Westside Library - El Paso Public Library

Foe by Iain Reid is a science fiction novel set in the near future. The main characters are a wife, Hen, and her husband, Junior. The couple live in a far-off farm and live a quiet, happy life. Then their lives are upended when Junior is selected to travel to space. But the biggest upset is that Junior will be replaced by an exact copy. The story itself has some twists and turns, but the parts I enjoyed the most were the atmospheric descriptions of life in this strange future. The world Hen and Junior inhabit is both familiar and haunting. It's also very strange. Find a copy of Foe at the library!

The Friends of the Westside Libraries' bookstore, the Bookmark, relocated to its current location on Remcon Road. The new store opened its doors on July 11, 2002. The new store was much larger at 2,850 square feet than the old location at the Promenade Shopping Center on Mesa street. Proceeds from the sale of used books goes towards programs and books at the Westside Libraries. Read more here: El Paso Times 12 July 2002

Terry Alvarez, a storyteller, came to the Westside Library on this day in 2007. Alvarez was part of that years' Summer Reading program. See more here: El Paso Times 2 July 2007

In 1852, Frederick Douglass was asked to give a 4th of July speech to an audience of white abolitionists. The title of his speech was "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass's speech emphasized that the 4th of July was only for those who were free: not for the slaves in the United States. He said, "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim." Frederick Douglass would want all of us to remember on this day that freedom means freedom for all, not just some. Frederick Douglass grew up as a slave in Maryland. He was separated from his family when he was a baby and he only saw his mother during visits a few times before she died when he was 7. He was worked hard on the plantation of his owner and was forced to eat food out of a trough, like a farm animal. He was eventually sent to the home of Hugh Auld in ...