The annual Hemingway Distinguished Lecture is presented each July by The Community Library, honoring the month of Ernest Hemingway’s birth and death. The event celebrates the power of words and the creative spirit in a landscape that Hemingway loved. This year, The Community Library welcomes JOY HARJO, who in 2019 was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate: the first Native American to hold the position and only the second person to serve three terms in the role. Harjo’s ten books of poetry include Weaving Sundown in a Scarlett Light, An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. She is also the author of two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, which invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road. She has edited several anthologies of Native American writing including When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through — A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, and Living Nations, Living Words, the companion anthology to her signature poet laureate project. Her many writing awards include the 2022 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 Jackson Prize from Poets ...

One of the most asked questions in astronomy is whether we are alone in the universe. Life on earth is abundant with the most obvious example: ourselves. However, we also see life in less obvious places like the Mariana Trench which reaches depths of around 36,000 feet---think the altitude of a commercial airplane but underwater! The life we see at these depths is typically microbial but relies on one major factor: hydrothermal vents. One other place we may see this similar microbial life is on Europa, one of Jupiter’s numerous moons. In October 2024, NASA aims to begin the journey to Europa and determine if extraterrestrial life is closer than we thought. Speaker Lauren Osburn is a recent graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics. During her undergraduate studies, she became interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life within our solar system, and in the history and evolution of the universe. She also completed a research project in estimating the age of one of the oldest known globular clusters. Passionate about making the wonders and beauty of space accessible to everyone, she hopes to demystify astronomical concepts and ...

Join us for an evening with Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, co-authors of the new novel "Boss Lady." The mission of their four novels is to to use humor, joy and compassion to write stories that encourage candid conversations about issues such as race, religion, culture, class, privilege, parenting and education and this one does not disappoint on the laughter front. This program will be held outdoors (weather permitting) on the Library's Donaldson Robb Family Lawn. Bring a camp chair or blanket and join us for a rollicking evening with this hilarious and warm-hearted duo. About BOSS LADY: Meet Antonia “Toni” Arroyo. Her protective mother has outdated notions for her daughter’s life: employ her natural beauty and marry young. But Toni has wholly different aspirations. A promising inventor and budding entrepreneur, Toni fights to keep her passions alive as a financially strapped mother of twins with a job in airport transportation services that has her going in circles. One treasured frequent passenger is elderly traveler Sylvia Eisenberg, Toni’s sage but unofficial adviser and cheerleader. When Toni meets Sylvia’s grandson, Ash, a striking venture capitalist, luck just might bend her way. With a game-changing new business endeavor in development, Toni hustles ...

Growing up white in Washington state, Barbara Hilyer’s dad never told her anything about his family—except that his mother was “crazy.” Ten years after his death, she learned his sister was living in Hawai’i. Discovering “the family secret” introduced her to the concept of passing, and the complex nature of race and identity. Uncommon in the white world, passing is a familiar concept among African Americans. Meeting her aunt, an African American woman deeply involved in state politics, took Barbara’s life in a new direction, which led her to Hilo, Minneapolis, Washington, DC, and the Deep South—researching the extended family she could never know, and the historic times that defined them. This story challenges America’s oversimplified view of race and explores how different individuals across generations pursued all available avenues of opportunity to define their lives in a race-conscious society. American history is not white history, although it has been presented that way. The times call for a truth telling. S. Barbara Hilyer spent her public school teaching career in Ashland, Oregon, where she taught elementary school as well as middle and high school social studies, including American History. She holds a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instructional Leadership. At ...