Category: Uncategorized

When you don’t know what to say

Liam asked me what I had in my hand.   I said that it was a needle.   He shuddered involuntarily and said, “Ewwww.”  I live and work in this neighborhood.  So, I immediately understood his reaction.  “Not that kind of needle.  A needle for sewing,” I said.   The area surrounding McPherson Square Branch is an open air drug… Read more →

My Last Blog Post

  Meet The Mentor Chieuanh Nguyen joined the Maker Jawn family in January of 2016. She graduated from Dickinson College with a major in Biology and minor in East Asian Studies. She speaks both conversational Vietnamese and Japanese. During high school, she was in a robotic club for two years, where she participated in the SeaPerch Challenge at Drexel University.… Read more →

Updates on Summer Programming 2016

Summer Programming There are many, new changes to the Maker Jawn programming to accompany the summer schedule. This include no programming on Fridays and Saturdays. The time have also changed to 1:00-4:00pm instead of the usual 3:00-6:00pm. Unfortunately, since there are no Saturday programming, there will be no Maker Celebration during the summer. There are also many positive and exciting things… Read more →

Summertime at Widener

The school year has just ended and we’re getting into the groove of summer programming at Widener library. Generally summer attendance is lower at the libraries and while I tend to initially worry about this (like “where are all my friends!!”), in real life, smaller attendance means higher quality programming since I’m able to spend one on one time with… Read more →

Spring in the rearview mirror

Wow.  Spring has turned to summer, and the program at McPherson Square is beginning to burst at the seems.  This seems like a good moment to reflect on the what has come and what is yet to come.   When I think back to the winter at McPherson, the Maker Jawn program was quite different than it is now.  I… Read more →

Cool Bird Houses

When I first read over Bryan’s wooden birdhouse curriculum, I felt excited to be bringing carpentry into the library and introducing the makers to new “heavier-duty” tools and construction materials. But I was also intimidated by the prospect of a handsaw and hammer in a crowded room full of rambunctious kids. How would we make this loud, messy, and possibly… Read more →