Philadelphia Libraries Closing
I have to say that I am outraged about the state of Pennsylvania completely cutting funding for public libraries for the city of Philadelphia! I feel like that is completely wrong!
From the Free Library of Philadelphia Website:
* All branch and regional library programs, including programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults, will be cancelled
* All Parkway Central Library programs, including children programs, programs to support small businesses and job seekers, computer classes and after school programs, will be cancelled. We are exploring the possibility of relocating the Philadelphia Author Series programs to other non-library facilities.
* All library visits to schools, day care centers, senior centers and other community centers will cease.
* All community meetings at our branch and regional libraries, and the Parkway Central Library, will be cancelled.
* All GED, ABE and ESL programs held at Free Library branches will be discontinued, students should contact their teacher to see if other arrangements are being made.
All after school programs, GED programs, small business classes, computer classes, school and daycare visits canceled! That is incredible. I can’t imagine that a cut of every single library in Philadelphia was necessary. As a citizen of the United States I am shocked that they can do that. And I think there will be a huge backlash from the community after Oct. 2nd when they will all close, and I wouldn’t be surprised if crime rates go up. Philadelphia has some rough areas and with no after school programs, no programs for people to get GEDs or high school equivalent degrees.
I hope that this is only temporary and that the Pennsylvania State Legislature will get their rears in gear and get the budget passed. It seems very un-American not to have public libraries. And as a person who goes to the public library at least twice a month, I don’t know what I would do without the library! I would have to quit my book club because I can’t afford to buy a new book every month, or even every couple of months for that matter. Our library is very busy, I have to plan ahead to go when I know there is a “down time.” I hope that this issue is resolved soon and so the people of Philadelphia can use this valuable resource again.
News Articles:
Huffington Post
Los Angeles Times
OB Rag
image courtesy of the OB Rag
Bean Bag Toss
Saturday my husband learned from a friend that our local Home Depot has free kid’s activity the first and third Saturdays of the month. He hurried over, and thinking it ended at 1pm instead of noon got there just as it was ending. Fortunately the Home Depot people were nice enough to give our son a workshop apron and the project of the day. Today I decided I would tackle the project, a bean bag toss.
We started this project on the back porch (you need a hard surface to hammer on) but it started raining so we moved it to the kitchen floor.
You need wood glue and a hammer. Also it is nice to have sand paper in case your wood is rough. Also, you can paint it at the end to match whatever sport or action hero your kid loves currently.
Thankfully it comes with instructions and the nails you need.
A little note to anyone who is new to wood projects: let the wood glue dry before you nail it down. I wasn’t patient enough to wait and paid for it. To be honest, being rather novice with wood glue/hammering projects I would completely skip the bean bag holder shelf on the bottom because 1- it barely fits the two bean bags, and 2- if you miscalculate on placing it at all it messes up the alignment of your side piece and it can end up looking like this:
Which makes someone like me tick a little when I look at it. I’m sure my husband, who is more of a perfectionist than I am, will fix that when he gets home. Plus our 2 year old doesn’t get the concept of a shelf without the back so he just pushes the bean bags through. I do think this is a fun project, but next time we’ll definitely show up at the workshop in time to do it there instead of figuring it out at home! But our son loves his toss, even though it isn’t painted or sanded. If you would like to learn more about kid’s workshops in your area check out Home Depot’s link here.
