On January 17, the Bartlesville Public Library and BPL Literacy services hosted the first of five healthy cooking classes being led by Josh Wright who is a personal fitness trainer at Colaw Fitness in Eastland Shopping Center, here in Bartlesville.
For the presentation, Josh talked about cooking and eating healthy. He prepared a dish which included a bit of Quinoa, Brown and Red Rice and flax seed. Josh recommended small quantities of this product, because it is the healthiest rice to consume. He fixed chicken and fish and introduced such seasonings as Himalayan Pink Salt, Kerrygold Butter, Webber Zesty Lemon and Roasted Garlic Seasonings, and the benefits of coconut oil in coffee. Josh spoke about the importance of having protein within thirty minutes of awakening in the morning. For his protein he fixes himself a Barlean protein shake with super greens, whey protein, and creatine– for brain muscle – cocoa, fruits and vegetables. In his presentation, Josh touched on many subjects concerning healthy cooking and eating. The Bartlesville Public Library and BPL Literacy services would like to invite the public to mark their calendars for the next cooking class on February 21st, as well as all the other Health Events that are scheduled.
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The Bartlesville Public Library and BPL Literacy Services will continue to offer Health Literacy presentations that are informative and give practical suggestions for a healthier, less stressed lifestyle.
One of our engaging presenters, Renetta Harrison from the Washington County Health Department, will be presenting a health literacy discussion on the benefits of physical activity on September 13 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Renetta is an informed presenter that encourages questions and interactions from the audience. Our last presenter, Lee Gambol, Distance Learning Coordinator and Museum Educator of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History presented an educational video conference, hosted by the Bartlesville Public Library and BPL Literacy Services entitled “Drugs: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” Presenter Lee explained, through visual examples, websites and specimen observations, some of the effects of drugs on the body, and how drugs and alcohol change the brain’s neurotransmitters. Lee also introduced a website developed by the University of Utah called Mouse Party (which works best with Explorer). Mouse Party, through interactive technology, explains the effects certain drugs have on the brain. Lee Gambol also briefly discussed a college research project that students of Connecticut College conducted which had some interesting results that involved rats and Oreos. The research began as an investigation on how addictive high-fat and high-sugar foods are. Lee Gambol is an engaging presenter and always makes every subject interesting using humor mixed with scientific fact. The last presentation by Renetta, was on July 12th and covered the benefits of living a flexible life with a flexible mental attitude. Renetta gave many practical examples of how to remain flexible, and how to live a less stressed lifestyle. Please be sure to attend Physical Activity Benefits on Tuesday, September 13th, upstairs in Meeting Room A. We at the Bartlesville Public Library and Literacy Services look forward to seeing you there. On May 18, 2016, the BPL Literacy Services hosted a video conference with McMillen Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This health conference was well attended and the presenter was both informative and made listening and learning most enjoyable. The class started with the presenter showing the participants an actual human brain, donated by a woman for scientific research. She demonstrated the size of the brain and some of the intricacies of the brain. She also talked about the mechanics of the brain at the neuron level and the plasticity as well as the right/left halves and their functions.
Soon she moved on to easy things each individual can do to boost brain health. These suggestions ranged from the most basic activities, like getting enough sleep, eating properly and getting good exercise, to more complex activities such as learning a musical instrument. One of the suggestions she gave was to start practicing using the non-dominate hand in simple tasks: learning to write one’s signature, tying one’s shoe, and other tasks that seem easy enough with the dominate hand. Other suggestions included reading, writing, and problem solving with the ever popular math word problems. While most people intensely dislike math word problems, they do much to strengthen the brain. At the end of the class, each participant received a book called, Brain Games, with activities designed to help lower one’s brain age. To find out more information about brain health and what can be done to strengthen and train the brain, there are several websites one can go to investigate. Luminosity CDC Healthy Brain Initiative Mayo Clinic 7 Tips to Improve Your Memory NeuroNation What is brain training good for? Be sure and come to the next health literacy videoconference on May 25th to learn about breast cancer and early detection. Also be sure and watch for upcoming health literacy classes in June – November. The Literacy Services office in on the second floor of the Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S Johnstone, Bartlesville OK. Looking forward to seeing you at the Library! In Rawlins Wyoming, the infamous Wyoming Frontier Prison stands as a grim testament to the harsh days of Wyoming’s early years when criminals were housed in formidable prisons with no heat and harsh punishments for misconduct. In 1933 the recorded lowest temperature in Wyoming dipped down to -66◦. In the dank, cold prison, the inside temperatures were significantly lower inside than outside.
Even more formidable and oppressive than the Frontier Prison, fortress of misery, is the prison of illiteracy. It’s a world of millions who cannot read a simple story to their children, a world where 14% of all adults in the United States cannot read, or write. Oklahoma is not exempt from this epidemic with 6% of adults that cannot operate above the 9th grade level, and 20% that cannot operate above the 12th grade level. Imagine sitting in a restaurant with a group of people, looking at a menu and trying to decide what to eat without letting anyone know you can’t read. Are you ordering spaghetti, or are you ordering Madagascar Cockroaches? Imagine your child is deathly ill, and has to be taken to the Emergency Room. You arrive in a frantic state. Where is ER? We’re not just talking about individuals learning to read and write. High illiteracy percentages affect everyone in all aspects of life. When a population is strongly literate, crime rate is reduced, the country has a healthier population and is healthier economically. On the other hand, illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year. That’s “billion”, not “million”. How tragic it is when a society chooses to ignore the cost of illiteracy. What if we are missing out on another Robert Frost? Or Mark Twain? Or Henry David Thoreau? What if we're missing out on the cure for cancer, because the cure for cancer is housed in a brain that has yet to learn to read? “Literacy opens the doors of freedom for adults as well as children.” Says the director of the Bartlesville Public Library’s Literacy Services, Karen Kerr-McGraw. There is hope. That hope comes in the form of individuals who are willing to reach out and help someone escape from the prison of illiteracy. Please invest in someone who needs a helping hand. Everyone can help. You could be that one that unlocks the cure to cancer, by unlocking the prison door of illiteracy in someone’s life. In the Bartlesville Oklahoma area, you can get more information by calling 918-338-4179, sending an email to [email protected], or by visiting the Literacy office upstairs in the Bartlesville Public Library 600 S Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK 74003. In Oklahoma, you can also visit the Oklahoma State Literacy website. If outside Oklahoma, the National Center for Literacy Education can direct you to the Literacy office in your area. Get involved and help set people free. Bennett Cerf, the co-founder of Random House, writes in his Memoirs - At Random, The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf – the story of how he and his partner, Donald Klopfer, built up the publishing house from an acquisition of The Modern Library in 1927 to the hugely successful publishing house it has now become. His memoirs talk of working with such famous authors as Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Irwin Shaw to name a few. Recently the Bartlesville Public Library and Bartlesville’s Word Weavers hosted an Author Showcase in which twelve authors were available to meet and to discuss their books. It was very suggestive of the old days that Mr. Cerf described in his memoirs. There was an air of excitement on the library’s second floor during the showcasing of this next generation of authors. These are people who have entered a new era of publishing and are taking the risks of writing in a world where breaking into publication seems almost impossible. Hearing these writers talk of their books brought the feeling that anything is possible with the right tenacity and determination. Here are the authors who were present and a short synopsis of one of their many books. Be sure to click on their names to go to their websites and discover more about these books. And for a sample of one of our Authors speaking, be sure and click on the video below. |
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