HiJinx

Episode 28: Teen Takeover - In this episode we meet the Howard County youth responsible for the library’s newest podcast, HoCoCast. Acclaimed author, Nikki Grimes joins Baz, Daniel, Emmy, and Olivia for a discussion of her writing career and her upcoming memoir, Ordinary Hazards. The cast also explores the history of the horror genre and shares their favorite scary movies and more. Then listen, if you dare, to local Maryland History Tour guide, Rissa Miller, who shares spectral tales from our own backyard.

Nikki Grimes: https://www.nikkigrimes.com/books/bkordinaryhazard.html

HoCoCast Horror Recommendations: http://bit.ly/HoCoCastHorror

Maryland History Tours: https://www.mdhistorytours.com/

Episode 27: The ABC&Ds Of Leadership – In this episode we talk with Paul Schmitz, author of Everyone Leads – Building Leadership From the Group Up, about the asset-based community development (ABCD) model for leadership and how it can be used to strengthen community relationships. Also joining the conversation is HCLS President and CEO Tonya Aikens and two new additions to HCLS’s community engagement team, Katie DiSalvo-Thronson and Brooke McCauley.

Episode 26: Conference Call. There is little doubt that the American Library Association‘s (ALA’s) annual conference is one of the most enlightening and inspiring experiences for those whose professional lives intersect with the world of libraries. Through its stellar selection of motivating speakers, educational workshops, special events and exhibits, this year’s ALA conference spotlighted the sweeping influence and educational role of today’s libraries. In this episode of HiJinx we go on-site to the 2019 conference in Washington D.C. to talk with a few people who attended to learn, a few who sought to share their talents, and a few who inspired. Guests, in their order of interview (with minute mark indicated) are as follows:

2:35 – Matthew Murray – Co-Organizer, Zine Pavilion

10:19 – Christie Lassen, Director, Communications and Partnerships. HCLS

15:51 – Wiley Barnes – Chickasaw Press (publisher)

21:08 – Dr. Carla Hayden – Librarian of Congress

24:56 – Zack Smedley – Author “Deposing Nathan”

38:07 – Rohini Gupta (Adult Curriculum Specialist) and Vera Davies (Senior Materials Specialist), HCLS

42:37 – Tonya Kennon, President & CEO, HCLS

48:28 – Sarah Woodruff – Simon & Schuster, (publisher)

50:17 – Pia Flemond – Inhabitmedia (publisher)

51:27 – Ann Ford – Midwest Tape, vendor

53:48 – Gareth Hinds – Author Illustrator, “The Illiad”

56:49 – Loida Garcia-Febo – President, American Library Association

Episode 25: Saketh Sundar. 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner and Clarksville Middle School student Saketh Sundar and his parents, Sundar Nathikudi and Rekha Mudumbdi share their extraordinary experience!

Episode 24: Spaced Out – In this episode we speak with Alice Bowman, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab Mission Operations Manager for NASA’s unprecedented New Horizons Mission, to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. We also talk to Jonathon Roth author of BEEP & BOB, a the children’s book series set in outer space, and Courtney Gardinier, Teen Instructor and Research Specialist for HCLS who is literally bringing outer space down to earth.

Episode 23: ARTfully Speaking – In this episode we speak with Rebecca Kasemyer, Director of Audience Engagement, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. We also talk with HCLS President and CEO, Tonya Kennon, about the library’s new Art Education Collection at our Central Branch and we speak with Joan Lok one of the top sumi-e artists in America.

Episode 22: Unidentified Flying Observations – In this episode we speak with Ralph Blumenthal, contributing reporter to the New York Times December 16, 2017 front-page story “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious UFO Program”. We also talk to Jan Harzan the Executive Director of the Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network or MUFON and we speak with the mayor of Roswell, New Mexico, Dennis Kintigh.

Episode 21: Thanks and Giving. In this episode, Ron Charles, book critic for the Washington Post talks about the Best Books of 2018 and provides insight into what to look forward to in last minute gift giving possibilities for book lovers. Rita Hamlet, Howard County Library System (HCLS) Development Specialist shares how giving supports HCLS and the various ways people can opt to donate.

Episode 20: Witness to Innocence. In this episode we speak to Tim Junkin author of the book Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence. We also talk to the subject of that book, Kirk Bloodsworth, about his experience and his current work as Deputy Director of the Witness to Innocence project. Finally, we speak with Terry Long the Director of Howard County Police Department’s Forensic Services Section.

Episode 19: Seeing Red. In this episode, we speak with Richard Rothstein about his book, The Color of Law, a forgotten history of how our government segregated America. Also, we'll talk to Braden Crooks, co-founder, and partner of Designing the We a company that created Undesign the Redline, an exhibit that explores the history of structural racism and classism, how these designs compounded each other from redlining maps until today, and how we can come together to undesign these systems with intentionality. This exhibit is on display at our Central Branch through the end of the year.