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Connection: Crystal City Pop-up Library Closing December 27, 2019

Thank You for Three Great Years

After 3 years in Crystal City, the Connection Pop-up Library will close its doors on December 27, 2019.

The Library would like to thank everyone who has supported the Connection Pop-up Library and the staff who have worked there.

The Connection opened its doors in September of 2016 and was planned as a temporary pop-up project designed to integrate the Library into the daily lives of Arlington residents in Crystal City. This closure is a mutual decision between the County and the landlord, JBG, and was written into the leasing agreement.

Connection patrons are encouraged to use the Aurora Hills Branch Library, located 0.8 miles west on 18th Street, behind Fire Station 5.

Please note the following dates, which may affect your service:

  • Tuesday, Dec. 3 - Connection: Crystal City can no longer be chosen as a location for new holds.
  • Friday, Dec. 20 - External book drop closes.
  • Saturday, Dec. 21 - Last day to pick up holds at the Connection. Any holds arriving after December 21 will be routed to the Aurora Hills Branch.

If you would like to change your location to a different branch, please speak with a staff member.

Serving our Communities in Ever Evolving Ways

Pop-ups allow libraries to innovate, engage with new users and experiment with new service models. The Library and staff are very grateful for the opportunities we had in Crystal City.

Thank you for your continued support of Arlington Public Library.

Make Your Holiday Shopping Easy with Consumer Reports

Looking for the Perfect Gift?

wife leaning over husband to give him a hug as he opens a gift

Each year Consumer Reports’ experts test thousands of the latest products and services, to bring you buying recommendations you can trust.

And it's free with your library card!

Explore Consumer Reports Now

Use the Library’s online subscription to get test results, ratings, reviews and buying guides on everything from coffee makers, bike helmets and treadmills, to airlines, home security systems and car insurance.

This year's Holiday Guide also includes the best Black Friday deals on robotic vacuums, TVs, mattresses, cars and refrigerators.

Groovin’ On the Pike: December 6

First Friday Dance Parties are back at Columbia Pike Branch Library!

Visit the Columbia Pike Branch Library on the First Friday of each month from 7 – 9 p.m. for an after-hours, all ages dance party!

December 6- The Grandsons are moving and shaking into their 3rd decade in the world of rock and roll! Recently, the group released their first ever holiday CD, “Christmas with The Grandsons,” and headlined at the world-famous 930 Club in Washington DC. The roots-rock quartet has performed extensively throughout the US and has even toured internationally in Germany, France, Canada, Taiwan, and the British & US Virgin Islands. In 2012, the band received an Arts Envoy grant from the US State Department to perform for a week in El Salvador.

Please RSVP to receive an event reminder and to help us plan for refreshments and supplies.

For more information, call 703-228-5710. Co-sponsored by ArlingtonArts and Arlington Public Library.

The Library Director’s 2019 Playlist

Forever "Too Cool for Yule"

Years ago I began creating a holiday playlist each November, known variously as “Don’t Touch that Dial,” the “Too Cool for Yule” blog, and more simply, the Director’s Playlist.

Each playlist is a collection of seasonal tunes -- from schlock (hopefully not too much of that) to rock and everything in between. By now we have managed to amass quite an eclectic set of “mix tapes.” This year is no exception.

Before you start clicking and singing along, however, a couple of explanatory notes (pun intended) are in order:

Peter Tork (born Torkelson in 1942 in Washington, DC) died earlier this year.  Known as the keyboardist and bass player of The Monkees, Tork, along with Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones, formed the mid-sixties American answer to the Beatles and over the course of their career sold over 75 million records worldwide.  Not bad for a made for TV band (track 5).

Soul singer Roberta Flack (track 13) was raised in Arlington, and rose to prominence singing upstairs at Mr. Henry’s, the Capitol Hill bar and restaurant.  Established in 1966 by Henry Jaffe, within two years Jaffe hired a local school teacher to sing in the pub. “She told me that if I could give her work three nights a week, she could quit teaching,” Jaffe later recalled.  The singer, none other than Roberta Flack, would go on to win four Grammys for the songs “Killing Me Softly” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”

I’ve closed this playlist as I did last year’s list with a song by Bob Dylan whose lyrics are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them. Released as the title track of his 1964 album of the same name, “The Times they are a Changin'” was Dylan’s attempt to create an anthem of change. Read through the lyrics and see if you agree.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Open playlist in Spotify

Whether you eat Chinese food and see a movie on Christmas Day, attend a church, binge watch “Mindhunter,” curl up with a good book or board game you borrowed from the library, or sit quietly with your thoughts, all of us at Arlington Public Library wish you and yours the very best.

Diane

Scrawled DK signature

Transgender Day of Remembrance – November 20

Read About Transgender Lives

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

buttons in the colors of the Transgender flag

The week before TDOR, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise visibility for transgender people and address issues the community faces.

You can learn more about transgender lives with these recent memoirs by trans authors:

Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Thanksgiving Crafts and Storytimes

Westover Drop-In Kids Program: Thanksgiving
Monday Nov. 18, 1:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Wednesday Nov. 20, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Aurora Hills Family Fun: Make a Thanksgiving Craft

Saturday Nov. 23, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Glencarlyn Thanksgiving Storytime and Crafts

Saturday Nov. 23, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Cherrydale Thanksgiving Storytime and Crafts

This Week in 19th Amendment History: The Night of Terror

November 14, 1917

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Just over 100 years ago this week, on November 14, 1917, a group of suffragists underwent a horrifying night of torture and abuse that would come to be known as the “Night of Terror.”

33 women protesters were taken to the Occoquan Workhouse in Fairfax County and subjected to brutal treatment by the prison’s guards in retaliation for the women’s ongoing peaceful protest for the right to vote.

Some of the picket line on Nov. 10, 1917. Left to right: Mrs. Catherine Martinette, Eagle Grove, Iowa. Mrs. William Kent, Kentfield, California. Miss Mary Bartlett Dixon, Easton, Md. Mrs. C.T. Robertson, Salt Lake City, Utah. Miss Cora Week, New York City. Miss Amy Ju[e]ngling, Buffalo, N.Y. Miss Ha. Harris & Ewing, Washington, D.C. (Photographer). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The arrest and imprisonment of the women was the culmination of months of organized protest. In response to the reelection of Woodrow Wilson, members of the National Woman’s Party (sometimes referred to as the “Silent Sentinels”) picketed for months outside of the White House. Bolstered by banners, signs, and a consistent physical presence, they called for the president to back a federal amendment granting women the right to vote (by 1917, nine U.S. states had extended voting rights to women).

The protests – carried out on a rotating basis to ensure a constant presence at the White House - had gone smoothly following their start after Wilson’s reelection. Wilson had even invited protesters inside the White House for coffee, although the invitation was declined.

But the mood changed after the U.S. entry into World War I, on April 6, 1917. The heightened patriotic fervor made criticism of the government more and more fraught, and members of the suffrage movement suffered for their outspoken and visible criticism of the president.

Policewoman arrests Florence Youmans of Minnesota and Annie Arniel (center) of Delaware for refusing to give up their banners. June 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Helena Hill Weed, of Norwalk, CT, serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." July 6-8, 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

In June 1917, members of the ongoing picket began to get arrested. By October, police issued an ultimatum: if the picket continued, protesters could face sentences of up to six months in prison. Many of the arrested protesters were charged with “obstructing traffic” or given fines.

Hunger strikes emerged in the jails and workhouses where protesters were held, leading to force-feeding and other violent practices carried out by prison staff. In response to this, leader Alice Paul marched from the National Woman’s Party headquarters to the White House with a banner reading: “The time has come to conquer or submit for there is but one choice - we have made it” - the same slogan President Wilson used on posters encouraging Americans to buy war bonds.

The day after the police announce that future pickets would be given limit of 6 mos. in prison, Alice Paul led picket line with banner reading "The time has come to conquer or submit for there is but one choice - we have made it." October 20, 1917, Harris & Ewing, Washington, D.C. (Photographer). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Ten months into the ongoing picketing efforts, on November 13, 1917, 33 women were arrested around the White House. By the next day, they arrived at the Occoquan Workhouse, where, demanding to be recognized as political prisoners, they refused to put on prison uniforms or participate in the mandated work shifts.

Cell blocks at Occoquan [Workhouse], ca. 1917, Harris & Ewing, Washington, D.C. (Photographer). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The prison guards responded with violence. On orders from Occoquan Superintendent W.H. Whittaker, guards physically assaulted the women and threw them into dark and filthy cells.

One suffragist, Dora Lewis, was violently thrown down, hitting her head on an iron bed. Alice Cosu, who witnessed this, suffered a heart attack and did not receive medical treatment until the next day.  Organizer Lucy Burns was chained with her hands over her head to the bars in her cell and forced to stand for the entirety of the night.  Fellow protester Julia Emory assumed the same position for the night in solidarity.

One of the protesters, Doris Stevens, wrote an account of the “Night of Terror” entitled “Jailed for Freedom,” which chronicled the events of their imprisonment. She included excerpts of Lucy Burn’s accounts, which were recorded clandestinely during her imprisonment on scraps of paper and smuggled out of the workhouse.

 

Miss [Lucy] Burns in Occoquan Workhouse, November 1917, Harris & Ewing, Washington, D.C. (Photographer). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Burns writes: “(Whittaker) refused to hear our demand for political rights. Seized by guards from behind, flung off my feet, and shot out of the room. All of us were seized by men guards and dragged to cells in men’s part.”

During their time in Occoquan, many arrestees resorted to hunger strikes. In response to this, the guards force-fed the women raw eggs and milk, causing them to become ill.  At one point, marines from the nearby Quantico Station were brought in to support the Occoquan guards.  By the time the women were released, many were too weak to walk on their own.

Kate Heffelfinger after her release from Occoquan Prison, ca. 1917. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The imprisoned suffragists were returned to D.C. after a November 23 ruling determined that, since they were arrested in D.C., it was illegal to incarcerate them in Virginia.  By November 28, they were out on bail, and by March of the following year, all of their arrests had been declared unconstitutional.

In early January 1918, President Wilson expressed his support for the voting rights amendment, which passed in the House but failed in Senate.  It would take until 1920 before the amendment was formally incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. The “Night of Terror” remains a pivotal point in the struggle for suffrage, a true show of the solidarity of the protesters and the lengths to which they would go for their cause – and the lengths their opposition would go to hamper their efforts.

Research sources used in this piece:

Read about Gertrude Crocker, Arlington's own Silent Sentinel suffragette, also jailed multiple time in 1917.

Learn more in these books available at the Library:

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

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