What's in Your Library Bag Wednesday??? A Movie and some music

     For this week's edition of What's in Your Library Bag Wednesday, I thought I'd do a little review of a movie I watched recently.Temple Grandin is about a young woman with Autism and how she overcomes lots of odds stacked against her and learns to cope with her condition so that she can go to school and learn to help animals; specifically cows. The  movie begins with Temple going to visit her aunt's cattle ranch out West. A cool thing the movie does right from the beginning is show us with pictures and diagrams how Temple's mind with Autism works. For example, as they are pulling into her aunt's ranch, she gets out to swing the gate open and her mind is working through the angles the gate goes through to open. A little later in the film, Temple actually builds a self opener for the gate from these angles and images she sees in her head. There is another scene in school where the teacher asks Temple to read a page in the book. She looks at it and says, "Read it." The teacher doesn't believe her, and takes the book asking her to tell him what it says and she proceeds to read the page verbatim from the picture in her mind. Interspersed throughout the movie are flashbacks to when she was first diagnosed, how her mother dealt with it, kids in school, changing schools, and a teacher that had a great impact on her life.
    Not only does Temple need to overcome the obstacle of Autism, she must also overcome male chauvanism in her chosen field of study. Temple was born in the 1960s and went to college to study animal husbandry, more specifically cows. She visited feed lots and wrote her thesis on 'mooing'.She believed that cows were only raised for us so we should treat them with respect and not scare them all the time even if they are going to slaughter. The men in charge don't think that she belongs there and they do all they can to intimidate her. But, she stands tall for what she believes in and keeps coming back. The movie portrays her difficulties quite well, and I am sure we can all relate to a situation where someone felt they were superior to us, be it a man or just another person.
     This movie is actually based on the real life of Temple Grandin. Over 50 percent of the slaughterhouses in the United States today follow her design and she is also a professor that lectures worldwide on Autism. She beat the odds and shows us that Autism means "Different, but not less."



And Now for Some Music...

2nd Annual Beat the Blues Event
Friday, January 28th
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Music is free to all with pie/ice cream available for purchase. Proceeds going to support libraries in Haiti.

So, if you are feelin' "blue" this winter, come on in to the library and enjoy some good old fashioned blues music and company!