Jan. 5: Woodsdale Memories

The Neighborhood Nostalgia Series continues with Out the Pike, Stop 2. Share your favorite memories of life in Woodsdale and Edgwood. Bring your photos and have them scanned.

Dec. 22: Wheeling During the Civil War

Members of the Wheeling Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee will discuss the articles they wrote for this compilation that takes a month-by-month look at events in Wheeling during the civil war years using local newspapers as the main primary source.

Wheeling During the Civil War, speakers announced:

Margaret Brennan - Nov/Dec 1860
Jeanne Finstein - May 1862
Ed Phillips - Aug 1862
Wilkes Kinney - Feb 1863
Jon-Erik Gilot - Feb 1864
Joe Laker - Sep 1864
David Javersak - Jan 1865
Kate Quinn - Mar 1865
John Bowman - Apr 1865

Joyeux Noel (Dec 14 and 15)

Joyeux Noel captures a rare moment of grace from one of the worst wars in the history of mankind, World War I. On Christmas Eve, 1914, as German, French, and Scottish regiments face each other from their respective trenches, a musical call-and-response turns into an impromptu cease-fire. But when Christmas ends, the war returns. See the 2006 film on Monday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 PM, then join WLU professor emeritus Dr. Art Barbeaux on Dec. 15 at Lunch With Books at noon for a discussion.

Saturday: Wheeling Stories and Tuesday: A Mountain Christmas

SPECIAL Saturday edition of LUNCH WITH BOOKS, Dec. 5 at noon Digital Storytelling Premier 

California University of PA students of Professor Christina Fisanick will be at a special Saturday edition of Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on December 5 at noon to debut their digital video stories focusing on local history. These short films take a closer look at the Benwood Mine Disaster, West Liberty University's Nelle Krise Rare Books Room, the creation of the state of West Virginia at Independence Hall, the Sweeney family and glass, and the agricultural legacy of Earl Oglebay. The event is in partnership with the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch and complimentary beverages are provided. Call the library at 302-232-0244 or visit the library's web site at www.ohiocountlibrary.org for more information.

Tuesday Dec. 8 at noon:  LUNCH WITH BOOKS Mountain Christmas 

Author Marc Harshman and illustrator Cecy Rose will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday, December 8 at noon to discuss their new collaboration, Mountain Christmas. Miracles await the reader in this instant Holiday classic. Every page reveals a new glimpse of Santa coming to the mountains with his sleigh and reindeer. You do not have to be a West Virginian to enjoy this book, but natives will certainly recognize iconic scenes featuring such familiar sights as the State Capitol, Green Bank Observatory and Blackwater Falls. Rose has crafted magnificent illustrations to complement the story that add their own rich layer of visual storytelling to Harshman’s compelling voice. With poetic stanzas, each of which teases us with the coming arrival of Santa Claus, this is sure to become a keepsake volume for children of all ages. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch and complimentary beverages are provided. Call the library at 302-232-0244 or visit the library's web site at www.ohiocountlibrary.org for more information.

Dec. 1: Anna Smucker

Anna Smucker is one of WV's most loved writers and teachers. She will discuss her new children’s book, Brother Giovanni's Little Reward, How the Pretzel Was Born (featuring the Lunch With Books snack of choice). Anna will examine the process -- her drafts, the illustrator's storyboard, sketches, etc., to show how a children's picture book comes to life. She will also talk about her other books beginning with No Star Nights, her memoir that will resonate with those who remember the days when the Ohio Valley's steel mills were flourishing.

November 24 at noon

Nov. 17 at noon: Jim O'Brien

Book Fest!

Friday at Towngate and Tuesday at the Library

Wheeling Film Society Conversation: Psycho (Lunch With Books)

November 03, 2015

Event starts at 12:00 PM.

Oct. 30 - Towngate at 7

Screening: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) - 109 mins.

Nov. 3 - Library at Noon

Conversation: Psycho

It is one of the most notorious films of the 20^th century, still a sure bet to raise pulses because of what Hitchcock understood better than any of his “slasher”-imitators: the most effective access to our fears is to make us imagine the worst – certainly far worse than he could have captured on camera in 1960.  The subject matter of Robert Bloch’s original novel (inspired by a true story of serial-killer Ed Gein) was deemed so offensive no Hollywood studio would fund the production, so Hitchcock, flush from the box-office success of 1959’s Technicolor extravaganza North by Northwest, wrote the checks himself and kept costs down by using his TV-show crew.  The result is one of the great films of his career – and a must for “Mischief Night.”  Parental discretion advised.

Happy Halloween

King Solomon White -- This Thursday, October 22, 2015 Event starts at 7:00 PM.

At a special Thursday evening edition of Lunch With Books, Dan Frizzi will discuss the life of Sol White, who learned to play baseball in the sandlots of Bellaire, OH of the 1870's. He played for the Wheeling Green Stockings, and later distinguished himself as a player, manager, and executive in the Negro Baseball Leagues. The author of “Sol White's History of Colored Baseball,” he lived long enough to see the color barrier broken by Jackie Robinson. Dan Frizzi, a local attorney and author, is a board member of the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society.

Oct. 20 at noon: Growing Up Italian

Diana Pishner Walker will discuss her book, Spaghetti and Meatballs: Growing Up Italian. From planting a garden, big family holidays, and childhood memories of friends, family and games to special family recipes--the book is a must read for all ages.

Oct. 6: From Potters to Pilots: A Season of Ohio Valley High School Football

Author Jim Holl has a strong interest in regional sports and the culture of small town life in the Midwest. He will discuss his new book, From Potters to Pilots: A Season of Ohio Valley High School Football.

Wheeling Poetry Series Launch September 29, 2015 Event starts at 12:00 PM.

West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc HarshmanMarc Harshman and Lunch With Books Present: the LAUNCH OF the NEW WHEELING POETRY SERIES!

An exciting new poetry event is coming to the Lunch With Books program at the Ohio County Public Library.  The “Wheeling Poetry Series” will feature three annual readings by some of the finest poets from our Appalachian region and beyond. When he is available, Marc Harshman, the poet laureate of West Virginia, will serve as host.

The series came about as a result of an ongoing conversation with Harshman, who felt that there was a need for a dependable venue in which to present major American poets reading and talking about their work here in West Virginia and more specifically here in Wheeling. Harshman had long lamented the loss of the James Wright Festival which had been held for many years in Wright’s home town of Martins Ferry, Ohio.  “That annual event was a towering success, lauded by poets across the U.S., and I see no reason why such a success cannot be replicated here in Wheeling.  And some will remember that frequently some of the programming for the Wright festival was, in fact, held at various locations in Wheeling.”Kentucky Poet Laureate George Ella Lyon

“I have a great faith in poetry to refocus in us what it means to be human, and with every passing

year I feel an ever greater need to be reminded about what it is that we hold in common as men and women who value beauty and the kind of meaning revealed in artistic expression.  I am not embarrassed to continue to quote as immensely relevant William Carlos Williams’ adage that ‘It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there.’  In a political season that seems more sad and pathetic than ever before, perhaps the news that may be found in poetry will hold a brightness, a freshness more useful than the sound-bites from talking heads reporting on the doings of the millionaires and corporate figure heads dominating what currently passes for news here in America.”

The Wheeling Poetry Series opener will feature the current poet laureate of Kentucky, George Ella Lyon.

She is the author of four books of poetry, a novel, a memoir, and a short story collection as well as thirty-seven books for young readers. Her first book, Mountain (a poetry chapbook), came out in 1983.

Of her novel With a Hammer for My Heart (DK 1997, Univ. Press of Ky, 2007), a starred review in Booklist said, “Lyon gives readers a story rich in precise, gorgeous language that glows like a sword on the forge and cuts as deep. . . . Tragedies old and new weave a tiny Kentucky town into the center of the universe.” Hammer was chosen for Borders’ “Original Voices” series, adapted as a play, and optioned by filmmakers.

Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Naomi Shihab Nye wrote of Many-Storied House, Lyon’s most recent poetry collection, “We all live in this house. These stories belong to everyone. George Ella Lyon writes the most transporting, intuitive, inviting poems; their doors feel wide open. Her balancing touch is generous enough (it’s magical how she does this) to include us all. I love, love, love this book.”

Of Lyon’s memoir, Don’t You Remember? (MotesBooks, 2007) novelist Lee Smith said, “Enthralling . . . a mystery story of the highest order,” and Bobbie Ann Mason called it “an irresistible story, filled with suspense and wonder.”

Lyon’s honors include an Al Smith Fellowship, fellowships to the Hambidge Center for the Arts, numerous grants from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and a feature in the PBS series, The United States of Poetry.  Her books have been chosen for the Appalachian Book of the Year award, the Aesop Prize, ALA’s Schneider Family Book Award, the Jane Addams Honor Book, the Golden Kite Award, the New York Public Library’s Best Book for Teens list, and the Parents’ Choice Silver Medal. Voices from the March on Washington, co-written with J. Patrick Lewis, won the Cybils Award for Poetry in 2014.

In April 2015 Lyon was appointed as Kentucky’s Poet Laureate. She attended Centre College, the University of Arkansas, and Indiana University, where she studied with poet Ruth Stone. A native of Harlan County, Kentucky, Lyon is the daughter of Gladys and Robert Hoskins. She works as a freelance writer and teacher based in Lexington. With her husband, musician /writer Steve Lyon, she has raised two sons. More information, is available at www.georgeellalyon.com.

George Ella Lyon will read from her collection, Many-Storied HouseGeorge Ella Lyon’s appearance at the Wheeling Poetry Series at Lunch with Books will occur on Tuesday, September 29th, at noon in the Ohio County Public Library.  “I plan to read from my collection Many-Storied House,” she said, “It is all set in the house where I grew up, a house my grandfather built. I'll also share with the audience the writing exercise that started the book.”

It is also planned that Lyon will be visiting the campus of West Liberty University that same day, as well as conducting a poetry reading at The Blue Church at 7 p.m. that evening.

Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and complimentary snacks and beverages are served. For more details, visit www.ohiocountylibrary.org or call the Ohio County Public Library at 304-232-0244.

NEXT: Sept. 22: What Is Bigfoot?

Fred Saluga will discuss the two theories about the elusive creature: The traditional and the “paranormal” Bigfoot. Saluga is a former law enforcement officer and instructs classes on UFOs and Cryptozoology at the Eastern Gateway Community College.

Charlie Chaplin's Iconic Film

Modern Times (Lunch With Books)

September 15, 2015

4^th Annual 

Season: 2015-2016

Co-sponsored by:

Ohio County Public Library

Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Cinema

Wheeling Jesuit University’s Fine and Performing Arts Department

The Wheeling Film Society (WFS) announces its fourth annual season of screening-discussions of classic Hollywood films.  John Whitehead, professor of film studies at Wheeling Jesuit University and author of Appraising The Graduate: The Mike Nichols Classic and Its Impact in Hollywood (2011) and Mike Nichols and the Cinema of Transformation (2014) will serve as host for the screenings and conversations. 

Sept. 11 - Towngate at 7

Screening: Modern Times(Charlie Chaplin, 1936) - 87 mins.

Sept. 15 - Library at Noon---Conversation: Modern Times

The world’s most famous movie star for the first quarter-century of motion pictures and still one of the most familiar icons of cinema, Charlie Chaplin was so powerful a director-star that, nearly a decade into the sound era, he still had the power to deliver a film like Modern Times, a hybrid of the silent and sound eras, in which his character never speaks a word.  Set during the Depression that still raged in the country (and around the world), Chaplin’s classic comedy satirizes industrialization, as Chaplin’s Little Tramp literally becomes a human cog in the machine.  You’ll never forget the daredevil stunts Chaplin performs on roller-skates next to an abyss, nor will you forget the film debut of the Little Tramp’s love interest, Paulette Goddard, glowing as “the Gamin.”

Then at 7 pm: Exploring Local Flora and Fauna

The New People's University Will Explore Local Animals, Plants and Ecosystems

Send us an EMAIL to RSVP. Please type BIOLOGY in the comments section.

The latest series in the People's University program at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling will explore the science of Biology, with a focus on local and regional plant and animal life and ecosystems. Classes will meet on consecutive Tuesday evenings at 7 PM, from September 15 through November 3 in the library's auditorium. There will also be two Saturday field trips for those interested. There are no grades and patrons are welcome to attend all or only some programs.

The accomplished faculty includes naturalist and nature photographer Bill Beatty, nature educator Jan Runyan, West Liberty University biology professors, Dr. Joe Greathouse, Dr. Zachary Loughman, and Dr. Roger Seeber, and a naturalist from the Schrader Environmental Education Center at Oglebay Institute to be named soon.

Classes begin on Tuesday, September 15 at 7 PM with Eastern Screech Owls, taught by Beatty.

For 28 years Beatty studied this elusive bird for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the WV Non-game Wildlife Program.  The studies were done in 3 phases: 1) surveys, 2) trapping and 3) nesting/roosting box banding.  The highlights of these studies will be presented through photos of Bill's up-close-and-personal research.


Beatty has a B.S. degree in biology from West Liberty University. He is a consulting Naturalist and Outdoor Education Specialist. Bill founded Wild & Natural in 1990, specializing in nature/environmental programs, nature writing, and nature photography with over 2,000 published photos. He was an Interpretive Naturalist for Oglebay Institute from 1972-1990. He is an instructor for various nature-related events in the WV State Park System. Bill teaches holds a Federal Master Personal Bird Banding permit and for 28 years studied the breeding biology of the Eastern Screech-owl.  Bill and Jan Runyan, who is also a bander, band approx. 1000 birds at their home near Wellsburg, WV each year.

Also: The Bake Sale starts! (click image to enlarge)

Lunch With Books: Tim Luke Returns! September 08, 2015

Tim Luke returns, courtesy Oglebay Institute, to review the first 2 books in the Natchez trilogy by George Iles - Natchez Burning and The Bone Tree. This will lead to a discussion about the buying and selling of controversial artifacts (such as Confederate memorabilia, Nazi memorabilia, and wartime loot as in the movie Monuments Men) and how dealers and auction houses address these issues.

September 01, 2015: Wheeling's Coney Island

Lunch With Books. Event starts at 12:00 PM.

Ever hear of Wheeling's Coney Island?

Once upon a time, there was an amusement park on the largest of the Sisters Islands just south of the Pike Island Dam. The island was called Coney Island by locals, and on its opening day, 6,000 people arrived by steamboat and pontoon bridge. There they enjoyed rides, a dance pavilion, a picnic area, a swimming beach with lights for night swimming, and even an ostrich farm.

The park was busy and popular and was the site of operas, circuses, and the Saengerfest. Unions often rented the park for a whole day. The park was damaged by floods in 1906 and $100,000 worth of renovations were done for the 1907 season.

What happened to the park? Find out from Kathleen Quinn at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library​ on Sept 1 at noon.

 

Lunch With Books: Author Susan Spencer-Smith August 25, 2015

Event starts at 12:00 PM.

Weirton based writer Susan Spencer-Smith’s “inspirational, cozy” mysteries are set in fictional Biddlebourne, WV. Her cookbook features recipes of “southern comfort” foods of West Virginia and Ohio.

Aug. 18 A Visit from Sacagawea

Meet the lone female member of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. Aside from her value as an interpreter and guide, her presence with the expedition communicated to tribes along the way that the Corps had peaceful intentions. Sacagawea is portrayed by Mary Dailey courtesy WV Humanities, History Alive.

Aug. 11 “Situations of I” with David Weimer

Explorations of life, meaning and existence are among the subjects of Weimer's 4th published work. This collection of philosophic essays, speculative short stories and prose poetry emerged from the author's life and observations while living in Flushing, Ohio.

August 4 at noon: Stories by Sarel

An expert in historic restoration and preservation and a gifted storyteller, Sarel Venter will share some of his favorite tales as a South African living in WV.

July 28 Ulysses S. Grant

Gettysburg resident Kenneth Serfass, a retired U.S. Marine and living historian, will portray Union Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant. Serfass has portrayed Grant for a History Channel documentary and is the bandmaster for the Antebellum Marine Band.

Ken's bio:

Kenneth J. Serfass, Gunnery Sgt USMC, retired

(Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant)

Gunnery Sgt Kenneth J. Serfass was born in Bethlehem, PA on June 18th, 1966. He joined the USMC in 1984 and his final tour was with the First Marine Division Band during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After a 20 year career as a US Marine bandsman, he settled in San Diego California to raise his daughter.

Since retiring in 2004, he has been very active as a tubist and conductor of varied community bands and also a music educator spanning grade levels from K through college level.

Ken has been an active civil war reenactor and impressionist since his boyhood in Pennsylvania, and from his forty years of study of his self-avowed childhood hero US Grant, he has created a niche as a full time professional living historian portraying Ulysses S. Grant. His adventures and travel as US Grant are documented on the Facebook page, “US Grant in living history” and through "Linked In", an internet networking site.

Ken has been appearing publicly as General Grant since 2009, performing in a History channel production in 2010, “Lee & Grant” , in 2013 for an HBO series, “Family Tree” in an episode set at a reenactment along with a Time Warner Cable commercial which played nationwide after Superbowl Sunday, 2014.

Currently he speaks at events across the country and has visited the major areas of Grant’s military campaigns in Virginia and Mississippi. He has participated in the Remembrance Day parades for the past three Novembers in Gettysburg. These appearances have led to opportunities for him to present the general in walking tours, horseback tours, train rides at "Steam Into History" and at various living history and roundtable events on a regular basis across most of the north east and along the west coast with events at Pamplin Park and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

It is with a profound honor that he tells the story of one of America’s greatest military leaders and Ken takes it very seriously to reaffirm Grant’s place of honor among the most respected people of our nation’s history.

July 21 at noon: Riding on Comets: A Memoir

Riding on Comets is the true story of an only child growing up in a working-class family during the 1950s and ‘60s. Cat Pleska whispers and shouts about her life growing up around savvy, strong women and hard-working, hard-drinking men. Unlike many family stories set within Appalachia, this story provides an uncommon glimpse into this region: not coal, but an aluminum plant; not hollers, but small-town America; not hillbillies, but a hard-working family with traditional values.  

and at 7 PM: 

PEOPLE'S UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGY

Class 4: July 21 “Prehistoric Petroglyphs”

Exploring possible symbolic meanings represented by some of the prehistoric rock carvings found in WV. You will make your own clay petroglyph to take home!

Instructor: Andrea Keller, Cultural Program Coordinator, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex

July 14 at noon: Poet Randi Ward

Poet Randi Ward will discuss the ethnographic fieldwork she conducted in the Faroe Islands as well as how this inspired her debut photo-poetry collection, Meditations on Salt. Ward will read from her multilingual collection, share a selection of the photographs, and talk about her work as a translator of Nordic literature. She will also discuss and read from her forthcoming poetry collection, Whipstitches. Ward is a writer, translator, lyricist, and photographer from Belleville, West Virginia. She has lived in Norway, Denmark (Faroe Islands), and Iceland.




& at 7 PM: People's University, Archaeology Continues

Class 3: “The Ins and Outs of Archaeology”

Heather Cline will talk about the “Ins”, that is, what happens to artifacts and documentation after being brought into the lab. Andrea Keller will discuss the “Outs,” that is, archaeological field work.

Instructors: Heather Cline, Lead Curator, and Andrea Keller, Cultural Program Coordinator, Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex

July 7 A Visit from Mother Jones

Irish immigrant Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was an active force in the labor movement in the early 20th century. She campaigned for the rights of workers in many occupations, including miners, railroaders, steel workers and children in the textile mills. Karen Vuranch recreates the fire and energy that was Mother Jones in a living history performance, leaving the audience knowing how it felt to sit in a union hall and listen to the outspoken Mother Jones.

and at 7 PM: People's University, Archaeology, Class 2

“Regional Archaeology”

An exploration of the major time periods: Paleo, Archaic, and Woodland.

Instructor: Travis Henline, Site Manager, West Virginia Independence Hall

June 30 Ripped from the Headlines, Part 2

Jeanne Finstein and Judi Hendrickson, of the Friends of Wheeling, will continue exploring the dark side of Wheeling's history, discussing sensational stories from our past that run the gamut from murder and mayhem to the pathetic and amusing. 

June 23: TWO Great Programs

First at Lunch With Books at noon: Wheeling Hospital and the Civil War

June 23, 2015

Event starts at 12:00 PM.

Margaret Brennan will explore the role of Wheeling Hospital  and the Sisters of St. Joseph in caring for wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

Then at 7 PM at West Virginia Independence Hall

It's Wheeling History: The Final Four at WV Independence Hall

June 23, 2015

Event starts at 7:00 PM.

At the Historic Courtroom at West Virginia Independence Hall!

ROUND TWO: THE FINAL FOUR:

Whada’ya Know Weelunk 

Dave Barnett                                                          

Nancy Barnett                                                        

Laura Brahler                                                         

Sondra Clutter

Past Masters

Jeanne Finstein       

Kate Quinn                 

Jay Frey                                                      

Hal Gorby

The Downtowners

Don Feenerty                    

Jon-Eric Gilot          

Glenn Elliott             

Joe Roxby

3 Young Guys and an Old Guy (Wild Card)

Daniel Gatts

Ryan Finley

Mike Ramsden

Scott Holt

 

Today