The Swedish Festival program will be held AT the library NOT the Baptist Church as printed in the Polk County News.
Join us next week for two exciting STEM programs by Nebraska Extension – Polk County agent, Colleen Pallas! There will be two different programs for the different age groups, please read the information below carefully. No registration required. See you Monday, June 12th! 
The Stromsburg Public Library is hiring a library intern. Must be able to start immediately. This is a temporary position for approximately 100 hours and will be a paid position at $9.00/hr. Duties may include working with the summer reading program, working the front desk, assisting staff with social media and attending library meetings with the director. Apply at the library.
Funding for the internship program is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Nebraska Library Commission, in partnership with the Nebraska Library Systems.
Have you ever thought about writing a short story or maybe even a book? Are you curious what that process looks like? Maybe your son or daughter likes to write stories and you’d like to foster that creativity. June 1 and 2 Jim Campain will be at the Stromsburg Public Library to conduct writer’s workshops for two age groups. On June 1, Jim will work with children ages 9 and up from 10 am – noon. On June 2, we open the workshop up to the adults and will meet from 1:30 – 3:00 pm in the library meeting room. Jim is traveling from out of state so we ask that you register for this event by May 26th to ensure we have enough interest. You can register by contacting the library or through this link.
Jim Campain was born at the Stromsburg hospital and spent part of his childhood on a small farm northeast of town. He attended country school as well as some elementary school in Osceola, NE. He now resides in Fort Collins, CO. Jim has written his first in a series of books for middle grades entitled, The Mysterious Miss Snoddy, available from Amazon. Jim has thirty-five years’ experience working with children, youth and families as a mental health provider.
Four 30 -minute shows will be presented every 45 minutes from 9:00 -11:45 am in the Civic Center (old band room)
Sign – up sheets are available in the library and an online sign up is available – only 25 slots per show
All ages welcome but participants must be able to sit on the floor for 30 minutes.
Provided by the Stromsburg Library Foundation
and
Friends of the Stromsburg Public Library
March Madness is coming, are you ready? How do you prepare? Do you fill out brackets? Do you follow the team stats? Or, are you like me and barely know what teams might be contenders?
Do you prepare by stocking up on books to read while every TV in the house is tuned to a basketball game? If so, we have the bracket for you! Stop in the library and pick up a bracket for our “Tournament of Books”. In our bracket, we pit old and new favorites against each other. Similar title? Similar cover? Similar story line? Who did it better? There are non-fiction and fiction contests. Thrillers and more literary titles. Hopefully, there is something for everyone.
Vote for books you think should win every two weeks and make sure you fill out a bracket and submit it. We will pick one prize winner every two weeks from the voters and there will be a grand prize winner for whoever has the best bracket. You can begin anytime and voting for the Sweet Sixteen is due March 10. Elite Eight voting ends on March 24 with the winning book being announced on April 7. Good Luck!
I first heard about George Flippin when I was working as a para in Mrs. DeMers 4th grade class at Cross County. As part of their Nebraska unit, Kathy came out and did her presentation about George.
Since then, I’ve heard much about George Flippin. I am guilty of what Kathy refers to as the “eye glaze” sometimes when listening to more about George Flippin. I have not read the book, but have talked with Kathy many times during her writing and researching. I’m no expert, but I can give you the basics about George Flippin at least. Saturday, we celebrated George Flippin Day at the Stromsburg Public Library and I have to say, while listening to the speakers, my whole perspective changed. I’ve only ever thought of George in his context to this town. He was a doctor. He owned a chicken farm. He won shooting contests. He was arrested for voting in an election. He did not own the first car in Stromsburg.
Archive unit
It wasn’t until Larry Britt, board member for the Nebraska Black Sports Hall of Fame, spoke of how George Flippin’s determination to be educated opened doors for other young black men to be educated that I began to see him in a more complete way. Larry, and later, Preston Love, former UNL football player, both mentioned that because George broke the color barrier, other young black men had opportunities no one before them had.
Larry Britt
It wasn’t until George’s great-great nephew, Gordon Harrod, spoke of George Flippin’s civil rights activities outside of Stromsburg that I saw him as an activist for his time. It wasn’t until Gordon read the words that the Friends of the Stromsburg Public Library had printed and hung above the archive unit in their entirety and gave the context of the speech, that I realized that a black man spoke words over half a century ago that still apply today. It really reminded me how long this struggle to “Recognize the majesty of the mind and not the color of the face” has gone on and wonder if we’ve made any progress.
Gordon Harrod
George Flippin did many things that no matter the color of his skin would still have made him memorable. It’s the fact that he did all these things and never thought of letting the color of his skin stop him that made him remarkable.
New items at the library include, “The Prisoner” by Alex Berenson, “Wicked City by Beatriz Williams, “Lost City of the Monkey God” by Douglas Preston, “Kings Cage” by Victoria Aveyard, “A Book of American Martyrs” by Joyce Carol Oates, “What to Do With a Box” by Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban and “NOPE!” by Drew Sheneman.
Quote by George Flippin
