Lest we Forget

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front in 1918. Armistice (or Remembrance) Day marks commemoration of the end of the Great War, and when many vowed that such an event would never happen again in their lifetimes.

The fact that we now call the War from 1914 to 1918 the First World War, means that the hopes of those men and women were in vain. And today hostilities still occur around the world, although thankfully not on the same scale.

I am a huge believer in history teaching us very important lessons and one of those is that we should learn from our mistakes. For whatever reason, some of us are poor learners. So it is vital that we all actually take a moment on days like these to remember the events and losses suffered in our past and make a new pledge for peace.

There are many ways that this can be done. Include a trip to your local Rodney Library where you can not ony find literature, pictures and DVD's that will bring the history to life, but in the case of the Warkworth Library can also view the Memorial Boards of the local men who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Here are some Rodney Library catalogue links to help you. Just click on the different terms:

Armistice Day

World War One (a list of subject headings including both adult and children)

World War Two

World War One Children's Fiction

Anzac Day (our own special Remembrance Day)

And here are links through to the RSA website and the NZ History website giving information about Armistice Day.

Berlin Wall

This year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On television, on the night of 9 November 1989, an East German government spokesman announced that East German citizens would be allowed into West Germany via the border crossings effective immediately. He didn't realise that it wasn't supposed to come into effect until the next morning. Neither did the crowds of people who flocked across the border. That was the popular start of the German reunification process. This year there is a special celebration ceremony in Berlin commemorating that occasion.

Claudia Lux, the Director General Central and Regional Library of Berlin, was in New Zealand for the national library conference this year. She told several tales of what it was like during that time. One was about library staff in East Germany who volunteered to stay in their library on the first day. Noone came to visit them. By contrast the lines for the librayr in West Germany were very long. Some of the people were carrying books which they had taken out from the library before the borders closed (over 25 years previously). They had carefully looked after them and were now returning the books to the correct branch.

There are a few items in Rodney Libraries about the Berlin Wall which is a good place to start if you want to know more about this fascinting era of German history. Alternatively you could go along to Novemberkinder the German Film Festival New Zealand put on by the Goethe Institue. The Auckland dates are 11-18 November.

Mo-vember

Ah, November. The weather starts to settle down. Baby birds and moustaches come out to play. Moustaches...? You may not have ever heard about Movember but surely you've seen the increase in facial hair about the place during spring? It's all for a good cause.

This year there are two causes being highlighted - prostate cancer and depression in men. Funds raised will be split equally between The Cancer Society and The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.

There are rules
1. Once registered each Mo Bro must start November 1st with a clean shaven face.
2. Then, for the entire month of Movember each Mo Bro must grow and groom a moustache according to these rules:
• There is to be no joining the Mo to the side burns – that’s a beard. There are no beards.
• There is to be no joining of the handlebars on the chin – that’s a goatee.
• A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip, aka a tickler, is allowed.

There are donations – either to an individual or to a team.

There’s even a style guide!

It's not all beer and skittles however. There is a serious side.

"As an organisation, we have a goal to change the attitudes men hold towards their health. The moustache is the symbol by which we generate the necessary awareness and funds in order to be able to achieve this ambition. It is a simple and effective way to reach our number one objective – awareness – as during Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard promoting men’s health. "

Echoes, kilts and stones

Those in the know will immediately realise I am talking "Gabaldon speak" (a new term I think I just invented). To those who aren't quite sure where I am going with this - last night a couple of Warkworth Librarians went down to listen to Diana Gabaldon who is author of the Cross Stitch (also known as the Outlander) series of novels.

Diana Gabaldon is an extremely clever woman, and not just because she has written one of the most popular series in Rodney Libraries. Dr Gabaldon has three degrees in Zoology, Marine Biology, and Quantitative Behavioral Ecology, worked as university professor for over 10 years and has written several textbooks. If you have ever read a Scrooge McDuck comic book, you may have also been reading her words as she has written many scripts for Walt Disney.

It is fabulous to actually listen to an author and get an insight into how the stories came about. For instance, Jamie was inspired by a kilt clad character in an early Dr Who episode (the second Doctor - Patrick Troughton). Claire was not initially a modern woman, but when she wouldn't stop giving "smart-arse" answers, Diana decided that was who she was, so it is all Claire's fault that there is time-travel in the books. She was adamant that Jamie will NOT visit the future and is surprised herself that quite often she will write in characters and happenings that her research later reveals to be true.

A common question Diana is asked is "How do you manage to do it all?" This was especially true with the first novel because at the time she was working full time as University Professor, writing scientific books and articles, was a wife and a mother to three young children. Diana quips that she "didn't sleep and didn't do housework" (and she adds, she still doesn't do housework). Sleeping is also something that she doesn't appear to do a lot of as she often does a lot of her writing between midnight and 4am. She uses a lot of visualisation to retain ideas and revealed that, to a large extent, these characters have a life of their own, taking place in a paddock next to her - sometimes she can see and hear them clearly, while at other times they are more opaque. Her husband critiques her work and she credits him with a very good literary instinct.

Many people have commented that Diana's science background and her novels are strange bedmates, but she believe art and science are simply two sides to the same coin. Both include an hypothesis and the ability "to perceive patterns from chaos". The scientist will carry out experiments to test the hypothesis whereas the artist/writer will use their imagination to create a world to prove it to the public.

We can expect much more from Diana's pen with another Lord John novel and a graphic novel which is a prequel to Cross Stitch, which are both due out next year. There is also a second non-fiction compendium for the last three books in the Jamie and Claire series due out, a contemporary crime novel in the pipeline and she confirms that Jamie and Claire will be back.

New Zealand has the highest per capita sales of Diana's books (and An Echo in the Bone has just knocked Dan Brown's latest off the Kiwi best seller lists). However Germany is the real star in her market as they seem to have adopted Jamie and Claire as one of their own.

To gain more insight into Diana Gabaldon and her works, visit her website. To search the holdings we have for her in our catalogue, click on this link for Diana Gabaldon. The latest book in the Cross Stitch series is An Echo in the Bone.

image courtesy of Hachette NZ website