Today's Features

She was the first crush for a generation of boys, the perfect playmate for a generation of girls.
Annette Funicello, who became a child star as a cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, ruled among baby boomers, who tuned in every weekday afternoon to watch her on their flickering black-and-white television sets.
Then they shed their mouse ears, as Annette did when she teamed up with Frankie Avalon during the ‘60s in a string of frothy, fun-in-the-sun movies with titles like “Beach Blanket Bingo” and “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.”
Decades later, she endeared herself to baby boomers all over again after she announced in 1992 that she had multiple sclerosis and began grappling with the slow, degenerative effects with remarkably good cheer and faith.
Funicello died on Monday at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from MS, the Walt Disney Co. said. She was 70 and had dropped from public view years ago.
“She really had a tough existence,” Avalon told The Associated Press. “It’s like losing a family member. I’m devastated but I’m not surprised.”

Great Conversations is an afternoon of delicious appetizers and desserts and an in-depth conversation with a subject area expert. This is the 4th Annual Great Conversations hosted by the Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation. It will take place on April 28 from 2-5 p.m. at Los Alamos High School in the new building. This is the third in a series about the conversations that will take place.

Reading into the Change in Books: Kindle, Nook & iPad
Steven Thomas
How is the nature of the publishing industry being fundamentally altered? Steven Thomas, the Los Alamos County Library Chief Administrator, will guide a conversation on the effects of technology on libraries, publishers, and most importantly, readers.
This conversation will delve into the future of the book as the center of education and learning. Change is inevitable, but how will technology share the future of libraries? What do experts studying current industry trends think will happen next?
Thomas has served as a library manager/administrator in systems including the Brooklyn, New York Public Library, the Fayetteville Arkansas Public Library, the Kanawha County West Virginia Library System, and the Washington County Arkansas Library System.
He and his wife, Lisa Caldwell, recently re-located to Los Alamos and they love it here!

At the April meeting of the Los Alamos Mountaineers, Tim Goering and Dave Colbert will give a slideshow about a mountain biking trip to China and Tibet in 1986, while they were students at the University of Arizona.
They decided to take a semester off from school to bike across China and Tibet to Nepal, riding across Inner Mongolia, northern and central China, and from Lanzhou across Qinghai province and Tibet.
Tim and Dave spent some time in Lhasa, stocking supplies and recovering from a nasty bout of giardia picked up earlier on the trip, and finished their trip riding from Shigatze over a 19,000 ft pass across the Himalayas down to Kathmandu.
They rode about 3000 kilometers in all, crossing China at a time when it was just starting to open up to foreigners.
The trip was not approved or sanctioned by the Chinese government (although they tried honestly to get official permission), and the United States Embassy strongly discouraged the trip, once they got word of our plans.
But regardless, being young and foolish, they were determined, and early one morning they disappeared on a train headed north for (Inner) Mongolia to start the trip.
Most of the places they rode in China, and all of Tibet except Lhasa and Shigatze, were completely closed off to foreigners, which made the trip even more interesting.

Born out of humble beginnings, the Gathering of Nations, the world’s largest gathering of Native American and indigenous people, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Albuquerque between April 25 and 27.
Considered the most prominent powwow in North America, it will host tens of thousands of people and more than 700 tribes from throughout the United States, Canada and around the world honoring three decades of Native American culture and traditions through dance, music, food and indigenous dress.
The three-day event includes more than 3,000 traditional Native American singers and dancers competing and entertaining a capacity crowd, and more than 800 Native American artisans, craftsmen and traders displaying and selling their work.
In addition, dozens of different indigenous bands will perform various musical genres on Stage 49, and vendors will offer a wide variety of food in the Native America Food Court and Powwow Alley.
As part of the Gathering of Nations, a young Native American woman is crowned Miss Indian World and represents all native and indigenous people as a cultural goodwill ambassador.