Join OFPL in-person at the Children & Youth Library on October 8th at 2:00 PM for an exciting family storytime with a special guest!
Local counselor, author, and illustrator Sheila Lofgreen will read stories that explore social and emotional learning, including some of her own stories.
Email pneilson@gallupnm.gov or call (505) 863-1291 for more information.
Join us on Facebook, @galluplibrary, and YouTube on Tuesday, May 18th at 2:00 p.m. for a discussion featuring local author John Lewis Taylor.
A longtime educator in New Mexico, having served as a teacher and principal for the BIA and an instructor at the University of New Mexico-Gallup, Taylor is enthralled with the history of the American Southwest. He is the author of Looking for Dan: The Puzzling Life of a Frontier Character Daniel Dubois and Navajo Scouts During The Apache Wars and will be discussing his research methods.
Email aprice@gallupnm.gov or call (505) 863-1291 for more information.
Join us on Facebook, @galluplibrary, and YouTube on Saturday, May 8th at 3:00 p.m. for a discussion with local author Bob Rosebrough.
With its rugged, violent history and otherworldly landscape, Gallup has ignited the imaginations of an array of famous Americans from John Wayne to Bob Dylan. Tony Hillerman’s novels put Navajo culture, and by extension Gallup, on the map. For the Navajo people for whom the region has been home for millennia, the town and its alcohol-fueled economy have a more sinister pull.
As an outsider who became an insider, Bob Rosebrough shares Gallup’s iconic stories–and reveals its long-hidden secrets.
Email tmoe@gallupnm.gov or call (505) 863-1291 for more information.
OFPL is recruiting volunteers to create a Friends of the Library Group. If you are passionate about the resources and programming that our local library offers to the community, join us at the Main Library on Saturday, February 22nd at 3:30 p.m. to learn more about joining the group.
Friends groups work towards public support of libraries, including government advocacy and spreading information about library services.
Email bmartin@gallupnm.gov or call 505-863-1291 for more information
Join us at the Main Library on Saturday, January 11th at 3:00 p.m., for a book signing of: Shattered Dreams, Bondage and Hope.
Dee Thompson describes the turbulent and often traumatic past of a woman who struggled to overcome her past traditions and establish her own identity as a scholar. Growing up in the early 1900’s on the Navajo Reservation, her life was largely influenced and dominated by ancient teachings and practices of her culture until she was introduced to an ominous evil that held her captive for many years.
Thompson was born on the Navajo Reservation in Pinedale and is a native of New Mexico now living in Gallup. The inspiration behind her book will be presented along with a book signing.
Email bmartin@gallupnm.gov or call 505-863-1291 for more information.
GALLUP – The inaugural First Peoples’ Film Festival highlighted movies produced, written and directed by indigenous filmmakers at the Octavia Fellin Public Library as part of Native American Heritage Month.
Film festival organizer Joshua Whitman, who is the experiential learning coordinator for the library, said the purpose of the event was to bring attention to works that are often overlooked in Hollywood.
“In my opinion, the film industry is predominantly white-washed,” Whitman said. “A lot of popular movies that are directed, produced, and written by people that are popular in the mainstream. The films highlighted in the festival are not really publicized because we are a minority.” Continued After Image
Whitman said he wanted to showcase Native American films because the community is predominantly Native American, making up about nearly 75% of the population in McKinley, County.
Whitman said he began planning the film festival about three months in advance, but it almost didn’t come together. He planned to show films for two weeks, but he ran into technical difficulties and licensing troubles.
There were also movies in production or post-production that he hoped to show but they are not yet ready.
Whitman researched Native American films via the library’s film streaming service Canopy. He then chose films that pertained to contemporary issues, particularly the transition from pre-colonization and colonization into modern society.
GALLUP – The sight of a nun walking down Thoreau’s NM Highway 371 with an acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder is one of the reasons Jerry Brown changed the course of his life.
Brown, now a successful artist from Mariano Lake, had dropped out of high school and had no direction. In his own words, “I was too wild.” He had spent a few years in different boarding schools in the area, a school in Utah and public schools in Thoreau, Wingate and Crownpoint. Continued after Image
“I started the public school, but I didn’t like it there and walked back to the house.” he said
It was around 1988 when Brown saw the nun walking down the street in Thoreau. The nun was “Sister Michelle.” She was the principal of St. Kateri Tckakwitha school in Thoreau, which later became St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School.
Brown remembered the school was known as “the academy,” and it was a small campus. He was so intrigued by the sight of Sister Michelle walking with her guitar that he decided to visit the school.
“They put me in 10th grade. I met all the teachers. They came from all walks of life. They were missionaries that were doing the good thing for the natives,” Brown said.
GALLUP – Josh Whitman was making non-alcoholic mojitos with club soda instead of rum, and Shirley Temple with grenadine syrup and lime juice during a mocktails-and-coloring event at the Octavia Fellin Public Library Saturday.
On the table, next to the cups, syrup, ginger ale, ice cubes, and mixers, Whitman had a spread of designs and colored pencils. On another table behind him, Whitman had a set of speakers and was streaming indie music on Spotify.
“Coloring is one of the things you can do and not stress about it.” Whitman, the library’s experiential learning coordinator said. Continued After Image
“I have 14 different designs for them to choose from, and three different cocktails – I call them mocktails. The holidays could be stressful time of the year when people are shopping.” he said. “This is a free of stress and gives them a nice creative outlook to creative expression.”
Danielle Leekity, 32, and her children Anjelica, 11 and Jacob, 5, learned about the activity on Facebook and decided it was a good way to spend their Saturday in Gallup. The mother and her two children were sitting next to each other on an adjacent table and were coloring while enjoying their drinks.
“My daughter is very artistic. She has pastels at home and taught herself how to draw,” Leekity said. “We usually come her for the events. Everybody says it gives children something to do but it is also for the families. a relaxing wat to spend the weekend. We go to the ArtsCrawl every month. The fun part about this area. everything is within walking distance.”
GALLUP – Shimá Storytelling began with Radmilla Cody briefly informing attendees in the audience that taking photos and recording songs and performances by the trio – comprised of Cody, Pauletta Chief-Lee, and Stefanie Littlehat – was forbidden.
Anne Price of the Octavia Fellin Public Library Children’s Branch and their staff invited Shimá storytelling as their guests for Native American Heritage Month and Native Language Programming Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m..
Along with songs aimed at revitalizing Diné Bizaad, or the Navajo language, the group also hopes to promote awareness of consent. Continued after image.
Too often in this age – the age of social media – we forget that we need to ask permission to take photos or record sessions, said Cody, after all, it is their body, their choice.
“Not only do we want to empower youth by encouraging them to speak up against anyone attempting to capture their likeness or their actions, we also want to create a safe space for everyone so that they can be free to be themselves,” she said. “We’re very sensitive towards other people’s preferences – whatever those may be. This is something that we have done from the beginning.”
When Shimá Storytelling began their story in April, their goal was to bring their children together to socialize and play with one another while listening and speaking Navajo.
GALLUP – The downtown walkway filled with the sounds of drumming as the BK Taiko Japanese Drumming group face demonstrations and taught locals the art of the great drum.
Octavia Fellin Public Library Experiential Learning Coordinator, Joshua Whitman, has been working with the group for a number of months to bring them to Gallup for a hands-on demonstration.
“Back in July, I wanted to do a diversity festival … I came across their website and thought it was something different and interesting,” he said.
Whitman said the group’s unique talents were perfect for helping spread greater cultural awareness to different ethnic groups in the area.
