers found it consistent with Haruf’s previous novels. One evaluator described this love story as “genuine.”
Haruf authored six novels. He previously lived in Lincoln while teaching at Nebraska Wesleyan. He was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the New Yorker Book Award. He died in 2014. The book was published posthumously and was adapted into a film.
Lisa Kelly previously reviewed this title for Friday Reads, and you can read that review here.
The Antidote, Karen Russell. Knopf, 2025. Genre: Fiction
Set in western Nebraska in the 1930’s, Russell’s novel includes two actual events—the Black Sunday dust storm and the flooding of the Republican River. The main character is the Antidote who magically handles memories. The novel includes a variety of interesting characters whose lives intersect in dramatic ways. One evaluator noted that the book “has lots of good topics for discussion.”
Russell has authored six books of fiction. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for her novel Swamplandia! She also received the Shirley Jackson Award and the 2024 Mary McCarthy Prize. The Antidote is on the long list for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction. Russell lives in Portland, Oregon.
Rod Wagner previously reviewed this title for Friday Reads, and you can read that review here.
Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky, Joel Sartore. Nebraska Book Publishing, 1999. Genre: Photography/Nonfiction
This is Joel Sartore’s second book. It contains photographs of Nebraska from every section of the state. Compiled early in his career, it was prompted by his desire to show others the full range of his home state. Photos range from Sandhill cranes to the Sower to small town sports to rodeos to Carhenge to Memorial Stadium–to mention just a few. One committee member liked both the photos and Sartore’s humor, adding “I think there could be some good discussions about living in Nebraska.”
Joel Sartore lives in Lincoln, Nebraska and has been a contributor to National Geographic as well Audubon Magazine, Time, Life, and Newsweek. In 2021, he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum and received the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography from the Sierra Club. He was named the 2025 Nebraskan of the Year by Lincoln’s Rotary Club.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tessa Timperley 402-471-3434 800-307-2665
Shortlist for 2026 One Book One Nebraska Announced
What book will all Nebraskans be encouraged to read in 2026? We will all find out on November 15th at the Nebraska Celebration of Books (N.COB) literary festival. A mesmerizing dust bowl epic filled with magical realism, a photographic journey across Nebraska, a beautifully written novel about second chances — all stories with ties to Nebraska—are the finalists for the 2026 One Book One Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
The Antidote: A Novel by Karen Russell, Knopf, 2025.
Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky by Joel Sartore, Bison Books, 2006.
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf, Knopf, 2016.
The One Book One Nebraska reading program is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Library Commission. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the same book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. A Nebraska Center for the Book committee selected the three finalists from a list of nineteen titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the coming weeks, Nebraska Center for the Book board members will vote on the 2026 selection.
Nebraskans are invited to take part in the Nebraska Celebration of Books (N.COB) Literary Festival where the choice for the 2026 One Book One Nebraska will be announced. Held on Saturday, November 15th, from 10:00 am – 5:30 pm, on the second floor of the UNL City Campus Union and Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, this event aims to celebrate Nebraska’s literary heritage and contemporary authors. The festival will honor the 2025 One Book One Nebraska with an author talk by Tosca Lee, in addition it will feature 2025 Nebraska Book Award winning authors, Nebraska State Poets Jewel Rodgers and Matt Mason, a writing workshop hosted by Larksong Writers Place, book vendors, and presentation of the Mildred Bennett Award and Jane Geske Awards. Visit https://bookfestival.nebraska.gov/ for more information about the N.COB festival programming and authors.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the national Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”
Reading this book conjures up thoughts about collection development. Yep, that’s right, for the handful of you that are reading this, I want to talk about collection development, on the record. Not necessarily because you might have limited knowledge of this practice (you may or may not—let’s avoid assumptions), but rather my concern is that some libraries may have forgotten the importance of having balanced library collections, or perhaps have never really believed in the practice in the first place. Coleman Hughes, for instance, presents an alternate view of race politics, taking aim at contemporary works by Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, among others espousing similar views. He doesn’t pull any punches in his criticism, starting with labeling them as “Neoracists” (to be fair, a term used by many others, including, notably, John McWhorter). We live in times where some (librarian or not) might dismiss outright the assertions of Hughes, limiting his book in library collections (or requesting it’s immediate removal) while categorizing what he has to say as blasphemy, disinformation, or applying any other ridiculous criticism. To me, it doesn’t matter if one agrees or disagrees with what Hughes (or Kendi, DiAngelo, et. al.) has to say; it’s a question of providing the public with an up to date collection of opposing viewpoints on relevant subject matters. For example: Does your library collection contain books by Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates, but no antithesis from someone such as Coleman Hughes, Thomas Sowell, Glenn Loury, or John McWhorter? I imagine some might provide a feeble defense to these unbalanced collection development decisions by arguing that they are (as morally superior individuals looking out for you, the uninformed, ignorant reader who is incapable of your own thought) preventing dangerous “misinformation” from being spread and consumed by you. Hey, they are looking out for your interests, or protecting you, and for that reason, you should get off their case. Maybe even thank them. But is that your role as librarian? To be the arbiter of The Truth, one way or another? Ultimate decider of what is accurate or inaccurate? Or is it to offer a robust set of resources, presenting point and counter point, to individuals and the community at large so that they can make their own decisions? I’d argue the latter. Over the past few years, we’ve heard various hyper-ventilations about protecting the public from dangerous misinformation, formation of government ministries of truth, and the antidote to this the library’s promotion of censorship (e.g. casual exclusion of certain viewpoints, de-selection of materials, or non-selection in the first place) to achieve that end. Of course, come to find out, those marginalized as dangerous misinformation spreaders turned out later on to have a track record that is equal to or greater than Larry Holmes (69-6, 44 by KO). Sometimes, this nonsensical censorship is sold under the guise of “information literacy”. The perplexing part is that many seem perfectly OK with this. In response, the Supreme Court opinion in U.S. v. Alvarez comes to mind:
“Our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need Oceania’s Ministry of Truth . . . And suppression of speech by the government can make exposure of falsity more difficult, not less so. Society has the right and civic duty to engage in open, dynamic, rational discourse.”
Which brings me to my second rant about balanced collections and that, my friend, is book displays. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for book displays in general, and the promotion of books and other items in the collection, strategically placed towards the checkout aisles like the Swiss Cake Rolls and Snowballs at the grocery store, as an effective strategy for suggestive selling and increasing your stats. But we should be careful about what we decide to promote and by exclusion, not promote. The book display shouldn’t be the librarian’s personal exhibition of what they think patrons should be reading (and by exclusion from the exhibit, not reading). Nor should it be the librarian’s opportunity to promote his or her own social or political causes at the expense of presenting any opposing viewpoints. For this reason, I believe the display should be somewhat generic in nature. All too often, they aren’t. They may be well intended, to correspond to a certain monthly event or holiday, for instance. Seems innocuous on the surface. But the problem with this is the display promotes those groups included in that monthly event and has the effect of excluding all others. Let’s cut to the chase, and use as an example the plethora of history/heritage months that have been designated, since we are talking about race under the blanket of this book on race relations by Coleman Hughes. Does your library have a display for Black History Month? If so, does it display for all the other history or heritage months to cover all members of your community? What about Asian History Month (May)? Hispanic (September)? Native Americans (November)? Let’s not forget the Irish (March). Arab-Americans (April)? Of course, there are many groups absent from these lists, and Jewish history doesn’t get it’s own billing (sharing May with the Asians). Why is that? Do all these history months divide the population by pointing out our differences (one of the key points Hughes makes), or bring them together? What if you are French Canadian? German? Italian? Welsh? Norwegian? Swedish? Slovakian? Or a member of virtually any other conceivable ethnic group not mentioned here? Does the absence of a book display for your group mean the library seeks to exclude you or send the message that those other groups matter, but you don’t? Perhaps the library should focus its attention in a broad way on American history, and then include a wide range of authors representing various viewpoints on various subjects. Maybe you agree (as I do) with Morgan Freeman, who concluded that Black History Month (and all the others, by applying the same logic) is a ridiculous farce:
“You’re going to relegate my history to a month? … Black history is American history. [Mike Wallace]: How are we going to get rid of racism and … [Morgan Freeman] Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman.”
Now a few words about Hughes and The End of Race Politics in particular. It would be easy to take the approach that Hughes speaks the truth, thank him for having the audacity to call out the Neoracists, elevate his prescription for a colorblind society, and discount (or outright dismiss) people like Ibram (“the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination”) Kendi as race hustlers or race grifters. Of course, such action would violate the deeply held free exchange of thought principles enunciated throughout today’s write up. The takeaway is that ALL of these resources should be held and equally promoted in the library, point and counter point, for the reader seeking to understand and develop their own views on race and what might ultimately be the prescription for a better America. And, since almost all of these authors seem to claim succession to the legacy of MLK Jr., perhaps someone seeking knowledge on these subjects should read his books as well (and they should be stocked in the library collection), including the last one, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community.
Hughes, Coleman. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America. Thesis. 2024.
Just One Damned Thing After Another: Chronicle of St. Mary’s, by Jodi Taylor shows how historians are trained to “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.”, but don’t call it time travel! Actually, I started this series with what I thought was the last book, Lies, Damned Lies, and History, v.7 and was so intrigued with the characters that I wanted to start the series from the beginning!
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
It begins with Max, (Madeline Maxwell), a disruptive, unhappy, student, being mentored in school by her head teacher. Next, a letter from the same head teacher, guides her from academe to the doors of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, an adjunct of the University of Thirsk. Taking the tour of the facility with her mentor, she notices some oddities: little remarks about not having had an interview, she notices they have a security section, and a hanger named after Stephen Hawking. Finally she has “the interview” with the facility, which is when the real reveal of what they do at St. Mary’s occurs. Since she studied archeology and anthropology, with emphasis in Greek and Roman times, and has experience in archeological digs, she jumps at the chance to time travel. She signs up, and joins a small class of would be “historians”.
It is set in the UK in the fairly near future. The relationship with the University is of course fraught with politics and academic tensions. The borders of America (The United Sates) have been closed. And a great deal of funding is going toward Mars exploration, or a possible manned Mars trip. And, as a side note, all of this is run by some members of the same institution, but from a future form of the same institution. And the muse of history is the director’s PA (personal assistant).
While it isn’t perfect, the series is fun, raucous, accident prone, and in turns, deadly serious and on a dull weekend, or too cold, or too hot Nebraska day, the perfect antidote to very nearly everything. If you grew up on James Bond, Benny Hill, Saturday Night Live, Dr. Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, or simply like any or all of those shows, this is just the thing for you! Especially if you don’t mind it filled with really interesting parts of History, that feel well researched.
Chronicles of St. Mary, in order, as best as I can tell:
Just One Damn Thing After Another
A Symphony of Echos
A Second Chance
A Trail Through Time
No Time Like the Past
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Lies, Damned Lies, and History
And the Rest is History
An Argumentation of Historian
Various Short Stories–Please muddle through them as you will!
Just One Damned Thing After Another: Chronicle of St. Mary, book 1, by Jodi Taylor, Nightshade, 9781597808682, 2013, paper back, $12.99
The Nebraska Library Commission Recruitment Public Service Announcement (PSA) has been getting some great reactions and we are excited about the prospects for launching a statewide marketing campaign this summer. Cindi Hickey reports that the “recruiting video (is) making the rounds in Kansas.” She continues, “You are getting rave reviews for the recruiting trailer in Kansas! Someone found it on YouTube (brilliant placement!) and is passing it around to everybody.”
We hope the PSA sends the message that “library careers are cool, high tech, and service-oriented – an opportunity to make a difference in our communities.” The vision is to have the PSA shown in movie theatres across Nebraska. Since Hollywood has helped to foster many of the outmoded stereotypes and images of librarians, it is appropriate to use the PSA as one of the vehicles to deliver the antidote to these stereotypes. Companion pieces to the PSA will include a movie poster for the theatre lobby, a display with information about educational opportunities, and “movie tickets” to apply for scholarships for training in library skills.
Some library staff and supporters have volunteered to contact the management of local movie theaters to ask them to donate screen time to show the PSA before movie showings and lobby space for poster and display. Ideally, the PSA would be shown in the summer before a movie that might attract a younger audience, specifically people of high school and college age. More volunteers are needed.
Please comment (link below) to let us know what you think of the PSA (see it at https://nlc.nebraska.gov/NowHiring/) and be sure to volunteer to help us get free placement of the PSA in movie theatres this summer.
Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan
My original intention was to write a bit about the Wisdom of Insecurity, authored by Alan Watts and published in 1951. The reasons for this include the fact that I just recently read it, and Watts demonstrates a directness and clarity that is refreshing. The book reads like it could have been written today:
