The Science of Learning: Unlocking Human Potential

On Monday, April 14th at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Yu-Wen Taylor will present today’s best thinking on how learning works, based on a convergence of evidence from cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. “The Science of Learning: Unlocking Human Potential” will reveal why some people are more effective learners than others and debunk common misconceptions about learning which hinder effort and motivation. Participants will understand high-leverage points for improving learning outcomes and gain the skills to cultivate mindsets conducive to learning. Strategies for improving meta-cognition and self-regulation will also be discussed. This workshop will be a must for parents, educators or any lifelong learner. Participants will have the opportunity to assess their learning quotient (LQ) – a more potent indicator of a person’s potential for success than the intelligence quotient (IQ).

YU-WEN TAYLOR is an educator whose mission is to help people become passionate and effective lifelong learners. She earned a Doctorate in Education from USC, an M.A. in Education from Stanford, and a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley. She has taught at various grade levels for over eleven years and has coached and developed teachers. As the Learning Director of an entrepreneurial company in Silicon Valley, she fostered collaboration between the public and private sectors to improve the learning outcomes of K through 12 students. As an Education Consultant, Dr. Taylor advised the Ministry of Education in China on curricular and instructional issues relating to international and second language programs. She is currently conducting research on learning in the twenty-first century and the globalization of education to help policymakers, leaders, and stakeholders understand the complexity of learning in today’s world. She is a resident of San Marino and a Recreation Commissioner for the City.

Dr. Taylor believes that in this multifaceted and rapidly changing society, to master learning is to master life. If you are curious about how to unlock human potential, you won’t want to miss this special program at Crowell Public Library.

Preparing Your Heirs

Wednesday March 19: 7:00 p.m.

According to Roy Williams and Vic Preisser in their book, Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values, studies show that 70% of heirs lose control of their inheritance within one generation and 93% within three generations. The loss of wealth is also often combined with a loss of pride, self-esteem, family harmony and productivity. In extreme cases, many wealth heirs turn to destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, loss of motivation and a culture of entitlement. Preparing Your Heirs will inform and educate parents on how to empower their children to lead independent, meaningful and purposeful lives. The program will present practical tools parents can deploy every day on how best to have those challenging conversations with family members and open up safe and productive channels of communication from one generation to the next.

AMIR MOSSANEN is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Advisor for Wells Fargo Private Bank and is responsible for understanding and managing the financial situations for high net worth clients. He specializes in multi-generational planning, family education and succession planning. He has authored papers on the multi-generational wealth transfer and developed family dynamics workshops to enhance harmony and effectiveness across generations. He is also the author of “The Giving Dilemma,” “Beating the Midas Curse,” and “Coping with Sudden Wealth Syndrome.” Prior to his career in wealth management, Amir was a management consultant working with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies on strategy creation and implementation. He earned a Masters in Business Administration with a specialization on Customer Focused Strategy and his MBA thesis on fixed income arbitrage was awarded a distinction for its unique insights.

Come to Crowell Library for an informative evening on the exceptional risks that children of affluence face and how best to mitigate those risks.

The Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta and its Importance to California in the Past and in the Future

Monday, February 24, 7:00 p.m.

This week in Sacramento a drought bill known as H.R. 3964 is up for a vote. “The Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act” is authored by Representative David Valadao of Hanford (R-CA21), and seeks to loosen some restrictions and provide more water to farmers in the Central Valley, some say at the expense of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program. In the midst of an historic drought, and what Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency, Californians more than ever need to understand all aspects our most precious resource and where we get it. The San Marino Historical Society and Crowell Public Library invite one and all to hear Debra Man address this topic in depth at the Library, Monday, February 24, at 7:00 p.m.

Debra Man is the Chief Operating Officer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and a San Marino resident. She will explain the history of the Delta, how it impacted California during the Gold Rush, what has happened to it since, and what is needed to keep it as an asset for California’s future as the state struggles with the least amount of rainfall in its 163-year history. Resolving the existing conflicts in the Delta between water supply and environmental needs will significantly improve the water supply reliability for all water users that rely on water from the Delta which includes San Marino.

This program is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Library’s Barth Community Room.

Two books, San Marino: A Centennial History by Elizabeth Pomeroy and The Story of Michael White, a California Rebel Pioneer by Dorothy Jenkins Ross will be available for purchase from the Historical Society.

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CROWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY 1890 Huntington Drive, San Marino, California 91108

LA Opera Talk: Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor (“Love is a Madness”)

Sunday, February 16, 2:00 p.m.

If you can’t make it to the Music Center or you’d like to broaden your understanding of Donizetti and his music, come to Crowell Library on February 16 at 2:00 p.m. for this special LA Opera Talk. Community Educator LARRY VERDUGO, who presented the Library’s LA Opera Program on Britten’s Turn of the Screw in 2011 and Billy Budd last month, will reveal some fascinating facts in a multi-media presentation in the Library’s Barth Community Room. The program is free and open to all opera aficionados and first timers.

Lucia Di Lammermoor is a romantic tale of family honor, betrayal and madness that takes place in Scotland and is one of Donizetti's most popular works. Larry Verdugo will describe Donizetti’s life, the music and the story depicted in the opera: forced by her family to marry against her will, Lucia descends into madness. Her chilling, blood-spattered reappearance at the wedding reception has become one of the most iconic scenes in all opera. A tour-de-force of Italian Romantic opera at its most powerful and dramatic, Lucia di Lammermoor is the gleaming jewel in opera’s bel canto crown.
Opera is not just magnificent music, dance and theater with astounding sets on a beautiful stage; opera can sweep you away to foreign lands, take you back in time, dazzle you with pageantry and bring history to life. It is literature, social studies, cultural diversity, multiple languages and most of all, it is exciting! Come explore the world of opera which has something for everyone.
Mark this date on the social calendar as Crowell Library celebrates LA Opera’s 2013/2014 season. Light refreshments will be served.

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Deadly Times: The 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times and America's Forgotten Decade of Terror

Thursday, February 20, 7:00 p.m.

The bombing of the Los Angeles Times on October 1, 1910 remains one of the deadliest crimes ever to go to trial in California. At least 20 workers at the Times died in the explosion and the fire that followed. More than 100 others were injured. On Thursday, February 20th in the Library’s Barth Community, learn all about it from author and journalist Lew Irwin, when he presents this fascinating look into Los Angeles history at 7:00 p.m.

The story of the bombing, the manhunt for the perpetrators, and the aftermath that would wreck the career of America's most famous attorney and set back the American labor movement by a generation, makes for fascinating reading, particularly at a time when terrorism again threatens American society. The magnificent cast of characters includes: General Harrison Gray Otis, owner of the Los Angeles Times, whose determined effort to keep Los Angeles non-union led to its being singled out as a bombing target; William J. Burns, who tracked down the bombers and became the first director of the FBI and founder of what remains the largest private security organization in the world; Earl Rogers, the brilliant criminal attorney, who became Erle Stanley Gardner's model for Perry Mason; the legendary attorney Clarence Darrow, who defended the bombers but who in desperation attempted to bribe two jurors; the muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens, who had hoped to persuade the bombers to confess to him, thereby giving him the scoop of a lifetime.
Author Lew Irwin has had a hand in nearly every facet of news and information broadcasting. His career in journalism began in high school at the Los Angeles Times where he researched a sports trivia column. While still an undergraduate at USC, he was hired to host News Today, a nationally syndicated radio program whose regular contributors included Eleanor Roosevelt and legendary commentator H. V. Kaltenborn. For the next 15 years, Irwin's was a familiar face and voice in Southern California as he anchored television news programs or directed the news operations of leading radio stations, always adding a flair for humor and for pointing out the extraordinary. In 1968, he produced and hosted The Credibility Gap on KRLA Los Angeles, which integrated topical satire and music with the news. Time and Newsweek wrote full-page articles about it, and it was featured in a long segment on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. He currently is the publisher/editor of Studio Briefing, a daily digest of entertainment industry news. (http://www.studiobriefing.net)

On Deadly Times: The 1910 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times and America's Forgotten Decade of Terror by Lew Irwin:
Harry Chandler has called it, "a most fascinating and can't-put-down story."
"A gripping must-read tale of turbulent times." -- Dr. John Horgan, director, International Center for the Study of Terrorism, Penn State University

"Irwin, a veteran television journalist, is an artist in prose." -- Anthony Mostrom, L.A. Weekly

"Masterfully" written. -- Publishers Weekly

Crowell Library’s Open House

Saturday, January 25, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

A recent Pew Internet survey found that most Americans know where their local library is, but many are unfamiliar with all the services they offer.* On Saturday, January 25th, Crowell Public Library will demonstrate for its community the amazing selection of services and programs it has to offer when the library celebrates is sixth anniversary with an open house. For those who haven’t visited a library in awhile, surprises will be abundant. With the help of the Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library, Crowell will toot its own big horn from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The library has programs for seniors, teens and kids, cultural programs, historical programs, passport acceptance, test proctoring and local art on display. During the Open House there will be demonstrations on how to use the Library’s databases and online applications that help patrons with tests, finding a job, downloading an ebook, finding money for college, learning a language as well as finding a good book to read. Visitors will be equally impressed with the selection of DVDs and CDs available for checkout.

At noon, the Library’s Foundation will announce the annual bookmark contest winners and then the Friends of the Library will present the titles and authors in their 2014 Meet the Authors series. This year they have expanded from One Book, One City to Four Books, One City. It just keeps getting better! Local vendors will be offering snacks and treats and the Friends Book Shoppe will have a 25% off everything sale: an enticement at every turn, inside the Library and out in the patio.

An Open House is the perfect way to demonstrate how Crowell Public Library has something for everyone. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about and appreciate the local institution whose goal is to provide a gathering place, an information center, a technology hub, and a book and media collection to serve the educational, cultural, and recreational interests of people of all ages.

*http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/12/11/libraries-in-communities/

Four Books, One City: Meet the Authors

Every year the Friends of Crowell Public Library present a program of One Book, One City events that brings the community together in celebration of the joy of reading. This year they are going above and beyond this concept to present Four Books, One City: Meet the Authors. Four times the authors, four times the fun!

The events will kick off Thursday, January 30, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. with author Christopher Norgaard who wrote, Unfair Competition - Murder by Gunshot: The Untold Story of the Neutrogena Empire. Mr. Norgaard’s book traces fifteen years in the saga between Neutrogena International Corportion’s Arne Tali and Lloyd Cotsen as they entertained, negotiated and litigated with and against each other, while building the worldwide Neutrogena brand. This cooperation alternated with rivalry, followed by threats and conspiracies, mystery and finally – murder. Christopher Norgaard is currently Vice President of the San Marino Unified School District, and is a practicing business litigation lawyer with 39 years of experience. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the Georgetown University Law Center.

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 7:00 p.m., bestselling author and veteran homicide detective Steve Hodel presents his follow-up investigation into Los Angeles’s Black Dahlia and other serially connected “Lone Woman Murders” from the 1940s -- Black Dahlia Avenger II. In this investigative sequel to Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder (2003), he identifies the actual Dahlia murder residence and presents hard physical evidence connecting Dr. George Hill Hodel (his father) to evidence found near the body, and a careful deconstruction of the Dahlia myth. Steve Hodel was born and raised in Los Angeles and joined the LAPD in 1963. By 1986, he was Detective III, the highest attainable rank in detectives, received more than 75 commendations and handled over 300 separate murder investigations with one of the department’s highest solve rates. He retired in 1986 and established Hodel Investigations.

On Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m., John Wayne: The Genuine Article will be presented by Michael Goldman and Ethan Wayne. This biography is authorized by John Wayne Enterprises and offers readers a rare glimpse into the life of one of the most iconic movie stars of all time through a treasure trove of memorabilia, stories, and interviews. This book includes John Wayne Enterprises' collection of never-before-seen letters and telegrams as well as incredibly compelling text from Wayne's unfinished memoir. Important milestones in the Academy Award-winning actor, director, and producer's life are also well documented here through anecdotes, photos, and visually rich ephemera. With a foreword by Jimmy Carter and a preface by his son Ethan Wayne, John Wayne: The Genuine Article presents the complete story of how an ordinary man became a top box office draw for six decades, and a larger-than-life icon known simply as the Duke. Michael Goldman is a veteran entertainment-industry journalist and author who contributes regularly to American Cinematographer. He has written six books, including Clint Eastwood: Master Filmmaker at Work. Ethan Wayne, John Wayne’s youngest son, currently is president of Wayne Enterprises, the sole and exclusive steward of the John Wayne brand. Ethan and Michael Goldman both live in Los Angeles, California.

More John Wayne insights will be revealed on Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. when Scott Eyman talks about his book, John Wayne: The Life and Legend. Eyman has written eleven books, including biographies of Hollywood legends such as John Ford, Cecil B. DeMille and Louis B. Mayer. He has based his book on interviews with John Wayne before his death and more than one hundred interviews with the actor’s family and co-stars. He explores Wayne’s early life with a difficult mother and a feckless father. Eyman makes startling connections to Wayne’s later days as an anti-Communist conservation, his stormy marriages to Latina women and his notorious and long-lived extra-marital affair with Marlene Dietrich. Through it all the author provides a nuanced and sympathetic portrait that is as charming, compelling and complicated as the Duke himself. Scott Eyman is the literary critic for The Palm Beach Post and he lives in West Palm Beach.

All programs will take place in the Library’s Barth Community and light refreshments will be available.

The concept of One Book, One City originated in Seattle back in 1998 as an entertaining strategy to build community – imagining a huge book group consisting of friends and neighbors, discussing plots and characters, while promoting literacy. Past selections for San Marino’s One Book, One City programs have included Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker, Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart, Samurai’s Garden, by Gail Tsukiyama, The Ragtime Kid by Larry Karp, 2012’s The Sherlockian by Graham Moore, and last year’s Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz.

For further details on these exciting programs and more to come at Crowell Library, keep an eye on the website: http://www.CrowellPublicLibrary.org.