July 2024 Newsletter

Wow! I can't believe summer is ending! Our library staff and volunteers have had a GREAT time celebrating summer with our community! In August, we will be busy planning our Fall Schedule!

We will begin English/Spanish 1 Classes, Storytimes, Music Therapy Groups, Anger Management Group, a new Book Club, Master Gardener Classes (AG Extension Agency) and more the first week of September.

The library will host an Author Talk with Dianne Brazell, author of "Weaving Peace" on September 21st. Join us to celebrate Dianne's new book journaling her experiences with her husband battling cancer. This heartwarming story of "real life" thoughts, experiences and feelings during and after loss will give you hope and support in your own journeys in life.

Our Friends of the Library Group Art and Wine Walk has been postponed until Spring 2025.

The library will host the Jarrell Cultural Arts Fall Festival on Nov. 16th. We will be posting information for vendors and activities soon.

We hope you have a great end to your summer with your families! Should you need assistance with food, resources or school supplies, please contact the library and we will direct you to the services you might need.

Thank you to our volunteers Shay Sterns, Anita Solberg, Tiffany Hazel, Tanya Alvarado Galvez, Kristy Naravette and Ailina Aponte for leading our Storytimes during our Summer Reading Program! You were AWESOME!

We appreciate EVERYONE who came together to make donations to the library! We met our goal to receive a $5,000 matching donation by the end of July! These funds will be utilized to support the library in 2025.

Special Events Coming Up!

Aug. 3: 10:30 Gardener Class- landscaping, irrigation, and lawn management

Aug. 5: MEXICANO MONDAY

Sept. 2: MEXICANO MONDAY

Sept. 3-6: Classes Begin: English, Spanish, Storytime, Music Group

Sept. 21: Author Talk "Weaving Peace" a discussion of life after loss

Nov. 16: Jarrell Cultural Arts Fall Festival

Communicate:

Encourage your child to share their feelings about going back to school, acknowledge their fears. Reassure them that it is normal to feel anxious about change.

Establish Routines:

Start routines early, such as a regular sleep schedule, healthy meals and time for homework and relaxation. Try to get back into these routines at least two weeks before school starts to help ease back into the school schedule.

Provide Mental Health and Family Days:

After school starts, your child may need some time to recharge and have a break from the stress and anxiety of school. These days can include activities that help them reset and feel rejuvenated, such as going for a walk or having a family movie or game night.

Make advance preparations:

Attend any scheduled school orientations or tours if possible.

Peer Support Specialist: Ailina Aponte

Hours: Tu/Th: 10:00-3:00 pm, Weds 1:00-6:00 pm, Fri. 10:00 am-2:00pm

We hope that you had as much fun this summer as we did during our Summer Reading Activities. From our very first 1K Fun Run/Walk and Health Fair to learning about Nature, Space and Dragons/Dinosaurs during our Storytimes we hope we had something for everyone to enjoy.

We will be taking a short break from Storytimes, Book Clubs and Wellness Wednesdays to plan and regroup. We will be starting up Storytimes and Wellness Wednesdays the first week of September and a new book club will start in October.

The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, is a psychological thriller about unraveling delusion from reality, all the while taking comfort in the darkest corners of your mind. Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who had taken a particular interest in a 33-year-old woman named Alicia Berenson, who had murdered her husband. What initially appears as professional curiosity unravels when Theo realizes that there’s more to this woman than meets the eye and that through her, his own sins are reflected.

I absolutely loved how Michaelides wove Alcestis’s tale into the story, and how the titular characters parallel Theo and Alicia. It’s interesting that, for all his desperation, Theo sentences Alicia to her second death. It wasn't her father, even though he deserved every horrible thing that happened to him, or Gabriel, despite his lies. To forever deny the chance to have her speak was the same thing forced upon Alcestis; through her paintings and emotional outbursts, Alicia advocated for herself. While Theo played his part well, acting to empower her and ensure that she could live without fear, he robbed her even of that hope in the end. Then again, Alicia knew of Theo’s intentions from the minute he stepped through the door. Whether or not she wanted to spite him remains to be said. Because of their relationship, it wasn’t long before Theo fell with her.

I also liked the direction that Michaelides had taken with addiction. I thought it was interesting how Theo had implemented containment theory and recognized his dependence on marijuana as a way to admit that he was looking for comfort from women he will never have completely (i.e. his mother and his wife). But more than that, I feel that Theo was also obsessed with love; he relied on Kristin and tried so painfully to ignore her backstabbing. And to his credit, it lasted for a while. For anyone who doesn’t know, containment theory was founded by Walter Reckless. It focuses on inner and outer self-control. When these controls are in place, an individual is less likely to commit a crime than someone who lacks one or both. In a way, Theo relied on these women for that control, and when he realized that he couldn’t, that they were just as flawed as he was, he couldn’t handle that. When he saw Alicia’s paintings, he conceivably thought Alicia was a kindred spirit. He was wrong of course, but he relied on her just as he did the other women in his life. She had given him no reason to, but he still did it.

Another thing I wanted to mention was how poignantly borderline personality disorder (BPD) was handled in the book. I agree with Indira in that BPD is an umbrella term that is often stigmatized in the mental health world. I know that there are talks of, rather than referring to someone as BPD, that they have a rather extreme form of an anxious attachment style. The symptoms they experience, from emotional instability to feelings of abandonment, were survival tactics at one point. Additionally, I admire Yuri’s dedication to Alicia and the other clients at Grove. Even though he ultimately caused more harm than good, he was protective of Alicia. Had he known Theo’s objectives, he wouldn’t have allowed him to get away with half the things he’d done.

I adored this book. I’ve bragged about it to my supervisor and anyone who would listen.

As such, I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to fans of Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

We would like to announce that the Art and Wine Walk has been postponed to early Spring. In the meantime, we're thrilled to share that the library will host a Fall Festival in mid-November, featuring a variety of exciting activities. We sincerely appreciate all the volunteers who have worked diligently on the Art and Wine Walk and look forward to both events in the coming months. Your support and enthusiasm are invaluable to our community!

The next Friends Group meeting will be on August 15 at 6:00 pm. We warmly invite all new members and friends to join us in discussing our next steps. Your participation and ideas are essential as we plan for the future.