CHARLESTON – The Charleston Reading Circle began its 133rd year with a Zoom reunion on October 1. Members received gift bags to enjoy in lieu of fall tea.
Lou Conwell reviewed the book “Exploring the Land of Lincoln: The Essential Guide to Illinois Historic Sites” by local author Charles Titus.
Local writers featured at Past-Forward Memoir Live Reading
The book is a historical locator guide for the state of Illinois. It is organized chronologically and divided into four distinct regions: North, Center, South, and Chicago. The guide is easy to read and the author poetic in his descriptions. Titus wrote a short prologue for each section of the book to help place historic sites in the context of the events of history.
The book also contains an extremely well researched appendix which includes additional sites in areas the reader can explore and notes to encourage the reader to learn more. Many historic sites are close enough to be visited on a day trip from Charleston.
The second meeting of the year was organized by Zoom on October 15th. Carolyn Stephens reviewed the book “Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight” by ME Thomas.
This book is a memoir of a sociopath, a true story according to the best memories of the author whose pseudonym is Mrs. ME Thomas to protect her identity.
Her story is told through the prism of how the author sees the world, which includes her megalomania (seeking power and dominating others), her focus, and her lack of understanding of the inner world of others.
The book opened our eyes to how we label people with a personality disorder, which gives us a prejudicial judgment of that person and a judgment on how that person acts and will act in the future. . This is not a justified determination when you look at studies on personality disorders. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Janice Kahl reviewed “DBT for Dummies” by Gillian Galen and Blaise Aguirre.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) describes one of the most popular – and effective – treatments for mental health problems resulting from uncontrollable emotions.
Combining elements of cognitive behavioral therapy with the oriental practice of mindfulness, DBT was initially used clinically to treat the suffering associated with borderline personality disorder, but has now been shown to be effective in many other conditions. non-clinical mental stress.
The practice of DBT can help those who face everything from daily challenges to severe psychological distress. This book and the ideas within its pages can help readers better regulate their emotions, interact effectively with people, deal with stressful situations, and use mindfulness in everyday life. It is certainly reading for anyone in these pandemic and polarized times.
The next Charleston Reading Circle meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, November 5.
Luz Whittenbarger will criticize “Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer” by Steven Johnson and Mary Helen Mertz will criticize “My Remarkable Journey” by Katherine Johnson.
For more information, contact Mary Jorstad at 217-871-5129.
Charleston locations in 12 historical photos
Wilb Walker supermarket
1988: Dyalene Haworth demonstrates the ease of use of the EZ Shopper Grocery Cart at Wilb Walker Supermarket.
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Square
1980: Place Charleston.
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North Park house before renovation
1986: Jean Carpenter of Charleston received a grant to repair his house. A grant of $ 350,000 from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs will be used to renovate approximately 40 homes in the North Park neighborhood.
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North Park house after renovation
1986: Jean Carpenter on the porch of the house after renovations.
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Mother
1988: At Mother’s in Charleston, grandmother winks at customers who come to wet their whistles. Mothers is a tavern known to almost every student at Eastern Illinois University.
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Hotel fire
1931: The Jefferies building is destroyed by fire on Tuesday evening. On the left is the Winters clothing store with the Charleston hotel office next door to the north, then a vacant room recently vacated by the Huckleberry jewelry store, with the Rogers Pharmacy on the corner.
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Golf field
1986: Pat Kaiser plans to open his nine-hole golf course by Memorial Day weekend if Mother Nature would cooperate.
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Eastern Illinois Artists Guild
1941: A permanent exhibition of the work of Paul Turner Sargent was opened by the Eastern Illinois Artists’ Guild at 809 Jack St., built in 1831 by Dr. Aaron Ferguson. It is said to be the oldest house in Charleston.
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Downtown
1986: Downtown Charleston was designated as part of that city’s tax increases funding district in so-called run-down areas of their cities.
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Coles County National Bank
1992: Coles County National Bank is declared insolvent and sold to Eagle Bank and Trust Co. The Missouri-based trust company owns banks in three other Illinois cities, Sparta, Nashville and Highland.
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Charleston Square
1978: Osco Drug and Eisner grocery store soon opens in Charleston Plaza shopping center. The two stores will occupy 40,000 square feet in the center. A 2,000 square foot Radio Shack store is already open. Another 2,000 square foot store will be occupied by the Book Emporium and will open later this year. A total of 9,000 square feet remains for rent in the center.
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Celotex Corp.
1971: The estimated annual production for the new Celotex Corp. plant. north of Charleston is approximately 130 million square feet of insulation board.
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