Yonkers Insider: Westchester County Legislator MaryJane Shimsky, 12th District:

 

Virtual Programs from the Library in September/October

Virtual Storytime with Miss Jen & Miss Lois Online Tuesdays from 11:00am - 11:30am For all toddlers ages 1 - 3 years. This is an early literacy-based storytime with various rhymes, songs to sing, fingerplays to learn, and stories read aloud to your little ones LIVE online using Zoom! Please register to receive a confirmation email with Zoom link/password to securely log in to this event. Can't wait to see you! Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   Creative HeARTS Tuesdays, 2:00pm - 4:00pm September 15th theme: Birds Be Creative with an open HeArt! Enjoy an art opportunity of sharing your drawing and painting talent with other older adults virtually. Enjoy exchanging ideas, swapping tips and sharing art happenings. There will be a theme each week to inspire you, or share your current art project. Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   Baby Laptime & Chat-time Online Wednesdays, 11:00am - 12:00pm Come prepared to share your baby's favorite nursery rhymes, songs, fingerplays and then hangout in our Zoom space to meet new and seasoned parents of our youngest library users. Please register to receive the Zoom link. Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   Virtual Spanish ~ English Conversation Group ~~ Grupo de Conversación español ~ inglés Online Wednesdays, 2:00pm - 3:00pm Improve your Spanish conversation skills. Basic Spanish needed to participate. Please call 721-8235 for more information. This program will be held via Zoom. Please register in order to receive the link.  Mejore su nivel de conversación en inglés. Saber lo básico es necesario para participar. Favor de llamar 721-8235 para más información. Este programa será por Zoom. Por favor, registre para recibir el enlace.   Shining the Light on Mental Health Online Thursday, September 24, 10:00am - 11:00am One in five adults in the United States experiences a mental health condition in a given year and 1/2 of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER and you can help yourself or someone you care about if you know what to look for. Please join us for a presentation by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Westchester about mental health warning signs and suicide prevention through the personal stories of a family member and individuals living in recovery from mental illness. Learn about NAMI Westchester resources and how to connect with other resources for support.  Increase awareness to foster open dialogue, help-seeking and empathy for individuals and families impacted by mental health issues. Presentation includes live Zoom speakers, videos and an opportunity to ask questions following the presentation. Registration required. To register, click here.   Virtual Preschool Storytime with a craft Online (Ages 3 to 5 years) Thursday, September 24, 11:00am - 11:30am Share special stories with the librarians and make a fun craft from every day items found in the home. Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   GPL Armchair Traveler Series: Croatia Online Thursday, September 24, 2:00pm - 3:00pm Together lets explore the history, people and culture of Croatia without leaving home!  Registration required. To register, click here.   Teen Battle of the Books Book Club: "Scythe" Online Thursday, September 24, 7:00pm - 8:00pm **Attention: 2020 Westchester Library System Battle of the Books Tournament Has Been Postponed until 2021** Read the books, attend the meetings, discussion & trivia competition! Age Range: Teens entering grade 6-12 in September 2020 Meeting Dates, Book Titles, Locations: September 24 @ 7 PM - Zoom Meeting -- Book: Scythe by Neal Schusterman Click here to register. You will be emailed the Zoom meeting link.   Virtual Teen Lounge Online Fridays, 3:30pm - 4:30pm Miss hanging out in Teenburgh? Teen Lounge is the next best thing! Meet up with friend and make some new ones in this video chat room every Friday at 3:30 PM. For students entering grades 6-12 in September 2020. Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   "The Gang's All Here" Family Storytime on the Grassy Hill Saturday, September 26, 11:00am - 11:30am Join us for a morning of fantastic family fun at our first socially distant storytime for walkers to age 5 with a family member! Meet at 11 am on the grass hill by the staircase in the parking lot by the Library's entrance weather permitting. Registration required. To register, click here.   Code Heroes: Learn to Code, Change the World Online Saturday, September 26 through Saturday, October 24, 2:00pm - 3:30pm Learning to code is about much more than simply creating games. Code can be used to educate our peers and change the world. This program focuses on creating amazing experiences with code to educate our community on the effects of cyberbullying. Students will address the impacts of cyberbullying and design a choose your own adventure game that presents a variety of different cyberbullying scenarios. Each group will brainstorm and storyboard their scenarios, create custom graphics, and code their games using Scratch! This program will be conducted virtually. Grades 5-8 welcome. The Digital Arts Experience is providing this program in partnership with AT&T and The Westchester Libraries System and is 100% free! Click here to register for this 5-part series. Registrants are required to attend all 5 sessions   Jazz Conversations: The Ballad Players Online Saturday, September 26, 2:00pm - 4:00pm Frank DeLigio leads this lively conversation about jazz greats past and present. Discussion centers on the music and the personalities and is often prompted from video or audio clips of the days subjects. This week's subjects: Lester Young, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis and Stan Getz among others. Registration required. To register, click here.   Coming Up at GPL...   Virtual Musical Munchkins! Monday, October 5, 11:00am - 11:30am Bring your shakers, scarves, sticks, pots and favorite snuggly friend to play and sing along with the superstars of Musical Munchkins. Registration required. To register, click here.   Magic: The Gathering Club for Teens -- Virtual Edition! Tuesday, October 6, 4:00pm - 7:30pm Learn to play Magic-- The Trading Card Game! Get tips and tricks from an experienced instructor, bring your decks and battle! Whether you're a new player or an expert this group is for you-- all levels welcome! This even is for grades 6-12. Registration required. The event will be run on Discord -- Magic: The Gathering Arena. To register,click here.   Diversity in the Dugout: Virtual Field Trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Online Tuesday, October 6, 7:00pm - 8:00pm Take a virtual field trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to learn more about the game's 150+ year history with cultural diversity. While baseball has created opportunities for players from around the world, many players and fans have encountered injustices and discrimination. This program traces the changes of baseball’s cultural landscape through the processes of immigration and integration. It will include information about the Negro Leagues and the impact of Latino, Native American, and Asian-American players on the National Pastime. This program is recommended for tweens, teens, and adults. Registration required to receive Zoom link. To register, click here.   GPL Armchair Traveler Series: US Lighthouses Online Wednesday, October 7, 2:00pm - 3:00pm Join us to learn more about the history of lighthouses and how it is intimately linked to the development of maritime expertise. As nations advanced their abilities to navigate nearby oceans and ventured into unknown territories, they spent considerable resources on marking significant ports. The first lighthouses were intended to to welcome ships and stimulate trade and not until much later were beacons used to warn of dangerous conditions, such as rocky ledge or submerged shoals. Registration required. To register, click here.   "Keep It Short" : An Online Short Story Discussion Group Online Thursday, October 8, 11:00am - 11:40am Facilitator: Nancy Larrabee, GPL Librarian   Join in the discussion of the 1908 short story by Willa Cather, "On the Gull's Road."  For anyone at home who wants to discuss literature but does not have the time to read a full length novel. Discussion will take place using zoom software. Registration is required. Discussion will be 40 minutes long. To register, click here.   "Designing Your Life" Online Thursday, October 8, 2:00pm - 3:00pm This interactive session will provide a look into how design thinking can help us to explore, experiment with and create life visions that will bring each of us more personal fulfillment and satisfaction. The insights and strategies of design thinking can be applied by anyone regardless of age, what we do or have done, or professional background. During the workshop, we will explore an exercise from the book "Designing Your Life" by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans and begin considering how to apply implications immediately to our lives. While it is not required to read the book, participants will benefit from familiarizing themselves with concepts. See the website: https://designingyour.life/the-book/. Copies of the book "Designing Your Life" will be available to check out. Registration required. To register, click here.   Virtual Spanish Club Online Thursday, October 8, 15, 22 & 29, 4:00pm - 4:45pm Join us in activities that will introduce and reinforce common Spanish vocabulary. For grades 2-4. Registration required. To register, click here. Please register for each session separately.   La Hora del Cuento Virtual Online Saturday, October 10, 11:00am - 11:45am La Hora del Cuento Virtual será un programa para niñas y familias donde promoveremos el idioma español a través de la lectura, canciones, conversaciones, cuentos, escritura, rimas, videos y mucho más. Para edades de 3 - 5 (hermanos bienvenidos) y sus cuidadores/padres. Es necesario inscribirse para recibir el enlace de Zoom. This virtual storytime for children and families promotes the Spanish language through reading, songs, conversations, stories, writing, rhymes, videos and much more! Spanish fluency is not required but the storytime will be conducted entirely in Spanish. For ages 3-5 (siblings welcome) with parent/caregiver. Registration required to receive Zoom link.   Online Fall Meditation Series: Bodhi Meditation for Wellness Fridays, October 16, November 13 and December 11, 9:30am - 10:45am Are you feeling isolated, sad, stressed? Dealing with discomfort or pain? Practice a simple, guided meditation to increase your health and wellbeing. At this workshop, you will: • Learn about the practice and benefits of Bodhi Meditation • Practice a powerful guided visualization that will quickly bring you to a state of deep relaxation • Perform closing exercises to circulate and seal in the positive energy from the meditation Benefits that practitioners of Bodhi Meditation report include: • Relief of depression, anxiety and stress • Relief of fatigue, headaches, migraine and insomnia • Alleviation of lower back and spinal pain, numbness of the extremities and rheumatism • Lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol levels • Enhancement of functions of internal organs, such as liver, kidneys, etc. • Boosting of immune system; alleviation of allergic conditions You may sit either on a cushion on the floor or in a chair with arms. Please wear comfortable clothes. You may want to have a sweater or blanket available as temperature can drop during meditation. For more information about Bodhi Meditation, click here.  This event will be taking places on Microsoft Teams. For more information about how to use Microsoft Teams, click here. Registration required. To register, click here.   Opera Talk - Millenial Sopranos Saturday, October 17, 2:00pm - 4:00pm Frank Deligio hosts video performance and discussion. Opera Talk is a brand new program in which we will watch video of, listen to, and discuss the singers, conductors, and composers who have made great opera around the world in the 20th and 21st Century. Millenial Sopranos: Featuring Anna Netrebko, Renee Fleming, Diana Damrau, Lise Davidsen and Natalie Dessay. Registration required. To register, click here.   We know there are hundreds of stories and moments out there in the community about life during this pandemic. We are putting out a personal call to everyone in the community to share their stories so that future generations will know what happened in 2020. This is our moment as a community to remember how we all endured this virus and how we persevered. Please join us by participating in the Greenburgh Library Covid-19 Memory Project.