Boy, librarians really do come in all shapes and sizes...

I do love this image from Librarian Avengers!

Sometimes it is fun to play with google image and sometimes you find things that make you laugh like a 13 year old boy watching Austen Powers for the first time.

Library Manifesto

I was filling out a survey about the future of library media specialists (my actual title) and I ended up writing a little manifesto about the future of my profession. And here it is:

The only way to insure that the profession continues to exist is to make ourselves indispensable. We can’t be shy shushers anymore. We need to make ourselves obvious and likeable a valuable member of our school community. Send out a newsletter. Get involved in extracurricular activities. Don’t you dare sit behind that circulation desk and stamp books all day. Be an expert and finding that one thing that makes someone’s learning journey a little bit easier. Chat with students, recommend books. Ask about their interests. I imagine myself in this job like Don Corleone. I want to do a favor for everyone in my building. Not so that they “owe” me. But so that when budgets start to get slashed my administrator says, “We couldn’t possibly do without Barb.” Or when my students graduate and move on in life and I see them downtown they say, “The library at college sure is a lot quieter than yours.” Because they spend a lot of time there and when theydo - they know how to find things. And when they move on in life and they have kids of their own, their memories of libraries are pleasant and so they take their kids to the public library and start a new generation of people who appreciate and use libraries.

Barbvember Again

Well, it is Barbvember again. The most wonderful month of the year. When I want to cook soup and play the piano and be nice to others. I start thinking about my Christmas letter and snow days.

I am not yet tired of the nip in the air. I welcome rainy days and clouds. Of course, check with me in two months, I'll be bitching and moaning again...

Of course American Idol will have started again by then. Phew - something to live for.

I had some girlfriends over yesterday to play Taboo, Mary Feckerkill, Cranium and Speed Scrabble (at which I rock enormously - unlike regular Scrabble, or as I call is - Hardscrabble). They all liked each other and we ate like pigs. It was lovely.

Paid for by the Campaign to Elect Deval Patrick

During the Romney-Healy administration construction of workhouses and orphanages increased 400%. Sales of gruel and mealy bread skyrocketed. Children began wearing rags and speaking with cockney accents and asking for "more".

Kerry Healey: she will continue to crush the poor beneath her heel while laughing maniacally and twisting her hands.

Paid for by the Campaign to Elect Kerry Healey

deval
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

In 1978, while he was working in Africa Deval Patrick placed in his mouth, masticated, swallowed and digested a piece of actual dog meat! Just like your little bichon frise, Muffin.

When he was approached about this 20 years lated he claimed, " was only a tiny piece and I didn't know what kind of meat it was. It was an honor to be offered meat in a home and I didn't ask."

That's right. He "didn't even ask."

Deval Patrick: he will eat your pets.

Other blogs make me feel like a nincompoop...

marmaduke
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

I adore Mimismartypants and I just found two hysterical new blogs thanks to her latest post.

The first is Joe Mathlete Explains Todays Marmaduke in 500 Words or Less which made me nearly weep with hilarity. The other is Gin and Somthing which I am too lazy to look up, but the mystery will be solved when you click on it your damn self.

In other news, I went to see moe. yesterday and danced like the freaky hippie girl I kind of was 20 years ago. It was joyful and fun for about 20 minutes and then I realzed that my feet were killing me and I was drooling a little bit and my hair was coming out of its bun in a way that was more shopping-cart-lady than sexy-librarian. The reason we went was because my friend Jane's sons are in the band that opened for moe., the Ryan Montbleau band. They were great. But the sad fact is I am old for the concert-going experience. In a wee bit of small-world-ish-ness - my sister Susan's friends (the band that played at her wedding) opened for moe the next night. Huh...

And my children both went to the Topsfield Fair with friends today because they are tremendously old and mature. And my 13 year old was the victim of attempted carny-rip-off-ery and he stood his ground (twice!) and got his money back and a kick-ass prize.

Not that I have anything against carnies. As a matter of fact, if you check out my Netflicks queue (my newest passion) you will see it is loaded with Carnies!

And now to sleep so dream of jam bands and the midway.

Superstar

Superstar
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

Last night my dear friend Niffer and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the North Shore Music Theatre. It was really really good. The guy who played Jesus was pretty and a great singer. As was the woman who played Mary Magdeline. But the one who really surprised me was The guy who played Judas. He is the embarassingly named Delisco. I was really moved by the show. It was both better musically and darker than I thought it would be.

In the early 70's my mom listened to the soundtrack over and over. It was very cool to hear the music again and I had to laugh because I really only know the songs that were on sides one and three of the double album set. Apparently Mom wasn't a big fan of sides two and four.

Broken

gothkid
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

One of my library aides from last year is in jail. A sweet little pothead Goth kid who liked to update his MySpace account and read the I Ching is now in the big house hopefully not making special new friends.

Apparently he is involved in a pretty serious assult/robbery and since he is 18 he is in deep. The group of people he was with nearly killed a man and stole his wallet. The poor guy is in ICU and it is touch and go as to whether he will survive. And Gothkid used the ATM card to withdraw money. Somehow it is really important to me that Gothkid wasn't in on the hurting but rather just did the stealing. I know that is stupid.

And so I wonder at what point was this set in motion? Is there something broken in him now?

Sorry, no funny in this one. Other than the funny South Park kid.

Fatty McFatburger

Fatty McFatburger
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

Last night I made my 8 year old son's dream come true and let him watch Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me. It was really interesting. I was a little nervous because in this house we don't talk about FAT as a bad thing. Some people are fat and some are not. Just like some people have squeaky voices or curley hair.

The movie didn't mention attractiveness or appearance at all and the health benefits didn't deal so much with overweight as they did with healthy eating and exercies which is a fine (but in my opinion important) point.

So the new plan is this. Everyone in the family is going to plan 2 meals a week. Since we are 4 one person not only gets the week off of meal planning, but also gets to choose where and which night we will eat out or get take out. Oh the power! And we are off the soda.

The irony here is that Mr.-8-year-old loves him some Mickey D's. Poor little troll.

In other news I am having a Pampered Chef party. I feel like a whore. But I want a pizza stone. And I am not afraid to shatter the barrier between friendship and commerce to get it. But I will be telling all the invitees that they are under no obligation to come and I will respect them if they tell me I am a horrible person. But I still want the pizza stone.

Another reason I am posting is because I just read an article on RSS feeds and I set one up. And goober that I am, my first blog on the feed is this on. In case I ever post in my sleep and then forget that I did, I will be aware when I check my feed. And don't I sound cool saying, "Check my feed?" Library media specialist!

Older than I am Young...

old lady with naughty ooooooh look
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

Isn't this picture my evil (or less evil) 1963 twin? I am a little scared because it wouldn't take much for me to look just like her. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I am practicing this face even as I type. And I can't take credit for the flickr title. I Google-imaged "old lady" and came up with this from some now defunct blog and couldn't bear to change the name.

So the reason I am all about the old is because I was up walking at 5:30. ( I was returning library books, if you must know, and I am well aware of how insanely geeky that makes me. Walking to the library to return books at the crack 'ho' dawn. See picture above.) And while I was walking I happened to wonder what the date was. And so I lifted my watch with my tiny little date wheel to my face only to find that lo and behold, someone had replaced my convenient little date wheel with an amorphous blob! Imagine my surprise. And so I did what the newly aged have been doing since time immemorial. I lifted my glasses and held the damn thing up to my eye. I could see the date. Oh my stars, I am old.

Additional evidence is that [Wil], my 3rd grader, has a kindergarten book buddy. Yes, he is on the mature, responsible end of the book buddy spectrum. Gadzooks!

And since I mentioned my younger son, I should mention my older son. I believe I am calling him Fred, (Internet safety - ever vigilent. Or dopey.) He said the best thing to me yesterday. "Mom, you know how they say you get an extra 7 seconds of life for each time you laugh? Well, I must have gained 15 minutes today." I thought that was wonderful.

Unbunning!

I was just reading an email from a website cataloging lady who is wonderful. See wrote an article about building your library's website which I read an thought, "Someday..." Anyway she said that librarians need to get serious about "unbunning" which means we must stop acting as if we have the Encyclopedia Britannica up our collective asses. I thouth it was an excellent term.

See, Mosey Posy sent me a nice comment about how nice it was to have me writing again, and this is what she gets for her trouble. Boring library stuff.

I will probably be more interesting eventually.

It's corndog season, my boy!

Fall...
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

The rivers are just swollen with their nitrate-y goodness.

Man, it has been a long time since I posted. I had a list as long as my arm of things I wanted to write about and now that I am writing, I can remember none of them. Sure, the basic ideas are still there - but the pithy bon mots I was going to toss our like croutons on the spinach salad of my opinions are gone.

Here are my fun fun fun topics that I was going to make funny (really!):

1 - Global Warming and the inevitable forthcoming ice age

2- Women's Rights and their being chucked out the window in the aforementioned global disaster

3 - What I like to watch on TV

4 - How fat I am becoming

5 - At what point will I be in too much discomfort in my golden years (see above) to want to stay alive

6 - Is Jepoardy getting harder or am I getting dumber?

7 - When did I become the kind of person who gets impatient with children in restaurants and why don't they offer child-free seating?

8 - What are the odds that I will write in this blog again before next spring?

No no! I am going to be devoted and keep this baby going...

Really.

Look, Ma - no picture!

I can finally post on my Mac without using Flickr. Not that I don't love Flickr... It just takes time to find a somewhat appropriate pic and then upload it, find a way to tie it to the text - move my text to word for the ever-necessary spell check and finally try to remember what I wanted to post about!

But I do remember what I wanted to post about. When last I wrote I was still reeling from the freshmen semi-formal. But no longer. I was shocked at first but now I realized this shocking truth - teenagers are interested in sex. I know! It sounded crazy to me at first until I remembered being a teenager and thought, "Oh yeah... I remember..." The difference is, that there is really less shame.

And it is hard to say if this is a good thing or not. For a lot of people the "shame" aspect of sex has a shelf-life that is far too long. But on the other hand there is such a thing as decorum. Is there a way of promoting the idea that - while there is nothing wrong with a healthy sex drive - it might make the old folks uncomfortable if you display it in front of them so obviously.

One little freshman girl was at the circ desk when I was talking about the dance with some senior girls who laughed at me and told me to get my shots in order if I were going to the junior prom. When she heard that I had been in the room where the dancing was she said, in a shocked voice, "You were watching?"

"Hey, listen girlie, I'm not the perv here!" I replied. Of course I didn't. But I did gently tell her that the whole world was watching and she should probably behave at the dance as if her Dad and God were standing right behind her shoulder. Okay, I didn't say that either. I just said, "Of course. You all looked so nice, all dressed up," and left it at that.

But realistically - society shoves sex down these kids' throats all the time and it should come as no surprise when they get the message that anything goes and it really doesn't matter who is watching.

I look forward to attending the sophomore semi-formal and staying behind the snack table where I belong!

Dance Floor Confidential

highschooldance
Originally uploaded by brunhildecrow.

Okay, I haven't posted since the beginning of September. That is very very wrong. But nothing has happened of import since then.

Well, my sister got married, and my wonderful mother in law passed away - but those things were TOO big to blog. I needed some event that was in some respects frivolous and yet memorable.

Which brings us to last night. The night that I learned that the students to whom I give advice on citation style and for whom I find books and articles, and those who occasionally confide their hopes and dreams to me are really gross when they dance.

Honest to goodness, I am not an old woman, nor am I a prude but the moves thay make are all about grinding. Ewwww! And I don't want to use the phrase doggy-style. Whoops, I did. "At least look at her face when you are rubbing against herm young man!" I shouted many a time... Not really, I just ran away and poured juice.

I am still mildly skeeved!