Early morning Nashua—it is 2 degrees out there. Brrrrr. And although the thermometer has been inching up, melting snow means more water turning into ice overnight. Water on my street has pooled and frozen, creating a scarily shimmering scene—an ice skater’s delight but a treacherous trap for the rest of us.

According to Jane Brody in her New York Times article Preserving a Fundamental Sense: Balance, the sense of balance begins to degrade in one’s 20s and then it is downhill — literally and figuratively. Steps can be taken to preserve or restore one's sense of balance.. She explains how to assess one's equilibrium and then goes on to describe several exercises to build motor skills.

Recently I heard a physical therapist speak on the topic of preventing falls, and he gave some serious food for thought. Fact: By 2030, one in five Americans will be older than 65. Fact: The number of people over 100 doubles every decade. Fact: As they age, people lose muscle mass and strength, flexibility and bone. Fact: The resulting frailty leads to a loss of mobility and independence. Falls account for 87% of all fractures for adults 65 years and older. Hip fractures, 90% of which are caused by falls, cause the most deaths and lead to the most severe health problems. And only 25% of hip fracture patients will make a full recovery. There are many risk factors, including intrinsic ones such as muscle weakness, and gait and balance disorders, and extrinsic ones such as use of four or more medications, and the home environment. The latter may include risks such as poor lighting, inappropriate footwear (shoes, not slippers are best), loose rugs, wet floors, lack of handrails, and a cluttered environment. If we keep these in mind we can lessen the risk of falls for ourselves, or friends or family members who may be at risk.

Besides modifying the home environment, strengthening the body—particularly the lower extremities—can make one less likely to fall. And did you know that walking up stairs is one of the best exercises for the lower body? Although I cannot identify any interesting lofty buildings in Nashua, we can try to avoid the elevator and use the staircase whenever possible. For several years, the American Lung Association of New England has been promoting stair climb events in various buildings throughout New England as described in Stair Climb Training Tips from Paul Curley.

IWIF (Injured Workers' Insurance Fund) presents Several Tips for Walking on Ice. Some of the strategies they recommend include approaching with caution and assuming that all wet, dark areas on pavements are slippery and icy in cold temperatures, avoiding boots or shoes with smooth soles and heels and wearing shoes or boots that provide traction on snow and ice (boots made of non-slip rubber or neoprene with grooved soles are best), keeping your hands out of your pockets to maintain balance, and taking small steps or shuffling for stability. I have also been advised anything to prevent a fall—such as getting down on your hands and knees to crawl across an icy patch.

Inspired by the presentation on falls, and a New Year’s Resolution to become more physically active, I searched our library for materials pertaining to balance and agility. You might find the following especially useful, as I did:

Balance: in search of the lost sense by Scott McCredie.

Somatics: reawakening the mind's control of movement, flexibility, and health by Thomas Hanna.

Fitness for life: exercises for people over 50 by Theodore Berland.

Sixty plus & fit again: exercises for older men and women by Magda Rosenberg.

So, happy stair climbing and if you meet me crawling on my hands and knees (see above), don't be surprised--just say hi!

I can remember a time, probably right after the Civil War as my daughter likes to interject when I start a story like this, when I could jump out of bed and be fed, bathed, dressed and at my desk less than an hour later. Way less.

Now-a-days, I can barely make it if I have a two hour head start! What's the difference? Well, frankly I try not to rush around like a headless chicken for fear of charging into a door jam or a chair leg. The peripheral vision ain't what it used to be!

I have to do my exercises. I walk on the treadmill and watch the Today Show. According to my crack Internist I'm not walking nearly long enough! Then I need to take pills by the hand full.

I have to stop to eat large quantities of fiber.

I also have to practically shave my entire head. As my middle granddaughter said recently after inspecting my face, "Grandpa, you have hair in your nose!". And in my ears!

After showering I have to apply lotion. I never put lotion on in my life. Manly men don't put on lotion. But if I miss a day in the winter I begin to itch. When did I suddenly start to dry out!

I actually floss. I have thousands invested in these teeth. And dressing requires finding pockets for work keys and home keys and car keys, wallets, checkbooks, nitroglycerin tablets, a handkerchief, a pen, cash, notes reminding me who to call, a datebook. Don't forget the briefcase.

Now I'm locking the door. Wait did I shut off the coffee maker...

Here's a link to a couple of books about staying sharp and aging gracefully.

I once heard a trivia question asking which person was the subject of the most books. I thought it had to be Abraham Lincoln; it seems like a new Lincoln book is published every couple of weeks. I was wrong, but when I did a subject browse for Abraham Lincoln in the NPL online catalog, the computer gave me 119 entries. That beats George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, William Shakespeare, and Jesus.

How can there possibly be so many books about one person? Is he really that popular? Many books have been published recently in anticipation of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. In addition, President Barack Obama is a big fan of Lincoln. He was sworn in with the Bible used by Lincoln, and is known to have read Team of Rivals and Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, both of which we have in the NPL collection. Lincoln is an intriguing character. He came from humble beginnings and educated himself. He held office during a time of crisis and ended slavery. Because Lincoln was assassinated, he did not complete his second term as president and could not follow through with his vision of reconstruction. Some books examine particular aspects of Lincoln's life, personality, work, or context in history. For example, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America by Allen C. Guelzo is dedicated to the famous debates, while The Gettysburg Gospel by Gabor Boritt covers the Gettysburg Address. Tried by War by James McPherson discusses Lincoln's role as Commander-in-Chief, and Lincoln's Yarns and Stories by Colonel Alexander K. McClure is about Lincoln as a storyteller. Other books are more comprehensive. We recently added a two-volume biography titled Abraham Lincoln: A Life, by Michael Burlingame. Publisher's Weekly states, "This book...supersedes all other biographies. Future Lincoln books cannot be written without it, and from no other book can a general reader learn so much about Abraham Lincoln. It is the essential title for the bicentennial."

If you are interested in reading a book or two about Lincoln, check out our special display near the new non-fiction. This is only a fraction of the books we have. You will find others in the East Wing, with the call number BIOG L 63 or in the adult non-fiction stacks with call numbers around 973.7, give or take a few decimal places. You will also find books about the Civil War in this section of the library.

If you want to find out what liberal scholars and conservative pundits share in common, then James Crossley's Jesus in an Age of Terror might be up your alley. The book launches a two-pronged attack, against the demonization of the Middle-East in the media -- generally since the early/mid-70s, but especially since Bush's war on terror -- and also against a similar "demonization" in the field of Biblical scholarship. Scholars, claims Crossley, even the most liberal and secular ones, have in various degrees, and sometimes unwittingly, aligned themselves with Anglo-American imperialism by using stereotypes and broad generalizations of Arab cultures.

Crossley's chief targets are members of the The Context Group, a group of liberal academics who have since the '80s been using social sciences to help understand the people of the Bible. In the words of a spokesman for this group, Bruce Malina:

"The awareness of multiculturalism would require us to be sensitive to differences among cultures... If we wish to understand the persons of the ancient Mediterranean world, persons from the world of Jesus and the apostle Paul, we should be prepared to learn entirely new ways of perceiving so as to assess those persons on their own terms. Otherwise, we will be perpetuating the long-standing problem of being 'Ugly Americans', a phrase coined to describe the utter failure of U.S. personnel at the beginning of the Vietcong insurgency to understand the ways of that mysterious culture." (Portraits of Paul, pp 2,4)

So in efforts to be sensitive to the Middle-Eastern world (out of which come the Biblical heroes), the Context Group has explained reasons for certain behavior patterns which tend to puzzle or disturb us. Thus we learn that the people of the Bible were defined by the groups to which they belonged and were motivated by group norms more than individual needs. Our western emphasis on personal choices and personal rights was foreign to such cultures then as now. As a result, says Malina:

"Because one is to focus entirely on the needs of others, one begins to neglect one's own needs, and thus stifles normal individual psychological development... But persons have feelings, especially of hurt, and they are quick to learn to repress and deny those feelings. Mediterraneans learn to lose the ability to sympathize with the pain of others and are quite willing to abuse others physically, emotionally and spiritually. They abuse those in their group 'for their own good', for example, their children, spouses, and elderly relatives." (The Social World of Jesus and the Gospels, p 114)

Despite the noble intentions that drive scholars like Malina, however, Crossley thinks the above generalizations are crass, "covering vast and cultural areas, and which smack of old-fashioned imperialistic anthropology" (Jesus in an Age of Terror, p 112). They need "not only some serious evidence, but serious widespread evidence to back them up" (p 198). And not only are these academics misguided, thinks Crossley, they unwittingly play into the hands of conservative pundits who use similar stereotypes not out of empathy, but to show how superior western people are by contrast.

For instance, Crossley critiques Loren Rosson (the author of this blogpost, and former student of one of the Context Group members) for feeding post-9/11 perceptions of Arab cultures. "Rosson can talk in spectacularly general terms of [honor-shame cultures] where 'insults are fine and frequent arts, belligerence a commendable show of machismo, public degradation a staple of life, two-faced attacks (and backhanded compliments) prestigious displays of wit, and treating others as if they are invisible a proper way of snubbing inferiors and equals'." These are remarkably "huge generalizations about the Arab world", according to Crossley (p 106), and he says further that

"Issues of honor and shame have been used by some of the aggressive neo-conservative right in the U.S. to describe the issues at the heart of the war on terror and answer why 'they' hate 'us'. Such views effectively ignore, or do not discuss in any detail, the serious impact of U.S. foreign policy, such as the propping up of Saddam, the bombing of Iraq, the destructive sanctions against Iraq, the unflinching support for Israel over against the Palestinians... Rosson's view also ignores the role of urbanization and slum-dwelling in Islamic countries, mixed in with the stark economic shifts brought about in oil economies." (Jesus in an Age of Terror, p 109)

Crossley's concern for other factors besides the cultural is appreciated (and I would never downplay those), but with regards to the "outrageous stereotyping" he continually complains about throughout the book, Context Group members (and I) would respond along the lines of that being precisely the point: stereotyping is not only possible but institutionalized in honor-shame cultures. (It was, for instance, in my host country when I served in the Peace Corps.) Certain behavior patterns, moreover, are regularly predictable -- though not inevitable, of course -- and to deny the reality of such behavior patterns can be dangerously irresponsible. For example, a foreigner who compliments a Turkish village couple on how beautiful their baby is will (likely) receive a hostile response, since the compliment would (likely) be interpreted as an envious one. Or in other areas a woman who runs off with a younger man unapproved by her family will shame the family to the extent that either her father or a brother will (likely) try to kill her. Acknowledging such realities -- or reporting them, or describing them -- doesn't necessarily involve a moral judgment.

We can come to similar conclusions for different reasons, and I'm not sure that showcasing "parallels" between conservatives and liberals ultimately means much, though it's admittedly interesting. I think one of the worst traps we can fall into is to mask truth out of fear that it will sound politically offensive. On the other hand, Crossley's demand for more evidence demonstrating honor-shame behavior patterns is certainly fair. Scholarship should always be based on as much evidence as possible, lest ideology take over.

Whatever you make of it in the end, Crossley's book is provocative. If you're intrigued by the way a liberal academy can intersect with conservative politics -- who would have thought? -- then you should enjoy reading it. It's currently on order for the library and may be requested here. In the meantime, you may want to check out any of the following books by Context Group members who are critiqued by Crossley.

The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible, by John Pilch.
Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in its Social Context, by Philip Esler (editor).
Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, by Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh.
Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality, by Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey.

Many people I know were lucky enough to get a Nintendo Wii as a holiday gift this year. If you were one of those people then you know the console only comes with one game, Wii Sports. So now that you've bowled as many strings as your arm will allow, boxed everyone in your family, you're ready to move on but who's got extra cash lying around right now to purchase a new game?

That's where we come in. Starting in December 2008 the Nashua Public Library expanded its video game collection to include the Wii platform. With help from the Friends of the Nashua Public Library we are now able to circulate both Wii and PlayStation 2 games. Our collection currently has 41 PlayStation 2 games and 26 Wii games and continues to grow.

If you interested in viewing a complete list of video games for a particular console it is best to browse our catalog by subject (PlayStation2 Video games or Wii Video Games).

Game stats:
1 week loan period
Limit 2 at a time
No renewals
Can be requested

Go get your game on!

Starting soon, I will be moving from the Reference Department and into Technical Services. Many library materials start here before they are available to library cardholders. A major part of my job is cataloging materials so they can be searched for in the library’s online catalog. The catalog is made up of many, many records that have important information like title, author, summary, physical description and subject headings. Proper cataloging is important so librarians and patrons know what topics and subjects are covered in a particular book and also where to find those subjects in the library.

It is important that these records are accurate so it is easy to find everything we have in the library on any given topic. Many of the records you see in the catalog are ‘copied’ from other sources to help insure records are similar throughout libraries. However, it is very important that we go over the records we put into our catalog to make sure everything is correct and in sync with existing records. Occasionally we will find errors or need to fix something so it fits in with existing records. Two major errors I have found was the wrong last name for an author in the record (I was able to correct this because I had the book next to me with the correct information) and the subject heading ‘fantasy fiction’ spelled ‘fantasty ficiton' (I was quite shocked with these!)

Mistakes will always be found in cataloging records, but it is important to me to find these errors and fix them. A while back, someone mentioned a blog about common library catalog typos. It is called ‘Typo of the Day for Librarians.’ I read a few posts but hadn’t gone back to it much…until very recently. I was doing some searching online and stumbled upon this blog again. And now that I am working with cataloging records, I am very excited to use this as a tool. I have already put it to use and tested our catalog. I have found some typos and have fixed them. For example:

1. In a record’s summary we had resistence instead of resistance.
2. Another summary had troubador instead of troubadour.
3. We had twelth instead of twelfth.
4. And finally, we had meterology for a subject heading on one record instead of meteorology.