Ogden Reid - Congress vs. State Department, May 4, 8 p.m.

Ogden Reid to Explain Relationship between Congress and State Department

Ogden Reid, former Westchester Congressman and U.S. Ambassador, will explain how Congress impacts foreign policy at a public session of the Northern Westchester Great Decisions chapter of the Foreign Policy Association at the Katonah Village Library on May 4 at 8 p.m. A question-and-answer period will follow Mr. Reid’s talk.

Mr. Reid, a native of Purchase, N.Y., is currently Chairman of the Council of American Ambassadors. He was a Congressman from 1961 to 1974 and U.S. Ambassador to Israel from 1959 to 1961. In Congress, he served on several key committees, including Foreign Affairs, Education and Labor, and Government Operations. He chaired the New York State commission on Human Rights in 1961 and later became Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. From 1953 to 1959, he was president and editor of the New York Herald Tribune. His business experience has included membership on the boards of several corporations. A graduate of Yale University, he served as a First Lieutenant of Parachute Infantry in World War II. Currently, he is editor of “The Ambassadors Review,” a quarterly magazine published by the Council of American Ambassadors, a nonpartisan, professional organization established in 1983.

Open speaker sessions are co-sponsored by the Katonah chapter of the Great Decisions Program and the Katonah Village Library. The Great Decisions group, which meets ten times a year, is one of several national chapters sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association, a national, independent, non-governmental, nonprofit educational organization headquartered in New York City.

The Great Decisions Program is the oldest grassroots world affairs organization in the U.S. and provides programs and publications for use in schools, communities and businesses. Members of the Katonah group include retired teachers, lawyers, government officials, business executives, journalists and authors. A $10 contribution to the Katonah Village Library is suggested to attendees of public sessions. For more information, please call Fred Piker, Discussion Leader, at (914) 232-7061.

April is Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month

Celebrate National Poetry Month - Read a Poem by Your Favorite Author.

As the Academy of American Poets say on their website National Poetry Month was

"[i]naugurated by the Academy in April 1996, National Poetry Month (NPM) brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events."

Young Hilda Conkling's definition of poems is very apt:

Poems come like boats
With sails for wings;
Crossing the sky swiftly
They slip under tall bridges of cloud
(Poems by a Little Girl, 1920)

You can find out more about poets and poems at:

The Academy of American Poets

The Poetry Foundation

The librarians in the Westchester Library System have put together a page
with all kinds of information about poetry at:

WLS Poetry

The month of April is also celebrated as:

National Autism Awareness Month
Jazz Appreciations Month
Alcohol Awareness Month
Appreciate Diversity Month
Cancer Control Month
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Couple Appreciation Month
Donate Life Month
Fresh Florida Tomato Month
Grange Month
Holy Humor Month
Informed Woman Month
Injury Prevention Month
International Customer Loyalty Month

and last, but not least,
International Twit Award Month
International Daffynitions Month

The above list was obtained from Chase's Calender of Events 2006 (McGraw-Hill), which is available in the reference section of the library at Dewey Decimal number 394.2 C.