Welcome to February!

Black History Month

Welcome to Black History Month! Don't forget to check out our books on display.

In celebration of Black History Month, we have our Periodic Table of Black History on display.

The periodic table has been transformed into a small section of black history in America display. Each element has a name of a person and a QR code for more information of that person and their great achievements in history and, or currently making headway for.

We also have an online option for our book display if you are unable to make it to campus to view our selection. We will rotate books out on display throughout the month as we have many to display, so we will update the webpage as necessary.

Bookmark Contest!

Are you ready for a contest? This year's theme is "My Happy Space". Grab a template bookmark from the Library, your branch campus, or download it on the bookmark contest page! Decorate your bookmark with what reminds you of your happy space or how your happy space makes you feel or however the theme moves you. Once you are done, turn it in to the Library, your branch campus, or e-mail it to Library@witcc.edu with your name, ID number, and phone number at the back of your entry. Bookmarks are due to the Library or your branch campus by March 1st.

Make sure you keep your eyes out on the contest page for returned bookmarks.

Academic Workshops

This week we had the start of our academic workshops. We had Academic Mindset and Motivation Monday and Tuesday and Effective Note Taking Wednesday and Thursday.

On February 12th, we will be holding Attendance is not Participation at 3:30- 4:30 in room A450 and 1:30-2:30 in room A450 on Tuesday the 13th.

On February 14th, we are holding Reading for Learning at 1:00-2:00 in room A450 and 3:30-4:30 in room 450 on Thursday the 15th.

The description for the workshops are on their website.

WITCha Reading?

Librarian Morgan is reading:

Crying at H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Let us know WITcha reading, WITCC by emailing the library at library@witcc.edu and let us know if we can put you in our Blog!

WITcha recommend? Let us know what books you recommend. You can find recommended books in our books tab!

WITcha Listening To?

What podcasts are you listening to? What are you recommending?

This week's recommendation is from Library Manager Kendra: Normal Gossip, a comedic podcast with host Kelsey McKinney with guests going into deep discussions about the listener-submitted "benal" gossip of people you will "never know and never meet".

Let us know WITcha listening to, WITCC by emailing the library at library@witcc.edu and let us know if we can put you in our Blog!

Say 'Hello' To Our New Books

Don't forget to stop by our books webpage for our new books and see what books are being recommended!

Did you know...? And Other Fun Holidays Worth Celebrating

February 1- National Texas Day

Admitted to the Union December 29, 1845, this state is 268,596 square miles. Did you know... that this second largest U.S. state takes about 12 or more hours go drive across from north to south?

February 6- National Chopsticks Day

February 8- National Iowa Day

Iowa became a state on December 28th, 1846 making it the 29th state. Did you know...the first Iowa State Fair was held on October 25th- 27th on 6 acres of land and cost $323 to put on? It was held in Fairfield in the south east part of the state and the attendance was 25 cents. Between 7,000 and 10,000 people attended.

Don't forget to stop by and see our display of Iowa books to celebrate!

February 9- National Pizza Day

The first recorded use of the word "pizza" was in a Latin manuscript in the 10th century in a Southern Italian town. Did you know... the modern pizza is credited by be made in Napes by Raffaele Esposito?

February 22- National California Day

California became the 31st state in September 9, 1950. Did you know...California is one of the most geographically diverse sates in the union with mountain ranges, bays, water lands, a desert, and forests (which alone make up 45% of the state's total surface area)?

February 24- National Tortilla Chip Day

Did you know... the tortilla chip was popularized in the 1940s by Rebecca Webb Carranza in a way to use misshapen tortillas that were rejected from the automated tortilla manufacturing machine that she and her husband used in their factory in Los Angeles? She would cut the discarded tortillas into triangles, fry them, and sell them for a dime a bag at her and her husband's El Zarape Tortilla Factory. In 1994, she would receive the Golden Tortilla award for her contribution to the Mexican food industry.

It was nice chatting with you! We would love to see you in our next blog where we will have:

A guest blogger
National days in February & their history
AND MORE

See you then!

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What makes a good haunted house? It is the haunted? Is it the house? Or is it the ghouly friends we make along the way?Whatever the case may be, having scares at this time of year is normal. If you can't make it. to your own haunted house or (in my case) too scared to go, check out our virtual haunted house. If you move around the cobwebby boxes in the attic, what do you uncover? A ghost! Specifically in Western culture, ghosts are spirits that have separated from the recently deceased. The idea that a person's spirit could live on after that person had passed had started early in human history. Because of this belief, many places have been called “haunted” because of these lingering spirits. What makes a ghost? Some early Egyptian tales say that ghosts were spirits that were not given offerings by family members. These spirits would haunt or inflict illness or disaster. In the Hebrew Bible, ghosts were a sign of the occult. In Classic Greek literature, ghosts were departed souls, but had no physical entanglement to the living. However, the Romans believed that ghosts lingered around burial grounds and caused illnesses. Causing illnesses was a viable affliction for a long time (until pretty modern times). Medieval Europe had tortured souls and demons which made up their spirit system. In a more modern time, ghosts are said to be a person who had came to an extreme end of their life, had a hard life, and/or has a reason to stick to the mortal world. That…and they need to say BOO as well.You hear a laughter coming from the kid's room…You go in but no one is in there. You look around. Something doesn't feel right. Something…Feels like it is looking at you. The doll on the shelf slumps over by itself…Haunted dolls are a common feature in scary movies. You can find them in haunted museums behind glass cages. You can find them on eBay. But what makes them so creepy? Well, the fear of dolls is called pediophobia. The fear of humanoid objects is called automatonophobia. And the fear of puppets is called pupaphobia. All of these components are inter-related in the creepy factor of scary dolls. There is not a lot of scientific data or even historical data on haunted dolls (imagine that). Dolls have been around for thousands of years. The uneasiness feeling can come from just the historical weight of that specific doll (that's usually what I feel) or what people call the “uncanny valley”. The uncanny valley is the upsetting feeling that people get when facing something that is almost human like. You shut the light off in the bathroom. You close your eyes. You say the magic phrase three times… It's supposed to be a sleepover joke…isn't it? Will you open your eyes to find out?The name Bloody Mary could be taken from a couple people. Consensus for most say that the lore comes from the Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII. Mary was the first woman queen of England. She had gotten the nickname because of her upbringing. Since her father had cut the country's ties with the Catholic Church in order to get divorced (and married and divorced and married….). He made the country Protestant. Mary was a staunch Catholic. When she became queen, she attempted to revert England back to its Catholic ways. Many of those who were not Catholic were punished as heretics, and she was given that moniker. You are in the living room. The TV is on. Something bangs on the window. What was that? When you go look, something human shaped throws itself into the glass and breaks it, crawling into the room. What is that? It keeps grabbing at your skin, trying to bite at your arms! What is that?Zombies have gained popularity in culture in recent years. Zombies can be traced back to Haitian folklore where lore describes a deceased person is revived by necromancy and made slaves. This particular folklore was greatly influenced by the enslavement of Haitian people at the time. After 1929, zombies came into popular American culture as the undead. Sometimes they were seen as a product of death itself. Sometimes they were seen as a product of something transmittable or spreadable. You are starting to get hungry, so you head to the kitchen. Before you get in the room, you hear a weird noise. Perplexed, you walk in and all of the cabinet doors are open. You think that's odd and go to shut all the doors. Once all the doors are shut, the kitchen table starts floating…Poltergeist is simply called a “noisy spirit” in German folklore. They are often called a tireless spirit full of mischief and have violent, physical touch and like to move doors, cabinet doors, create smells, and levitate furniture. You look outside in the dark. Something is standing there. It looks… to big to be an animal? Does it have…claws? The full moon peaks out from behind the clouds and you see them…In lore, werewolves are people who have some ability to change into a wolf creature. In these (non-hunky) stories, the creatures are out on the prowl to hunt people and are controlled by blood-lust.Some historians say that werewolves started way back in the story of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Werewolves pop up in Greek and Nordic mythology as well. In some stories, the human part and the spirit part are two different objects once the person transforms. Sometimes they are the same. Sometimes, according to lore, you can tell a person is a werewolf because of their hair, teeth, or nails. Sometimes the werewolf looks like a normal wolf. Sometimes they are not. To transform into a werewolf, one lore says that one simply puts on a wolf pelt while another has a magic salve. The indication that a physical transformation seems to come in at a later time in the werewolf lore, entirely. However, if you wanted to be cured of your lycanthropy, sometimes there is a cure. Greeks and Romans believed that simply exhausting the werewolf should do the trick. This would leave the creature exhausted in unable to turn into a wolf or harm another person. Medieval Europe had three options: wolfbane, surgery, or exorcism. In Sicily, they believed in striking the werewolf in the head with a knife. In general, there was a belief if piercing the werewolf in the hand with a nail. And some Germans believed if one would simply call out the person's Christian name three times, they will be cured. There is a knock at the door. It is at night and kind of late, but you open it anyway. There is a person standing on your doorstep. They say something to you and ask if they could come in. You don't feel like you have a reason to say no…so you let them in. They smile, and now you see they, oddly, have pointy teeth.The modern idea of a vampire dates back to the 18th century and is largely located in European folklore. The fear of vampires grew to be so great, that public executions were executed because of the accusations of being a vampire. Folklore at the time had the relating idea that vampires looked bloated and could be red or darker in color (because of being dead and because of the blood that they drank). They slept in coffins (being undead), and their hair, nails, and other features may be overgrown because of the fact of being undead.To make a vampire, some stated that if an animal jumps over a body of a recently deceased person, they would become part of the undead. Some were said to be made by witches. To not become a vampire became a great worry for many. Many people buried their loved ones upside down or planted special plants in order to keep their bodies to be either possessed by the vampire or to be made undead. To be protected against a vampire was also important. Garlic played a key feature early on and continues to be a key feature in the modern folklore. As vampires are seen as the undead, crosses, crucifixes, and sacred ground are all bad for vampires. As vampires are seen to not have souls, they cannot use mirrors or are sometimes seen as afraid of them. And, as many modern vampires still carry with them, they cannot come into a home without being invited. Want to learn more? Check out our Halloween guide page for more spooks and scares!...

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