The question of whether the climate is changing has expanded beyond scientific circles to become a primary topic of political debate and a major point of contention in U.S. international relations. It has even been the subject of Hollywood feature films. The public has been left to wonder which parts of this debate are fact and which are fiction.

At center stage is the question of whether the natural cycles of warming and cooling have been changed by human beings in the past one hundred years. Dr. Bush will seek to correct the misconceptions surrounding global warming and provide information that is useful in comprehending this major issue.

There is no admission charge for this event. Special public parking is available in the Townsend Center gated lot, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

For further information, visit www.westga.edu/library or contact Catherine Hendricks at chendric@westga.edu or (678) 839-5337.

The Fannie Hargrave collection features letters and daguerreotypes of a Carroll County bride whose Confederate officer husband was killed in a raid in Cedartown. Another letter from a Coweta County soldier informs a Villa Rica woman with seven children how her Confederate soldier husband died of dysentery and measles in Mississippi.

The exhibit is held in conjunction with the five-part reading and discussion series “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” which will begin on Sunday, January 15, with subsequent discussions on alternate Sunday afternoons through March 11. Registration is open to members of the community, as well as to university affiliates at https://apps.westga.edu/limesurvey/index.php?sid=19159&lang=en.

I left town for Thanksgiving break without finding out what they are going to do about that. And I still haven’t heard what the University Architect has decided to do about it — I’ll let you know as soon as I know!

The demolition was supposed to be completed last week, during Thanksgiving break. Construction of the new classroom was supposed to begin today, but I haven’t heard a peep or seen a single worker. So for the time being, we still have a portion of the third floor partitioned off — all of the books are accessible, just stay out of the area walled off by plastic. But it’s quiet. Of course, since I’m posting this now, they will probably show up with a super loud jackhammer tomorrow, but for now it’s quiet!

I’ll post as soon as I know more or as soon as the construction noise starts up. Thanks for bearing with us!

Construction will mostly take place during the day, so we expect it to be quiet on the quiet floor from 8pm until 7am each day.

This new construction project will start on Friday, Nov. 18 and will be on the third floor.

Friday morning they will begin setting up the dust barriers and starting to knock down the existing walls. They will do demolition work over the weekend, possibly into next week during break. So that’s good news – the noisiest part will be done while students are on break.

Monday after Thanksgiving, the new construction will begin. Normal work hours will be 7 am to 5 pm, with the possibility of them going over on some days. So to be safe, you should be able to expect quiet from 8 pm until 7 am.

The construction is contracted to be completed by Dec. 31 — so this should all be over before classes start in January!

Aside from working around the noise, please be aware and cautious while working on the third floor of the library. All safety precautions will be taken by the construction workers, but one can never be too cautious around a construction zone!

As consolation for the noise, we are planning to provide refreshments beginning at 8 pm each night of finals week! If you have specific requests for stuff you’d like us to provide as refreshments, please leave a note in the comments — I can’t promise we’ll get items requested (can’t afford filet mignon, sorry!), but we’ll definitely take it into consideration!

* Image is “Construction Birthday Cupcakes” by abakedcreation on Flickr.

Cowtown String Band

The public is invited to a reception and performance by the Cowtown String Band on Friday, December 9 at 6:00 p.m. on the newly-renovated main floor of Ingram Library at the University of West Georgia. Cowtown String Band will explore the influence of the Civil War on America’s musical heritage as a prelude to a series of events the library will host to recognize the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and emancipation.

The University of West Georgia’s library received a grant from the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to host “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” a five-part reading and discussion series which will begin on Sunday, January 15, with subsequent discussions on alternate Sunday afternoons through March 11. Registered participants will receive copies of the books and a list of readings assigned for discussion at each session. Registration is open to members of the community, as well as to university affiliates at https://apps.westga.edu/limesurvey/index.php?sid=19159&lang=en

Ingram Library is one of 65 libraries nationwide, and one of four in Georgia, receiving grants to host the series which will encourage participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War and emancipation. Local support for the series is provided by Ingram Library’s Penelope Melson Society, the library’s friends organization, founded in 2008 in honor of the library’s centennial. In conjunction with the discussion series, the university’s Office of Institutional Diversity will host a February exhibit from the APEX Museum in Atlanta in celebration of Black History Month. The library will also be the site of an exhibit of Civil War artifacts from the collections of the university’s Antonio J. Waring, Jr. Archaeological Laboratory.

“The Civil War takes us back to a time in American history when civility ruptured and the nation split in two,” said Jim Leach, chairman of NEH. “The sesquicentennial of the Civil War and emancipation is an occasion for America to reflect together about the causes and ramifications of our greatest internal conflict, and a most appropriate way for ‘us the living’ to renew the American spirit in these still-troubled times.”

In addition to program funding, the library received copies of the following works:
• “March” by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006)
• “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002)
• “America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries,” a forthcoming anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography, and short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers and co-published by NEH and ALA.

Dr. Keith Bohannon of the University of West Georgia’s Department of History will lead a discussion of the book at each session. Dr. Bohannon has authored and edited books, essays and articles on the American Civil War. His research has focused on specific battles and military units and leaders, as well as on Unionist sentiments in the south. Dr. Bohannon provided research support for exhibits and interpretive planning at Civil War battlefields, including Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Kennesaw Mountain, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania; and conducted tours of battlefield sites.

We will provide a selection of board games for you to play, and computers are available for those who want to play PC or online games. Feel free to bring your own games as well!

Ingram Library, the University Writing Center, and the English Department are working together to host a kickoff party in the library on Nov. 1 at 4pm.

Repeat participants (including past winners) and folks from the University Writing Center will be on hand to cheer you on and give you tips.

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

NaNoWriMo rules

The rules state that, to be an official NaNoWriMo winner, you must…

• Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
• Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
• Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
• Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
• Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
• Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

UWG Kickoff Party

If you’re even considering maybe thinking about trying to write a novel in November of some year, come on out to meet NaNoWriMo participants and see what they have to say about it!

Ingram Library, the University Writing Center, and the English Department are working together to offer several National Novel Writing Month events in November.

Kickoff Party

Nov. 1 at 4:00 pm
Ingram Library, first floor
Come learn more about NaNoWriMo, meet fellow novelists, and talk to folks from the Writing Center about plot-planning and character development!

Write Ins

Thurs. Nov. 3 at 2-5 pm in the University Writing Center

Tues. Nov. 8 at 5-8 pm in Ingram Library

Thurs. Nov. 17 at 2-5 pm in the University Writing Center

Sun. Nov. 27 at 5-8 pm in Ingram Library

More Information

NaNoWriMo is all about quantity over quality. The goal is to write 50,000 words (about 175 pages) by 11:59:59 pm on November 30. Make no mistake — you will write a LOT of crap, and you will likely be embarrassed to show your work to anyone without a lot of revisions. The point is to get your thoughts on the page, so that you have something to go back and revise later!

Check out How NaNoWriMo Works for more information on the rules and how to participate. Most importantly, all 50,000 words must be written during the month of November, not started on October 31 or copied & pasted from last year’s creative writing homework!