Tutorial: Read Essence Magazine on Flipster and in Print

Tutorial: Read Essence Magazine on Flipster and in Print 

• Wed., February 26, 2025, 11 am - 12 noon
• Fri., February 28, 2025, 1 pm - 2 pm (Encore)
• Computer Training Center, 5th Floor Main Library 

Find out how to use the Library’s tools to read Essence magazine online and in print and get help troubleshooting Flipster, the eMagazines platform. Bring your iPad, smart phone, or tablet for hands-on help using the Flipster app. Library computers will also be available. 

Did you know SFPL provides access to the complete archive of Essence magazine issues? Learn how to use the Periodical Finder tool to look up different ways to read Essence through the Library, with an emphasis on reading new issues on Flipster. We’ll also have a selection of vintage Essence issues from the Main Library’s bound magazine collection on hand for you to browse. Every month the new issue of Essence is on display in the 5th floor reading room at the Main Library, as well as at eleven other SFPL locations.  

Essence magazine was founded in 1968 as a lifestyle magazine directed at upscale African American women and the first issue was published in May 1970. Since then it has been continuously published on a regular basis (in 2020 it switched from a monthly to a bi-monthly) and remains a pillar in Black publishing. Read about the magazine’s 50th anniversary on the Essence website to learn more about the life and legacy of the people who made the magazine into a singular publication with a unique voice. Check out co-founder Edward Lewis’s autobiography The Man from Essence: Creating a Magazine for Black Women to learn about the magazine from a firsthand entrepreneurial perspective.  

Flipster is an eMagazines platform that works on a desktop Internet browser or as an app on your iOS or Android device. Read more about Flipster. 

Librarians from the Magazines and Newspapers Center will be on hand to lead this workshop and offer personalized support to participants. 

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

 

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!