We are continuing the explorational education here at the Tinkering Lab through the fall with Sunday programs in science and art!

Tinkering Lab 2016 Fall classes are held from Nov. 6 to Dec. 4 on Sundays, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm, for $150.

Class size is limited to 10-12 children, open to children about 6-12 years old.

Class will teach children the basic mechanics of robots, to design and build biologically inspired robots, and to combine the use of scientific principles and artistic rules.

Learning Targets:

• I can use the Engineering and Design Cycle to inform the way I plan and create my projects.
• I can identify basic mechanisms in everyday objects
• I can develop questions that help me design an objects purpose and function.
• I can understand different types of forces and the directions in which they occur in a basic mechanism.
• I can think through a motion both visually and spatially and hypothesize how it might occur.
• I can design a mechanism that mimics movement in a plant or animal.
• I can identify behavioral and physical characteristics of an animal and model them using robotics.
• I can connect external devices (input output) to a micro-controller.
• I can develop a computer program that controls the external devises and mimics an animal’s behavior.

For registration information, please visit our online system.

You can also register by walking in or calling in during our opening hours: 12pm-5pm, Wed. Fri. Sun.

Tinkering Lab Open House will be held on Sunday Oct. 9, 1pm-5pm. You can view our September event and Tinkering Lab 2016 Summer Camp wrap-up here.

2016秋季拉提莫博物馆举办科技创意课程的时间为11月6日至12月4日，每周日下午1:30至4:30，面向6-12岁儿童，班级学生人数不多于12人。确认报名后恕不退还学费。如博物馆因人数不足取消课程，将退还全部费用。报名详情请访问网上系统。您也可以在博物馆开放时间(星期三、五、日，12点至5点)电话或现场报名。

拉提莫博物馆将于10月9日星期日下午1点至5点举办科技创意教室免费开放日，欢迎参与。9月活动信息及2016夏令营回顾请点击此处。

Traveling The Twisting Troubling Tanglelows Trail

Arrives at LatimerNow!

Flushing, NY Sunday September 25^th, author GREG MCGOON will enchant children and parents alike with a live reading & book signing of his rhythmic, lushly illustrated, lyrical tale of The Tanglelows at the Lewis H. Latimer House from 3pm to 5pm at 34-41 137^th St. Flushing, NY 11354. The Tanglelows are a visual representation of our interior lives. This tale for all ages is written in a poetic, spoken word style that invites one to reflect on one’s complex emotions in a Seuss inspired, whimsical way.

As we approach school re-opening in a few weeks, many first timers will know what social anxiety feels like…whether it’s kindergarten, middle, freshman year or whatever the “new normal” may be for an adult facing new challenges or circumstances.

This premiere book featuring The Tanglelows, the first installment in a series, teaches children how to navigate their feelings and encourages abstract thought, while giving families a tool for voicing their emotions. The Tanglelows, illustrated by Jessa Orr, has already been hailed as “a great family read” which “stimulates rich discussion” by Dr. Mary Baker-Ericzén of the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, who also called it “a useful tool for psychologists to use in treatment.”

GREG McGOON is an author and stage actor with a degree in psychology from the University of San Diego. He attended the Claremont School of Theatre Arts as a child and was later an instructor with the program. Greg is the Founder and Executive Director of Artcentricity Inc., a non-profit children’s creative arts experience focused on child development. His books explore children’s feelings about themselves and the world around them. He is a performer with the National Drama Troupe in Ghana and leads workshops with the California State Thespian Festival. www.GregMcGoon.com

PELEKINESIS is an independent book publishing company focusing on the development of literary-minded authors and artists by embracing the evolving publishing paradigm and creatively supporting the skills of talented writers. www.Pelekenis.com Get your copy of The Tanglelows here: http://amzn.to/2aSAh6M

1 pm,  August 14, 2016

Lewis H. Latimer House Museum

34-41 137^th St. Flushing, NY 11354

Join us for an afternoon of reading, discussion, and book signing with Marita Berry in the parlor of Lewis H. Latimer House Museum.  Refreshments will be served.

THE NOVEL, RED SEPTEMBER IS A COMING-OF-AGE STORY THAT REVEALS THE EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG LADY GROWING UP ON AN ISLAND IN THE CARIBBEAN.

NEW YORK CITY, NY., AUGUST 14, 2016:  Author, Marita Berry pulls back the curtain on a coming-of-age novel set on a small, fictional, Caribbean island named Taino, in the West Indies. This story speaks of Constance (Connie) Brown who has known only the rhythms of life on her small island – but her life is far from a holiday in paradise. As the 1950s dawn, Connie blooms into a beautiful and intelligent young woman. After the death of their father, Connie and her three younger siblings fight to survive in a home ruled by their abusive, alcoholic mother. As the eldest, Connie is left with little choice but to care for the little ones, and that doesn’t leave much time for her own dreams. Until she meets Nathaniel (Nathan) Hart, a charismatic twenty-one-year-old from New York. Nathan is visiting the island on family business, but the sight of Connie inspires him to shift priorities. For Connie, life is filled with hard choices too: Will she dare to hold a dream just for herself and follow her heart? Or bow to the burdens of caring for her family?  Find out in Red September.

“RED SEPTEMBER” is a story that is truly heartwarming and many readers will understand and recognize that love found, love lost, and love found again through much pain and misunderstanding is a universal phenomenon.

– Grace F. Edwards, author of In the Shadow of the Peacock, If I Should Die, A Toast Before Dying, No Time To Die, Do Or Die, The Viaduct, and The Blind Alley.

Red September is a novel that travels between the warm and enchanting tropical isle of Taino in the Caribbean and the cold, harsh reality of New York City. In has a woven love story that captures the immigrant experience in a new country while invoking nostalgia for the age of innocence that we all cherish in times that will never return.

– Kenneth Puddicombe, author of RACING WITH THE RAIN and JUNTA available on Amazon and Smashwords.

Connect with the author on her Website, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

The book Red September can be purchased at:
http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
http://www.amazon.com/kindle

Sunday July 24, 2016

2:30 pm–5 pm

Tour from 2:30 to 3pm; event begins at 3pm

Lewis H. Latimer House Museum, 34-41 137th Street, Flushing, NY 11354

REACTIONARY: An Exploration of Poetry & Place

Newtown Literary editors will facilitate a workshop and reading that explores history, motion, and place. Using the Lewis Latimer House Museum as inspiration, poetry prompts will be provided in several spaces inside the house and its garden, asking participants to respond to their surroundings. We will draw from Lewis Latimer’s life and career as well as from articles inside his home, the home’s architecture, and the encompassing neighborhood. Participants will have the opportunity to share their work, and readings by three Newtown contributors will take place as we move through the museum’s landscape, from its history to the present.

latimernow.org

newtownliterary.org

Last Friday evening’s event, a book-reading by Erika DeSimone and Fidel Louis, the editors of “Voices Beyond Bondage”, a collection of 150 poems culled from burgeoning black-owned newspapers of the 19th-century, was thoroughly enjoyed by a group of poetry aficionados. The intimate atmosphere in the tinkering lab space of Lewis Latimer’s House allowed for heartfelt readings by Erica and Fidel and was followed by compassionate discussions. Participants left inspired after a lively evening of poetry, deep listening and dialogue.

From
Sympathy

Some bear their load with troubled brow;
Some wear a smiling face,
As tho’ no care within their hearts
Could find a resting place.

By Lewis H. Latimer [New York, New York]
The New York Age, September 20, 1890
Voices, p. 180

Erica DeSimone and Fidel Louis

A Captivated Audience in Lewis Latimer’s Tinkering Lab

(Photos by Ran Yan)

A book reading by Erika DeSimone and Fidel Louis, the editors of “Voices Beyond Bondage,” a collection of 150 poems culled from burgeoning black-owned newspapers of the 19^th-century.

Friday, April 8^th, 6.30 pm

In a society riddled by racial inequity, for many 19^th-century African Americans poetry embodied something more than a source of inspiration, a means of education and a conduit for culture and history. Poetry became a safe haven through which they preserved and shared their ideas, cultural knowledge, and heritage.

This poetry slam event, serving all ages, will reveal a mostly unacknowledged 19th-century literary Movement and offers a fresh perspective on African American life and identity from the antebellum and postbellum periods.

The highlighted poems will be handed out and participants will be encouraged to break into groups and discuss before the editors answer questions.

Books are sold at $ 30. Seniors and students pay $ 25.

VBB release v100

By Caroline van Alphen

The Flushing, Queens community celebrated Lunar New Year during a colorful parade on Saturday, February 13^th. Single digit temperatures and minus zero wind chills did not stop the participants and thousands of spectators to enjoy the grand festivities and excitement at the start of The Year Of The Monkey. The many months of preparation by the Flushing Asian-American community resulted in spectacular contributions. It truly was a multi-cultural event, uniting young and old from all walks of life, regardless the freezing temperatures.

TBT unstoppable #lunarnewyear #parade despite the chilling breeze. #flushing #queens

A video posted by Lewis Latimer House/LatimerNOW (@latimernow) on Feb 21, 2016 at 12:28pm PST

Begins one of Emily Dickinson’s poems. And “When it comes, the Landscape Listens,” reads the final stanza. With Light On Sound a very different landscape than Ms. Dickinson’s original is listening up—the streets of Flushing, Queens. Listening to what—you might ask? The neighborhood, the people, the memories, and the many voices of the multicultural wealth of Flushing. Light on Sound is an interactive poetry installation that invites community members to both listen to poetry and share their own. How on earth does this all actually work, and what brings Lewis Latimer, poetry, lampposts and telephones together—you might wonder? Well, let’s break it down.

You may know that Lewis Latimer was the inventor of the carbon filament for the Incandescent lightbulb. And that he also helped draft the patent for Alexander Grahm Bell’s design of the telephone. You may not know that he was also a poet—to boot an inventor with verse, if you will. In his poetry Latimer spoke freely about his experiences as a black man in 19^th century America, confronting issues of race and social justice in pieces like “Ebon Venus” and “Unconquerable” (Latimer fans you know where it’s at – #unconquerable). 150 years later his house still stands in Flushing; and while Latimer himself no longer lives there, LatimerNOW keeps his legacy of invention and community alive. Following some brilliant brainstorming, artists Jessica Houston and Maya Pindyck pieced these various elements together to create Light On Sound.

First, Maya and Jessica hosted three poetry workshops with Flushing residents of all ages and origins, who came together to talk, think, and write. The artists then recorded the workshop participants reading their original poetry in the language of their choice. Next, the New York City Department of Transportation installed plaques on numerous lampposts around Flushing. Some display poems written at the workshops while others read “Poetry Calls You” in English, Mandarin, and Spanish and display a telephone number for passers-by to call in to hear poems or to record their own. Seen one around yourself?

Visitors can also listen to the poems in the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum via two sound-sculptures by Jessica and Maya. Simply flick the switch, and voila! Poems spring through the air or into your headphones while the bulb shines brightly.

Being such an immersive and inclusive installation, Light On Sound demanded an equally special opening reception. Thus, the Poetry Celebration was born! From 6-9pm on Thursday August 13^th, Residents and community members gathered to read poems and to listen—and naturally to eat some delicious dumplings on the side. In order to make sure members of the deaf community could also participate in the celebration, CART (computer-aided real time transcription) services and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters were provided. In addition to community residents, local Queens poet Maria Terrone and former Queens Poet Laureate Paolo Javier joined the reading.

And Douglas Ridloff—deaf poet, performer, and Artistic Director of ASL Slam—transfixed us all with two beautiful sign poems—expanding our perceptions of poetry and the act of listening. After a wonderful evening, we all set home inspired to keep the verses coming.

And we want YOU to join in! Dial 646-604-4671 to listen to a selection of 20 poems or to record your own. The Artists will be periodically rotating the poems as more are submitted to the growing archive.

Light on Sound is presented by the Historic House Trust’s Contemporary Art Partnerships program with the Lewis H. Latimer House and LatimerNOW. The installation was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts with generous support coming from NYCDOT, NYCParks, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Light On Sound runs from August through to October 2015.

About the artists:

Jessica Houston explores questions of perception through the prism of art, architecture and nature. Her site-specific installations, videos, drawings and paintings often use the phenomena of color, light, and sound to respond to and alter existing architectural spaces. She has created site-specific works for the New Jersey MOCA, Asbury Park, New Jersey; the Castello di Corigliano, Puglia, Italy; Governors Island, NY, NY and The Albany Airport, Albany, NY.

Maya Pindyck engages the material of language, affect, and social space through a practice that includes writing, drawing, installation, and research. She is the author of the poetry collections Emoticoncert (Four Way Books, forthcoming), Friend Among Stones (New Rivers Press), and Locket, Master (Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Series).