Daffodil Day 2018

Since 1990, the Cancer Society of New Zealand has marked an annual Daffodil Day to raise awareness and funds towards the cause of fighting against cancer. With 1 in 3 New Zealanders affected by cancer, this is a disease that hits home for many of us. The Cancer Society works to research treatments and cures for cancer, to enhance the quality of life for those living with the disease, and to raise awareness through public campaigns and programmes.

This year’s Daffodil Day is 31^st August, and with fundraising taking place in public areas, you will likely see many people wearing a cloth daffodil or a sticker having donated towards the cause. With daffodils a symbol of hope, you may like to also keep an eye out for those that are currently blooming throughout the regions – they are gorgeous! Above is a photo of sunny yellow daffodils in The Botanic Gardens in Christchurch.

Edible Books 2018 – And the winners are…

Best in show: Madeleine Thompson

Call of CTHULHU by H.P Lovecraft – a short story

Most imaginative and People’s Choice Awards: Karina Frangini

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll “Queen of Hearts”

Most delectable: Julie Humby

Wedding bees by Sarah-Kate Lynch

Best interpretation: Madeleine Thompson

Call of CTHULHU by H.P Lovecraft – a short story

Here’s Madeleine receiving her award from guest judge, poet Erik Kennedy.

Funniest: Georgie Archibald

Dune by Frank Herbert

And here’s our very own Georgie Archibald, Learning Advisor – Pasifika, receiving her award from our guest judge, Donna Robertson from Christchurch City Libraries.

We would like to thank all those who participated in this year’s event. Be sure to like us on Facebook to keep up with other activities in the Library. To see the rest of the entries go to our Facebook album.

A special thanks to our guest judges:

• Donna Robertson from Christchurch City Libraries
• Erik Kennedy, poet who is launching a book at Scorpio Books tonight.
• Adele Hingston, Ara Patisserie tutor
• Chahna Victoria Davis, Navneet Narayan and Shikylah Dearnley, Winners of the 2018 Nestle Toque D’Or competition.

And a special thanks to John West, Student Services Division Manager, our MC for the occasion.

Ara Edible Book Festival event 29th August 2018

Ara Library will be hosting an Edible Book Festival event on Wednesday 29th August- and we would love for you to take part!

Put your thinking cap on and work out how you can represent your favourite book in food, or how you could make your favourite food into an edible book…

You can have a look online for edible book competitions for inspiration.

There are prizes for the most imaginative, funniest, tastiest and most representative entries.

Here are a couple of entries from previous years to get you thinking:

 

Sweetland written by Michael Crummey (2016 competition)

 

Charlotte’s Web written by E.B. White (2013 competition)

 

Hairy Maclarys Bone written by Lynley Dodd (2016 competition)

 

If you bake, carve, decorate, shape or otherwise play with your food then this is the competition for you.

To participate: at the City Campus submit entries to the Library between 8-9 am on Wednesday 29th August. At Manawa or Timaru Campus please give your entries to Library Staff Claire (Manawa) or Helen (Timaru). Other campuses please photograph your entry and email to juliehumby@ara.ac.nz. The photographed entries will be printed and displayed in the Rakaia Centre Atrium. All entries are eligible to win a prize.

If baking and making is not your thing then come along next Wednesday from 10am to view the entries. The winners will be announced at 12.15 and then the real fun begins;  eating the entries.

Go on…get baking!

 

 

World Photography Day – Sunday August 19

Boulevard du Temple by Daguerre, 1838. [CC0 – Wikimedia Commons]

Guest blog by Wendy Clarke, Photography tutor, Ara Institute of Canterbury.

Sunday August 19^th is World Photography Day. Who knew that in an image soaked culture, we would need to set aside a special day to focus (sic) on picture taking. So why that day and what is the point?

The 19^th of August is of considerable historical import in the development of photography as an accessible medium. It all started with a photographic process that was developed by Frenchmen Louis Daguerre and Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1837, the invention of the Daguerreotype.  On August 19, the French government purchased the patent and gifted the invention as “free to the world”.

It was this unexpected generosity that catapulted photography into the hands of the man on the street.

World Photography day was conceived and launched eight years ago by an Australian Photographer, Korske Ara. The goal of this day is “Inspiring Positive Impact Through Photography”, by bringing photographers across the globe together in celebration, and to raise awareness and funds for organisations that work in the communities. This year the aim is to raise over $15,000 for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, through donation and book sales.

So how do you get involved?

1. Register to upload your chosen image on the 19^th of August to be part of the day. Start at World Photo Day’s Facebook to do this.
2. Visit Fujifilm Events Facebook to sign up for a free Photography walk and competition on Sunday 3- 5:30pm, sponsored by Fujifilm and setting off from Montreal Street.
3. Visit The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at Canterbury Museum, which opens August 11^th and runs till November 19^th
4. Walk up to the third floor in D block at Ara and have a look at the photographs taken by our talented students on display in the hallway.

The wonder of the written word

CC0 – Public Domain – Pixabay

Guest blog by Colleen Finnerty, Knowledge Advisor, Ara.

A new addition to our library database stable is LitFinder. This database gives us unprecedented access to the written works of more than 80,000 authors from over 660 nations. It includes:

• Poems (Frost, Byron, Pound, and Rossetti) ;
• Thousands of full-text short stories and novels, including classic and contemporary titles (Chaucer, Poe, Hemingway, Walker);
• Essays published from the past 500 years which focus on humanities, social science, biography and literary criticism;
• Full-text plays, including one-act plays, tragedies, comedies and more (Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen);
• Speeches (Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Obama);
• Author biographies.

Have a wander through this database and see what inspiration you can find.

My favourite gem from this database is a poem that always makes me smile no matter how tired I am. It is a poem of defiance in the face of adversity. Part of it is here:

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

 Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Angelou, M. (1978). Still I Rise. And Still I Rise, p. 41. New York: Random House. Retrieved                from LitFinder database.