Your library needs you: The Birmingham Public Library recently suffered drastic funding cuts made by a cash-strapped City of Birmingham. That’s why BPL has started a fund drive. All donations are tax-deductible and go directly toward buying books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and audio books (BPL’s budget for these items was cut by 48 percent in July, according to the library’s web site). Even small donations help—$10 will buy a paperback book and $25 will buy a hardback book or DVD. And there are three easy ways to donate—in person at any BPL location; online at www.bpoline.org; or by mail, at Birmingham Public Library, 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL 35203. Make out your checks to BPL Campaign 2010. Libraries are wonderful places. Don’t take them for granted, folks. For information, call (205) 226-3610.
BMA garden gets kudos: The Charles W. Ireland Sculpture Garden at the Birmingham Museum of Art is a beautiful place, as regular BMA visitors will attest. Now the rest of the county will know how cool it is, thanks to the American Planning Association. The APA named the garden one of its “Great Places In America” for 2010 in the “Great Public Spaces” category, along with such jewels as New York’s Bryant Park and San Francisco’s Ferry Building. The Ireland “breaks all preconceptions about a sculpture garden experience,” according to the APA web site. “Here is a place to have fun and interact with the environment and artwork, a place that is welcoming to all—even the visually impaired, who ‘see’ the sculptures through their sense of touch.” To read more and see a slide show of images from the garden, visit www.planning.org/greatplaces.
Keep it in your pants: Preening narcissist and (formerly) great NFL quarterback Brett Favre—also know as The Perennially Unshaven One—is definitely on the hot seat. As everyone in the Western world already knows, the Minnesota Vikings gunslinger is being investigated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his minions for sexual harassment. The 41-year-old Favre is accused of “sexting” Jenn Sterger, a young female sideline reporter with the New York Jets, in 2008 while Favre was serving a one-year stint as Jets starting QB. It has been reported that the future Hall of Famer sent the young lady pictures of his, uh, equipment (and we don’t mean his shoulder pads). We’re sure that his wife is not amused. If this is true, Favre is one dumb cracker. Do these jocks think they can get away with this stuff?
The spill ain’t over: BP finally capped their Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico, but the economic and environmental ramifications of the spill continue, and we the people need good, continuing coverage of the story. We’re happy to report that Birmingham’s public radio outlet, WBHM-FM, is partnering with other public radio and TV outlets in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana to do just that. The Gulf Coast Consortium is a multi-media project to expand reporting on the spill and is funded by a $538,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to a WBHM news release. “WBHM will be sending reporters to the coast regularly to explore the long-term ramifications for the environment, the economy and the people of Alabama,” according to WBHM news director Tanya Ott. You can find WBHM on your radio dial at 90.3 FM or at www.wbhm.org.
Christian Louboutin
