The Tattooed Librarian

Let's start an Evolution

2011-10-01T06:38:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I bought my first eBook. Yep, FIRST.

I've been purchasing eBooks for my academic library for two years now and I've used some of the ones we own. But these books until very recently were only available to be read at a computer. So, I've never found them particularly useful unless I was already chained to my desk and computer. Who wants an ebook they can only use when at their PC?

And I never really understood the lure of having hundreds of books on an eReader. I mean, I don't carry around hundreds of books in the trunk of my car. I carry the one book I'm currently reading in my purse or handbag when I think I might end up waiting somewhere. Add to that the cost of an eReader on top of the cost of individual books, and for someone who makes more frequent use of the public library than Barnes & Nobel for reading material, making the investment just didn't make sense.

So, you're asking why I made the leap? What changed? Was there a solar flare? or a Fringe event that has replaced the regular Tattooed Librarian with her alter ego from another universe?

Nope, it was simply a matter of convenience and impatience. I was looking at a recently released non-fiction book that I could not find at any of my local libraries. I knew requesting that it were ordered, or inter-library loaned would take a few weeks. The print copy of the book from Amazon cost $13.99 plus shipping, if I could find it a local book store it would have been similarly priced. The eBook cost only $9.99 and would be magically (a.k.a. wirelessly) sent to my android phone if I downloaded the FREE Kindle app. This was a no brainer. I went for the eBook. While I was buying it online, my phone was downloading the app.

The big question I get, considering I was a dyed in the wool physical book reader, is how do I like it? Well, lets face it. Reading book on screen is never going to be like reading a book on paper no matter how many tweaks they make from eInk to simulating the turn of a page. So lets stop trying to make them similar. Let me break down what I do and don't like about using my new ebook:

Like #1: it's always with me. I always have my phone so I always have my kindle app and always have my book. I don't have to guess if I'm going to stuck waiting at the vet's office or in line at the post office. I never have to fear that I'll decide to sit down for a coffee and have forgotten my reading material at home.
But, dislike #1: My phone's screen is small. And getting a real kindle or bigger tablet kind of defeats the whole "I have it with me all the time" purpose. Having said that, I'm half way through the book and I'm still reading the electronic version, so it can't be that bad.

Like #2: I can "write" in it! and highlight, and fold down the pages and take notes. If you haven't noticed by now, I am pretty geeky, but I hate to deface books. The most annotating I can do with a book (even my own) that isn't for a class is to add post it flags to the margins. They stick out of the book, but on the shelf nobody can see. But write in an anthology of poetry? No way! Now I can though. I can highlight particularly interesting quotes. I can mark the mention of another book or author and add a note of the library call number so I can pick it up the next time I'm out (yep, I already said, Geeky). Bookmarking is folding down the corner page (which you can also undo).
Dislike #2: I can't say this is a dislike of the ebook format so much as a fault with my app. At some point it did not register that I had a book to read, despite having already read many chapters on my kindle app. So, I had Amazon resend the book to my phone. Only then, I had TWO of the same book, and every time I opened the app it would open the "wrong" copy which had a book mark around chapter 7 though I was now well past that. The fix was to remove that copy from my device.

Like #3: Page turning or rather the lack there of. I read on my lunch hour and at dinner if I am by myself. Have you ever tried to keep a paperback open on a table while eating? Or turn the page while your hands are full? It's a pain. But now with a tap of my finger on the right side of the screen the page turns and there is no keeping a book open. And no, I don't need it to mimic the turning of a page. I just want an uninterupted flow of text. Which leads me to...
Dislike #3: There is no eBook design. The book in your hot little hands right now, went through design process to choose fonts, and headings and text sizes so that everything was nicely laid out on the page. A proofreader checked over all of this to make sure everything was consistent. The ebook on your Kindle or Nook right now, probably did not, it probably didn't even see as many editors as your print copy did. So, why is that a problem? The text adjusts to the size of the screen. Which means the words of headings get cut off in really random spots and I often have to read them many times to figure out what exactly it is supposed to be.

Long story short - despite a few minor issues with using the ebooks on my kindle app, I am enjoying the experience and will probably continue to use them when I can get affordable books (like free classics that are now in the public domain), or books not at my public library.

How about you? Do you use ebooks on an ereader, your phone or computer? How do you like them and why did you switch?

Self-Helping my way

2010-08-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of self-help books. I know they saturate the market and for any one thing you may want help on you have a dozen or more choices of books that claim to help. Still, I love them. They are filled with the promise of a better you. And there is nothing that feels so good as being told "it's gonna be okay." Which essentially is the message of self help books. Regardless of how deep your anger management, relationship, grief, debt, time management or organization problems are these books tell us that in only x steps, or x amount of time, with x system or x rules you can fix those problems. Who doesn't want to hear a message like that?

My love of self help books has me checking them out of the library on a regular basis. My most recent rental being The Power to Prosper: 21 Days to Financial Freedom by Michelle Singletary.

I first heard about her book on NPR when she was being interviewed. At the time the book had just come out, my library didn't own it, my hometown public library didn't own it, and I couldn't inter-library loan it because it was so new. So, cut to me many months later and I finally was able to inter loan it.

The book prescribes a21 financial fast where you exist on cash - a predetermined amount you take out each week - and purchase only the necessitities. Now, she's not saying don't pay your mortgage, car payment, or insurance. She's talking about all of those other things that whip out the credit and debit cards for. Those moments when you walk into the grocery store with a list of 5 items and walk out with a cart load that costs $100 or more.

The other aspect of the book is God. Yep, God. God wants us to prosper and using biblical principles and daily activities for 21-days Michelle Singletary is going to show us how.

Now, I'm not a religious person. I don't espouse any belief or non-belief in particular and I'm not a Bible reader either. So, reading this book is going to get very interesting. Add to that the fact that I am not in financial trouble. I am not in danger of being evicted or having my car repossessed. I live fairly frugally, but I will admit to buying some cute clothes for the sole reason that they were cute. And find me a librarian that doesn't need another cute cardigan. However, money is a funny thing. It is easy come and easy go. I think I can easily say that most of us would like to see it go a little less frequently. And with that in mind I'm willing to give it a try.

I have a confession to make...

2010-03-09T08:54:00.001-08:00

So here it is for the whole world (or who ever actually stops by this blog, really) to read - I am cluttered and disorganized.

There, I said it. Me. A librarian. I am disorganized.

I have tried unsuccessfully for years reading countless self-help books on the subject to get a handle not only on my clutter and my space, but my time as well. I see the two going hand in hand after all I'd probably be early enough for work to get a cup of coffee before opening the library if I didn't have to dig through my clutter to find what I need in the morning.

In 2007 I found the website Flylady.net. I have attempted to be a "flybaby" multiple times over the last 2.5 years to no avail. Last month was my latest attempt.

Now, if you're finding yourself in similar situations - I really would recommend the website although there are some pros and cons. (I'll start with the cons so we end on a positive note.)

Cons:
1. The website itself is not organized well. In the baby steps (see pros below) for instance if you click on step 8, you must click back to the list to get to step 9. The idea behind this (I assume) is that the Fly Lady doesn't want you to skip ahead. But for someone who wants a quick overview before jumping in it was extremely annoying. And nowhere on the site are the baby steps laid out 1-30.

2. The intended audience is stay at home moms. The acronym SHE (sidetracked home executive) is used through out to stand for the cluttered chaotic mom. A Payroll SHE is one who works outside of the home. Now, I am not saying that this site isn't useful for us single ladies*, but it would be nice if we were acknowledged a little more often. After all if I start now maybe I'll never become a SHE but an OTHE (On-track home executive - okay, I just made that up).

3. Overly Christian message. This would be great if I was a devout christian or if I did in fact believe (or could be convinced) that keeping a neat and clean home for kids and husband is a "blessing" on my family. An hour of cleaning is called "Home Blessing" on this website. It's a little to cutesy for me. Cleaning is cleaning and no amount of trite sayings is going make it a more favorable chore to do. I'm just sayin'.

4. Capitalism is alive and well even for a stay at home turned De-cluttering Guru. Everywhere you turn the Fly Lady is selling Fly Lady brand stuff. Don't want to make your own control journal with a notebook and pen? Buy one of hers. Don't have a rag or swiffer to dust with during your "home blessing"? Buy a Fly Lady Feather Duster. Decluttering and can't bother to write "trash, donate, sell" on a few boxes? Buy the Fly Lady Pop-up Hampers already convienently labeled. I could go on and on. Everywhere you turn books and items tailor made to make a SHE's life easier and more convienent are bieng sold. And not just for the SHE, but her kids and her husband. Of course, I'm not saying the lady can't make a buck on what may be a great system, but seriously, a feather duster? Go to the dollar store SHE, it'll be cheaper and way more convienent.

4.5. To go along with that one of the baby steps is to check Fly Lady messages every day. Sure it keeps you motivated, but it also keeps those ads fresh in your memory.

5. Enough with the kitchen sink already! I don't freakin' cook much and I never do dishes. I'm single I live on Panera and Diet Soda. See #2.

Okay... enough ripping on the Fly Lady. Here are the pros:

1. Baby steps. Yep, she breaks de-cluttering and the return of peace and calm to your home in a month of routine building baby steps. There is no step where you must devote hours to over hauling your home. Everything is done in easy to accomidate small chunks of time like 2, 5 or 15 minutes. The one con to the baby steps - most new habits are added to the morning routine, great for a stay at home SHE, not so great for us Payroll single SHEs. But, it's meant to be a personal routine so arranging your routines how they fit for you is encouraged.

2. Constant message of "you don't have to catch up. Just jump in where ever you are" and you don't have to do anything perfectly to be doing it right. I like this message, because it tells the audience that you do not have to go from Chaos to calm over night. It's a process and trying to be perfect the first or fiftieth time out is just going to lead to frustration. As long as it's better today than yesterday, then great that's an acheivement.

3. Some of the routines really do help and make sense regardless of who you are. I'm amazed at how something as simple as putting out my clothes for tomorrow really helps me be on time in the morning. And no, thinking about what you're going to wear (at least for me) does not work. Pulling it out of the closet and putting it on a hook really does make me think about - does this go, does it fit, does it have a stain, etc. that would cause me endless number of changes in the morning.

Okay, so, as I said I re-discovered the baby steps. Today is March 9th and I'm going to start with step 1 - shine my sink. It'll be the bathroom sink if you're wondering. That really does need to be cleaned.

*All the single ladies, put your hands up! You so know you got that song in your head, go head and bop around in your chair a little to it. You know you want to.

And then there was one

2010-02-08T14:11:00.001-08:00

After that first semester of juggling three jobs I chose not to continue at the community college. I kept on with the dance teaching and even added extra hours there. This past fall (2009) I swapped out the dance teaching for the English teaching once again. It was in some ways easier and harder than the year before.

On the one hand I had a better grasp on the material that I was teaching. I was better able to plan for the classes since I had an idea of what was coming up and what I would be testing them on. I even had a better grasp on grading. Although, that part was still time consuming and far from perfected. Actually, none of it was perfected, even by the time I was finished.

In many ways this semester was also harder. I had three plagiarized papers turned in (that I know of!) and one person who cheated on a quiz. One section began with 27 enrolled students, 25 actually showed up the first day, and 16 finished the semester. I had a handful of very good students, one of which I liked having in class - he did the work made well thought out comments and generally contributed well in class - until half way through when I mentioned that I had a boyfriend. Then this student was chronically late and had little to say in class. My first semester teaching a male student did pushups on the last day of class after the final in an attempt to get me to go to dinner with him... in front of other students. I had a number of students in both classes who just failed to turn any work in - or handed in 1 page essays when the assignment called for 6+. I understand that I was at community college, but I burnt out having to deal with blatant apathy week after week.

Teaching dance did in-fact put me in a good mood. Seeing students go from knowing nothing to learning a basic step to putting real moves together was a fun part of my job. The commute, the parking, the walking 5 blocks to and from my car, the students that thought they knew more than me, and once again the being hit on all the time, was not the fun part of my job.

And in that way I have gone from three to one job in just over a year. And it's a part-time job at that! So what is a librarian to do with all this extra free time on her hands?

Go back to school that's what! I enrolled and began on-line classes in January of 2010 for a Certificate in Publishing. I am not 100% sure that I will get the certificate, but I am taking the classes to know more about the publishing industry. For now I am learning about Trade publishing and copy editing. It is fun and exciting - well, editing is at least if you're a big fan of grammar which I am in the process of re-learning. I am going to attempt a new blog about this, but don't really know what direction it will take just yet.

At first there were three

2010-02-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

In the fall of 2008 I went from being unemployed to working three jobs.

I was offered a teaching position at a community college, a dance instructor position at a gym, and reference librarian position at an academic library. All three of them fell into my lap as I hadn't done much in the way of applying for them.

The first, the community college, emailed me among many others based on an application I put in more than a year prior for the library. Because of my master degree in English, I was qualified to teach at the community college level.

The second, dance instructor, came about by having a conversation with my trainer, who also scheduled the group fitness classes. I was training in order to build upper body strength for my ballroom dance hobby. Their latin dance instructor was leaving and they needed somebody new. I was hired soon after telling him that I could teach.

The third, as reference librarian, I took over from a colleague of mine who was leaving the position. It was easier for the library director to hire me (after interviewing!) than open the position to applicants.

That fall was extremely busy. I had two 11 hour days and two 13.5 hour days because Monday through Thursday I was commuting between two jobs. I was always at work by 8 or 8am and home around 10pm or later. I was constantly planning for classes, grading papers, and making notes about what in my curriculum needed to be changed. It was an extremely stressful four months.

It's been awhile

2010-02-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

I realize I haven't blogged in a very long time. Besides that, I am also toying with my template. I found quite a few good ones at http://www.bloggertemplatesfree.com/ It was hard to choose just one, and they are very easy to install. So if you see it change again you'll know why!

Some changes are going on in my life - I've enrolled part-time in school while I work part-time at my academic library job. I have dropped my numerous other jobs to focus on these.

This is my first foray into Online classes and let me tell you that has been an education all of it's own.

Babette's story part 4

2009-07-27T16:35:00.001-07:00

My senior year of college I went to Scotland, UK to study abroad. Some time after my return I was talking to one of my neighbors, a young girl I used to baby sit for, and she tells me, "I wasn't supposed to say, but your cat got out!" Only once did Babette ever make a break for the door and hide in some bushes in our front yard. It took about 10 minutes but I eventually coaxed her back in the house. And I'm thinking that my mom must have had to ask a neighbor to help. When I mention it, laughingly, to my mom later that day, I got the whole story. Babette hadn't been gone for a few minutes. She got out in November and was gone for month!

My mother and her husband made frequent trips to the local shelters, put ads in the paper, and flyered the neighborhood. One day a man called not with news about Babette, but with a suggestion for retrieving her. Apparently, cats, not having the same sense of direction that dogs have, don't wander too far from home (usually). So he suggested getting humane traps, placing her favorite food in it and place them around the property near places she might use to hide.

Right after thanksgiving a neighbor mentioned to my mom that she thought our cat was living near, her home, if not directly under her deck. At Thanskgiving they found a hungry gray cat crying by their back door and gave it some turkey. My mother new instantly that she had found Babette and took the humane traps over to the neighbors house and with a few days, Viola! Babette was back home. Turkey has always been her favorite meal. The minute it started to cook she sat directly in front of the oven until it was done and cried until she was given her fair share. Leave it to Babette to smell from outside this family's Thanksgiving dinner! Needless to say she never tried to get out of the house again.

Babette snuggly and warm at home on her favorite blanket.

Babette is the reason I became a vegetarian. It didn't happen right away, in fact it wasn't until I was done with college and studying abroad, and was on my way to starting my Masters in Library Science.

I was living with my father at the time and since he and Babette didn't get along, she stayed with my mother. The hour drive wasn't terrible and I was home nearly every weekend, particularly after I was accepted to "Library School" and was going to move back to my mom's anyway. During a routine check-up the vet found an abscess in one of Babette's teeth. To prevent infection and the loss of all her teeth she had oral surgery performed the week before my LIS orientation and a few days before my mother left on vacation.

Babette needed seven days of antibiotics and pain medication. I was still working at the community college near my dad and couldn't move home yet. So, it was decided that she would come live with me for the week. After her surgery Babette went from living in a huge home, to being confined to an attic bedroom. She was miserable. She spent every day hiding under the bed and every night curled up on it with me. Giving her her medicine was a huge ordeal. She would hiss and spit, bat at me with her paws, and hide so far under the bed that coming after her was a dangerous prospect for both of us. It was an agonizing week for both of us.

Around the same time I saw a documentary about chickens and factory farming. As an animal lover, I never really liked the idea of meat (my mother used to lie to me about where meat came from when I was young enough to believe her) and in that week of watching my cat scared out of her mind from pain and incarceration I put two and two together. Those animals feel pain and fear too. At that point I stopped eating meat.

Babette lived with us for 13 years before she finally succumbed to old age and illness. On July 11, 2009 I realized she wasn't well and took her to veterinary emergency where they took her and made her feel comfortable. Two weeks ago today, on the 13th, exploratory surgery discovered a tumor obstructing her bowel, growing into her intestines and effecting her lymph nodes. At the veterinarian's recommendation I made the rough decision of letting her go.

Pet loss is a rocky road. Not everyone understands the deep feelings of grief that come after losing a family pet. I'm lucky to have very supportive friends, family and colleagues. It's been a rough couple of weeks beginning with her trip to the hospital, but it's getting better.

The librarian in me will leave you with these helpful resources:

apbl.org - The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement
petloss.com -Pet Loss Grief Support Website
pet-loss.net -Ten Tips on Coping with Pet Loss

Coping with Sorrow on the Loss of Your Pet by Moira Anderson, M.Ed.

For anyone else dealing with grief after pet loss, check with your local human shelters, or animal hospitals for support networks, groups, or hotlines.

Babette's Story pt 3

2009-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Due to the pervading theory put forth by my mother, that Babette had been abused (most likely by a man) it was forever impossible to discipline or chastise her for fear of traumatizing her further. Consequently, Babette had the run of the house. By this, I mean she was allowed on all of the furniture, the desks, counter tops, tables (including the kitchen) and once in a while managed to make it to the window ledges too.

Babette was a great "helper" around the house, but mostly with paper work. Homework, bills, any thing that involved sitting at the table and writing she wanted in on. Usually this "help" began with laying across the table. Eventually she wanted to be more involved and would pounce on what ever paper work I was working on or just start to shred it with her teeth. This also including laying out sewing patterns - something about the crinkle of tissue paper that was like catnip to her ears. If extensive writing were involved Babette would "help" by taking hold of your pen or pencil. Typically all of this extraordinary usefulness would wear her out and in the end she'd make a fantastic 10 pound paper weight by stretching full length across the work thereby ensuring that a) the work was all finished and b) it wouldn't go anywhere while I succumbed to ear and chin scratching.

Helping mom clean up is hard work for any cat!

Eventually I did have to go off to college. I didn't go more than a 45 minute drive away so I saw Babette some weekends and on every holiday. Though she would curl up with my mom while I was gone, she always new that I was her human and came back to my bed while I was home. At some point when I was away she began becoming more and more of a baby.

Babette was always a little vocal. She spent her first evening in our home meowing into every corner of every room in the house. But when I came home from college she began begging for food too. Not just at the dinner table, where she would reach up to my chair and attempt, by patting my leg, to get you to give her a taste I happened to be eating. It wasn't enough that she had a food tower that kept her bowl perpetually full and a pet drinking fountain that circulated and filtered water, she began wanting to be pet before every meal. I would walk over to her food dish, she would follow and sit right in front of it. For many years this would be enough, but eventually she would sit, look up at me look at the food dish, look at me, and meow a little if I didn't reach down to pet her.

The same went for breakfast as well. Babette was a master at waking me or my mother up in the morning. My mother was a light sleeper and a light touch when it came to taking Babette to the kitchen in the morning, but if I was home I got the added benefit of being woken up at 5am to sound of the my cat tossing things off of my desk or dresser. If that didn't work she would find something noisy (like a bag or piece of paper) and beginning to play with or chew on it. Her last resort was to come right up to the pillow and bop me on the nose with her paw.

I admit there were mornings where I kicked her out of my room (not literally) I just let her outside and then shut the door. I also admit there are only a few times I can remember doing this, because as I say, Babette was a vocal kitty. She could stand outside of a door and cry for hours, especially when she new for a fact that I was on the other side of it. She also knew how to knock.

After a few months of living with us we discovered that Babette had not been spayed. I discovered Babette was in heat when I woke up to a pitiful crying kitty kneading her paws on my chest, as I by virtue of being her human mom could help her. We took her to the vet to be fixed and at the same time my mother had her declawed (I know... not the most humane of options, however, it was be declawed so she didn't ruin my mother's furniture or find her a nice cage at the Humane Society). She ended up staying the vets for a full weekend. We dropped her off on the way out of town to visit my newborn nephew and picked her up on the way home. When we got her back her little front paws were kind of sore. She had dissolving stitches so we didn't have to take her back to the vet - but in the mean time she developed the habit of sitting in Statue pose with one paw held up. She would periodically switch which paw, but it was a habit she held with varying frequency the rest of her life. But in this way she also learned how to knock on a door, or even push one open if she needed to get to me.

Babette's Story pt 2

2009-07-15T15:49:00.001-07:00

When she was first found this kitten didn't seem like an abandoned animal. She was clean and well fed (no bones sticking out) and her claws were clipped. My mother was convinced that someone was missing this cat. For the next week we placed ads in local papers and walked around neighborhoods near the school asking if people were missing or knew of someone missing a small gray cat. After awhile we stopped knocking on doors, and the ads were never answered. My mother had to concede that she was not stealing anyone's beloved pet and she was welcome to become our beloved pet.

We needed to settle on a name for her. I was leaning toward something romantic and knightly like Galahad before getting to know her and realizing that she was an exceptionally prissy cat. Maybe it was her finicky eating habits, or the dainty way she held her tail as she ran, but there was something that was girlish she needed an appropriate name. I toyed with Genevieve and Guenevere, even Precious crossed my mind. But shortly after adopting her a friend and I went to see the stage production of Beauty and the Beast based on the Disney cartoon. In watching the charming romance between Lumiere, the candelabra, and the sexy feather duster, I came up with my new cat's name. Babette. In one word it summed up her sweet yet exacting nature (and it shortens to "Baby" perfectly).

My mother decided that Babette had been foully abused as a kitten before being abandoned on high school property. The favorite imagined scenario was that some husband or boyfriend took a disliking to the cat and got rid of her before coming home and comforting his sad significant other. Our only evidence of this was Babette's extreme misandry. The moment she sniffed out a human male in the vicinity she turned into a hissing spitting growling force of nature.

If she hated any man in particular it would have been my father. To this day I can't tell you why because he did nothing to harm her, and had always been a cat person himself. His only comfort was that while she hated him, he was not alone in her contempt. My brothers were no exception. Even visiting men like dates were not immune. As she got older she became slightly more tolerant and by tolerant I mean she would approach a person, let them pet her, sniff them and if that whiff of human pheromone was male she hissed, growled, swatted and if pressed, bit. Sometimes I wondered if she didn't enjoy lulling them into a false sense of security with her big green eyes and soft fur.

"You have to come closer so I can smell you!"
the baby Babette

The only exception I ever witnessed to her hatred of men was my mother's second husband. She seemed to accept him into our family almost immediately. Perhaps because my parents divorced the summer before I went to study abroad, for 2 years my mother lived in our large suburban home alone with Babette. I can only imagine that Babette not only liked having a second warm body to snuggle between when I was not at home, but she knew that my mom needed more than feline companionship and wasn't going to stand in the way.

Babette's Story pt 1

2009-07-14T11:19:00.001-07:00

Just over fourteen years ago a young cat was abandoned at my high school during a soccer game. She was found in the equipment shed the next morning. She was fed, clean, and claws clipped. An announcement was made during second hour (Junior year English - American Lit) asking for the owner to claim the kitten and take her home. No one came forward. The next announcement came asking for interested students who would like to adopt the cat to obtain parents permission first and to collect her at the end of the day.

My mother has always been allergic to cats, although we did have them when I was very young. Once the last one died before I was six we didn't have anymore. I have always been a cat lover. At lunch time with the instance of my friends that I "needed" a cat and with out ever laying eyes on this one, from a pay phone I called my mother at work telling the front office that it was emergency. I told her that this abandoned "kitten" would be sent to the humane society and put to sleep if someone didn't take her home.She gave me permission to put my name at the very bottom of the list of volunteers and if no one else could possibly take this cat, then and only then could it come home with me.

All day I waited to find out what would happen. Then at the end of the day while I was waiting for my ride in the "homework room" (the after hours waiting area for those of us unlucky enough not to drive our own cars, but not unfortunate enough to take the bus) I was called to the library (of all places) to get the cat.

It turned out that after the last bell my friends stood at strategic points outside of the school office and told all of the inquiring kids that I was already taking the cat home with me. In that way I ended up moving quickly to the top of the list.

The "kitten" that I had described on the phone ended up being a 6 month old cat. A common american short hair cat, grey striped, and very vocal. She wandered all over the library meowing at just about everything.

Prime real estate for chasing balls down the hallway or grabbing ankles.

We put her food and litter in the laundry room. (Later her food was moved to the kitchen so she could eat with us). That night my parents had plans to go out, I was supposed to go to a church meeting, but was told that I had to stay home with the cat. She spent a good portion of the afternoon wandering around the house calling (for who I don't know - another cat, her old owners, who knows). That night I lay on the couch reading and she stretched herself across my tummy - a position she never again adopted.

After the first few days she figured out where the litter box was, stopped having accidents on the way there, and stopped sleeping on top of the dryer in the laundry room. She quickly took to sleeping on my bed at the foot or in the crook of my knees a habit she kept for the next fourteen years.

Puss in Books

2008-12-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

As an animal lover, cat owner, and librarian, I couldn't help but love this book. It was laugh-out-loud funny in parts and heartbreaking in others.

Myron weaves her own memiors into the story if Dewey, the Spenser Public Library cat, as well as the history of this small "progressive" Iowa town.

I enjoyed how she snuck in information about the workings libraries, their changes in the past twenty years, and her own journey through a library science master's program and professional associations.

My only minor complaint was the chapter towards the end where Myron chronicles her family's hardships. Not because I don't want to hear that side of the story. In fact they enrich the story by showing the downs that we must all go through. I only wish that they had been spread out. The reader is smacked all at once with death and disease in person after person. I think that spread out chronologically would have kept the over-all tone cheerful, with the occasional appropriate dip.

But on the whole an excellent book

This won't be popular but...

2008-10-22T09:36:00.001-07:00

I recently read an Editorial in Library Journal. I was spurred to read it by a letter to the editor regarding keeping the quality of the MLS high.

Tony Greiner's article regarding the MLS degree takes the position that the MLS requirement for entry level library profession is keeping minorities away from becoming librarians. He quotes statistics regarding the numbers of minorities in the profession being below average for the number of minorities living in the U.S.

One problem Greinen, states is that minorities don't see themselves among librarians and therefore don't see the profession as being one for them.

However, the biggest deterrant to entering the library profession according to Greiner is the Masters degree. Minorities are more likely to drop out of higher education due to financial reasons.

This got me to thinking. I was extremely lucky in gaining my MLS because as a Graduate Assistant I had my tuition covered with the exception of two summer classes. But if I had had to pay graduate level tuition it could have taken me much longer to do while I worked full time.

I also began to wonder, if entry level librarian positions really do deserve the requirement of a Masters degree.

With out any hesitation I can say: I love being a librarian. I think it is a fun, interesting and worthwhile profession, that despite of, or even because of, google is not going anywhere.

Of course we need a good education to be librarians, or college students would already know how to do research. But I have come to believe that the majority of entry level librarian positions don't need a masters degree.

I am sure that certain specialties; such as research, technology, management and admin probably do require a Graduate level degree or certificate.

But think about what children's librarian learns in a 2 year Masters course and compare it to what an Undergrad student getting a BA in Elementary Education at the same school. I am sure that they are on par, if not slightly more rigorous for the education student. A school teacher has to observe and student teach in separate semesters. A librarian takes literature courses before being tossed in a room with puppets and preschoolers. An education major studies child psychology and learning outcomes at different ages. A children's librarian takes programming courses.

I've been a children's librarian. I know that it is hard work, demanding, and time consuming. There is a reason that children's librarians burn out after a few years. I'm not knocking it. But if we are truly obtaining a Masters degree shouldn't there be a substantial difference between what the undergraduate learns and what we learn?

Maybe I'm advocating a change in the MLS degree itself. But either way I really wish the profession would reconsider it.

Librarian to Teacher a difficult transition

2008-09-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

I recently took a position at my local Community College as an adjunct English Composition Instructor.

Having been out of work for more than six months I jumped a the chance. I have a Masters degree in Creative Writing, and a Bachelors in English Literature. I freaking love English. I also love research and argument which is the topic of one of the classes. I am a librarian after all. It was the teaching part that I failed to take into account.

Part of my problem was not being prepared. I was a last minute hire so I was rushing to create a syllabus using the samples given to me. Too bad the sample syllabi and the text books don't correspond. So it's the second class and I didn't have anything for them to read, because I haven't had the time (and I haven't slept in a couple days) to figure it out.

Just lecturing is about as fun as watching paint dry, so I tried to engage them with group work and a discussion, but all I got was blank stares and whispering in the corner. I hate to be the bitch teacher, or the too easy teacher (I had to let them go 1/2 hour early 'cuz they wouldn't talk and my material went way too fast). Add to that the fact that I look like I'm 20 and they're all college freshman and my security/ confidence in front of them shrinks exponentially with the time that passes.

I'm hoping it gets better when they have something to read before hand. I gave them two chapters before they left with instructions to come to class on Wednesday with three topics or questions for discussion. I'm also prepared for another ice-breaker, because if this goes on I'm not going to make through the semester.

Of course - I remember a professor I had once who sat at the front of the class behind a desk and read his notes for three hours (w/ one 15 minute break). So, I should be glad that I care enough not to do that.

If anyone out there reads this thing and has suggestions - please, please post them. I'm desperate.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

2008-07-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Book one in the Mortal Instruments series

I couldn't put it down. Literally I read this 500 page book in two days.

It's Underworld meets Harry Potter crossed with Star Wars and somehow Clare makes this totally funky combo work. The classic storytelling that is used in stories Harry Potter are also put to good use by Clare she darkens it with Vampires, werewolves and warlocks, but keeps it entertaining with great banter and the always appreciated Star Wars reference (all that was missing was the "I've got a bad feeling about this" line).

The characters are compelling, and believable. While some of the plot "twists"are predictable, and I managed to catch one continuity mistake, I am forgiving, because I loved everything else. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2

One of the things I liked about this book was how it reminded me of other stories, and how she referenced other stories too - especially Star Wars.

SPOILERS
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I noticed:
1) Harry Potter - Valentine is so much like Voldemort, and the Circle is very much like the Death Eaters.

2) Star Wars -
a - Luke (the name),
b - Luke & Leigh being brother and sister.
c - "Luke, I am your father" when Luke thinks Vader killed his dad, just like Jace thinks Valentine is responsible for his dad's death.
d - The great "I know" response to I love you that Simon points out.
e - "I came with Luke to rescue you" so very much like "My name is Luke Skywalker I'm hear to rescue you."

3) Underworld - Lucian is the werewolf ruler

I know that some of this is from history and other works of classic mythology, and I love how Clare is keeping that alive.

If anyone found more references or sees parallels to other works of literature I'd love to hear them. Particularly Valentine.

The New Adventures of a Youth Librarian

2007-08-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

In two weeks I go from Teen Services to Youth. I'll still get to work with "tweens" so I'll still see alot of my same kids which I'm pleased with.

Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.

Good Reads

2007-07-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine invited me to this website:

Good Reads

It's a bit like a social networking site in that you can make and invite friends, but cooler because you rate and review books. You can recommend them and see what your friends are reading, have read, and what they recommend.

Grudge match Artemis Fowl Vs. Harry Potter

2007-06-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

With the last Harry Potter book coming out, and the Order of Pheonix hitting the big screen next month I've been catching up on the books.

I have to say that I haven't gotten to the 6th one quite yet because I was sidetracked by a series of books about another special youth - who frankly, has blown me away. I'm talking Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

I am not ashamed to say that, despite him being half my age, I have a huge crush on Artemis Fowl. I can't wait until somebody wises up and makes a movie version. I think that in alot of ways they are better than Harry Potter and would make better movies (for one thing they're shorter).

So, how can I say that Artemis Fowl is better than Harry Potter? The are very similar in the idea that the main character is a very special teenage boy and a story that takes place both in our world and in a special magical other world. What I think that Artemis has over Harry is: 1) the author has an ability to show everything and 2)over arching character development.

Show don't Tell
J.K. Rowling tells us alot about what is going on - think of the last few chapters of every HP book. They all end with an explination of events. Huge chunks of pages are nothing but one charcter explaining to another what has been happening through the whole book. Think Goblet of Fire - fake Moody is given verita serum and spends a chapter explain his duplicitness. But go back even to the first one - Philosopher's Stone, or the second Chamber of Secrets where Dumbledore sits Harry down and goes through a whole schpeel about what he's been through all year. Order of the Pheonix? Same thing.

Artemis Fowl is boy genius. He's smarter than just about everyone on the planet so yeah, he's got to explain some stuff for the rest of us. But, the difference is that Colfer manages to weave it seamlessly into the narration so that by the end of the book we know everything that has been going on - even the "mystery" parts of it. Sometimes he shows us the same action from multiple vantage points, sometimes it comes through in Artemis' thoughts, and yes sometimes it comes with a bit of the denoumont. The great thing is it is always done naturally and not in huge amounts of one character "telling" another.

Character Development

Harry Potter did change in his books, don't get me wrong. The Order of the Pheonix is proof of that. I don't know a single person who has read this book and thought "Wow, Harry turned into such a prick." As I was reading it the first time I was forcibly reminded of my older brother at that age and I knew, J.K. Rowling has a teenager in her house - or did at one point and remembers what it was like. She captured that turbulant age during puberty like no other writer. But despite his melancholy and turbulant attitude, Harry hasn't really changed as a person. Neither have his friends, neither have any of the characters really.

What I like about Artemis Fowl is that in the fifth book (the latest) he is not the same boy he was in the first book. In book one Artemis Fowl he is the wealthy son of a missing business man and mother who has gone off the deep end, and an evil mastermind genius. His entire goal in life is to make as much money as possible. It is the Fowl family creed in fact and he is trying in his father's absence to carry on that creed. To that end he kidnaps a fairy (well, an elf really) and holds her for ransom. Colfer does an amazing job of creating a whole new world of fairies, sprites, elfs, dwarfs, pixies etc - he even explains the Leprechaun myth in a way that is both entertaining, smart and fits perfectly in this new realm he created. By the fifth book Artemis at 15 is going through puberty, he is noticing girls, but he's also reforming his character. He is no longer the money for money's sake selfish boy he was. We see it with the end of book one in a simple act of choosing family over some money and it subtely grows as Artemis does. He starts to develop a conscience.

Artemis isn't the only character who changes either. Notably it's his body guard Butler, who next to Artemis, does the most in terms of character development. Readers always see the special relationship between guard and boy, and see how Butler does blur the line a bit, but as the two go through these adventures together Butler changes from the stoic "always protect the charge no matter what" to a person wrestling with decisions about trust and letting Artemis go. Some of this comes through events which happen to Butler. Physical changes ultimately take their toll and lead to emotional and mental changes as well.

Then there are the People (as in the Little People - but they're not little to each other). Holly, the elf which Artemis kidnaps in book 1, is a permanent character from then on, and a few others also make repeat apparences, like Mulch the dwarf, and Foley the centaur. None of them are safe from real honest reactions to events that change them, for better or worse, into different people as the books wear on. I can not say that of Harry Potter - despite all he has been through he seems never to learn a lesson.

If all of the Harry Potter books have flown off of your library shelves I recommend you take the hint and pick up Artemis Fowl instead.

Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl: the Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: the Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: the Opal Deception
Artemis Fowl: the Lost Colony

I also recommend the audio books. The narrator Nathanial Parker is amazing. Like the narrator of the HP books, he gives voices to all the characters. He does the accents perfectly - Artemis is Irish, there are British and American characters, and each type of fairy is given a different quality of voice. I like Nathanial Parker better too, because he is younger. The Fairies that Colfer has dreampt up are not the old world fairies with flowy dresses and flowers in their hair. They are by far technologicaly superior to humans and ultimately very modern. This is a very different feel from Harry Potter's wizarding world and Hogwarts.

The Giver

2007-05-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this book quite alot - again none of my teens came to the book club - perhaps too many have had to read it for school.

Some topics I would have liked to discuss:

The ending. The author claims it's optomistic that Jonah and the baby live. I read it as he was clinging to what was left of the Christmas memory he had been given as he and the baby freeze to death.

The idea of rules and choice. If we let people decide for themselves the may make the "wrong" choice. But at what point does this become over kill? Spouses, children, jobs.

Language. This society talks about the "precision of languages" but then uses a euphamism to describe euthenasia by calling it "being released."

Conformity.

Only You Can Save Mankind

2007-04-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

I thought this was a terrible book. No wonder my teens didn't show up to the book club discussion.

This was my first foray into Terry Prachett. I have heard so many good things about his fantasy novels, and I know they are very popular. Consequently I had high hopes for this book, but it was all I could do to get through it in time for the book club.

I liked the premise. Johnny finds out that the aliens in video games are real. They are really being destroyed by all of the players of that video game and while the players can start a level over again with a new life if they die, the aliens really are dead after being killed by the player.

In the game Johnny is messaged by the captain of the Skree-Wee fleet that they'd like to surrender and would he escort them to safe space. He agrees. In his dreams he helps the aliens escape. In his waking hours he finds that everyone else is having problems with the game - they are no aliens to kill, just miles and miles of empty space.

So what's the problem with the book then? Execution. In such a slim volume - it's only 200 pages long - Pratchett managed to beat a dead horse to with in an inch of it's afterlife. In the introduction Pratchett mentions that he wrote it during the first Gulf War (the one with Bush Sr.). He talks about the war footage that was on TV at the time. I remember this actually. I was 11 at the time, my brother was in high school and he skipped alot of school. I would come home and my "sick" brother would be watching the green night vision footage of bombs being dropped. Pratchett explained that with video games become more and more graphically sophisticated and the war footage not being it can actually confuse the watcher about the severity of war. Which is real the real war that looks like an old video game or the video game that looks realisticly like war?

I think the message is great even if it doesn't apply so much to the Gulf War Part 2, since mainstream TV (we didn't have cable the first time round) doesn't show footage of Iraq.

The problem comes in when the introduction states the intention of the book and then the book states the intention of the book two or three times and when the characters ask themselves this very question in the exact words of the introduction. Only the most brain dead of readers could have missed the half-dozen mention of "is the war on tv a war or a game? is the video game a game or really a war?"

There were a few clever parts, mentioning Space Invaders and showing what happens when nobody plays a game anymore, and the very end leaving it open about whether the Skree-Wee actually make it home or not. And the fact that the dream parts of the game are completely dependent on the impressions of the dreamer so that Johnny's version of the Skree-Wee are different than his friend Kirstin's.

He also did a good job of showcasing some female characters. The Skree-Wee warriors are all women and one of the game's best players is a teen age girl.

Still I think this is much more of kid's book than a YA and I really can't recommend it.

"From my first breath in the world"

2007-04-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

From the back of the book:

Enger brings us eleven-year-old Reuben Land, and asthmatic boy in the Midwest who has reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and fater, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw brother who has been controversially charged with murder. Their journey unfolds like a revelation, and its conclusion shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, the most tragic of fates.

This was a difficult book for me to get through. While very well written the book moves slowly.

It has some great opportunites for discussion however. A number of miracles take place in the book performed by the father. At times the miracles seem to come without the father's awareness of them, but Reuben (his very life a micacle) acts as a witness to them.

The "controversial" nature of Davy's crime could also open up many avenues of disccussion.

One can also debate the novel whether the novel should be considered "Christian" or "magical realism."

Interview with Leif Enger

"All Clones go to Pieces in the End"

2007-03-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Winner of the 2002 National Book Award, Young People's Literature
A 2003 Newbery Honor Book
A 2003 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

Mateo Alacran isn't like other boys his age. Because he was "harvested" from a cow. Because he's a clone. But Matt isn't just any one's clone, he's the clone of El Patron, dictator of Opium, the country that lies between the United States and Aztlan (formerly Mexico). Growing up in the "Big House" reviled by almost everyone around him, Matt grows up unaware of his true purpose in life.

This was a long read, but well worth the time involved. I would definitely recommend it for older teens and up (adults can gain alot from reading the book, despite the adolescent protagonist).

Nancy Farmer brings up remarkable questions of ethics and morality. In the future society that this book takes place clones are reviled as being inhuman. Legally they must be incubated in a cow and "harvested" so that they can be classified as live stock and not as people. Most clones (all except the clone of El Patron, because he is above the law in his own country) are given an injection which blunts their intelligence, making them little more than vegetables, which further lowers their value in the mind of others. Despite having all of his intelligence (and an amazing musical talent) Matt is still treated as sub-human. Wonderful discussions can be had about the meaning of being human. Particularly after Matt's beloved bodyguard reveals the secret "Do you know what the difference between a clone a human is? Nothing."

All of the work in Opium (the harvesting of poppy plants and other drug plants) is done by "eejits." That is workers who have an implant in their brains turning them into zombies that can only act on orders. An eejit will die of thirst standing in front of a glass of water if no one gives him the order to drink.

El Viejo (the Old One, and El Patron's grandson) dies of natural causes while El Patron has lived to the ripe old age of 143 due to fetal implants in his brain and other procedures which keep him alive. El Patron and other aristocrats like him see nothing wrong with using science, technology, and other living creatures to this end. El Viejo is called "the only good man in this family. He took what God gave him, and when God told him it was time to go, he did it." El Patron considers his grandson a fool.

When Matt finally sees the outside of the Big House and Opium that world is not much better. Indoctrination takes the place of brain implants to create docile workers who will follow orders and never complain.

Farmer's narration is rife with wonderful descriptions that bring the countries of Opium and Azatlan to startling reality. She relies heavily on word-for-word repetition of earlier portions of the book. This may be good for younger readers who may not remember particular conversations and passages, but for older readers it was a bit too much.

Characters like Tam Lin, Matt's bodyguard; Celia, Matt's foster mother; Jorge, an Aztlan Keeper; Tom, Maria, and other members of the Alacran family will spur many more discussions.

Highly recommended.

Other Books by Nancy Farmer:
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
The Sea of Trolls
A Girl Named Disaster

"Even My Life So Far Has Been Plain"

2007-03-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

How I live Now

Daisy is sent to live with her aunt and cousins in England though she has never met them before. At first she thinks it will be horrible being on a farm after growing up in a New York City apartment. But she feels an instant connection with her cousin Piper and even deeper feelings for Edmund. Shortly after her aunt leaves on business, terrorists invade England and war breaks out. Alone on the farm the children are able to live how they want with no rules and no adults telling them what to do. What could be better? Their Eden-like existence is interrupted when the army takes over their farm.

Meg Rosoff, doesn't pull any punches in showing the horrors of living through a war, with famine and death all around, but because Daisy herself is telling the story everything is kept very age appropriate to the older teen readers. The relationship that develops between Daisy and Edmond might be hard for some readers to grasp, especially younger ones, but as one teen said "you can't help who you fall in love with."

I liked the style of narration because it captures the voice of a fifteen year-old and the reader can see how the voice changes as Daisy does. Particularly at the end (I won't spoil it for you) when Daisy grows up there is a distinct difference in the writing style.

There are great discussions to be had with this book and teen readers. It is a thin volume and a quick, engaging read.

The paperback version also has a sample chapter of her next book Just in Case.

Zodiac

2007-03-12T14:27:00.001-07:00

How do you catch a serial killer?

Go to the Library.

Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

2007-02-20T11:27:00.001-08:00

Twilight: Isabella Swan (Bella)leaves sunny Arizona and moves to the most dreary place on earth: Forks, Seattle. Little does she know that she's moved to a town full of mythical creatures and lands herself in the middle of a romance with sexy vampire Edward Cullen.

New Moon: Fighting off despair and reaching for any connection to the now absent Edward, Bella renews her friendship with Jacob Black at the nearby Quileute reservation, La Push. When Jacob starts to push Bella away in favor of the local La Push gang of boys will she be able to uncover what hold they have over him? And who will she choose she do when the Cullens' unexpectedly return to Forks, Edward or Jacob?

The middle schoolers I read Uglies with mentioned this book and I devoured it. I read both in a matter of a week and a half.

Twilight The first four or five chapters were slow going, but then the pace picks up and is a very fast read. The star-crossed lovers element is very heavy in this book and my one complaint is that too much time was spent building the relationship between Bella and Edward. It was just more of the same in each new situation only the place changed. The pages would have been better spent building up to the major plot action of James (I won't spoil it). While it explained very concisely I think the suspense would have been greater if James just doesn't drop in on one page and the next page the action part of the plot kicks in.
A minor complaint, after reading on Stephanie Meyer's website about the prom dresses the girls wear at the end of the book: What high school kid in their right mind would wear these dresses? What high school girl outside of Hollywood has access to couture?

New Moon: I'm on team Jake. That's all I can say. Edward left Bella with some nonsense about "I don't really love you. I don't really want you." I understand why Bella believes him, but why she would pine for him for months when they only went out for about 6 months as it was? Jake on the other hand makes no bones about liking Bella, wanting her as a girlfriend and being there for her.
****spoiler****

It's only when she picks Edward over him that Jacob breaks his promise to Bella about always being there for her. It also annoys me that Bella runs off to save Edward and then forgives him so quickly. I just wish she'd be a little stronger.

End ****spoiler****

The romantic nature of the book will appeal more to girls than boys. The violence is very mild, no language, only sexual tension, and Bella's only drug use is superfluous cough syrup which she feels guilty for taking. 7th grade and up.

UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld

2007-02-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

When everyone is super model pretty, anyone normal is ugly.
Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16. She's missing her best friend Peris, who has already turned 16 and moved out to New Pretty Town. Where Tally is from your 16th birthday doesn't bring the excitement of a brand new driver's licence, but an extreme operation that turns you from a young "ugly" to a stunning "pretty." Once pretty your only job is to go to parties and have fun. But before Tally gets her operation she meets Shay. Shay has startling ideas about conforming to one standard of beauty and decides to run away from the operation and the society that claims she's ugly.

On the day of her 16th birthday Tally is whisked off, not to have her operation, but to be given an ultimatum. Find her friend Shay with all other run aways and betray them or she'll never be pretty. Tally sets out on an adventure that takes her outside of the protections of "civilized" society and reveals the ugly truth behind the pretty operation.

It was a very exciting book with lots of action and some sci-fi elements like hoverboards and interface rings. Westerfeld does a fantastic job of creating a new society set 300 years in the future without over explination and dropping clues about what has driven humanity to this state. Westerfeld leaves us with a rather large cliffhanger at the end of Uglies compelling us to check out Pretties and Specials which round out the Trilogy and show the whole progression of Tally Youngblood.

I just finished this book with a group of 8th graders at a local middle school. The idea was to read the book in 6 parts discussing one section per week. Well, the book was a hit and most of "my kids" ended up finishing the book with in the first couple of weeks. The book has been a bigger hit with the girls than boys and has not gone over well with the younger groups (6th/7th graders).

There is plenty to discuss in this novel from self image and plastic surgery, to conformity and even ecology.

Other Books by Scott Westerfeld:

Midnighters
Peeps
Last Days
So Yesterday

If you like Uglies you might like:
Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Elswhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

Valiant: a modern tale of faerie by Holly Black

2006-12-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

Valiant: a modern tale of faerie

Val makes a shocking discovery at home that makes her question everything. She runs away finding herself on the streets of New York City and falls in with some other street teens who live in the tunnels under Grand Central. Through them she is introduced to the Faerie world. Not the Tinkerbell from Disney kind, but the dark cloven-foot, trolls, gargoyles and other nasty things that will use you up and spit you back out again kind. Surprising herself Val bonds with Ravus, a troll who protects the exiled faeries living in NYC and uses the street teens to deliver potions that protect faeries from iron poisoning. But when faeries start dying from the potion that should heal them all fingers point at Ravus and it's up to Val to prove them wrong.

Black uses very obvious themes here about running away instead of dealing with family issues and drug use. Only instead of a real drug (though it resembles every use of heroine I've ever seen in the movies) the teens use "Nevermore" which is actually a concentrated form of magic which helps the faeries stave off iron poising, but which gets humans high. I was a little surprised by the language. There are a couple of instances of the F-word in the first chapter and it recurred through out.

Val makes the transitions to and from the streets fairly easily which I find rather unrealistic. As well, as the handy appearance of Ruth, Val's best friend from, which makes Val's efforts to save the faerie world a little easier.

This was an exciting and quick read though. Sure to please readers looking for a little bit of fantasy injected into a real world setting.

13 Little Blue Evelopes by Maureen Johnson

2006-12-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

I decided to put this title on one of my Teen Book Club lists for the spring, but couldn't wait to read it myself.

After her Aunt Peg's death Ginny receives a package with direct instructions from her aunt to pack a backpack, leave all her electronic trappings and guidebooks home and get on a plane to London. Once she's completed that task 13 more little blue envelopes will lead her around Europe to experience it as her aunt did. She learns some new things about her aunt and herself along the way.

I liked this book and it was a quick read. I kept wanting to know what her aunt had for Ginny to do next and what lesson she would learn from it.

My major complaint is the plausibility of a 17 year old having trusting enough parents to let her go off to Europe alone with no communication except for the handwritten posted kind (It's in the rules). Ginny doesn't change in huge ways by the end of the book but she's seen more, done more and has more to think about which in my opinion was the aunt's goal all along. Peg was a driving force in Ginny's life until she died and had promised to see Ginny through high school and college to help her through those confusing and awkward times in life. Failing that I think Peg concocted this scheme as a way to bundle all those little bits of helpful advice into a short period of time and in a dramatic (Peg was an artist after all).

There are some touching moments and having been to the UK, where Ginny's travels start I felt nostalgic at the mentions of places I've been.

Peace on Earth; Good Will Toward Men

2006-12-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

Except for that peace part. Because it's offensive.

At least that's what a Colorado home association has told it's residents when it told a couple to take down their peace sign Christmas wreath or face a $25/day fine.

Colorado law says that homeowners associations cannot prohibit residents from displaying American Flags, service flags, or political signs that might influence an election. Restrictions on other displays however are not addressed in the law.

So at this time of year when Christians around the world are celebrating the birth of their Messiah who preached peace, love and tolerance, who was probably the most famous hippy in history, a peace sign is being considered "offensive."

That's right offensive. Because while we are at war and have lost 2,000+ American soldiers, the message of peace is offending our neighbors.

We all know that Christmas has become horribly secular, commercial, and material. It has degenerated into the worshiping of fat, jolly Santa instead of Christ, but at least the "holiday spirit" seemed to remain. Despite arguments over the proper way to greet your neighbors "happy holiday's" "merry Christmas" "Happy Hanuka...Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice etc" at least the well wishes were there. I don't know about you, but I'll take all the happy and merry wishes I can get regardless of the holiday it's attached to. I need them.

But now even that is gone. No longer can we even wish for peace. Wish that our young men and women, and those citizens of other countries weren't put in harms way, weren't fighting and dying. When did peace become something bad? Even if you agree with the justifications for war, don't we all wish they weren't a necessity?

I might as well put away my ornaments, twinkle lights, and poinsettias.

New Blog

2006-11-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

I found this blog randomly searching:

Seen Reading. The author explains her site as
* 1. I see you reading.
* 2. I guesstimate where you are in the book.
* 3. I trip on over to the bookstore and make a note of the text.
* 4. I let my imagination rip.
* 5. Readers become celebrities.
* 6. People get giddy and buy more books.

My favorite posts so far are
here and here

Be giddy, buy books, and enjoy!

New Job = New Reading List

2006-11-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I sent my resume to a public library in the surrounding area - the suburbs - that was looking for a reference librarian that would handle both Adult services and Teen (Young Adult) services. Since I have some experience with outreach to high schoolers, I thought I might as well apply.

I have always worked in Academic libraries. I started out Freshman year of college in my residence hall one-room library and moved on to the business library and the graduate library. When I studied abroad I worked at that university library. While working on my MLIS I was a grad assistant at my current university library doing reference and some outreach. Since I have been a full-fleged degreed and professional librarian I have been working mostly on outreach and instruction. The outreach is similar to programming that goes on in other libraries, but the instruction has been brand new to me and not something that I was used to at all. That is why I decided to try my hand at a public library.

They called for an interview a little more than a week after I emailed my resume. My interview was four days later. That is where I found out that only three people were chosen for an interview and as soon as that third person was done they would make their decision and let me know. I was late to my interview by aproximately 5 minutes. As I was parking my car at the time my interview should have started I thought I was out of the running. Consequently I went in completely relaxed, knowing that there was no way they were considering offering me this job. I even felt that the interview was going rather well, until the end when I had to say that I didn't know about certain aspects of public libraries. The director with whom I was interviewing seemed genuinly confused about why I had applied for this job when my experience, even my MLIS concentration was in academic libraries.

That is why I have been in shock since Thursday afternoon when I was offered the position. I start in about a week and a half and I am rather nervous. However, I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn something new. I will get to run teen programs, a reading/book club, programs between teens/adults and teens/youth, and a content system "room" for teens and one for entertainment. As well (whoo!) as being on the reference desk some of the day.

So, my reading list is going to have to change somewhat in line with my new position.

These are what I have down so far:

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Bras and Broomsticks
Frogs and Frech Kisses by Sarah Mlynowski

Then He Ate My Boy Enhancers
Startled by His Furry Shorts by Louise Rennison

God and I Broke Up by Katerina Mazetti

National Novel Writing Month

2006-11-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

A flurry of writers all over are trying to finish a 50,000 word novel in only 30 days (29 in my case, I only started today).

If you have an inkling to participate just cick on the blog title above.

You'll read my novel when it get published and you can all say that you knew me when.

The Devil Wears Prada

2006-10-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

I finished The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger fairly quickly. It was a much faster read than my previous books since, quite frankly, it's a bit of superficial read.

Andrea (Andy) find herself graduated from college and feeling rather blase about finding work. She is surprised when one of her randomly dropped of resumes to a magazine company lands her an interview and then a job as the junior personal assistant to the Editor in Chief of Runway magazine. While this might be a job that "a million girls would die for" Andy finds her boss to be a little overly demanding.

The pros:
Very funny in spots.
An interesting look at fashion and fashion magazines and their tendency to take themselves too seriously
A lot of girls/women might be able to identify with the fashion-outsider Andy who wants something more meaningful despite her the "big break" she's received.

The cons:
Way too predictable. No wonder it was made into a Hollywood move (all of which follow a very predictable formula - I'll dig it out from a script writing class I took).
Too many lists- I know the idea was to prove that the author really knows about this world of fashion and fashion magazines and in an attempt to make it more "authentic" or "real" she would include page long lists of designers that someone meets with or what's in a suitcase, mostly I skipped these parts they did nothing for the plot and so, in my opinion, were practically unnecessary.
The plot was flat. About half way through I wanted to scream, "I get it! The woman is a heartless bitch and Andy is having the soul sucked out of her. Where is the plot? Where is the problem? What's going on?" Really, a plot should be the character going through hardships, encountering problems, solving them, moving on to greater obstacles to their goals. Maybe the problem is that the goals and problems in this book were too mundane. Andy wants to be a writer for the New Yorker. She thinks this job will put her on the fast track, too bad her boss is an uber-bitch. But do I really need hundreds of pages of her daily horrific sleep-deprived routine? Some of the interesting things, when she gets thrown for a loop and made to go to parties or runway shows were the most interesting "problems" she encounters (beats hearing about her Starbucks runs from hell) but there weren't enough of them.
The narrative also needed some tweaking. The book starts out at point B when Andy is already in her job from hell, then moves backwards to point A on how she got this job, and goes forward into point C. My problem here is not that structure it can work well, except that we never come back to point B (the beginning) before moving on to point C (the end). I kept thinking that all of this was in the past only to get to the end and find out, that I had been wrong for a good portion of the book. I blame the publisher/editor/agent/whoever-read-this-thing-before-printing-it for not catching and correcting that mistake.

The movie: I have not seen it. But...I can say that I totally see where the casting came from. I can think of no better person than Glen Close to play Miranda Preistly, the horrible boss. And I totally see how they could see Anne Hathaway in the role. I noticed in the book Andy is often referred to as "Blondie," though Anne Hathaway is not. I am hoping that this was done based on Anne Hathaway's acting ability and the fact that they wanted her regardless of "looks" and not some decision that brunettes are somehow more likely than blondes to be fashion-challenged as Andy is in the book. Also, in the book Andy's boyfriend is named Alex (how cute!) , but the movie changes it to Nate. Not a huge deal, and I can see how someone might not want the "too cute" assonance of their names.

I am actually looking forward to the movie because I think it might actually be better than the book, which I don't think happens that often. I just think that the mediocre plot line, but interesting characters, plus the engaging actors will lend itself better to the screen than the book.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

2006-10-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

I finally finished reading His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman (see here also). These are my own short summaries and I am trying not to give too much away for those who are/want to read them.

The first book The Golden Compass was by far the best.
The setting is a world like ours, but still different. Something seem antiquated and others are still very modern. Children across the land are being kidnapped and when Lyra's best friend Roger goes missing she's determined to rescue him. This takes her on a grand adventure from her home into the land of witches and as far as the arctic. She gets caught up in all kinds of intrigue - political, scientific, and religious.

The second book The Subtle Knife was interesting, but not as good as the first, and seemed only to exist in order to a) introduce more characters and b) shuffle them around to get them into place for the culmination of book 3.
Doorways to other worlds, some near mirrors to Lyra's and others amazingly different begin to be found. Lyra encounters Will, a boy from our world, and the adventure begun in the Golden Compass continues for the both of them. The philosophy of good, evil, god and temptation deepens and expands as Lyra and Will begin to learn more about the causes behind the events that unfurled in book one.

The third book The Amber Spyglass was the longest and the most convoluted. I think at this point Pullman was trying to put too much into this final installation with out paying much attention to what he had set up previously.
Lord Asriel is taking on the Authority and is calling on some very mighty powers to do so. Creatures from across many worlds are joining sides in what is sure to be a cosmically huge war. Lyra and Will are destined to play an important role, but have their own important agenda which will take them to the World of the Dead and back regardless of the consequences.

My analysis:

I loved Pullman's ideas of multiple worlds, uncountable numbers of worlds really. Each one created every moment. The idea being that in one world Lyra decides to hide in a room in which she is forbidden to go (the very opening scene of book one), but at the moment she decides to do this a new world is created in which that Lyra chooses a different route. In this way millions of worlds are always being created and they exist right on top of each other in the same space and time, never aware and never matching up exactly. The end of the first book introduces us to the concept and the second book gives the characters a way to move between worlds (this is how Will from our world and Lyra meet). In book 3 we start seeing worlds that barely resemble ours at all because thousands of years ago evolution took a different turn creating an Earth that we might not recogognize.

In Lyra's world each person is accompanied by a daemon. It is difficult to explain what a daemon is because Pullman illustrates it through action and discourse rather than a straightforward "telling." Humans and Daemon's are connected they can not be very far distances from each other with out causing pain or death. In effect, the daemon is a part of a person just inhabiting a separate body. The form of a daemon can tell you about the person - a sailor may have a dolphin or gull daemon, a servant a dog, a spy may have a very unobtrusive, small or easily hidden daemon. Until one reaches adolescence the daemon can change form, but upon adulthood it "settles" on a single form. This prompts the beginning, in the first book, of the discussions of innocence, sin, and temptation which is wrapped up in the transition of childhood into adolescence and the beginnings of adulthood.

All in all Pullman created both a fun and adventurous story while filling it with depth. I think he inevitably set his eyes a little too far and tried to cram too much in the third book and leaving the second one a little mundane.

From Here Down -- spoiler warning, major plot points in all 3 books revealed - read at your own risk

Some of the very philosophical aspects:

Pullman delves into some very interesting topics regarding religion, temptation, and the nature of growing up. Particles referred to as Dust are discovered by scientists in Lyra's world (called Shadows or negative particles in our world) and it is further revealed that Dust is attracted more to adults than pre-adolescent children. In Lyra's world the Church decides that this is evidence of original sin. If they can some how destroy that which attracts Dust to adults they can somehow eliminate sin or temptation. Through out the three books it is revealed to the readers that it is not sin but consciousness (or wisdom/knowledge) that Dust is attracted to. Until humanity became aware of itself, was able to create, to make and use tools Dust did not settle on us. While Dust is attracted to our mature consciousness, humanity's works -tools, art, science etc- creates more Dust creating a symbiotic relationship which we find out in the 3rd book is in peril. This goes interestingly with story of the Garden of Eden, and Pullman makes the connection by putting Lyra at the heart of a prophesy in which she plays the part of Eve, it was after eating the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that Adam and Eve became aware of themselves and their nakedness. The character of Mary Malone (purposely an ex-nun) is also cast in the prophesy as the serpent. She is supposed to play the tempter to make sure that Lyra chooses knowledge and maturity in order to assure the continued existence of Dust. Too bad Pullman seems to have forgot by book 3 that Mary was supposed to play the serpent, because she seems to play almost no role in the temptation at all. The parallel to the garden of Eden goes a little to far, when towards the end of book 3, Lyra and Will searching for their daemons find a garden spot and realize that they have come to love each other. Lyra offers him a piece of fruit after she takes a bite of it and they find themselves kissing passionately.

Pullman also does a lot with religion in these novels. In the second book we find out that all of Lord Asriel's actions in the first book had little to do with Dust and were really the first steps to launching an all out war on God (the Authority). Pullman's take on God being the first angel and therefore unfathomably old to the point where he is beyond frail and nearly unaware of himself and his surroundings. God hid himself away in a fortress of sorts and all of his power has been usurped by another angel. In order to protect God in his fragile state he is sealed in an unbreakable glass carriage which during the war is shot down while being evacuated by angels. God trapped inside is saved by Lyra and Will, but is so frail that just stepping out into normal air allows him to come apart (like angels and ghosts do when dying or stepping out into a real world) and he shows signs of pure happiness when it happens. The powerful angel who took over for god is brought down by his own envy of humanity and he too dies. It is the ultimate statement of "God is Dead." And yet the Church and all of it's different branches continue to go on functioning. I think that Pullman gives us very weighty food for thought on the nature of religious organizations.

Words, Words, Words

2006-09-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

1. One Book You've read more than once
Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince - read it as a teenager in middle school. It's a little mature I think, but I still find it in library YA sections all the time. Melanie Rawn studied history, and you can tell. The wars and the political intrigue even the plague and famin that ensue are so well developed. There is a great dose of fantasy, magic, and super strong minded women in it too.

2. One Book You would want on a desert island

An Encyclopedia. As much as I love fiction, even really long or dense fiction isn't going to keep me entertained forever. And there are some fiction type things in encyclopedias like dragons or fairies. Not only that it might have some useful rescue information in it.

3. One Book That made you laugh
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison- my SiL lent me this book when I was on my way to Scotland which is very appropriate because the narrator is a British girl. I got stranded at the airport and couldn't sleep on the uncomfortable seats so managed to read it and the two that follow in the series all while waiting for my plane. It was good thing that I read most of it in the middle of the night, because when it got closer to morning and there were actual people around I kept getting weird stares and looks because I was laughing so hard and so loudly.

4. One Book that made you cry

Oh gosh, what book hasn't made me cry would be an easier answer. All of Melanie Rawn's books have made me cry, Wasted (see #5) made me cry, I even think that Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events made me cry at somepoint (those poor orphans). I think that if a book is well written and gets me invested in the characters to the point where I care about what happens to them, when it's something bad, something incredibly good, I am going to cry.

5. One Book you wish you had written

Marya Hornbacher's Wasted. I don't ever wish to go through what this author went through in order to have the material for this story. She started out bulemic at the age of 9 and in high school became anorexic. The account of what happened to her body, mind and soul is fairly horrific and yet so amazingly compelling and articulate. Marya wrote the book when she was only 22. To have had the talent and the streangth to publish things so personal and ugly is really formidable.

6. One Book you wish had never been written

None. I'm a librarian. I don't condone censorship. Read a Banned Book! Even the books I don't like or don't agree with have a right to be published. I will not silence anyone's voice just because I don't like what they say.

7. One Book you are currently reading

Philip Pullman's The Amber Spy Glass - I've been working on this one for awhile. It's a pretty big book and work has kept me pretty busy. This is also a sci-fi/fantasy book and specifically young adult. The heroine is only 10ish and her companion is 12.

8. One Book you've been meaning to read

Oh, where do I start? I have a list. I've never actually finished Frankenstein and I would really like to. I think the concept is fantastic. I love that it was written by a woman, and when you study her life, what was going on with her at the time that she wrote it, the story becomes even more poignant. It is also one of the first science fiction books to be written.

9. One Book that Changed Your Life

In some small way they all have. I wish I knew which book I read first as a child, or was read to me. I bet that would be it. I think if I had to go far far back in my memory I'd choose the Frog and Toad books. My mother has the first few in hard cover and she loved them so much that we had to be very careful when reading them. I think it was my first taste of the idea that you can read a book and love the story so much that you want to take care of and perserve the physical object too. My mother also loved Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice which I also had to treat with exceptional care. We read it so much that we could recite it together and I every once in awhile I'll say from no where "going once, going twice, going chicken soup with rice." Speaking of Maurice Sendak: we loved Where the Wild Things Are in my house too. I think that book of so many others really fostered my imagination. I saw myself in Max, I still do, I have a wander lust, I always want to get away to bigger and better, more exciting things, but home with family is always a nice place to come back to once in awhile.

Basically...books themselves, and reading have changed my life.

Celebrate Bannned Book Week Sept 25-Oct 1.

Two British Mothers Against Healthy Eating

2006-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently two mothers were caught delivering fast food to students after their children's' school began feeding healthier lunches to the students and closing campus at lunch time.

The two women have since stopped pending a meeting with the Head Teacher (principal for all the Yanks).

My favorite

The mothers said that the real culprit was Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef who led a high-profile campaign to force the Government to act on school meals.

Mrs Walker said last week: "I don't like him or what he stands for - he is forcing our kids to be more picky about their food."

Wow! Lets hate a guy who wants children to make healthy choices instead of just accepting the heart-attack-on-a-plate food that is rampant through out Western culture.

I am shocked and dismayed at parents who claim to not be opposed to kids eating healthy meals, but delivering junk food to students, not just their own kids. And the thing is that despite this happening in the UK, I can imagine what would happen in the USA if a school tried to ban unhealthy food and promote only healthy eating at lunch and snack times. Parents would be furious and put up a hell of a lot more fight than these women did. I am rather appalled at parents who blatantly undermine school authority. These tend to be the same parents who wonder why their children are obnoxious and unruly.

Reading List

2006-09-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Finished: The Curious Incident of Dog in the Night Time (**)
The Golden Compass (****)
The Subtle Knife (***)

Reading: The Amber Spyglass (*** - so far)

On the list: The Poisonwood Bible
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Devil Wears Prada

* - Pretty bad, almost wish I hadn't read it.
** - At least a little interesting, not sorry I read it
*** - Good, but has room for improvement
**** - Excellent, recommended
***** - Superperb a must read

5 years and 1 day

2006-09-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center.
Yesterday I took my moment of silence for all those who were killed, those families which will forever be affected, and those heroes who put themselves in harms way to help others. But today I am not going to remain silent.

The morning radio show that I listen to was taking calls all morning and discussing "Where were you?" with everyone. From what I've read about people's recollection of traumatic events (specifically the case of the J.F.K assassination) nobody remembers correctly what they were doing. My mother swears that she was in a car w/ a broken radio, but that it worked just long enough to hear that JFK had died and then it never worked again. It makes a fantastic story, but I highly doubt that it's accurate. So, as far as commemorating the day, "where were you" stories don't hold a lot of weight with me.

Before I got out of the car one of the DJs asked a caller if she felt safer now after the events of 9-11 and she said yes. Some one else commented on the "galvanizing of the American spirit" and how everyone felt so patriotic after the attacks. After stewing about it for a full day and a half I have to make some comments.

First of all I think that to consider the emotions that were running through the country after 9-11 a "galvanizing of the American spirit" is to put rose colored glasses over them. The events of 9-11 may have brought us together in grief, but it also brought most American's together in the spirit of Warmongering. The moment a finger was pointed, which was pretty early on, many Americans were calling for us to attack back. The news was filled with reactions from average citizens wondering why our leaders hadn't launched a retaliation right away. We were incenced that something of this magnitude could happen to us, to America. How dare they? was going through everyone's mind. From what I've seen 5 years later, the reverberation of 9-11 is still war. It is still the thought that more fighting and more killing will some how prove that the destruction of our symbol of materials and the death of 300,000+ Americans was wrong. Is it just me, or does it seem counter productive to try to show that spilling blood is immoral by spilling even more blood. They may have hit us first, but we'll hit them hardest seems to be a prevailing theme today.

As for feeling "safer" I wonder what sandbox that listener has her head buried in. One topic that nobody in power seems to want to address since 9-11 is Why? Why did a terrorist group feel the need to hurt us to begin with? What makes them hate us so much? I am not advocating a major over haul of our culture to appease fanatatic fundamental factions, but until we take a long hard look at ourselves and notice that it's not just fundamental countries that despise us any more, but pretty much most foreign citizenry, we are not going to get safer, we are going to get progressively un-safe.

Something Fun for Literacy

2006-09-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Friday is International Literacy Day a day developed by the UN back in the 60s to raise consiousness about illiteracy around the world.

Rather than tackle all of the issues surrounding world wide illiteracy...here is a fun exercise for anyone stumbling onto my blog.

1. Pick up the nearest book. (Don't go looking for a pseudo-intellectual one!)
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Call on others (or tag specific bloggers) to do the same.

So here goes:

"Thank you," she said to her...her what? Her steed? Her cycle? Both ideas were absurdly wrong for the bright-eyed amiability that stood beside her. She settled for--friend.

--From, The Amber Spyglass (book 3 in the Dark Materials trilogy) by Philip Pullman

I Hate Hypocrisy

2006-07-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

I was flipping channels last night sometime after midnight and landed on a news program. The reason I stopped, I don’t normally watch news, was because it showed a clip of Bush talking about his veto of some stem-cell research bill based on saving the morality of this country. In order to educate the lay-man who doesn’t really even know what stem-cells are, much less why it’s important to study them, he interviewed a scientist from Stanford. She was very good at explaining with out big scientific words the basics. One thing she mentioned was the possibility of using embryos that are left over from invetro-fertalization processes. Which Bush already allows. When a woman can’t get pregnant on her own she goes to a doctor who harvests her eggs and her partner’s sperm and combines them outside of their bodies. They make a bunch of embryos and implant some back in the women’s uterus and save others incase those few don’t take. Sometimes they have to do it more than once and sometimes they don’t. Either way, there tend to be some extra embryos.

Now, according to this anchor, who said himself that he believes conception is the start of life, it seems immoral to create life in order to destroy it which is what stem-cell research is aiming to do. But what about this process of creating many embryos in the hopes you get pregnant with one child. What happens to these other embryos which, according to conservative Christians are still human life. Do we keep them frozen forever? What about the “inferior” ones that the doctors don’t think are going to survive in the womb anyway and so never bother to even consider implanting them in the mother?

There are people in this world who are so Pro-life that they will picket a women’s health clinic because they refer patients, or perform abortions, but I’ve never heard of them standing outside an infertility clinic crying out for those embryos right to live.

Further hypocrisy that makes me sick is the idea of the number of people, many Christians, in this country who vote Republican purely because they are “Pro-life,” yet completely ignore the fact that Republicans are for the death penalty. Or how about the “Pro-lifers” who vote based on abortion, and therefore voted for a President who sent us to war that has caused hundreds of deaths?

According to Bush, and many others: "my view that human life is precious, and should not be exploited or destroyed for the benefits of others." —Bush, March 22, 2002
Yet he says: "I was asked, 'Do you support the death penalty?' I said I did, if administered fairly and justly. Because I believe it saves lives." —Bush, Oct. 17, 2000
Apparently life is only sacred and shouldn't be destroyed until it’s out of the womb. Then it can be murdered or tested upon with no side effects to the conscience.

“If War is Right, Jesus is Wrong”—bumper sticker (thanks to a friend for telling me about it)

What is Net Neutrality?

2006-07-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a funny video from the Daily Show that has the "PC" guy from the engaging Apple comercials explaining Net Neutrality in easy to understand terms.

All jokes about tubes asside, the explination is fairly accurate. Enjoy.

Thirty Books to Read before you Die, and my opinions on them.

2006-07-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Librarians around the UK have come up with a list of the Thirty books you Must read before kicking it.

A poll was conducted through the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA--not to be confused with the thousand's of other associations this acronym can stand for) and published in the Guardian.

Topping the list is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Personally, I've read 9, and quite a number of them, I hadn't even heard of. My favorite book of all time 1984 by George Orwell made it into 4th place. It should have been third, in my opinion, kicking The Bible off the list all together. Nobody sits down and reads the bible like it's a real book unless you're a crazy-christian (non-crazy-christians are a completely different group of Christians all together). It's like a dictionary in that way. You dip into it when you need to know something in particular, or if you're studying it. Let's face it: The Bible is a reference book, not a reading book.

Another book I'd bump: The Lovely Bones. It's interesting, it's imaginative, in that, it's written from the point of view of a dead girl. But beyond that, it's nothing special. I certainly wouldn't go telling people they have to read it before they die.

A good number I noticed were young adult books. I love young adult books, but I don't think it applies to everyone that they must read them. The same goes for the Lord of the Ring trilogy. Not everyone is into fantasy novels (though admitedly, these ones do seem to capture the fancy of non-fantasy readers unlike many others in the genre. I chalk it up to it being a 'classic.') In the future I think that MLA should conduct a number of different surveys for different libraries. What do children's librarians think are the must read books? And what about academic, or special librarians?

I am starting my perusal of this list of must reads with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Glancing through the pages, I'm a little disturbed by the strange mathmatic- and geographic-looking illustrations. But the title was in-arguably the most intriguing on the whole list.

Did anyone notice that Charles Dickens made the list 3 times. And 2 of the Bronte sisters were also included. Jane Ausen is only represented by Pride and Prejudice. Which I think is a shame, it may be her most well known book, and it has been made into a number of charming movies, I don't think it's her best.

The List

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All Quite on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

If it's that private, stay home

2006-07-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Randomly found this:

http://rhizome.org/fp.rhiz?id=2128

As someone who has worked in libraries since 1997 I've seen my share of inappropriate on-line behavior from patrons. We always wonder...why the heck come to a library to look at that stuff? Buy your porn at the local adult store and take it home.

At least this product protects the rest of us. But really...if what you need to do is that private...just stay home already!

What is your dirty little secret?

2006-06-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Talk about voyeurism in the extreme. Check out this sight that gives you insight into strangers' inner most thoughts and feelings.

PostSecret

This is a guy who recieves postcards in the mail on which people have written their deepest, darkest (sometimes funniest) secrets giving him permision to post them on the internet for all to see.

If you've seen The All-American Reject's music video for their song "Dirty Little Secret" then you've already seen some:

"I don't think my fiance is THE ONE."
"I feel like a failure everytime I eat."
"I only love 2 of my children."
"I pee in the sink."

I encourage you to check out the video, which you can do easily here. And definitely look at the site. Currently it has a Father's Day theme and I don't see a way of looking at older postcards so I for one am going to RSS it so I don't miss out on even one postcard displaying somebody's inner self....who knows, it could be yours.

Rejection Sucks

2006-06-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I had a second phone interview with X Private College they never called be back.

First, the interview was scheduled to take 30-45 minutes, but I only took 18-20. Second, I was insanely nervous. I could hear the shaking in my voice and though we were on speaker phone I am sure they could too. I had notes with me, but didn't really use them. I feel that I lacked examples to back up my answers. Not that I don't have them, just that I forgot to talk about them. My current boss says that me asking about their time table to call references was a bad move too...although all my references had been asking me when they were going to be called, and since the interviewers never gave me an indication I thought it was a fair question. My boss says no.

When I hadn't heard from them a colleague convinced me to call and ask about my status. Frankly, I already knew what my status was. There is no way that my phone was on the first during that crucial 2 minute period that they would have been calling to let me know that they wanted an in person interview, there was no way that they had been pushed so far off schedule as to have let a whole week go past the date they gave me, a nd there was no way that I had just fallen through the cracks. They just didn't want to see me. But in order to get the absolute final word on that, I called. She shuffled through papers, probably trying to find my resume, or her notes from the interview and then confirmed that yes, they were in the process of the in person interviews and a lack of a call, letter, or email meant that I had not been selected. Why she made me wait on the phone to tell me that, why she needed a piece of paper to let her know that I don't know.

And then I asked the dreaded question "Do you mind me asking, what was it that took me out of the running?" Wow. One simple question that is really saying..."so why didn't you like me?" or "what exactly is wrong with me that you don't want to hire/interview me?" "Just what were you looking for that I lack?" It's a flash back to every break up I've ever been through: the old "what's wrong with me? why don't you want me?" trap. Only this isn't my fragile emotions on the line, it's my livelihood. A job. A career opportunity. A chance at benefits with health insurance. Full time work and the opportunity to get my own freaking apartment for once in my life! *sigh*

According to this particular administrator at X Private College Library they even had trouble choosing people for the second round of phone interviews, but for the in person they had to choose who they felt were the "most qualified," Great. So apparently I am not qualified for an entry level position at an academic library and it is quite possible that I would not have even made it to the second round of telephone interviews except for the whole "difficult choice" bit. Wow. What a low blow.

So now I am back to square one with searching job postings, cover letter writing, and resume revising.

Nothing just about it.

2006-05-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

As I was passing the reference desk yesterday one of our grad assistants was fending off a solicitor who had stopped in to hand out Anti-DaVinci-Code materials. If I had been behind the desk I would have handed the stuff back and politely said "You can't solicit in here. You have to be twenty feet from the building to do that." But then I hate solicitors of any kind, even the ones I agree with.

But she had a great way of handling it. She simply looked him in the eye and said "Why do people bother getting upset about this stuff. It's fiction. That means it's not real." The guy had no response and spent the rest of the afternoon handing out his flyers in the courtyard. Besides that don't they realize that they're actually drumming up more business for Dan Brown?

I won't spend much time on the Da Vinci Code I haven't seen the movie. I won't until it's at a second run $1 theater. Not because I have a problem with its "message" or its god-awful casting, but because I thought it was a poorly written book. I can't even figure out (other than the cash) why somebody would claim this shit was plagiarized. Read Angels and Demons, Brown's first book with this character. The plot is identical with a few incidental changes: Same protagonist with the secret society, the led-by-the-nose henchman, the oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-it-was-him-all-along villain, the predictable love story, and of course the how-can-you-believe-that-and-call-yourself-christian subtext. The only difference was that Angles and Demons, was actually exciting. It was fast paced and interesting. The Da Vinci Code, not so much.

But...the real point of this post... don't under estimate the power of fiction. The great things about books is that they can change lives. Will reading the Da Vinci Code make someone believe in Dan Brown's theory about Christ, Mary Magdalene and the real meaning of the Holy Grail? Probably not, but it might get people to think about the possibility. It might get people to re-evaluate the Bible, how it's changed and how the canonical books of the Bible are chosen. It might get people to consider the roles of women in organized religion and lead them to make decisions on whether or not they're happy with those roles. But it can't make any one suddenly believe.

The scary part is, though, that thinking is enough.

With out going into too much detail...the movie the Matrix got me to thinking about free will and the christian theory of being created to have free will, the existence of evil and the devil. I concluded that following the christian mythology... humanity needs the devil in order to exercise free will. Sounds fairly obvious, but the religion I had grown up with believes that the devil will eventually cease to exist and humanity will flourish in a peaceful and perfect state. Now...compare that to the creation mythology that includes free will...doesn't add up does it? I came to the conclusion that religion I had grown up with couldn't possibly be true. And yeah, that screws me up because now I don't think any religion is true. Now...did watching this movie make me reject my religion? No. The movie just made me think a little more logically about my own beliefs. I'm sure that there are believers out there who can reason around those two statements so that they can co-exist or for whom the Matrix was nothing, but a fun action filled sci-fi adventure (which it is to me too actually).

But still, it's all just fiction right?

The dreaded phone interview

2006-05-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

I graduated just about 2 weeks ago with a Master of Library and Information Science degree. Now it's time to find a full time library position. Last Friday I sent out my cover letter and resume to a private college in my area that was looking for a full time reference librarian. Tuesday I heard back from them wanting to schedule a phone interview. Today I had that interview.

First of all I thought I was calling to schedule one, but instead was actually interviewed. Luckily I was prepared.

I spent a great deal of time yesterday perusing their website learning about the college and the library there so when I was asked "What do you know about X college and why do you want to work here?" I had something figured out. At the same though I had nothing concrete written down. I was did not want to sound rehearsed or like I was reading a script.

My fellow recent graduates had been lobbing questions at me for the past two days when I was least expecting them to give me an idea of what I might get asked. Thank goodness they did because some of those questions were remarkably similar to the ones I was asked on the phone.

Like "What type of office environment and colleagues do you work best with?"; "What would you like to accomplish in this position?"; and "Why are you the best candidate?" were not far off from the sample questions my colleagues had given me to help me prepare.

The one great disadvantage with phone interviews is the lack of non-verbal cues. You have no way of knowing what reaction your response is generating in the interviewer(s). It seems like there is the yawning void you are talking into. Luckily my interview was friendly and she gave me feedback before, after and during my answers so I really felt like I was conversing with someone rather than having my words lost in that black hole of the telephone receiver.

I won't know for another week if they'll want to interview me in round 2, but I am so happy to finally have this experience over with. I know what to expect next time and best of all I know that my cover letter and resume can generate results. If this particular college doesn't want me I know it's just a matter of time before I am off the "part-time Librarian" status.

What you've all been waiting for!

2006-04-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is currently the best picture of my tattoo that I have. I took it myself in the mirror with my camera phone (I photoshopped my fingers out of the picture because it looked like I was holding a phantom phone).

Until I get someone else to take one for me this is as good as it gets.

Edited:July 8, 2006: I had to chnge the picture of my tattoo. What is here is atually the henna inspiration. Apparently where I had the picture hosted shutdown, or it closed my account, or something. So rather than photoshop a new picture, this is what you get fo now.

Empowerment is a wonderful feeling.

2006-04-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

I work at a reference desk. It's essentially a customer service job and I deal with many kinds of people. I get the unappreciated, the very gracious and thankful, those who want me to do all their work for them, and the proactive kind. My very least favorite are the ones who think they know me, or who want to get to "know" me. There are the ones who ask for my number, who want to give me their number, who call me baby girl, sweetheart, princess, or darling. Those are bad, but the very worst I think are the patrons who think they can make whatever inappropriate comments they want about my appearance, my clothes, my hair, my glasses or lack there of, even the way I talk.

Well I finally stood up against it today.

Someone wanted a book and in the midst of me finding it he kept making comments like "You've lost even more weight than I have" paired with "My family thinks I've lost too much weight."

First of all, I do not know this person. Maybe I've helped him in the past, but I see so many patrons a day it is hard to say. Second, I am sick of these back-handed "compliments" about my weight loss. Yeah, I got healthier in the last few months it was my New Year's Resolution, weight-loss was the side effect. But calling me a "skinny heifer" (that's a cow in case you didn't know) or saying that I'm disappearing are not nice ways of telling me that you've noticed a difference. (And yes, those are both real comments I have gotten.)

But...the story at hand: I ignored the comments and stayed on topic about where to find this book, after the third or fourth time he asked "Why are you being so administrative all of a sudden? Last semester you were so nice and friendly."

At which point I had had enough. I looked him in the eye and said point blank...

I'm always friendly.
But I'm not going to discuss my weight with you.
It's none of your business.

Wow...I feel so much better.

Who wants a relaxing vacation? Not me.

2006-03-31T12:23:00.000-08:00

I just spent my spring break week in Utah, and (the library trip aside) it was possibly the most painful vacation I have ever had.

First off, I couldn't be in Utah during the winter with out going skiing. So through a friend, my brother, his girlfriend (who grew up in Park City), and myself got free lift tickets to the Canyons (a resort). I don't really ski. I went maybe three times as a teenager when I would get to the top of the bunny slope barrel straight down as fast as I could and fall because I didn't know any other way to stop. And let me say that skiing in Utah is nothing like skiing in Michigan. Apparently in a desert even the snow is dry; they call it "powder." I've never been skiing in it before and I did horribly. Three runs on the novice run did not prepare me for the next level, because as soon as we hit the next one I was on my ass…a lot. I kept getting stuck in the powder, which you're actually supposed to ski through. Now, granted powder is pretty soft and if you land right it doesn't hurt when you fall. Too bad I can't land correctly. The upside to all this falling: I got really good at pulling myself up. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a better work out for my arms. I swear they were sore for two days after that.

Second, I made my brother take me to his tattoo artist. If you're ever in Salt Lake City and want a tattoo go to Big Deluxe Tattoo they are the best everyone I know in Utah went there (and I actually know a good number of people there). I have had a picture of this particular tattoo for almost 2 years I just wanted to be very careful about where I went to get it done. My brother has gorgeous tattoos on his arms so I felt comfortable going to his guy. I'm sure everyone knows someone with a tattoo who says "Oh it didn't hurt at all. It just felt a little uncomfortable." They were lying. To themselves, to you, to whom ever, but it's a boldface lie made to make them seem all tough and to convince you that it's no big deal, because it hurts. It hurts like hell. It felt like some one was stabbing, cutting, burning, and generally flaying the skin off my back, only worse because besides the cutting and stabbing there is also the blood—the lots and lots of blood running down my back and staining my shirt (and later my brother's car). Luckily it only took 45minutes. I didn't ask for a break in an effort to finish faster, but I also never felt that adrenaline rush that you supposedly get and which makes people jones for more than one tattoo. So don't bother asking me what I'll have done next, because the answer is nothing. From now on I stick to Henna, that stuff looks great and is pain free.