Celebrate Louis Braille's birthday with the American Printing House for the Blind

Celebrate Braille with the New York Public Library's Andrew Heiskell tech team and special guest Mike Hudson
Monday January 4, 2021
2 PM - 3:15 PM
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvdOqprzovHdAVzzEOKXk9UqyI44qKIqiF

Join Mike Hudson, Director of the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky for a lively walk through a history of the braille code and the development of the mechanical braillewriter around the world. Along the way we'll share new research on the roots of braille in a code originally developed by the brilliant but often misunderstood Charles Barbier.
Plus, enjoy a lively round of Braille trivia and share what Braille literacy means to you.

Anyone is welcome! Our remote tech and culture programs are an evolution of the in -person and hybrid workshops hosted at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. Whether you're blind, sighted, or somewhere in between, in New York City or on the other side of the world, we welcome you for fellowship, learning and dialog.
To join our technology and Braille team's event announcement list, just email heiskelltech+subscribe@googlegroups.com - we'll let you know about all the other remote programming we offer.
To learn more about us or suggest a workshop, or to volunteer your time, contact our tech coordinator: chanceyfleet@nypl.org

Keep calm and Mardi Gras

As anyone who knows me has heard me say, New Orleans is my spiritual home, so I take Mardi Gras seriously, and a lil ol' pandemic is not going to stand in the way of Mardi Gras.

Kestrell's Virtual Mardi Gras will be happening on
Tuesday, February 16.
Start time will be roughly between 6-7 A.M., and last until 5 or 6 P.M.

I'll definitely be wearing a costume and beads, and some blinged-out face masks(both the traditional Mardi Gras kind and the Covid-19 kind: a couple of face mask sources are included at the end of this post).
I'll play Mardi Gras music, and share my jambalaya recipe and my recipe for Hurricanes, which is so good that the non-alcohol version is just as good as the alcoholic one.

Mardi Gras is not about the floats, and it's not even about the beads and the drinking. It's about remembering to celebrate joyand great food and amazing music, but most of all, it's about hanging out with people who bring that same kind of joy and creativity to your life.

So get some beads and start creating that blinged-out face mask. Post a comment or send a message if you want to join in, and I'll send out the Zoom invite the week before Feb. 16. I'll also post the recipes for jambalaya and Hurricanes then, so it's all ready on Mardi Gras.

Carnival begins on Epiphany, Twelfth Night, Jan. 6, so it's never too soon to start getting the spirit: just turn on WWOZ or go to WWOZ.org (they play all kinds of music, so individual shows can sound very different, depending on when you tune in).
.

For now here are a couple of face mask sources:

This is where I got my "Keep Calm and Mardi Gras" face mask
Cafe Press store that sells Mardi Gras-themed face masks
https://www.cafepress.com/+mardi-gras+face-masks

This is where I got
my full-on bling face mask, including a pack of filters
https://www.etsy.com/listing/864330321/new-purple-swarovski-bling-face-mask
from
GLITZYGLMstore
https://www.etsy.com/shop/GLITZYGLMstore?ref=l2-about-shopname