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EFFINGHAM — Effingham Public Library has announced two upcoming educational opportunities.
Creative writing group for adults
Storycrafters, a creative writing group for adults, will meet Saturday, Jan. 15, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Luttrell Room.
Facilitated by Matt Hopkins, programming coordinator, “Storycrafters is a group focused on gathering adult creative writers together (those 18 or older) so that we can support one another toward writing the great stories we all want to tell.”
Group size is intentionally kept small with just seven participants so registration is required for this free event.
Storycrafters is designed to tackle the challenges of: organizing ideas, structuring plot, developing believable characters, creating convincing dialogue, becoming a descriptive writer, and in general improving skills as a creative writer.
Writers of all genres of fiction are welcome, including those who are working on poetry, memoirs, and journaling.
In-person computer classes
There will be two, free computer classes in January. To ensure the best learning experience, class size is very limited and registration is required.
This class will cover the basics of computers step-by-step, how to launch the default web browser, how to power search with Google, use email, block advertisements, and download and install programs and apps like Zoom, Chrome and more.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptop if they have one; otherwise, laptops will be provided.
This class will help users take control of their news feeds, manage privacy, understand marketplace safety and discuss facial recognition.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptop, tablet or other device that they access Facebook with. If an attendee doesn’t have one, a laptop will be provided.
Go online to effinghamlibrary.org or call 217-342-2464 ext. 1 to register to attend these free events.
For more information, contact Lisa Hutson, programming and reference coordinator, at 217-342-2464 or [email protected].
From the Nov. 22, 1992, Journal Gazette, this photo of Cosmic Blue Comics in Mattoon; where I spent virtually every Saturday afternoon for about two years. That small back room you see just off to the right of the Coca-Cola sign was where they kept the many, and I mean many, long-boxes of back issues. I still own my bagged copy of “Tales of the Beanworld” issue No. 1 that I found back there. Sadly, this location is now just a “greenspace”.
Pictured, Shelbyville’s Bob Murray from the June 2, 1982, Journal Gazette, displaying his dominance over the TRON arcade game at the “Carousel Time” arcade at the Cross County Mall, later to be the Aladdin’s Castle, soon thereafter to be not a thing anymore. I spent just about every Saturday at that arcade, perhaps with that exact same haircut. No overalls, though. I was more of an “Ocean Pacific” kind of kid.
Pictured, from the Nov. 28, 1988, Journal Gazette, Icenogle’s grocery store. Being from Cooks Mills, we didn’t often shop at Icenogle’s…but when we did, even as a kid, I knew it was the way a grocery store is supposed to be in a perfect world, and that’s not just because they had wood floors, comic books on the magazine rack, or plenty, and I mean plenty, of trading cards in wax packs.
I had long since moved away from Cooks Mills by the time this Showcase item about Adam’s Groceries ran in the June 13, 1998, Journal Gazette, but there was a time when I very well could have been one of those kids in that photo; for if it was summer, and you had a bike, and you lived in Cooks Mills, that’s where you ended up. At last report, they still had Tab in the Pepsi-branded cooler in the back. I’m seriously considering asking my money guy if I could afford to reopen this place.
Pictured, from the July 16, 1987, Journal Gazette, this ad for Mister Music, formerly located in the Cross County Mall. I wasn’t buying records at that age, but I would eventually, and that’s where it all went down. If you don’t think it sounds “cool” to hang out at a record store with your buddies on a Friday night, a piping-hot driver’s license fresh in your wallet, you’d be right. But it’s the best a geek like me could do. Wherever you are today, owners of Mister Music, please know that a Minutemen album I found in your cheap bin changed my life.
Portrait of the author as a young man, about to throw a guitar through a target at that year’s Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest, from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette. Check out my grunge-era hoodie, and yes…look carefully, those are Air Jordans you see on my feet. Addendum: despite what the cutline says, I did not win a guitar.
Pictured, clipped from the online archives at JG-TC.com, a photo from the April 18, 1994, Journal Gazette of Sound Source Music Guitar Throwing Contest winner, and current JG-TC staff writer, Clint Walker.
Here today, gone tomorrow, Vette’s Teen Club, from the June 20, 1991, Journal Gazette. I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out at Vette’s back in it’s “heyday,” and by “cool enough” I mean, “not proficient enough in parking lot fights.” If only I could get a crack at it now.
FutureGen: The end of the beginning, and eventually, the beginning of the end, from the Dec. 19, 2007, JG-TC. I wish I had been paying more attention at the time. I probably should have been reading the newspaper.
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Visit the Charleston Public Library during the month of January for these exciting events!
The Charleston Carnegie Public Library has been awarded the funds for “Coles County COVID-19 Assistance Program” beginning January 2022.
The meeting was held at the Tarble Arts Center on the EIU campus.
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