Share Your Thoughts on “False Star” by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain

Read the short story “False Star” by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain about a young Blackfeet man who turns eighteen and comes into money due to him from a claim check. Leave a comment on this blog post in response to the suggested discussion questions below.

In the beginning of HolyWhiteMountain’s story from the March 20, 2023 issue of the New Yorker, the narrator explains: “As far back as I could remember, I had heard discussion of claim checks. There was something elemental about it: the talk circled round in a seasonal way. People joked about being claim-check rich and then later laughed about being claim-check broke. They bought claim-check cars, got claim-check drunk, and some got claim-check married. That’s how it was for us for a long time, until the money ran out. The Feds are never more careful with limits and end dates on their moral awakenings than they are with us, such is the concern that we might steal the whole country right out from under them. Then we were back to where we were before, a bunch of broke skins way out on the Northern Plains, teasing one another. So this is a story about how I got my part of the money, how I spent it, and the people in my life at that time, such as Big Man, who raised me, and of course June, who I loved before any other, and who has been gone now longer than any of us had the chance to know her when she was alive.” 

Read the story in Flipster, a platform that offers access to hundreds of digital magazines, and click "Post a comment" or "comment," below, to share your thoughts on these discussion questions. 

• Have you ever come into a windfall of a large sum of money like the narrator in the story? What did you spend it on?  
• In “False Star,” the narrator ultimately buys a black Bronco which transforms him into "look[ing] rich or at least like a real fancy guy” (53). Later he describes having a car as the equivalent of an Indian having a good warhorse. What was your first car and how did getting it transform the way you saw yourself?  
• In many ways, this is a story about the Blackfeet and their land—the claim check that is the catalyst for the story stems from the tribe selling the Sweet Grass Hills to the U.S. Federal Government during a period of duress. How does the environment play a role in this story? Feel free to quote sections of text that describe the land. What effect do these descriptions have on the overall narrative?

Resources  

• “False Star” by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, The New Yorker, March 20, 2023 (text)
• Sterling HolyWhiteMountain Reads “False Star” on the New Yorker's Writer's Voice podcast (audio)
  
• Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, New Yorker Interview with Willing Davidson, March 13, 2023 (text)
  

Digital Newspapers In Spanish

Read newspapers from all over the world in Spanish by using the platform PressReader. There you can find US newspapers in Spanish, newspapers from countries where Spanish is an official language, and newspapers in Spanish from countries you wouldn't expect (like Switzerland and China!). 

Don't know what PressReader is? It's a website and an app available through SFPL that provides digital versions of thousands of popular magazines and newspapers exactly the way the print publication appears. See more:

FAQ:  Q. How do I access newspapers and magazines on PressReader? 

Blog post: Tutorial: PressReader and The Economist

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to read Spanish language newspapers in PressReader. These instructions are for a desktop/laptop experience in a web browser. Following them on the app will be similar, but may be different. 

1. Navigate to PressReader

You can do this in a variety of ways, including through the Articles & Databases menu on the SFPL website, the eMagazines and eNews menu, the SFPL FAQ knowledge base, or through this direct link. 

2. Select Newspapers

After closing the initial "hot spot" page menu, go down the page until you see the Newspapers section. Click Newspapers. 

3. Find the Language Menu

Look on the right side of the PressReader screen for a menu that says All Languages. Click that to expand the language options. Choose Spanish and click done. 

Screenshot showing location of the Language menu on the right of the screen. Click to enlarge.

4. Find the Country/Region Menu

Further refine the selection of Spanish language newspapers in front of you by clicking the menu next to the language menu, All Countries/Regions. Here you can pick a country, including most countries in Central and South America, some in the Caribbean, as well as countries in Europe. 

Screenshot showing location of the Country/Region menu on the right of the screen. Click to enlarge.

5. Bonus: Create an Account

Bonus step - create an account to "heart" a publication and add it to your favorites. If you do this, next time you bring up PressReader, your favorite Spanish-language newspaper will be at the top of the list. This is an optional step that is not necessary, but if you want to do it, just look for the green "Sign-Up" button on the top right of the screen in PressReader. 

Screenshot showing location of green heart to "add to my publications" on a newspaper landing page. Click to enlarge.

Captivated by PressReader now? It offers additional language features. Check out the short article Translating Titles & Articles. You can also change the interface display language by going to the top right corner of the screen, clicking on the three dots, and changing the language from English to your preference. For power users who are logged into their account, it is possible to Set Up Topics in your saved searches, and indicate Spanish or any other language as your preference there.

Thursday! PressReader and Flipster Tutorial

Visit the Main Library for Tech Week, October 5-12, and catch the Magazines and Newspapers Center tutorial about reading periodicals on two popular platforms, PressReader and Flipster. Nearly any popular magazine you can think of is available on one of these apps, and you can get newspapers in dozens of languages from all over the world on PressReader! 

Tutorial: PressReader and Flipster

Thursday, 10/10/2024
12:00 - 1:00

Computer Training Center - 5th Fl

Main Library

Address

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA94102

Learn about the two eMagazines platforms available to library card holders via sfpl.org/enews. Each has a collection of publications the other doesn’t and apps that allow you to download magazines for offline reading.  

Presented by a Magazines & Newspapers Center librarian. 

Find out more ahead of the tutorial:

PressReader FAQ entry: https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/167356

Flipster FAQ entry: https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/167139

See event listing on the SFPL master calendar. 

Share Your Thoughts on "Lola's Story"

It's Filipino American History Month at the Magazines and Newspapers Center, and to embrace the theme we are conducting a read-along discussion that you can do anytime, anywhere this month.  

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Read the article “Lola’s Story” by Alex Tizon about a Filipino-American family’s slave and respond to the piece on a digital discussion board or leave a comment here on the blog. Visit the Magazines and Newspapers Center on the 5th floor of the Main Library to pick up print-outs of the article and author's bio. 

Alex Tizon’s piece in the June, 2017 issue of the Atlantic begins: “She lived with my family for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings, and cooked and cleaned from dawn to dark —always without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized she was my family’s slave.” In the following 13 pages, Tizon explores how his grandfather “gave” this woman named Lola to his mother for her 18th birthday, how Lola eventually immigrated to the U.S. with his family and his own process of coming to terms with her caste as a slave within the family. In addition, Tizon masterfully teases out the nuances of the complex emotional bonds each family member formed with Lola and how those bonds affected each family member’s relationship with others in the family.  

Read the article in Flipster, a platform that offers access to hundreds of digital magazines, and share your answers to these questions on our digital discussion board or leave a comment here on the blog. 

1. Does your family’s legacy include any difficult truths similar to the secret held by the author’s family? What effect did it have on your family?  
2. There’s a Filipino value called “Utang na loob,” which translates to “debt of the heart.” Where do you see Lola enacting that value? Do you see other characters enacting it towards Lola?  
3. How does the value of “Utang na loob,” translated as “debt of the heart,” apply to non-Filipino families? Describe how you have seen a similar value enacted in other cultures.  
4. What other examples of modern-day slavery can you think of that would be relevant to the consideration of this piece? 

Resources  

“Lola’s Story” by Alex Tizon, The Atlantic, June 2017  

Alex Tizon – Author Profile & Obituary – The Atlantic, June 2017 

Share Your Thoughts – Digital Discussion Board  

Display in the Periodicals Reading Room with physical copies of the article "Lola's Story" by Alex Tizon. Visit the 5th floor of the Main Library to check it out!

Upcoming Programs in the Environmental Center

We've got back-to-back programs this month that are crossover events with the Stegner Environmental Center and the Magazines and Newspapers Center, both in-person at the Main Library here in Civic Center. We hope you can join us! 

 

Speaker: Alejandro Lazo of CalMatters

Tuesday, 10/29/2024
5:30 - 6:30

Environmental Center Exhibit Space - 5th Fl

Main Library

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA94102

Local journalist Alejandro Lazo will speak about CA environmental issues, from his view at the nonprofit news site CalMatters. The site description says CalMatters "[brings] Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable." Short Q&A to follow his remarks.

As we head towards Election Day, bring your questions about environmental issues and how they intersect with the ballot.

See event listing on the SFPL master calendar.

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Author: Rosanna Xia in conversation with Tyrone Jue

Los Angeles Times Journalist in conversation 

with Director of SF Environment

Wednesday, 10/30/2024
6:00 - 7:00

Environmental Center Exhibit Space - 5th Fl

Main Library

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA94102

 

Author Rosanna Xia will discuss stories from her book California Against the Sea (Heyday Books, out now in paperback). In this compelling book, voices of Indigenous leaders, community activists, small-town mayors, urban engineers, and environmental scientists discuss what responses we need for rising ocean levels along our state. Rosanna Xia is an environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Tyrone Jue is Director of SF Environment. He leads the City’s efforts to advance climate action, environmental justice, and sustainability policies. He grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood witnessing firsthand the environmental challenges faced by underserved communities, leading to a career in public service.

Local store Dog Eared Books will be available to sell copies of the title at this event.

An RSVP is appreciated, but not required. Please write to EnvironmentalCenter@sfpl.org 

See event listing on the SFPL master calendar.

 

What We're Reading Sept 2024

September was abuzz with news from our deceased pop culture royalty, court case rulings very germane to the business of ebooks in libraries, the dividends of newspaper research, and useful advice in a small business-newspaper crossover event. Read on to get a glimpse of what librarians on the 5th floor of the Main Library were reading in September. 

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The Prince We Never Knew

New York Times Magazine, Sept. 8, 2024

NYT Mag journalist Sasha Weiss spent a year and a half reporting on a documentary of Prince that will probably never be released. Weiss, as one of the few people who have seen it, dispatches the intensity of the documentary, which can be summed up by the following quotes from director Ezra Edelman: “How can you tell the truth about someone who, when you’re talking to people, they all had different things to say?... How can you tell the truth about someone who never told the truth about himself?”

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Why a ruling against the Internet Archive threatens the future of America’s libraries

MIT Technology Review, Sept. 11, 2024 

The Internet Archive received a harsh blow to its mission of making books digitally available the way a brick-and-mortar library would lend books this month when "the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reaffirmed that decision with some alterations to the underlying reasoning," according to this opinion piece by Chris Lewis. The crisis highlights the stranglehold book publishers have over libraries wanting to buy titles in ebook formats, which are priced at up to 300% of the consumer price, and have DRM, or digital rights management, installed on them, causing the books to "self-destruct" once a loan or purchase period ends. *N.B. while SFPL offers the MIT Technology Review in many formats, including on Flipster, this article is an online-only piece and was not published in the print magazine. 

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A boy snatched from a California park in 1951 is found living on the East Coast

NPR, Sept. 24, 2024  

Archival newspaper research can literally reunite families and solve mysteries! The family of a man kidnapped as a child from a park in Oakland conducted newspaper research at the Oakland Public Library in addition to other approaches to find their long-lost uncle. Now we wonder if our newspaper collections at SFPL have ever helped a cause so noble. 

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How to open a bakery in 61 easy steps

San Francisco Business Times, Sept. 19, 2024 

While the title of this piece reads more like a satire from the Onion, the many convoluted steps to opening a business in San Francisco are real. The good news for aspiring entrepreneurs is that the San Francisco Business Times has you covered, starting with offering this in-depth list of necessary steps one must take. SFPL's Business Center will take you the rest of the way. *N.B.: SFPL offers the San Francisco Business Times full text for free through our eNews site and on the Articles and Databases site.