Guys, it’s Halloween!!! Real talk time: I loooove Halloween!! You know all those memes you see coming through your social media feed about people excited about Halloween’s approach? That’s me to a “T”. I have always enjoyed a good scary story or horror movie. I recall being a wee one around the age of 8, sitting at the top center of my parents bed (away from edges because of all of the unknowns that may be lurking under the bed…
"Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen – where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” – Heinrich Heine In 1933, some of the finest young minds in Germany gathered in Berlin. Fueled by the antisemitic fervor that was being cultivated, they built a bonfire in a public square and fed the flames with the words, thoughts, and ideas of Jewish authors. This destruction was a declaration. A statement was being made…
Site-sensitive installation art, according to Island University Assistant Professor of Art Leticia Bajuyo, can include materials ranging from paint to steel to sound, as these artworks not only take up physical space but also space in our minds. This is one of the philosophies that shaped the spring 2019 Sculpture III course at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and led to its focus on public art installations. In collaboration with the Mary and Jeff Bell Library, eight student-created sculptures are now…
"Hi, mamá," are the first words Isabelle, my daughter, utters every evening when I pick her up from daycare. At two-years-old, Isabelle's speech is developing, and her vocabulary is expanding. Her vocabulary consists of a balanced amount of both Spanish and English words. She is able to point at a "carro," but she can also spot a "bus." When Isabelle was born, my husband and I decided that we would only speak Spanish to her. We wanted her to master Spanish first.…
Tourist hotels line the beaches of Havana; you can see their lights to the north as you ride the P5 bus along Avenida 41. You've never been inside, but you know they contain another world: a world filled with people from places that have never even heard of El Paquete Semanal. The sellers of El Paquete, the paqueteros, all say that's where the 'real' internet lives, that the Maestros all have connections inside, that the hotels are modern-day pirate ships.…
You hear the terms flying around. Maybe they were used in relation to avocado toast, Tide pods, or even Oregon Trail. I’m talkin’ ‘bout my generation (well, not MINE alone, I just couldn’t resist referencing the song by The Who). I’m actually talking about generations X, Y, and Z, more commonly known as Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. According to the Pew Research Center, these three generations (and a few others) are broken down like so: Silent - born 1928-45 (ages 74-91);Boomers -…
You’re a liar…delusional...confused…insane! No one is EVER going to believe you! Ok, well not you per say (theoretically at least, I don’t really know you, so…), but this is a common accusation made in many of the best psychological thrillers available today. Take the box office success, The Girl on the Train, staring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, and a bunch of other names that Wikipedia lists. The movie, based on the New York Times best seller by Paula Hawkins, follows Rachel Watson, an alcoholic divorcée who is…
Did you know that today is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day? From classic Grimm tales to modern day retellings, today is about appreciating the art of the story and how it captivates our imagination. Storytelling has been around since the dawn of man. We all love stories. They ignite feelings and emotions without having to go anywhere or do anything. They appeal to the power of our imaginations, to our curiosity, and to our desire to know more. There…
Have you ever Googled David Bowie's age and wound up learning about Wild Bill Hickok's famous shootout? Well, I'll let you in on a secret. That counts as research! At Bell Library, we encourage that kind of research and, more to the point, we encourage the use of Wikipedia. Now, I'm not saying you should cite Wikipedia in your lab report, but I am saying that Wikipedia is an amazing resource and just because it's crowd-sourced doesn't mean it's worthless.…