June 19 -why Juneteenth is important

What is Juneteenth and why does it matter? It’s a little-known part of the history of emancipation from slavery, and part of the twisted, delayed, and elusive process of African-American freedom. There are other, more historically significant dates in emancipation history:  Sept. 22: the day Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Order in 1862 Jan. […]

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Graphic: Mesa County Libraries logo

IQ by Joe Ide

If you read IQ, by Joe Ide, and are reminded of Sherlock Holmes, you’re not wrong. Ide grew up in South L.A. and devoured the Conan Doyle stories. His creation, Isaiah Quintabe, is a young black man almost destroyed by grief and rage when his older brother/surrogate parent Marcus is killed by a hit-and-run driver. […]

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Local History Thursday: Renaissance Man Al Look

What didn’t Al Look do? In his life, the longtime Grand Junction resident homesteaded near Dove Creek, Colorado, worked as an advertising manager for Durango and Grand Junction newspapers, wrote a popular column for The Daily Sentinel, became a knowledgeable amateur archaeologist, geologist and paleontologist who was involved with important dinosaur and Paleo-Indian digs in […]

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Bilingual Latinx Board Books

If you love bilingual books, Latin American culture, and music then the books being published by Lil’ Libros will warm your heart. In an effort to promote early biliteracy and bilingualism, Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein founded Lil’ Libros in order to publish board books about topics that many Latinos would find familiar and non-Latinos […]

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My personal summer reading program

It’s June now, and some misguided busybody will probably tell you to get outside, be active, and soak in the summer rays. Please do not listen to them; you will only become sweaty and demoralized. To maximize comfort and optimize reading time, here are a few tips from The Laziest Woman in Town: Find a nice, […]

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Quench your True Crime Thirst

I have always been drawn to true crime, mostly because the whodunit of it all makes me feel like a Mystery Gang member (zoinks). I usually satisfy my true crime need with documentaries, TV shows, and podcasts. But with the recent arrest of a suspect in the Golden State Killer case a few months after the release […]

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