On Jan. 24, the library’s monthly Local History Potluck Dinner program will feature a talk by Dr. John Bowes about “Andrew Jackson and the History of Indian Removal from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Histories of the American Indian Removal typically focuses on the actions of Andrew Jackson, the passage of the Indian Removal Act and the tragedy faced by the Cherokee Nation.

However, an accurate portrayal of that history must encompass far more.

In his talk, Bowes will examine the larger and longer history of Native American removal and discuss ways in which a policy established in the early 19th Century shaped the U.S. from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond until the early 2000s.

If you would like to enjoy the potluck dinner, please bring a dish and arrive at 6:15 p.m.

If you prefer to just attend the program, arrive at 7 p.m.

Either way, register to attend by calling 744-5661, visiting the library or by using the Evanced online registration system at www.clarkbooks.org.

If your temperament is more a-historical and you’re looking for a way off the Wheel, come to the Surreal New Year Resolution Haiku workshop at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26.

Tired of making embarrassing resolutions you can’t keep?  There’s a way out of that.

Make a resolution you nor anyone else can understand, a resolution that succeeds simply by being made.

We’ll write these resolutions in the classic haiku form, 5-7-5 syllables.

I’ll show you how to construct them by using words randomly taken from texts, by intuitively following your imagination from one thought to another, or by using black-out or cut-and-paste techniques on magazine pages.

You will write a 17-syllable resolution that flabbergasts sense.

With that in hand, you will head into Outside the Lines Adult Coloring to quickly color a scene or design for your haiku.

Then we will all re-group in the Community Room where we will proclaim our haiku resolutions aloud — all while having toast and coffee. The session is limited to 12. Don’t think, just register to attend.

Thanks to everyone who brought in canned good for the Community Services food drive over the holidays. During the drive patrons with large overdue fines could lower or eliminate them by donating food, but we were pleased and gratified to see a lot of library patrons (like Shannon Allen) simply dropped off food out of the goodness of their hearts. Clark County Public Library patrons inspire us every day.   

Come to the library and have a jolly fine time.

John Maruskin is director of adult services at the Clark County Public Library. He can be reached at john.clarkbooks@gmail.com.