Surprising history

At Coffee Klatch this week, we discussed weird and surprising Birmingham (though we occasionally branched out) history/facts.  It was such a fun conversation, I believe it deserves to be shared!

These four numbered items were from a recent BhamNow article, "Fact or Fiction: 4 Birmingham Legends that May or May Not Be True."

1. Birmingham’s Underground River — False

Have you heard of the 300ft-wide, underground river that runs below Birmingham for miles? According to legend, a massive river runs below Birmingham’s streets and flows all the way to the Gulf of Mexico!

Although there are several underground springs and water sources around town, this story is FICTION. A tall-tale-teller by the name of Joseph Mulhatton entertained himself by penning fictional stories and sending them to gullible news organizations. On August 28, 1884, the Birmingham Iron-Age published Mulhatton’s report, titled “Underneath Us“, which spoke of the great (fictional) river. However, no one has ever seen the river!

https://www.alabamapioneers.com/is-birmingham-alabama-sitting-above-an-underground-river/

2. Birmingham’s Batmobile — True

https://youtu.be/7bGkWWoqJVI

A local man driving around town in a 1971 Thunderbird decked out in gadgets and antennas, rescuing stranded motorists sounds too strange to be true, doesn’t it? Well, buckle your seatbelts because that’s exactly what Willie Perry, the “Birmingham Batman” did in the 1980s.

Perry lived by the motto, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” So, he would drive around Birmingham with gas, jumper cables and other tools to help people with broken down cars. Additionally, he would give rides to folks who had too much to drink, drive the elderly to doctor’s appointments and much more.

Unfortunately, Perry died of carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his car in 1985. Since 1982, August 3rd has been recognized as “Willie Perry Day”, thanks to Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr.

3. Jack Daniel’s Birmingham Branch — True

The Motlow’s Corn Whisky sign still exists! 

In the early 1900s Lemuel and Frank “Spoon” Motlow, nephews of the Jack Daniel of Jack Daniel’s distillery in Tennessee, opened their own distillery here in Birmingham. Although they had to deal with Jefferson County’s own prohibition laws from 1908 to 1911, they reopened as the Jack Daniel Distilling Company that year. In fact, they produced the No. 7 Lincoln County Whisky while the original Jack Daniel’s dealt with Tennessee’s prohibition. Eventually, the distillery had to shut down due to nationwide prohibition in 1918.

More info on Prohibition in Birmingham on Bhamwiki https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Prohibition

Book: Vintage Birmingham Signs by Tim Hollis

4. Miss Fancy, the Alcohol-Drinking Elephant — True

Miss Fancy, a large and gentle Indian elephant, was the main attraction of Birmingham’s first public zoo—the Avondale Zoo. After Miss Fancy was rescued from a circus in 1913, she became a favorite of schoolchildren who visited the Zoo. In fact, she became an informal mascot for Howard College (now Samford University) and even led the students on a parade to Legion Field for a game against Birmingham-Southern!

When Miss Fancy felt under the weather, her veterinarian would mix “elephant medicine” with a quart of liquor and several gallons of water. Since Alabama had statewide prohibition at the time, she would drink confiscated liquor. On one occasion, Miss Fancy and her trainer—both under the influence—went for a walk in Avondale. The police soon found it impossible to arrest a drunk elephant, so they sent Miss Fancy and her trainer back to the zoo to sleep it off.

https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Avondale_Zoo

One local resident recalled waking from a nap and Miss Fancy was staring at her through her window.

• Ram-Headed Southern Storyteller
  Some folks look at Frank Fleming's "The Storyteller" sculpture and only see a human body with the head of a goat. To be fair, you don't normally find something like "ram-man" (as he's known) on public art in the Deep South -- unless you're looking at one of Fleming's other sculptures.
  
  Is it godless New York liberal culture in Birmingham? Is it an after-midnight rendezvous for red-eyed pagans? Are the five frogs listening to goat-guy really arranged at the points of a satanic pentagram?
  
  Well, no. Fleming (1940-2018) was an Alabama native. He sculpted animals because of Southern and older storytelling traditions employing smarty-pants creatures (think Br'er Rabbit), and because he wanted to convey the idea of storytelling as a "peaceable kingdom." He also wanted the sculpture to interest children.
  
  The Storyteller sits on a stump, reading to his animal pals from an open book, holding a tall staff topped with an owl. The audience animals sit on circular platforms, a hare rides on the back of a tortoise. Five frogs spit water arcs crisscrossing the fountain.
  
  It's in front of a Methodist church, where we'd expect a Christ counseling his flock rather than Ram-Man. But the sculpture's satanic connection is an urban legend. The only hellish thing we noticed is its location -- in the heart of Birmingham's busy Five Points district, which meant we had to park several blocks away in order to walk to see the sculpture.

• The oldest baseball stadium in the country, Rickwood Field, is located in Birmingham. They have done a wonderful job keeping it "out of date," as it is the oldest pro ballpark still in use in the entire world. It's a definite must visit if you ever pass through the area, as it is open year round for self guided tours and local teams still play many games there. For further information, check out the Friends of Rickwood Web site at www.rickwood.com.

• Birmingham Museum of Art's collection of Wedgwood pottery—the largest in the world outside Britain.

• Birmingham is the only place in the world where all three raw ingredients for steel (coal, limestone, and iron ore) occur naturally within a ten-mile radius.

• The Divinity of Light (although most people just call her Electra) stands atop the Alabama Power Building. In 1926, a writer for the Birmingham Post began publishing installments of the love story of Electra and Vulcan, attributing the potholes downtown to their footsteps from their trips to see one another.

• The multi-colored dance floor at The Club in Birmingham was director John Badham’s inspiration for the flashy set-up in Saturday Night Fever.

• A Birmingham serviceman is the reason we now celebrate Veteran’s Day. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day, set aside to honor veterans of World War I. But World War II required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in American history. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran from Birmingham, thought Armistice Day should be expanded. In 1947 he led a delegation to Washington, D.C. to urge then-Army Chief of Staff General Dwight Eisenhower to create a national holiday that honored all veterans. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing November 11 as Veterans Day. Weeks led the first National Veterans Day Parade in 1947 in Alabama, a tradition he continued until his death in 1985. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan honored Weeks as the driving force for the national holiday with the Presidential Citizenship Medal. Learn more at NationalVeteransDay.org.

• Stand on the rim of a Jordan-Hare-sized meteor crater. Scientists estimate the meteorite that struck Wetumpka 81 million years ago would have been the size of the bowl of Auburn University's Jordan-Hare Stadium. The rim of the crater is visible for visitors to see today. The Wetumpka Library says: "The enormity of the Wetumpka explosion is hard to comprehend. The impact of a large object traveling at 40,000 miles per hour would cause an explosion that would dwarf even the largest thermonuclear weapons." Of only 157 craters on earth, only six, including this one, are visible above ground. Wetumpka Impact Crater Commission

• The Bessemer Hall of History is also famous for a former display: The mummy of Bessemer native Hazel Farris (ca. 1880-1906). The mummy was a sideshow centerpiece for decades. https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Hazel_Farris
  https://www.alabamapioneers.com/have-you-ever-heard-of-the-strange-story-of-hazel-the-mummy/

• Birmingham Zoo and Botanical Gardens built on 4,700 graves
  
  If you've been to the Birmingham Zoo or the Botanical Gardens, you may be surprised to find you were walking across a cemetery with as many as 4,700 graves.
  https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2015/03/post_221.html
  
  According to a description on the Birmingham Public Library's website, "The cemetery contains 4,711 burials (sources differ on the exact number) and was located south of the city on the site that is now Lane Park and the Birmingham Zoo. The graves were not removed, but decades after the cemetery ceased to be used, the park and zoo were built over the graves."
  
  Before 1909, the name changed to Red Mountain Cemetery, then to Red Mountain Park. It was eventually named Lane Park in honor of Birmingham Mayor A.O. Lane and was used as a city park, as the site of the Allen Gray Fish Hatchery fed by nearby Pullen Springs, a stone quarry, a baseball field and golf driving range.Two hundred acres were set aside to establish the Birmingham Zoo in 1954 and the Botanical Gardens in 1962.Some records of those buried in the cemetery are available at Birmingham Public Library. Click here to see the information available online.

• Fant Hill Thornley (born c. 1909; died 1970) was director of the Birmingham Public Library from 1953 until his death. Prior to that he was a reference librarian from 1949, and had previously been a partner with Emma Bostick in the Columbia, South Carolina publishing company of Bostick & Thornley.
  
  It was because of his friendship with Thornley that Birmingham investment banker Rucker Agee donated his extensive collection of antique maps to the library. In response to a lawsuit filed by activist Lola Hendricks, Thornley successfully urged the library board to desegregate the city's library system during a called meeting on April 11, 1963. In taking this action, he and the board defied a pledge by Mayor Art Hanes to desegregate the libraries "only at gunpoint."
  
  Thornley is thought by some to haunt the Linn-Henley Research Library in downtown Birmingham. In 1977 archivist Marvin Yeomans Whiting saw the elevator doors — then a set of swinging doors — open, followed by the smell of Thornley's favorite Chesterfield cigarettes. In 1989 an electrician working at the library says a ghost appeared and spoke to him. He refused to return to the archives area. http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Fant_Thornley?fbclid=IwAR1ZltWWNagOlFQtzJvIgvSkC0JkgV82YD-c4wdNcIWjofe3_ujaBaiVvJM

• Jim Baggett (archivist at the Birmingham Public Library downtown) shared this with me: Apparently at some point in Bham history, there was a Wild West Show parade and some kids threw rocks at an Indian chief on horseback . . .and he promptly whirled his horse around and came after them. With his tomahawk. He chased the kids into a local store--still on horseback.

• On the University of North Alabama campus, Wesleyan Hall is said to be haunted. UNA also keeps lions on campus. https://leoanduna.com/

• Louise Wooster: Birmingham brothel madame and humanitarian
  http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Louise_Wooster Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

• Birmingham Mineral Railroad signs around town and in surrounding counties : https://bham-mrr.com/

• Book: The Infamous Birmingham Axe Murders

• Cascade Plunge  https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Cascade_Plunge

• BPL has a database for the Red Mountain cemetery burials: http://bpldb.bplonline.org/db/redmountain
  http://bpldb.bplonline.org/db/static/pdf/RedMtnCemIntro.pdf

• Jewish cemeteries in North Birmingham https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/23863/knesses-israel-cemetery

• Not in Birmingham, but not a terribly long drive: the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN https://boft.org/carnton

• Al Capone in English Village https://www.villagelivingonline.com/people/civitas-and-strength1027/
  https://www.villagelivingonline.com/people/historic-sites-of-mountain-brook/

• History of Eastwood Mall, first air-conditioned mall https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Eastwood_Mall

• Famous people born in Birmingham: https://www.al.com/entertainment/2016/07/here_are_the_50_most_famous_pe.html

• Looney's Tavern http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3864
  https://www.freestateofwinston.org/jasperraid.htm

• Jonathan Daniels, Civil Rights hero
  https://www.vmi.edu/archives/genealogy-biography-alumni/featured-historical-biographies/jonathan-daniels-civil-rights-hero/
  https://www.sentinelsource.com/hub/news/community_news/st-james-to-celebrate-feast-day-of-jonathan-daniels-aug-20/article_75117b37-1adb-5a0e-8dc7-c9aabbec8e78.html

• “Dirigible tower” on Thomas Jefferson Tower downtown
  https://www.airships.net/blog/alabama-pretends-dirigible-tower-hotel-didnt/

• Vulcan road safety beacon
  http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Vulcan#Road_safety_beacon

There's a new topic each week.  If you'd like to join in on the fun, register your email on our calendar to receive a link to the meeting: http://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4320493

Contactless Curbside Pick-up

What’s Curbside Pick-up?


While the library is closed to the public, we want to give you what matters – your books, movies, audiobooks, and CDs!

Here’s how it works:

1. Place a hold online, through the Emmet O'Neal Library app (available in Google Play or Apple App Store) or by phone.

2. When you receive a ready for pickup notification, have your library card or driver's license in hand and call 205-445-1101 at least 30 minutes prior to your preferred time for Curbside Pickup.

3. When you arrive at the library, drive to the rear of the building. The Curbside Pickup table will be located next to the book drop.

4. Locate your item(s) by last name. Your items are checked out and ready to go!


Curbside Pickup is available 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday - Saturday.

Scheduling for Curbside Pickup ends at 5:30 pm.

Due to demand and limited staff at this time, please expect delays up to 24 hours between the time that you place your hold and when you receive notification that your hold is ready. If you request a large number of items, we may need up to 3 days to pull and process your holds.

If you need book recommendations for teens or adults, please call 205-445-1101 or email adult@eolib.org.

For book recommendations for children from birth through six grade, visit https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/children and look for the My Reads book request form or call 205-445-1111.

Download the Emmet O’Neal Library app for iPhone or Android to track your holds or sign up for text message notification here: https://www.jclc.org/info/card/textmessage.aspx

Out of this World

An official Friendly Reminder that contactless curbside pick-up for library materials begins June 1^st.  Visit the library’s website at https://www.eolib.org/curbside for complete details.

The Genre Reading Group met last evening for an out-of-this-world discussion of S-P-A-C-E! Take a look, see if your favorite was mentioned, or find a new favorite among the many titles shared!

Today, NASA astronauts headed for the International Space Station will hitch a ride, for the first time, on a private rocket (at the going rate, of course). Central time, live coverage begins at 11am with liftoff scheduled for 3:33pm, streamed live on NASA’s website at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive.

BOOKS

Dune by Frank Herbert

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Maud'dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family - and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. 

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. Frank Herbert's death in 1986 was a tragic loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live forever. 

Frank’s son Brian – and coauther Kevin J. Anderson – are keeping the series alive.  View the complete order of novels currently available here: https://www.dunenovels.com/

Dune, as a franchise, is vast, enduring, and hard to keep track of but Wikipedia has done their best: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(franchise)

The newest adaptations, soon to be a companion TV series coming to HBO Max AND a major motion picture directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling, is currently scheduled to premier on December 18, 2020, though that may of course be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

View the trailer for the upcoming film here: https://youtu.be/1EI-UrAweXE

Star Settlers: The Billionaires, Geniuses, and Crazed Visionaries Out to Conquer the Universe by Fred Nadis (this title is currently scheduled to be published August 4, 2020)

Does humanity have a destiny “in the stars?” Should a species triggering massive extinctions on its own planet instead stay put? This new book traces the waxing and waning of interest in space settlement through the decades, and offers a journalistic tour through the influential subculture attempting to shape a multiplanetary future.

What motivates figures such as billionaires Elon Musk and Yuri Milner? How important have science fiction authors and filmmakers been in stirring enthusiasm for actual space exploration and settlement? Is there a coherent motivating philosophy and ethic behind the spacefaring dream?

Star Settlers offers both a historical perspective and a journalistic window into a peculiar subculture packed with members of the scientific, intellectual, and economic elite. This timely work captures the extra-scientific zeal for space travel and settlement, places it in its historical context, and tackles the somewhat surreal conceptions underlying the enterprise and prognoses for its future.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.

Space by James Michener

Already a renowned chronicler of the epic events of world history, James A. Michener tackles the most ambitious subject of his career: space, the last great frontier. This astounding novel brings to life the dreams and daring of countless men and women—people like Stanley Mott, the engineer whose irrepressible drive for knowledge places him at the center of the American exploration effort; Norman Grant, the war hero and U.S. senator who takes his personal battle not only to a nation, but to the heavens; Dieter Kolff, a German rocket scientist who once worked for the Nazis; Randy Claggett, the astronaut who meets his destiny on a mission to the far side of the moon; and Cynthia Rhee, the reporter whose determined crusade brings their story to a breathless world.

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or “human computers,” to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges—Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates.

The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair.

Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.

Learn more about Harvard College Observatory’s Astronomical Photographic Plate Collection here: https://platestacks.cfa.harvard.edu/about-collection

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) explores the irresistibly strange universe of life without gravity in this New York Times bestseller.

The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

The Search for Planet X by Tony Simon

Published in the 1960s, this vintage work discusses how Pluto was discovered and also provides (then current) information about other planets.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Millions of words poured forth about man's trip to the moon but until Wolfe, few people had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure; namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers, that made this book a classic.

FILM/TELEVISION

Apollo 13

(Rotten Tomatoes) "Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis in 1970, events recreated in this epic historical drama from Ron Howard. Astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. The film received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical response and a Best Picture nomination, but lost that Oscar to another (very different) historical epic, Mel Gibson's Braveheart. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

The Right Stuff

(Rotten Tomatoes) Covering some 15 years, this film recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. The film relates the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts, the various personal crises involving their families, and the schism between their squeaky-clean public image and their sometimes raunchy, earthbound shenanigans.

Solaris (First film debuted in 1976 and was remade in 2002)

(1976) Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris centers on widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donata Banionis), who is sent to a space station orbiting a water-dominated planet called Solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number of cosmonauts on the station. Finding the remaining crew to be behaving oddly and aloof, Kelvin is more than surprised when he meets his seven-years-dead wife Khari (Natalya Bondarchuk) on the station. It quickly becomes apparent that Solaris possesses something that brings out repressed memories and obsessions within the cosmonauts on the space station, leaving Kelvin to question his perception of reality. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, Solaris was remade by Steven Soderbergh in 2002.

(2002) A therapist travels to a distant space station to treat a group of astronauts traumatized by mysterious entities -- and ends up having to deal with an entity of his own -- in this second film version of Stanislaw Lem's philosophical sci-fi novel. Solaris stars George Clooney as Chris Kelvin, a psychologist still mourning the loss of his wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone) when he's implored by a colleague named Gibarian (Ulrich Tukur) to investigate the increasingly weird goings-on at the Prometheus space station. By the time Kelvin gets there, Gibarian has committed suicide, leaving only the cryptic, babbling Snow (Jeremy Davies) and the paranoid, guarded Gordon (Viola Davis), both of whom are holed up in their respective rooms. As Kelvin interrogates the skeleton crew, he learns that they've had unwanted "visitors," apparitions of long-dead friends, family, and loved ones who are apparently being generated by the interstellar energy source Solaris. The doctor is dubious of their claims until one night he, too, is greeted by his wife Rheya (Natascha McElhone), whose death still torments him. At first skeptical of the new Rheya, Kelvin gradually becomes obsessed with her -- and with the guilt that he feels over their troubled marriage -- to the point where the others begin to fear for his sanity. Produced by James Cameron, Solaris represented director Steven Soderbergh's first screenplay credit since the independently financed Schizopolis in 1996. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Elon Musk: The Real-Life Ironman (2018)

Discover the meteoric rise of Elon Musk, the man who is transforming the way we think about travel technology through electric cars, the Hyperloop, and revolutionary ideas on how we live through artificial intelligence and colonizing Mars. Check your preferred streaming subscription for availability. View the trailer here: https://youtu.be/Hrhe5kZBa28

AstronaugtWally Schirra oral history interview on C-SPAN

https://www.c-span.org/video/?455845-1/walter-schirra-oral-history-interview

Spaceflight

Episodes of this 1985 PBS series are available full-length on Youtube.

Episode 1: Thunder in the Skies https://youtu.be/IqK-QN7iP98

Planets BBC/NOVA available on PBS

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/series/planets/episodes/

1998 HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”

From executive producer Tom Hanks, this 12-part miniseries explores the origins and milestones of the Apollo lunar landing program, its history-defining mission, as well as those whose lives and careers were affected by NASA’s journey into space. https://www.hbo.com/from-the-earth-to-the-moon

Science Channel’s “Truth Behind the Moon Landing”

https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/truth-behind-the-moon-landing/

CURRENT NEWS

“Chunks of China’s Powerful Rocket Fall Back to Earth, Narrowly Missing New York City”

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a32451633/china-long-march-5b-rocket-debris/

Asteroids float around and are tracked by NASA for close approaches, see the table here:

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/

Memorial Day

Once known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day is an American holiday celebrated on the last Monday in May and honors those who have died serving their country. Historians agree that it originated during the American Civil War, honoring the many who died during those bloody conflicts.  Many states claim to have been the first but it was not until a congressional proclamation in 1966 that an 1866 Waterloo, New York observance was cited as the birthplace.

Decoration Day changed to Memorial Day, honoring all who’ve died in U.S. wars, after World War I and has been celebrated on the last Monday in May since 1971.  

Traditional customs and symbols include:

- the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery (VA)

- nationwide religious services, parades, and speeches

- graves of veterans decorated with flags, insignia, and flowers

Interested in learning more about Arlington National Cemetery?

“Most Hallowed Ground” part of the series Ken Burns: The Civil War (available on Kanopy)

Arlington National Cemetery by Bob Temple and Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by Jinnow Khalid are both available on Hoopla.
Take a virtual tour by clicking here.

Due to COVID-19, this year observations differ in many ways. For instance:

On Memorial Day weekend in 1988, 2500 motorcyclists rode into Washington, D.C. for the first Rolling Thunder rally in order to draw attention to Vietnam War soldiers still missing in action and prisoners of war. By 2002, the ride had swelled to 300,000 bikers, many of them veterans, and in 2018, the numbers were likely closer to half a million.

Though it was reported that 2019 would be the group’s last Memorial Day ride, the organization American Veterans (AMVETS) is continuing the tradition in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to WUSA9. Now known as Rolling to Remember, 2020’s ride will be a bit different—instead of hundreds of thousands of riders going through Washington, D.C., organizers are asking participants to ride 22 miles through their own community for a virtual Memorial Day demonstration on Sunday, May 24. Riders will then be able to track and share their progress using the REVER app.

Traveling 22 miles is significant, because in addition to raising awareness for soldiers missing in action and prisoners of war, AMVETS wants to bring attention to the average 22 veterans who die by suicide every day. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27858/10-things-remember-about-memorial-day

Here are several resources available online:

Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima by Martha MacCallum (available on Libby/Overdrive)

Alone at Dawn: Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World’s Deadliest Special Operations Force by Dan Schilling & Lori Chapman Longfritz (available on Libby/Overdrive)

WAR by Sebastian Junger (available on Libby/Overdrive)

The Lost Eleven: The Forgotten Story of Black American Soldiers Brutally Massacred in World War II by Denise George (available on Hoopla)

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley (available on Libby/Overdrive)

Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters & One Man’s Search to Find Them by Andrew Carroll (available on Hoopla)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1854 poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade (available from the Poetry Foundation)

- PBS is airing the National Memorial Day Concert on Sunday May 24, 2020 at 7pm CT.  Check your local listings for availability.

- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is hosting a live-streamed event at 12pm CT on Monday, May 25, 2020. Visit their website for more information.

- The American Veterans Center is also hosting a television broadcast. Though this year's event is canceled, a pre-recorded television special titled, The National Memorial Day Parade: America Stands Tall, that will broadcast on Memorial Day to more than 100 million households on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox stations nationwide. Visit their website for a full list of broadcast times and channels.

As a reminder, Emmet O’Neal Library is closed to the public until further notice but will be resuming curbside pickup for library materials on Monday, June 1, 2020.  Details on how the service works will be available Tuesday, May 26. Follow our social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram and our website at www.eolib.org for the latest news on library programs and services.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Memorial-Day

Holley

horses

I recently finished my second read of Elizabeth Letts heartwarming tale of Cold War-era daring do, The Eighty Dollar Champion: The Horse That Inspired a Nation. Much like Seabiscuit inspired the nation during The Great Depression, Snowman captured the hearts and minds of the public during a time when the they urgently needed a working-class hero.

Laura Hillenbrand’s fabulous work, Seabiscuit: America’s Legendary Racehorse, is on Libby. (click here)

Copies of the ebook are also available via Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library. (click here)

Dutch immigrant Harry deLeyer was only a boy when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940, but he quickly learned about bravery and courage in the face of danger.  His father became a member of the local Resistance and Harry participated as soon as he could. After the war, Harry and his young bride immigrated to the United States with all of their possessions in a small wooden crate and $160 dollars in his pocket.  After a few years of brutal work on a tobacco farm Harry was finally able to get back to his first love, working with horses. 

He lucked into becoming a riding instructor at a prestigious girls’ boarding school on Long Island, the Knox School, and was responsible for procuring good, but cheap, horses for the girls’ lessons.  On a snowy evening in 1956, an underfed, matted with mud and manure, openly wounded large, gray horse was saved from the slaughterhouse for a mere $80. Harry had no idea he’d just made the purchase that would ultimately catapulted him into show jumping fame and sports history.  In 2014, MGM acquired the screen rights to the book.  Fingers crossed, it eventually gets made!

The ebook and eaudio are on Libby. (click here)

The ebook is also available via Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library. (click here)

A documentary, Harry and Snowman, was made in 2016 and is available on Hoopla. (click here)

Ms. Letts’ research on Harry’s experiences during the war eventually led to a second horse-related title that I enjoyed equally as much, The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis.

This ebook is on Libby. (click here)

There is also a young reader’s edition ebook on Libby. (click here)

If that subtitle sounds familiar to you then, like me, you no doubt watched the Disney film, Miracle of the White Stallions, about the Lippizan stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  Check your preferred streaming subscription for availability, but the entire film is currently on Youtube. (click here)

Other inspiring horses in history:

Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse by Robin Hutton

A captivating account of how a would-be Korean racehorse became one of the greatest Marine Corps wartime heroes. Sergeant Reckless was her name, and she was the horse renowned for carrying wounded soldiers off the battlefield and making solo trips across combat zones to deliver supplies.

The ebook and eaudio are on Libby. (click here)

The eaudio is available on Hoopla. (click here)

There is a great, short documentary (The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, 18 min) about Sgt. Reckless on Youtube. (click here)

FOR THE KIDS:

Celebrated children’s author Marguerite Henry has enchanted young readers for decades.

A couple of her books are eaudio on Hoopla. (click here)

Catherine Hapka adapted her book, Misty of Chincoteague, into a riding series, Ponies of Chincoteague. These ebooks are on Libby. (click here)

A film adaptation of her book, King of the Wind, is available on Hoopla. (click here)

More of her books are available on Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library. (click here)

Walter Farley, beloved author of the Black Stallion books, still captures the imagination of horse-crazy kids everywhere.

His books are available on Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library. (click here)

FOR THE GROWNUPS:

If you like fantasy fiction, Mary Herbert’s magic-filled tale of adventure, Dark Horse, is available on Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library. (click here)

Another great fantasy outing, complete with magic, a brave stallion, and a villainous dragon is Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown. The ebook and eaudio are on Libby. (click here)

If you have PBS Passport (also check your preferred streaming subscription for additional availability), there are several amazing documentaries.

Equus: Story of the Horse (episode 1: Origins/episode 2: Chasing the Wind)

First Horse Warriors

Indian Relay

books and tv

I don’t always take notes, but today’s Coffee Klatch netted some great read/watch/listen recommendations that beg to be shared! Join us at the Coffee Klatch next week for discussion of all things travel!  Register here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/events

TV Series

Medici the Magnificent (Netflix)

A political family drama set in Florence in the early fifteenth century. Cosimo de Medici finds himself at the helm of his banking dynasty when his father, Giovanni, dies suddenly.

Belgravia (Epix)

Belgravia is a story of secrets and scandals amongst the upper echelon of London society in the 19th Century. When the Trenchards accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful eve of the Battle of Waterloo, it sets in motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest neighborhoods. The limited series reunites the award-winning creative team behind Downton Abbey with Julian Fellowes adapting his bestselling novel for the screen and a stellar ensemble cast.

Alias, Grace (Netflix)

In 19th-century Canada, a psychiatrist weighs whether a murderess should be pardoned due to insanity. Based on Margaret Atwood's award-winning novel.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (Netflix)

A zoo owner spirals out of control amid a cast of eccentric characters in this true murder-for-hire story from the underworld of big cat breeding.

It’s Alive with Brad Leone (Bon Appetit website and app for streaming devices, Youtube, and Hulu)

Join Bon Appétit test kitchen manager, Brad Leone, on a wild, roundabout and marginally scientific adventure exploring fermented foods and more.

30 Rock (check your preferred streaming service)

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), head writer of the sketch comedy show "TGS with Tracy Jordan", must deal with an arrogant new boss and a crazy new star, all while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind.

Parks & Recreation (check your preferred streaming service)

The absurd antics of an Indiana town's public officials (Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman) as they pursue sundry projects to make their city a better place.

Schitt’s Creek (check your preferred streaming service)

When rich video-store magnate Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) and his family (Catherine O’Hara, Dav Levy) suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup in Schitt's Creek.

Community (check your preferred streaming service)

A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eclectic staff and student body. Starring Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, and Donald Glover.

Justified (check your preferred streaming service)

U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural coal mining towns in eastern Kentucky.

Podcasts

White Lies (NPR)

(It was announced this week that White Lies was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Audio Reporting.)

In 1965, Rev. James Reeb was murdered in Selma, Alabama. Three men were tried and acquitted, but no one was ever held to account. Fifty years later, two journalists from Alabama return to the city where it happened, expose the lies that kept the murder from being solved and uncover a story about guilt and memory that says as much about America today as it does about the past.

Reckon Radio (AL.com)

What is the South? A place? A people? A lifestyle? Each week, on the Reckon Interview, host John Hammontree explores that question and more, with some of the most interesting minds in the South – authors, entertainers, artists, activists, and thinkers. Join us as we learn how this place shaped them and how they’re reshaping this place. Think of it as Fresh Air but with a lot more humidity.

S-Town (Serial and This American Life)

John despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But then someone else ends up dead, sparking a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.

Books (annotations from amazon.com)

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of glamour icon and scientist Hedy Lamarr, whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, The Only Woman in the Room is a masterpiece.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War.

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla's own arrival in America from India to the years in which their children - each in their own way - tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world as well as a path home. A Place for Us is a book for our times and an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Writers & Lovers follows Casey - a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist - in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with King’s trademark humor, heart, and intelligence, Writers & Lovers is a transfixing novel that explores the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another.

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

In The Dearly Beloved, we follow two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives in southern Appalachia.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions - religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians - trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world.

The Eighty Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts

Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo, based on the insight and recollections of “the Flying Dutchman” himself, Harry de Leyer. Their story captured the heart of Cold War-era America - a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. Elizabeth Letts’s message is simple: Never give up, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable.

The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts

In the chaotic last days of the war, a small troop of battle-weary American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing find - his briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines. Hitler has stockpiled the world's finest purebreds in order to breed the perfect military machine - an equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in imminent danger of being slaughtered for food.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope--a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it

Film/Opportunities to support small business

Sidewalk Cinema film discussion on Instagram Live 5/12 at 7pm with Thank You Books about the documentary film “The Booksellers” and the bookselling world.  

Event description:

Directed by DW Young
Documentary Feature
Not Rated
Run time 1 hour 39 minutes

Antiquarian booksellers are part scholar, part detective and part businessperson, and their personalities and knowledge are as broad as the material they handle. They also play an underappreciated yet essential role in preserving history. THE BOOKSELLERS takes viewers inside their small but fascinating world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymcRRt3Ix04

Sidewalk will be hosting a special Q & A with friends from Thank You Books on Instagram Live on 5/12 at 7 PM! Head on over to their Instagram account @sidewalkfilm to watch.

Rent the film here:

https://www.sidewalkfest.com/event/sidewalk-home-video-the-booksellers/

Or simply click the ticket link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/230378954895989/

If you’d like to support Sidewalk Cinema with other rentals, find the list here:

https://www.sidewalkfest.com/cinema/movies/now-playing/

The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville is providing a similar service.  Check out their offerings here:

http://www.belcourt.org/

Mother's Day

While festivals honoring mothers and mother goddesses date to ancient times, a version of an official Mother’s Day has been around since the Middle Ages. It was customary to allow those who had moved away to visit their mothers in their home parishes on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of lent, which became Mothering Sunday in Britain. The modern day form of the holiday originated here in the U.S. and has been adopted widely around the world.

The first Mother’s Day was held on May 12, 1907 in Grafton, West Virginia. It quickly became a success, celebrated in nearly every state within five years, and was made a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mothers-Day)

In honor of Mother’s Day, coming up next weekend on Sunday, May 10th, here are some of the most entertaining mothers in print.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

“You-will-never-touch-our-children-again!” A doting and devoted mother, Molly Weasley is the center around which the Weasley universe revolves. A generous soul, she takes on Harry Potter as if he were her own. Their means may be limited, but the children never go without food in their bellies, a warm hug, and a gift now and then. But that’s not all. She is a powerful witch who can take on formidable opponents, especially if her kids are threatened. Now that’s a supermom!

Motherest by Kristen Iskandrian

ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

(amazon) Marrying the sharp insights of Jenny Offill with the dark humor of Maria Semple, Motherest is an inventive and moving coming-of-age novel that captures the pain of fractured family life, the heat of new love, and the particular magic of the female friendship--all through the lens of a fraying daughter-mother bond.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

The Carters are a modern fictional family, and Lisa is the glue that holds them together. Lisa got pregnant as a teenager and dealt with her mother’s rejection. A nurse, she raised her children, Starr and Sekani, to be strong and well-aware of the racial injustice of their neighborhood and the world they live in. She’s forged a strong marriage despite her husband’s incarceration and affair, and she treats Seven, the product of that affair, with love. The Hate U Give is a story of strength in the face of adversity, and Lisa is one of the strongest characters in Garden Heights.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

If your mom loves to lose herself in big, epic novels along the lines of The Queen of the Night or Pachinko that she can lose herself in, she'll love See's latest, The Island of Sea Women, about two friends working in their Korean village's all-female diving collective. Their bond is tested as they come of age against a backdrop of war, social change, and technological advancements. What's even cooler: See based her novel on a real place, Jeju, where men take care of children while women work as divers. This is a novel about women who are strong as your own mom.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook/eaudio on your Hoopla app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

“Watch and pray dear, and never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault” Let’s start with the gold standard of literary motherhood – Margaret March, affectionately called Marmee by her daughters. She is the ideal mother – kind, endearing, compassionate and everything nice. A highly principled and charitable woman, she is never too busy to gently guide her daughters. She provides them the emotional strength they need to endure the pains of growing up. She is poor; she is hard working, yet she never encourages her daughters to marry for money. All in all, she is everything a mother is expected to be.

The Color of Water by James McBride
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

When James McBride started writing his memoir, I don’t think he knew the way the world would fall in love with his mother. The book is told in two narratives: McBride tells his story about the struggles he faced growing up black with a white mom, and Ruth tells her story growing up Jewish in the South. I’m breaking the mold here and choosing a non-fictional mom, but if you’ve read this book you know just how touching Ruth is. She raised twelve children, mostly by herself. She had no family to rely on other than her husband’s and their children. If ever there was a super-mom, she was Ruth McBride.

Room by Emma Donoghue
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook/eaudio on your Hoopla app
streaming movie on your Kanopy app

Ma  and 5 year old Jack live in an 11 foot by 11 foot room.  Ma sacrifices everything for her son so they can escape from “room” and have a chance at a normal life. Despite her abduction and abuse, Ma is able to create a world for her son and does everything in her power to make that world a better place.  

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook/eaudio on your Hoopla app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

“You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.” This constantly irritated, perpetually annoyed mother of five daughters would feature on any list on the subject of memorable mothers. She might be an utter embarrassment to her family with her frivolous nature and alarmingly loud voice, but she is certainly not forgettable to the reader. Mrs. Bennett embodies a style of motherhood diametrically opposite to that of Marmee March. She is a social climber and would rather have her daughters marry a rich man than be happy with someone who understands them. I suppose she loves her daughters in her own way, but trying to push them into inconvenient marriages is an odd way of showing it, don’t you think?

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

Everyone needs a mom that will keep them over-caffeinated and bear with them through the early years of playing an instrument. Gayle Forman writes Kat as an awesome rocker mom to a cello-playing teenager. Their personalities couldn’t be more opposite, but they couldn’t have a closer relationship. It’s so clear in every page that Kat supports any and every decision Mia makes. Go to Juliard or stay in Portland with your boyfriend? Most moms would say “you’re going to college” but not Kat. Not many moms would slap noise cancelling headphones onto their baby and bring them into a rock concert, but it is this that makes Kat so special. Her unconditional love for her children mixed with her desire to treat them like small adults qualifies her for fictional mom of the year.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

Coralie Sardie is raised by a terrible father and trained from a young age to work as a mermaid in his coney island “museum”.  Coralie is all but ignored by her father and is raised by the family maid, Maureen.  Once again, this mother figure provides Coralie with the strength to pursue her own dreams and live her life in her own extraordinary way.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app
ebook/eaudio on your Hoopla app
ebook in the National Emergency Library

“Truly I am the worst mother of all time! How can you forgive me, child? Yet we cannot see each other again!” With the haughty and distant personality she presents to the world and an explosive secret to hide, Lady Honoria Dedlock is an emotionally divided woman. But the reader soon realizes she is far from being a snob. Three things define her – a great passion, a broken heart and an illegitimate child she loves deeply and will die to protect from the judgment of society. When Esther falls ill, Lady Dedlock is clearly distraught. She disguises herself and goes around trying to get information about her daughter. She could have been a good mother, but her circumstances are unfortunate. However, she is one character that doesn’t easily fade from memory.

The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

Susan Page, the award-winning Washington bureau chief for USA Today, details the unbelievable life of the former First Lady, and what it was like to be wife to one president and mother to another.  

Becoming by Michelle Obama

ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

The former First Lady tells her life story, from her growing up on Chicago's South Side to her journey to the White House. If your mom is so inclined, you can opt for the audiobook and let your mom listen to Obama read it in her own voice.

Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan

ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

Are there certain words and phrases that create strong relationships? In this collection of essays from Kelly Corrigan, she reflects on 12 phrases that connect us as humans—from “Tell Me More,” to “I Was Wrong.” Your mom will love Corrigan’s musings on marriage and motherhood, and she will find the essay is poignant, funny, and filled with warmth.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

Bernadette is an unlikely mother to make the list.  She leaves her daughter and husband temporarily and goes on a hunt to find where her mother has gone.  This is a book about mother-daughter relationships. Forcing her daughter to become a little more independent and simultaneously doing something for her self, this is an oddly touching tale.

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips
ebook/eaudio on your Libby app

(amazon) The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.

Using your Kanopy app, watch the 2-part series "Moms" from filmmakers Louis Alvarez & Andrew Kolker, a series from The Center for New American Media presenting mothers from all walks of life speaking amusingly and movingly, without sentimentality, about what it's like to have kids. 

Hoopla also has movies about moms and families of all kinds.

SOURCES

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/mothers-day/g23793799/books-for-moms/
https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/literary-mum-unforgettable-mothers-from-the-world-of-fiction/1575503/
https://bookstr.com/article/five-times-we-found-the-best-moms-in-books/
https://www.beyondthebookends.com/2017/05/12/14-best-literary-moms/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/the-10-best-moms-in-fiction/
https://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/mothers-day/books-for-mom?slide=6953d0ff-c7ef-4119-82a1-ed10e6d67b14#6953d0ff-c7ef-4119-82a1-ed10e6d67b14