			ask us email \| chat \| phone

Focus On :: 2007 Archive

December 2007	December Celebrations “I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.” - Shirley Temple “Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame, Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.” -Hannah Senesh “The seven principles of Kwanzaa -- unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith -- teach us that when we come together to strengthen our families and communities and honor the lesson of the past, we can face the future with joy and optimism.” -Bill Clinton December is a month rich with celebrations and traditions. This exhibit highlights items from the UW Libraries that celebrate just some of these winter holidays. Spanning generations, these items represent just the beginnings of how people have viewed and honored these holiday traditions over time. Please enjoy the many childrens books also, that represent a season of love, thanksgiving and rejoicing.
November 2007	Climate Change & the Pacific Northwest During the 20th century, the global average air temperature rose by approximately 1.1 degrees F (0.6 degrees C). In the Puget Sound, the average temperature doubled the global average, increasing by 2.3 degrees F (1.3 degrees C) during the same period. - from Puget Sound Update 2007 Climate change is gaining recognition as a threat to environmental, economic, and peaceful prosperity on a global scale. Climate models and data graphs show that some areas, including the Pacific Northwest, are experiencing temperatures rising faster than the global average. November’s Focus On exhibit highlights works that attempt to predict how climate change will impact the local Puget Sound region, and offer adaptation strategies to cope with the anticipated negative impacts of climate change. To research more about climate change, use the resources listed on the UW Libraries Common Book.
October 2007 Photos courtesy of NASA Visible Earth	Climate Change: Companion Readings for the 2007 Common Book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert …We, the human race, have substantially altered the Earth's atmosphere. In 2005 the concentration of carbon dioxide exceeded the natural range that has existed over 650,000 years. Eleven of the warmest years since instrumental records have been kept occurred during the last twelve years and therefore climate change is accelerating. - Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). September 24, 2007 speech Only a few years ago, climate change as a consequence of human activity was hotly debated in the public sphere. Today, due to numerous contributions from scientific and scholarly communities, consensus is emerging that climate change is a reality that must be addressed with some urgency. This display features selected texts on climate change across disciplines. Some more technical books are from the Natural Sciences, Fisheries-Oceanography, and Engineering Libraries; while other books written from social sciences and humanities points of view are from Odegaard and Suzzallo-Allen Libraries. For other readings about climate change by UW authors, see the Suzzallo Reference Faculty Publications exhibit. To research more about climate change, use the resources listed on the UW Libraries Common Book website: http://www.lib.washington.edu/commonbook/.
September 2007	The U.S. Constitution and Immigration The Constitution of the United States was signed on September 17, 1787. September 17 - 23 is U.S. Constitution Week, marking the 220th anniversary. This display, presented by the UW Libraries Diversity Advisory Committee, highlights some of the many UW Libraries resources related to U.S. immigration and the Constitution, primarily from historical and policy perspectives. Included as well are maps comparing national origin/ancestry in 1790 and 2000. To find books about U.S. immigration, search the UW Libraries Catalog for such things as: LC Subject: United States -- Emigration and immigration LC Subject: Emigration and immigration law -- United States
July-August 2007	Cowboys and Cowgirls Pioneering and adventurous men and women, known as “cowboys,” helped to establish the Western frontier. The cowboy, a symbol of the American West, is commemorated through the art of Charles Russell, the music of Gene Autry, the films of John Wayne, and what may soon be a national holiday. Celebrate National Day of the American Cowboy, July 28, 2007, a day of recognition for cowboys and cowgirls, past and present. The UW Libraries collection includes a wide range of literature, music, theatre, and film materials by and about American cowboys and cowgirls. The display features literature, photographs, and artifacts highlighting their place in U.S. history and culture. To research more about cowboys, cowgirls, and the American West, use the History subject page.
June 2007	Native American Authors The June Focus On display highlights poetry and works of fiction by Native Americans. Materials such as interviews, correspondences, artists’ personal statements, and autobiographical publications are included as well. The majority of the publications are recent. The display also features a loan from the Burke museum, a print based on an art piece from their current exhibit, In the Spirit of the Ancestors.
May 2007	Shakespeare and Music If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die." Twelfth Night (I,i, 1-3) Music is intertwined with Shakespeare's plays. There are many references to music and instruments in the dialogue of the plays as well as in the stage directions. Music was used to set a mood, to illuminate a character, or to comment on the plot. Shakespeare also used popular ballad and folk songs to develop characters. "Shakespeare never employed music, as a simple divertissement or idle distraction; its effect is carefully calculated in poetic and dramatic terms." (Grove Music Online) "The musical cues of Shakespeare's Plays can be divided into four main categories : stage music, magic music, character music, and atmospheric music." (Grove Music Online) In addition to the music in Shakespeare's plays, his works have continued to inspire music composers. Examples include Ralph Vaughn Williams' Serenade to Music; Benjamin Britten's incidental music for A Midsummer Nights Dream; Amy Beach's Three Shakespeare Songs ; and Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder. To find music which was inspired by Shakespeare, search the Libraries Catalog for: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Musical Settings OR Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Songs and music For a list of Shakespeare resources on the web, see the University of Washington's Webliography of Sources on Medieval and Renaissance Literature This exhibit will highlight some of the University of Washington Libraries resources for exploring Shakespeare's music and his influence on music. For additional materials, see our Selective Bibliography on Shakespeare and Music
March 2007	Latin American Women / Las mujeres latinoamericanas “There is a place in history for every woman of America” Eva Perón To celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, we spotlight the Libraries’ collections on Latin American women. From the “Empress of the Americas” and national icon of Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe, to Chile’s first female president, the recently elected Michelle Bachelet, women's symbolic role spans both the sacred and secular realms of Latin America. Yet from colonial times to the present, las mujeres have struggled to claim the political, economic, and social power in keeping with their symbolic role. The seventeenth-century poet and woman of letters Juana Ramírez de Asbaje found for a period the intellectual freedom she craved in the cloister as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, until religious authorities curtailed her literary and scholarly activities. Nearly three centuries later fellow Mexican Frida Kahlo and Kahlo’s near contemporary, Eva (Evita) Perón of Argentina, refused to live in the shadow of their famous husbands, artist Diego Rivera and political strongman Juan Perón. Today Kahlo’s iconic art is known more widely than Rivera’s, while the rags-to-riches story of Evita has been the subject of one of the most successful musicals of all time. Nevertheless, the achievement of a more equitable “place in history” still eludes millions of ordinary women in a land of machismo. Click here for a selective bibliography on Latin American women. For more information on Latin American women, consult the Latin American Studies subject page.
February 2007	Taking it to the Streets: African American Drama and Civil Rights Interwoven in the rich tapestry of African-American drama is the history of African-Americans in the United States. From slavery to Emancipation, lynchings to the Black Power movement and beyond, African-American drama and African-American theatre artists have tackled the question of what it means to have a minority voice in America. Included in February's Focus On exhibit are play texts; critical and historical works; documents; video recordings; and photos of playwrights, actors, and directors that can be found using resources available to members of the University of Washington community. The display highlights the involvement of theatre persons in American civic life, particularly African American civil rights past and present. Click here for an abbreviated African-American Drama bibliography. To research more about African-American Drama, use the resources listed on the Drama Subject Page: http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/drama.
January 2007 Photo of UW Seattle nesting crows by Roarke Donnelly. Published with permission of photographer.	January’s Focus On exhibit, Crow & Raven: birds of a feather features selected resources from the UW Libraries, specimens from The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture ornithological collection, and miscellaneous items from the personal collection of Dr. John Marzluff, UW wildlife scientist with the College of Forestry and author of In the Company of Crows and Ravens, featured in the exhibit case. John Withey of UW’s Program on the Environment also contributed items from his personal collection. The displayed materials from the Libraries’ collections include books as well as scientific papers electronically accessed from journals. The collected books are diverse in subject and include scientific works dealing with crow or raven biology, behavior and natural history, as well as poetry, folklore and children’s literature. Click here for a Crow and Raven bibliography.