I started my new job last week at one of our libraries. I'm just your basic shelver/discharger, but I like it. Last Tuesday we had an exciting event, which was that pipes in the ceiling decided to start spraying water over several shelves of books. We cleared them out, fanned them out on tables and put paper towels in between the pages of the really wet ones. You would think the whole book drying process would be all high tech, but no. In the I am my mother's daughter department, someone told me, rather bitterly, that things had been a lot cheerier since I started working. I just can't help my sunny disposition!
In other news, I got the "Annual Report of Donors" from Wellesley today. Someone in 2005 is already a "President's Circle Partner" which means she gave at least $50,000. In case you were curious, Hillary is only a President's Circle Benefactor, which means she gave at least $25,000. Oh Wellesley.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
children's book disillusionment
One of the things that library school is teaching me is that several books that I enjoyed as a child are actually terrible. The best example is I Love You Forever. Okay, when I think about it, that book is kind of weird. It starts with a mother rocking her baby, eventually moves on to her rocking her grown son, and then finally he sneaks into her house when she's old and rocks her. Plus the repeated message is "I love you forever, I love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." A little fatalistic? Maybe. But nevertheless, I liked this book a lot when I was little and remember both my mother reading it to us and reading it to myself. But children's librarians HATE this book. Don't even bring it up to them.
Another one that I sort of liked when I was little, but didn't actually own, is The Giving Tree. Now I did I realize before I got to library school that this book has somewhat of an overly self-sacrificing message, but now it's been reinforced. Children's librarians hate this one too. I agree, but it's still disillusioning. This book makes me feel like how I felt watching the documentary about Disney movies--oh yeah! Beauty and the Beast does teach girls that they can turn their abusers into princes if they are nice enough to them!
Some librarians don't even like The Runaway Bunny. They think it's too smothering. I absolutely loved this book when I was little and I heartily disagree with its detractors. They will not ruin Runaway Bunny for me!
Feel free to let me know your beloved childhood books--I'll be happy to ruin all your childhood happy book memories with more boo hiss librarian opinions!
Another one that I sort of liked when I was little, but didn't actually own, is The Giving Tree. Now I did I realize before I got to library school that this book has somewhat of an overly self-sacrificing message, but now it's been reinforced. Children's librarians hate this one too. I agree, but it's still disillusioning. This book makes me feel like how I felt watching the documentary about Disney movies--oh yeah! Beauty and the Beast does teach girls that they can turn their abusers into princes if they are nice enough to them!
Some librarians don't even like The Runaway Bunny. They think it's too smothering. I absolutely loved this book when I was little and I heartily disagree with its detractors. They will not ruin Runaway Bunny for me!
Feel free to let me know your beloved childhood books--I'll be happy to ruin all your childhood happy book memories with more boo hiss librarian opinions!
Monday, November 13, 2006
for serious
Last week in my children's lit class this was one of our assigned readings. It's partly a "pourquoi" story about how birds all have some black on them. But that's not really the point of the story. All of the colorful birds want to be like blackbird; at one point they do a dance and sing "Beak to beak, peck, peck peck,/ Spread your wings, stretch your neck./ Black is beautiful, uh-huh!/ Black is beautiful, uh-huh!"
Some reasons why I like this book: attractive cut paper illustrations, fun sing-song text, and, number one, message. Last week when we talked about the book, most of my classmates liked it too. Some people were uncomfortable with the message, however, feeling like it left out non-black people. At the time none of us really stood up for the message, including me, even though I felt rightetously indignant about their reactions. Apparently someone emailed my professor to say that he or she was unhappy with the way the discussion had gone, that no one had stood up for the black is beautiful message.
So we talked about it again today. Several of us pointed out the fact that many children's books have a "white is beautiful, black is bad" message. Snow White is one of the most obvious examples; my professor also mentioned a 1966 Caldecott honor book, Tom Tit Tot, a Rumplestiltskin retelling that refers to the evil presence in the book as the "black thing." How many books are read to African American children that tell them, in essence, that they are bad and evil? Here is one very rare example of a book that does the opposite. I really don't think that white children, whose skin color privileges them in so many aspects of life, will be hurt by hearing the message that black is beautiful.
As my professor says, our goal should be for every child to recognize a positive image of him or herself in a book, as well as for children to learn about others who are different from them. One of the things that reading does is to teach us about ourselves and those around us. Do we want those images to be stereotypical or self-esteem building? The idea is not to insulate children from racism, but to do our best to avoid instilling prejudice or low self-esteem through the books we share with them. Unless adults are willing to have honest discussions with the children in their lives, they might want to avoid reading them books that compare African American girls to dogs.
Some reasons why I like this book: attractive cut paper illustrations, fun sing-song text, and, number one, message. Last week when we talked about the book, most of my classmates liked it too. Some people were uncomfortable with the message, however, feeling like it left out non-black people. At the time none of us really stood up for the message, including me, even though I felt rightetously indignant about their reactions. Apparently someone emailed my professor to say that he or she was unhappy with the way the discussion had gone, that no one had stood up for the black is beautiful message.
So we talked about it again today. Several of us pointed out the fact that many children's books have a "white is beautiful, black is bad" message. Snow White is one of the most obvious examples; my professor also mentioned a 1966 Caldecott honor book, Tom Tit Tot, a Rumplestiltskin retelling that refers to the evil presence in the book as the "black thing." How many books are read to African American children that tell them, in essence, that they are bad and evil? Here is one very rare example of a book that does the opposite. I really don't think that white children, whose skin color privileges them in so many aspects of life, will be hurt by hearing the message that black is beautiful.
As my professor says, our goal should be for every child to recognize a positive image of him or herself in a book, as well as for children to learn about others who are different from them. One of the things that reading does is to teach us about ourselves and those around us. Do we want those images to be stereotypical or self-esteem building? The idea is not to insulate children from racism, but to do our best to avoid instilling prejudice or low self-esteem through the books we share with them. Unless adults are willing to have honest discussions with the children in their lives, they might want to avoid reading them books that compare African American girls to dogs.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
what a day
I was so wrapped up in my anxiety about my day that I missed the big Britney Spears divorce news. Good thing I have my friends to keep me abreast of all celebrity gossip! In other news, I am very excited about the way the elections are shaping up today. I was a disenfranchised voter this time. I didn't change my mailing address on my ballot so it was sent home. My mom sent it to me but it never made it for some reason. I did feel bad about not voting for the first time since I registered to vote, but I wasn't too worried that Washington state was going to turn Republican without my ballot!
100 things
I know this is so so cheesy, but didn't we already know that I am cheesy? Yes.
1. I was born in Portland, Oregon.
2. I lived there for two weeks until my parents moved all the way over the river to Vancouver because my dad worked there.
3. My sister and I have a complex about our hometown.
4. I love Portland even though it was recently named the whitest city in the United States.
5. I was a history major.
6. And I usually leave out that I was an economics minor.
7. I think it conjures up an image of a person that I am not.
8. I'm going to school to become a librarian.
9. I can't fall asleep until I've read something.
10. Don't ask me what my favorite book is.
11. I am a psuedo-morning person. I don't like to wake up early, but I'm not grumpy if I have to.
12. On the other hand, I am definitely not a night owl.
13. I like to bake.
14. My signature recipe is probably banana bread, but I can make a good pie crust.
15. Cooking kind of scares me.
16. I'm not really bad at it; it just worries me more.
17. My family has a second home on the Oregon coast.
18. I prefer stormy weather when I am there.
19. I am a dog person.
20. I always say that I don't like cats, but I've liked most cats I've encountered.
21. I don't like to exercise.
22. The most humiliating experiences of my childhood happened every day in P.E.
23. The only thing I was good at in P.E. was the flexibility test.
24. I ran cross country in high school.
25. I love my neighborhood.
26. Some of my best friends are my neighbors.
27. I went to a private school in Portland from second through twelfth grade.
28. I am in touch with more friends from high school than college. I think.
29. I rode overnight on a bus to go to the March for Women’s Lives in Washington DC in 2004.
30. I haven’t really done anything to support pro-choice causes since.
31. Not on purpose. And I feel guilty.
32. I feel guilty about a lot of things.
33. I apologize a lot.
34. If you tease me about something I’ve done wrong it will just make me feel guiltier.
35. I often have dreams that take place at my high school and that somehow feature my English teacher.
36. I almost never have dreams that take place at my college.
37. When I was little I claimed that I only had bad dreams. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I remember feeling like it was.
38. When I am anxious about something, I often dream about something bad happening in an airplane or airport.
39. I don’t really like to fly, but I still do it.
40. I try not to make a big deal out of it.
41. I am not afraid of bugs.
42. I am not really afraid of snakes either; they’re just startling.
43. I like to think that I can remain calm in a crisis.
44. My grandparents have all passed away.
45. I have five cousins, two of whom are named Sara(h).
46. My family has one male yellow lab.
47. We have had two other male yellow labs, a female black lab, two guinea pigs, and an assortment of fish.
48. I am pretty sure we were neglectful guinea pig owners.
49. But they lived a really long time for guinea pigs.
50. The ashes of our first dog currently sit in an urn on my parent’s mantel. Our second dog is in my parent's bedroom. The third is in the den.
51. I love my family.
52. My current favorite television show is The Office.
53. I was on an anti-tv kick for a while because I didn’t like feeling obsessed with watching every week.
54. I think it’s pretty good that I’m only obsessed with one.
55. My parents got cable after I left for college.
56. If I’m watching The Office, I’m probably watching some sort of home show or a trashy teen series.
57. I would love to own a house one day.
58. I want a yard for a dog and a place to have a garden.
59. I always kind of assume that I’ll just buy it on my own.
60. I think it’s sad that I envision my future as living by myself with a dog.
61. But at least it’s not living by myself with a cat.
62. That’s too librarian stereotypical and besides, I already told you I don’t like cats.
63. I would like to have a family, but at the rate I’m going I think the dog plan is more realistic.
64. I’m counting on you, Lynne!
65. I usually feel like I don’t deserve things.
66. I don’t think that this makes me very different from a lot of people.
67. I used to be really shy. Then my parents forced me to be more outgoing.
68. I’m glad they did because it makes life easier.
69. But I’m still really shy at heart.
70. It’s been hard to make friends here in Los Angeles. But I did it eventually!
71. Ifeel felt like I had reverted to my younger self.
72. Thismakes made me sad, so I’m moving moved on to another topic.
73. Weather! I don’t like cold weather.
74. This is one of the main reasons that I wanted to come to UCLA.
75. I didn’t know that I didn’t like cold weather until I spent four winters in Boston.
76. It’s just so…cold. And the snow gets all grey and disgusting. And it’s cold.
77. I like to knit.
78. I really want to knit a sweater, but I can never get past the sleeves.
79. But it’s still one of my goals.
80. Another goal is to become a children’s and/or young adult librarian at a public library.
81. And make a positive difference in at least one life.
82. I know that I am idealistic and I always feel kind of silly about it.
83. I’m kind of secretly addicted to the internet. I can sit on it for way too long.
84. But I’m perfectly happy being disconnected from it when I’m on vacation.
85. I really hate it when “c” words are spelled with a “k.”
86. I once prevented Lauren from going into a store because it was called the “Kandy Korner.”
87. I don’t know if she’s forgiven me for that one yet!
88. On that same trip I also insisted on going into a coffee shop that turned out to be owned by a cult.
89. I think I should let her pick our destinations from now on.
90. I always used to feel more comfortable talking to adults than people my own age.
91. Sometimes I still do, even though I guess I’m an adult now.
92. I really don’t making phone calls to people I don’t know personally.
93. For some reason I always think they’re going to be mean to me.
94. I’m pleasantly surprised when they aren’t. Which is most of the time.
95. My favorite candy is Red Vines.
96. I could eat a whole box of them in one sitting. Before the movie even starts.
97. But I almost never buy them.
98. I have a problem getting rid of holey clothes. Particularly socks.
99. I have the manuals for every appliance I own. I even have one for my garage door opener.
100. I can’t believe I could think of 100 things.
1. I was born in Portland, Oregon.
2. I lived there for two weeks until my parents moved all the way over the river to Vancouver because my dad worked there.
3. My sister and I have a complex about our hometown.
4. I love Portland even though it was recently named the whitest city in the United States.
5. I was a history major.
6. And I usually leave out that I was an economics minor.
7. I think it conjures up an image of a person that I am not.
8. I'm going to school to become a librarian.
9. I can't fall asleep until I've read something.
10. Don't ask me what my favorite book is.
11. I am a psuedo-morning person. I don't like to wake up early, but I'm not grumpy if I have to.
12. On the other hand, I am definitely not a night owl.
13. I like to bake.
14. My signature recipe is probably banana bread, but I can make a good pie crust.
15. Cooking kind of scares me.
16. I'm not really bad at it; it just worries me more.
17. My family has a second home on the Oregon coast.
18. I prefer stormy weather when I am there.
19. I am a dog person.
20. I always say that I don't like cats, but I've liked most cats I've encountered.
21. I don't like to exercise.
22. The most humiliating experiences of my childhood happened every day in P.E.
23. The only thing I was good at in P.E. was the flexibility test.
24. I ran cross country in high school.
25. I love my neighborhood.
26. Some of my best friends are my neighbors.
27. I went to a private school in Portland from second through twelfth grade.
28. I am in touch with more friends from high school than college. I think.
29. I rode overnight on a bus to go to the March for Women’s Lives in Washington DC in 2004.
30. I haven’t really done anything to support pro-choice causes since.
31. Not on purpose. And I feel guilty.
32. I feel guilty about a lot of things.
33. I apologize a lot.
34. If you tease me about something I’ve done wrong it will just make me feel guiltier.
35. I often have dreams that take place at my high school and that somehow feature my English teacher.
36. I almost never have dreams that take place at my college.
37. When I was little I claimed that I only had bad dreams. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I remember feeling like it was.
38. When I am anxious about something, I often dream about something bad happening in an airplane or airport.
39. I don’t really like to fly, but I still do it.
40. I try not to make a big deal out of it.
41. I am not afraid of bugs.
42. I am not really afraid of snakes either; they’re just startling.
43. I like to think that I can remain calm in a crisis.
44. My grandparents have all passed away.
45. I have five cousins, two of whom are named Sara(h).
46. My family has one male yellow lab.
47. We have had two other male yellow labs, a female black lab, two guinea pigs, and an assortment of fish.
48. I am pretty sure we were neglectful guinea pig owners.
49. But they lived a really long time for guinea pigs.
50. The ashes of our first dog currently sit in an urn on my parent’s mantel. Our second dog is in my parent's bedroom. The third is in the den.
51. I love my family.
52. My current favorite television show is The Office.
53. I was on an anti-tv kick for a while because I didn’t like feeling obsessed with watching every week.
54. I think it’s pretty good that I’m only obsessed with one.
55. My parents got cable after I left for college.
56. If I’m watching The Office, I’m probably watching some sort of home show or a trashy teen series.
57. I would love to own a house one day.
58. I want a yard for a dog and a place to have a garden.
59. I always kind of assume that I’ll just buy it on my own.
60. I think it’s sad that I envision my future as living by myself with a dog.
61. But at least it’s not living by myself with a cat.
62. That’s too librarian stereotypical and besides, I already told you I don’t like cats.
63. I would like to have a family, but at the rate I’m going I think the dog plan is more realistic.
64. I’m counting on you, Lynne!
65. I usually feel like I don’t deserve things.
66. I don’t think that this makes me very different from a lot of people.
67. I used to be really shy. Then my parents forced me to be more outgoing.
68. I’m glad they did because it makes life easier.
69. But I’m still really shy at heart.
70. It’s been hard to make friends here in Los Angeles. But I did it eventually!
71. I
72. This
73. Weather! I don’t like cold weather.
74. This is one of the main reasons that I wanted to come to UCLA.
75. I didn’t know that I didn’t like cold weather until I spent four winters in Boston.
76. It’s just so…cold. And the snow gets all grey and disgusting. And it’s cold.
77. I like to knit.
78. I really want to knit a sweater, but I can never get past the sleeves.
79. But it’s still one of my goals.
80. Another goal is to become a children’s and/or young adult librarian at a public library.
81. And make a positive difference in at least one life.
82. I know that I am idealistic and I always feel kind of silly about it.
83. I’m kind of secretly addicted to the internet. I can sit on it for way too long.
84. But I’m perfectly happy being disconnected from it when I’m on vacation.
85. I really hate it when “c” words are spelled with a “k.”
86. I once prevented Lauren from going into a store because it was called the “Kandy Korner.”
87. I don’t know if she’s forgiven me for that one yet!
88. On that same trip I also insisted on going into a coffee shop that turned out to be owned by a cult.
89. I think I should let her pick our destinations from now on.
90. I always used to feel more comfortable talking to adults than people my own age.
91. Sometimes I still do, even though I guess I’m an adult now.
92. I really don’t making phone calls to people I don’t know personally.
93. For some reason I always think they’re going to be mean to me.
94. I’m pleasantly surprised when they aren’t. Which is most of the time.
95. My favorite candy is Red Vines.
96. I could eat a whole box of them in one sitting. Before the movie even starts.
97. But I almost never buy them.
98. I have a problem getting rid of holey clothes. Particularly socks.
99. I have the manuals for every appliance I own. I even have one for my garage door opener.
100. I can’t believe I could think of 100 things.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Alleluia!
The fridge appears to have made a dramatic comeback! I will keep you all updated on the state of my refrigerator, as I know you are on the edge of your seats at this point.
why oh why?
On top of the fact that I have two rather unpleasant activities to undertake tomorrow, I'm pretty sure my refrigerator just died. I heard a very loud noise coming from my kitchen and upon further investigation, I think it was the fridge's fault. My fridge is now making rather pathetic sighing noises and when I opened it up to see if it would turn on, it just made more sighing noises, plus some creaky noises. I think the plan is going to be to not open it again and then call my manager in the morning. He just came by yesterday to fix the pilot light on my heater which blew out, thus causing the scent of natural gas to fill my apartment when I woke up yesterday. Fun!
why am i having a panic attack about this?
I have a midterm and a presentation tomorrow in one of my classes (the one that I posted a rant about earlier). For some reason this has sent me into a state of absolute terror. I even had one of those bad dreams where I took the test and there was a question on it about a topic I had forgotten to study. I never have those dreams! Usually I am a very calm person about such matters.
I think it has to do with a couple of factors. First of all, the fact that I also signed up to give a presentation tomorrow is scary. I basically got over worrying about presentations at Wellesley, but that is because I always felt like I had a friendly audience. My professor is nice, but he likes to ask probing questions that potentially reveal your utter stupidity and lack of deep thought.
Second of all, I had to buy my own blue books (I was so dismayed). Please note that Wellesley College never made us do such a thing and thoughtfully provided us with as many blue books as we needed during the course of a test. So I'm kind of worried because I've never taken a test at UCLA--I don't really know what to expect.
Third of all, I don't know if this is a universal grad school thing or just my department, but I have to maintain a 3.0 GPA or they can kick me out. If I think about it logically, this is not a big deal. I'm not really expecting to do that badly in any of my classes. They also have an incentive to keep me in school, I guess, so basically that requirement just means that our grades are kind of inflated (well, that's what some other people have said). And it's not like I'm taking super advanced math classes here or something--it's just library school! But illogically, this requirement really scares me. It makes me feel like I am in a precarious position and any moment I might be sent away, never to become a librarian.
I think it's that last one that is making me so worried. At Wellesley I knew that I could do badly on a few and oh well. But I don't have that comfortable little feeling to fall back on here, so I'm having nightmares about Freud (yep, I distinctly remember that the question I couldn't answer in my dream had to do with Freud). The only good thing I have to say is at least it will all be over tomorrow at 5pm!
I think it has to do with a couple of factors. First of all, the fact that I also signed up to give a presentation tomorrow is scary. I basically got over worrying about presentations at Wellesley, but that is because I always felt like I had a friendly audience. My professor is nice, but he likes to ask probing questions that potentially reveal your utter stupidity and lack of deep thought.
Second of all, I had to buy my own blue books (I was so dismayed). Please note that Wellesley College never made us do such a thing and thoughtfully provided us with as many blue books as we needed during the course of a test. So I'm kind of worried because I've never taken a test at UCLA--I don't really know what to expect.
Third of all, I don't know if this is a universal grad school thing or just my department, but I have to maintain a 3.0 GPA or they can kick me out. If I think about it logically, this is not a big deal. I'm not really expecting to do that badly in any of my classes. They also have an incentive to keep me in school, I guess, so basically that requirement just means that our grades are kind of inflated (well, that's what some other people have said). And it's not like I'm taking super advanced math classes here or something--it's just library school! But illogically, this requirement really scares me. It makes me feel like I am in a precarious position and any moment I might be sent away, never to become a librarian.
I think it's that last one that is making me so worried. At Wellesley I knew that I could do badly on a few and oh well. But I don't have that comfortable little feeling to fall back on here, so I'm having nightmares about Freud (yep, I distinctly remember that the question I couldn't answer in my dream had to do with Freud). The only good thing I have to say is at least it will all be over tomorrow at 5pm!
Saturday, November 04, 2006
thank you internet!
I found this info on stirring natural peanut butter from notmartha. Let me tell you, it is so enlightening. No really. I'm so excited about my new-found peanut butter knowledge. It had never occurred to me before to just put my cold jar of peanut butter in the microwave to make it more spreadable. I just wanted to share this with you in case you were encountering the same problems. And in case you were wondering what the point of natural peanut butter was, most of the non-natural kinds have egregious levels of trans fat in them and we can't have that!
Friday, November 03, 2006
ewwwwwwww
I just had a cockroach crawl across my floor. Yes, a cockroach. I dispatched it and hopefully that will send a message to its little friends that this is not a friendly home for them. I am going to be implementing a new cleaning regimen that involves a lot more cleaning. Not that it's that dirty around here--my theory is that it migrated here from one of those dirty undergraduate apartments. Dirty undergraduates! Ewwwwwwww.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
a difficult matter
I have come upon a difficulty here in library school. This touches something deep in my heart and I find myself very resistant to the change that it requires. This something, friends, is the fact that I am now required to use the APA citation method, after using Chicago for so many years that it is inscribed upon my soul. Last name, First name. Title. (Publication city: Publisher, Year Published), Page Number. Well, for a footnote at least. Now it's all about putting the year in parentheses right after the author's name, the name that I don't even get to fully spell out. I have to use initials! I am very resentful.
Monday, October 30, 2006
a little rant
Sometimes I read things like this and I just have to rant. And since no one is around to rant to, my dear readers will bear the brunt of the rant. In case you aren't an NYT "member," the gist is that a reduced calorie diet (eating 30% less than the usual amount of daily calories) will prolong our lives considerably and reduce the occurrence of some old-age diseases.
My rant is this: what exactly is the point of living 140 years (as one scientist projects) if I have to eat 30% fewer calories than I currently am? I honestly don't think that I really consume that many calories as it is. Probably if I actually added it all up I would be getting less than 2000 a day. Fewer? Please. And it's not like this is the fountain of youth where no one will ever die. We'll still die. And we'll have eaten way more lettuce and way less cheese . And what is the point of that? I wish we could focus more on making the end of our lives more pleasant rather than trying to prolong the inevitable. How about more people become geriatric specialists (most medical students don't want to be geriatric specialists because it doesn't pay very well and isn't glamorous) and fewer people feed monkeys very small amounts of food for 27 years? I honestly think that would make a bigger difference in people's lives.
My rant is this: what exactly is the point of living 140 years (as one scientist projects) if I have to eat 30% fewer calories than I currently am? I honestly don't think that I really consume that many calories as it is. Probably if I actually added it all up I would be getting less than 2000 a day. Fewer? Please. And it's not like this is the fountain of youth where no one will ever die. We'll still die. And we'll have eaten way more lettuce and way less cheese . And what is the point of that? I wish we could focus more on making the end of our lives more pleasant rather than trying to prolong the inevitable. How about more people become geriatric specialists (most medical students don't want to be geriatric specialists because it doesn't pay very well and isn't glamorous) and fewer people feed monkeys very small amounts of food for 27 years? I honestly think that would make a bigger difference in people's lives.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
not everyone named lynne is my friend
I was reading this article about Lynne Cheney's old and not very well-written sounding novel Sisters. I distinctly remember reading about this before, I guess probably in 2004. Apparently the book is selling for astronomical sums and, of course, this led me to wonder if one could find it for free in the library. Well, I did a little search on WorldCat and found out that only 11 libraries in the entire world even own the book. Clearly it is neither popular, nor a masterpiece. Of those 11, 7 were searchable through WorldCat (and thus would share their treasure with the rest of us). Not surprisingly, 4 of these libraries were in Wyoming, home territory of the Cheneys. So if any of you are desperate to read a copy of this fine novel, I suggest a little interlibrary loan request. There is a least one copy available from the Laramie County Library System right now, so get it while the getting's good!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
for your enjoyment
I have finally uploaded new pictures of my apartment onto flickr. It still needs some wall decoration, but it's pretty cozy at this point. Yay!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
juvenile hall
Nidorf Juvenile Hall, what can I say? My suspicion about different issues between Clark County and Los Angeles County juvenile offenders was right. Almost all of the kids in Clark County Juvenile Detention were white, and it was my impression that they were mostly there due to drug or drug related offenses (I think a lot had to do with meth). Nidorf Juvenile Hall primarily has Latino and African American kids who I think were mostly in there for gang related things. They make them all walk around with their hands behind their backs and one of the volunteers said she had heard it was so they couldn't flash gang signs to each other. On my volunteer forms it also recommends that you do not wear red or blue to any of the juvenile detention centers or camps (although I don't think my fellow volunteers were following this, but we probably aren't seen as rival gang members anyway).
Nidorf actually has a library, as opposed to the classroom libraries that Clark County had. This is probably due to the fact that Clark County only had three classrooms of kids (that I saw), whereas Nidorf has a huge number. Clark County Juvenile Detention is all in one building in downtown Vancouver, a fairly new and well maintained building. Nidorf is like a run down college campus. In the middle of the complex, surrounded by a huge cyclone fence, is the housing for the "unfits." These are the kids who are going to be tried as adults. The rest of the kids are either in regular units or in the "Special Handling Unit." The "SHU" is for kids who are either getting harrassed in the regular units or who have special needs for some reason or another.
In Clark County, I just sort of sauntered in with the librarian. At Nidorf you have to have your bag x-rayed, go through a metal detector, surrender your id, and wear a visitor's badge. We also didn't have much contact with the kids, at least today. We sorted through a bunch of donated books (sidenote: apparently people think that crappy self-published books or incredibly old and damaged books are perfectly good fare for kids in juvenile detention--they are not), and took them to the various units. I think in Clark County the kids could take books into their rooms--they would borrow them from the classroom library and then (maybe) bring them back. At Nidorf they are not allowed to hold onto books from the library. I'm not quite sure how it works out with the books that we brought to the actual living units. Something tells me that they don't do the summer reading program and hand out Barnes and Noble gift cards in Nidorf either.
Most of the differences have to do with size, I think. There just aren't that many kids in Clark County Juvenile Detention. I think they also have to do with the fact that Nidorf deals with a lot of serious gang violence within the detention center. I got the impression that kids got into trouble on a more individual basis in Clark County Juvenile Detention.
Overall it seemed pretty familiar. Some of the same books that were popular in Clark County are popular here (the Dave Pelzer "A Child Called It" series). It has the same highly sad and depressing feeling. You have the same mix of people who really want to help the kids out versus the people who just make it a bureaucratic nightmare. Oh yes! that is the other thing I wanted to mention. The place is so bureaucratic and decentralized, people who worked right next to each other had no idea what the other did or who they even were. People in the school had never even been to certain areas of Nidorf and didn't know where they were.
So yes, sad and depressing, but you also have the little bit of hope when you see how excited they are to read. That is another similarity between the two facilities--when you have nothing else to do, reading becomes cool and exciting. I think that is the saddest part to me; you see that the kids are excited to read, ask for new books, discuss books with you, and yet here they are, in juvenile detention. I think that we, as library volunteers, have to keep trying to make a difference and hope that we affect their lives in a positive way.
Nidorf actually has a library, as opposed to the classroom libraries that Clark County had. This is probably due to the fact that Clark County only had three classrooms of kids (that I saw), whereas Nidorf has a huge number. Clark County Juvenile Detention is all in one building in downtown Vancouver, a fairly new and well maintained building. Nidorf is like a run down college campus. In the middle of the complex, surrounded by a huge cyclone fence, is the housing for the "unfits." These are the kids who are going to be tried as adults. The rest of the kids are either in regular units or in the "Special Handling Unit." The "SHU" is for kids who are either getting harrassed in the regular units or who have special needs for some reason or another.
In Clark County, I just sort of sauntered in with the librarian. At Nidorf you have to have your bag x-rayed, go through a metal detector, surrender your id, and wear a visitor's badge. We also didn't have much contact with the kids, at least today. We sorted through a bunch of donated books (sidenote: apparently people think that crappy self-published books or incredibly old and damaged books are perfectly good fare for kids in juvenile detention--they are not), and took them to the various units. I think in Clark County the kids could take books into their rooms--they would borrow them from the classroom library and then (maybe) bring them back. At Nidorf they are not allowed to hold onto books from the library. I'm not quite sure how it works out with the books that we brought to the actual living units. Something tells me that they don't do the summer reading program and hand out Barnes and Noble gift cards in Nidorf either.
Most of the differences have to do with size, I think. There just aren't that many kids in Clark County Juvenile Detention. I think they also have to do with the fact that Nidorf deals with a lot of serious gang violence within the detention center. I got the impression that kids got into trouble on a more individual basis in Clark County Juvenile Detention.
Overall it seemed pretty familiar. Some of the same books that were popular in Clark County are popular here (the Dave Pelzer "A Child Called It" series). It has the same highly sad and depressing feeling. You have the same mix of people who really want to help the kids out versus the people who just make it a bureaucratic nightmare. Oh yes! that is the other thing I wanted to mention. The place is so bureaucratic and decentralized, people who worked right next to each other had no idea what the other did or who they even were. People in the school had never even been to certain areas of Nidorf and didn't know where they were.
So yes, sad and depressing, but you also have the little bit of hope when you see how excited they are to read. That is another similarity between the two facilities--when you have nothing else to do, reading becomes cool and exciting. I think that is the saddest part to me; you see that the kids are excited to read, ask for new books, discuss books with you, and yet here they are, in juvenile detention. I think that we, as library volunteers, have to keep trying to make a difference and hope that we affect their lives in a positive way.
Monday, October 23, 2006
i hate this class
Yes, hate is a very strong word, so perhaps I should say that I strongly dislike one of my classes. Sometimes it's sort of all right, but usually...well, let me give you a taste of the title of one of my readings for tomorrow: "Messy Assemblages, Emergent Protocols, and Emergent Knowledges: Complex Adaptive Systems and the Possibilities of Sustaining Multiple Ontologies and the Cultural Commons in New Ways of Assembling and Creating Knowledge.
(Alternative Titles: Emergent Mapping: Assemblage and Movement, Multiplicity and Connection: Complex Adaptive Systems as Models for Emergent Databasing.
Strategies of Connection, Emergent Knowledges and Complex Adaptive Systems: Processes, Performances, Protocols and Narratives, in Working with Multiple Ontologies and Incommensurability.)" Just to be a good librarian and student, I will inform you that this is a conference paper from the 4S Conference, Pasadena, October, 2005 and was written by David Turnbull.
This paper, and my other readings for my class tomorrow, are so full of academic jargon (ontology being the most benign) and references to Derrida and Foucault and, yes, even Freud, that I kind of want to throw up. The whole point of all of these articles is that we shouldn't use an overarching standardized system of classification for knowledge, particularly knowledge from indigenous people. They don't actually offer any solution but are interested in Wikipedia, tags, blogs, Flickr, etc. I guess we all just needed to prove that we were smarty pantses who knew who Derrida was, instead of just coming out and saying what we meant. This is why I am becoming a children's librarian.
(Alternative Titles: Emergent Mapping: Assemblage and Movement, Multiplicity and Connection: Complex Adaptive Systems as Models for Emergent Databasing.
Strategies of Connection, Emergent Knowledges and Complex Adaptive Systems: Processes, Performances, Protocols and Narratives, in Working with Multiple Ontologies and Incommensurability.)" Just to be a good librarian and student, I will inform you that this is a conference paper from the 4S Conference, Pasadena, October, 2005 and was written by David Turnbull.
This paper, and my other readings for my class tomorrow, are so full of academic jargon (ontology being the most benign) and references to Derrida and Foucault and, yes, even Freud, that I kind of want to throw up. The whole point of all of these articles is that we shouldn't use an overarching standardized system of classification for knowledge, particularly knowledge from indigenous people. They don't actually offer any solution but are interested in Wikipedia, tags, blogs, Flickr, etc. I guess we all just needed to prove that we were smarty pantses who knew who Derrida was, instead of just coming out and saying what we meant. This is why I am becoming a children's librarian.
off to juvey
Yep, the law finally caught up with me. Har har. I'm off to one of Los Angeles's three (3!) juvenile detention facilities tomorrow morning to check out the program UCLA's student YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) does there. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous. First of all, there's the whole driving to a new and unfamiliar place nervousness. I'm still not totally sure about the various bad times to drive, although the woman I've been emailing assures me I'm driving at a fairly low traffic time. I do have class to get back to in the afternoon, and I don't want to miss it since I barely understand what we're talking about as it is.
Then there's the going to juvenile detention nervousness. I accompanied the YA coordinator of my libary district to Clark County Juvenile Detention when I was interning there, but it has recently occurred to me that juvenile delinquents in Clark County and juvenile delinquents in Los Angeles County might have different issues. I don't know, maybe that's just a stereotype. I will be interested to see how and if it's different. I did have a brief moment of panic that I was going to the same place that Mark Salzman writes about in one of my all time favorite books, True Notebooks, but apparently he was at Central Juvenile Hall where they put the kids who commit the worst crimes.
I also feel like a bad person for being nervous about it at all and I did volunteer, so it's not like anyone is forcing me to do it. I think it should be really good once I get over the initial worries. I will let you all know how it goes!
Then there's the going to juvenile detention nervousness. I accompanied the YA coordinator of my libary district to Clark County Juvenile Detention when I was interning there, but it has recently occurred to me that juvenile delinquents in Clark County and juvenile delinquents in Los Angeles County might have different issues. I don't know, maybe that's just a stereotype. I will be interested to see how and if it's different. I did have a brief moment of panic that I was going to the same place that Mark Salzman writes about in one of my all time favorite books, True Notebooks, but apparently he was at Central Juvenile Hall where they put the kids who commit the worst crimes.
I also feel like a bad person for being nervous about it at all and I did volunteer, so it's not like anyone is forcing me to do it. I think it should be really good once I get over the initial worries. I will let you all know how it goes!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
beyond google
I think we all know how much I love Googling something to find the answer, but I was supposed to ask a reference librarian a question for one of my classes. Of course in my busy weekend, I completely forgot to do it until tonight. Luckily the Los Angeles Public Library has a 24/7 online reference service. I don't know if you have to be a card holder to use the service, but they never had me type in my number so I don't think so. The librarian was quite helpful in answering my rather silly question (I asked about the phenomenon of the "harvest moon"). Yes, it really was an actual person answering my question. I highly recommend the service if you want a reliable answer to a question! Okay, maybe I could have found the harvest moon thing on Google, but that's what librarians are for too!
Monday, October 16, 2006
internet!!
I finally have le internet chez moi (it's really amazing how much French I remember, isn't it?). I'm recovering from a wild weekend back at Wellesley, as you all know. It was weird to be back, but I ended up having a really good time with my fellow officers. I have been waiting since Saturday to be able to inform you of an incident which we are looking upon as a bonding experience. Amita received an email asking us if we could do a reading during the Multifaith Service on Saturday. We all agreed, only to find out it was a reading that had been chosen by none other than Michelle Lepore. For those of you who don't know our Assistant Dean of Students, let me just say: big denim shirts, poufy hair, clothes that very likely came from Chico's. She had done this responsive reading at Flower Sunday and no doubt had absolutely no problem getting through it. We, on the other hand? Well, just imagine trying to read lines like "The Stars got poured into the sky/ Out of a magician's hat last night" or "Our spirits leap like dancing suns and moons" or "playful gangs of young angels mounted on emerald spears" or, our personal favorite, "Forest animals hear me laughing/And surrender their deepest instincts and fears/they come charging into meadons/To lick my hands and face." Let me repeat: To lick my hands and face. We had to speak those words in the chapel. We barely made it through it without fully collapsing into laughter.
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