Steven Colbert Has His Finger On The Pulse Of The Nation

Last week Colbert was "congratulating" students at the University of Florida for standing by and doing nothing while a fellow student was Tasered while attempting to ask John Kerry questions during a speech and predicted that the brave students would fight back by blogging about it. Predictably he reported the next day that some students protested his comments on their blog. And here I am writing about it in my blog. Makes me ashamed to have a blog. Remember action on the streets?(or in the administrators office?) Colbert is right. Now whenever any one feels that rights are being violated they add to the general decline of the national discourse by blogging about it.

Why do I have a blog? Because some in my profession feel that "social softwares" are the greatest doggone thing since sliced bread, so I feel the need to "become familiar" with blogs despite real misgivings about the amateurisation of North American culture. I also have a facebook account although it seems to me that facebook society attempts to mimic all aspects of american adolescent culture except possibly the warmth of human contact. Take Top Friends for example. Why do I want to rate my friends and post their ratings on my page? I already went to junior high, years ago, and I really don't want to go back. Or do I really need to know that according to Facebook, I am considered a social outcast? (ouch!) Also as a Christian I am sometimes put off by some of the *ahem* cruder aspects of Facebook (and anti social aspects as well, to be frank)

This is not to say that libraries should not be interested in social technologies, just that sometimes we get all excited and happy about the cool (and fun!) new technologies and very rarely ever spend the time considering the social consequences that new technologies leave in their wake.

Ballerina Culture

My daughter started ballet lessons last night and she absolutely loved it. Like most of her almost five year old friends she is going through a fairy princess ballerina stage. Barbie actually capitalizes on this trend the best by making movies in which the main characters literally are fairy princess ballerinas. Of course she needed a tutu and all the fixings. The class really was more like pre-ballet but most of the little girls had tutus and slippers. Now I'm not going to be the one to burst her bubble (unless of course she is seventeen and STILL considering ballerina as a career choice) but I don't see my daughter as a ballerina. For one thing she most likely will be far too tall and for another thing, as thin as she is now the tutu made her look like a fullback for the Fighting Irish or at the very least a soccer player for the little miss USA soccer team. In fact whenever she ran "daintily" around the room she really looked like she was barreling across the soccer field. Of course I don't want to hurt her feelings but I also don't want her to get totally involved in ballet and have someone else hurt her feelings down the line. Maybe I'm over thinking this. Hopefully she'll enjoy this for a few years, get sick of it and go onto the next project. I just wonder why it seems that nowadays all little girls get on the "princess" bandwagon and why being a tomboy just is not as acceptable a choice nowadays, especially for little girls little my daughter who are, shall we say, more "athletically built" than dainty.

Donde Esta Mary? (And Exactly How do You Get Accents on an English Keyboard if You Don't Mind my Asking)

Lately it has come to my attention that in order to find a library job I need to participate in some kind of Continuing Education program in order to demonstrate that while I've been out of the work force I have been doing something. (As if watching a hyperactive three year old and his equally active five year old sister isn't doing something) One thing I've been doing in my "spare time" is trying to learn Spanish as many public library systems here in Northern Indiana need Spanish speakers. Lately I've been working on my Spanish not just strictly in my spare time leaving not so very much time for other things like writing my blog. Right now my daughter is in school but my son is looking at me forlornly holding an open bottle of water. It looks like its time for some continuing education in toddler developmental psychology. Buenas Dias!

Get the Mosquitos Outta Here!

As if just having far to many mosquitoes wasn't bad enough, the Indiana Board of Health in Indianapolis has warned residents of of St. Joseph (our county), Elkhart, LaPorte and LaGrange counties in Indiana of a possible outbreak of mosquito borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis. It's the plague I tell you! Note to self, definitely remember to give daughters preschool permission to spray her with bug poison, er repellent.

Unattended Children in the Library

I just finished reading a compilation post on PUBYAC about policies regarding unattended children while their parents are on the Internet. It brought me back to my days as a librarian in an under served area of Brooklyn. Every so often Branch Administration would institute parental supervision policies for the branches to follow. How we would laugh! The idea! Parents bringing their children to the library and watching them! When we got the Internet we did have one or two mothers who would come in for hours with their very small children and leave the children functionally unattended. I'm not sure it ever occurred to us to insist to strongly that the mothers watch the children themselves. After all they came in during the middle of the day when the computers (and we) were most available so really what else did we have to do but read their children some stories. We were just happy that the mothers weren't completely being left on the off ramp of the information superhighway. What were they going to do about finding care for their children anyways, hire a babysitter?(With what?), get dad to chip in? (Where is dad anyhow?), buy their own computer to surf at home? (Be realistic!) . Seriously, when I read this post, and statistics bear this out by the way, it immediately occurred to me that those who rely on computers at the library are generally at high risk of being of being on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. So I'm with the woman who encourages libraries to be proactive to the needs of mothers who are on the Internet at the library. Don't get me wrong. I'm sympathetic to what can happen when children are left unattended for too long, and I can imagine that not all patrons who use library computers and abandon their children while they surf are in the situation that my former patrons were. I have two little kids and they can get into incredible mischief when I turn my back for even two seconds. Once when I was at the library, I was putting our books into our stroller, when my then three year old daughter stuck her arm into the door jamb. Not something I ever anticipated happening. I guess you really do have to be three to think sticking your arm in the door jamb is a good idea. Fortunately I saw her do it and grabbed the door before it closed. Otherwise the story wouldn't be even in the least bit funny. (You have to admit it's kind of funny). If I was on the computers at the library, even for five or ten minutes I know exactly what they would do. They would walk right out of the library onto the busy street smack into the path of a car. That why I don't use the computer at the public library, I use it a home when the kids are distracted by a snack, Dad or best of all bedtime. But that's the advantage of being white and middle class. You get to have little luxuries like a husband that fully supports your family and sometimes gives you free time to "enrich" yourself, as well as your own computer with Internet access. That's why libraries that serve minority patrons should be open and creative in finding ways to serve both their patrons need to use library computers and their children's need for constant supervision.

Progressive AND Catholic???

The other day I received this article through my RSS feed to Catholic Online U.S. News. It was a good week because I also happened to pick up at the library A Dynamic God : living an unconventional Catholic faith by Nancy Mairs. I thought “Holy Cow or, I guess. Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph I actually do exist. Because until now I thought Catholics were supposed to vote REPUBLICAN! Actually by getting on the Christian right bandwagon Christians of all denominations are doing themselves a real disservice. Have you ever noticed that in intellectual/progressive circles Christianity has developed a bad name? With so many Christians allying themselves with the Christian Right, Christianity has become synonymous in some peoples mind with right wing politics. Funny thing though, Jesus never actually had anything to do with either the Republican or the Democratic parties, despite what the Republican Party may claim. And I can’t believe that a God who believed in feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and helping the needy would support politicians who support greed. I know that the story is that the Republican Party has the upper hand in moral issues. I don’t buy it. To believe that you would have to reduce morality to issues of sexual plumbing. Even then these issues are much more complex than the pundits would have you believe. I am not saying that either party has a moral upper hand. Both parties are heavily indebted to lobbyists and at times it seems as if voters don’t even exist. The problem with a two party system is that neither choice is particularly wonderful. But I do support a progressive agenda and believe of the two parties that the Democratic Party is closest to progressiveness. A least hopefully they’ll get the troops out of Iraq, maybe institute universal health care, institute fair immigration policies, abolish the death penalty….Well a girl can always dream can’t she?

PJ and the Binky

PJ lately has a new love, other than the little girl at church.

We are a fellowship parish!

I am on the current womens team for Christ Renews his Parish at our parish in South Bend. Some of our talk has been around increasing fellowship in our parish. Happily 3 year old PJ is getting into the spirit. Yesterday at mass we asked him to turn around and face the front but he very loudly announced "NO, I'm talking to these guys". Later on I was surprised to see him scratching his head on the hand of the gentleman in the pew behind us, who blessedly didn't seem to mind. Later he grabbed the hand of the three year old girl also in the pew behind us and gazed fondly in her eyes and WOULD NOT LET GO. At the end of the mass Christina genuflected deeply before the host. Not PJ. He was out like a flash towards the parking lot, giving Mommy a chance just to give a nod as if to say "see you later Jesus". He stopped just long enough to take the obligatory slurp of the holy water.

Christina Ballerina

Four year old Christina is starting ballet in two weeks and she is totally psyched. For now she is "practicing" with Angelina!

A Trip to The Zoo

"I'm on my way to the zoo, the zoo, the zoo, the zoo, the zoo
The monkey cage is nearly full but I think there's still room for you!"
Robertson Davies
A Leaven of Malice

It was one of those ideas that seemed like a good idea at the time. Go to the Zoo member picnic, have supper with thousands of other Zoo supporters, see some animals, do some fun activities, ride the Zoo train and go home in time for bed, having had dinner. And the kids were so excited they are literally jumping up and down for joy. The first sign that it might go wrong appeared when we were walking to the zoo. It did seem as if there were a lot of cars parked along the street, by the way. Christina mentioned that the sun was going down. "No sweetie", I said, "its just cloudy outside". Did I remember the weather report mentioning rain???? No, I distinctly remember the weather report NOT mentioning rain. We turn into the parking lot. The line up seemed rather long. No as I look closer, the line up looks very very long. Christina and PJ attempt to bud in front of .....everyone. We wait in line for fifteen minutes, short considering the size. As we wait in line I am reminded again and again that the mosquito population in South Bend is the worst apparently in 18 years. We get to the front of the line and feel the first drops of rain. We decide to go into the reptiles and small mammals building and let the rain pass. It doesn't pass. We decide to take a trip on the zoo train and either go home and get pizza or get our zoo lunch. We get on the train and are told that the train is shutting down. We get off and go get our lunch. The kids are not happy to not be taking a trip on the zoo train. We stand in line for food. Now it is really pouring. Some children are running up and down the slippery hill and PJ and Christina join them. Darn it, where is Christina when I'm holding a bag, her doll, three lunches and three cups. There is an accident .....and....there goes supper. Pizza for dinner it is. All the way home Christina complains that she never wanted to go to the zoo......As I write this, its a quarter after nine and I'm still not sure when I'm geting the kids to bed.

A World of Temptation

Taking a preschooler and a toddler grocery shopping can be harrowing at times. It is me or is marketing junk food to kids becoming even more aggressive. Do "fruit" snacks really need to be shaped into every possible preschool marketing success story to make them more attractive to children? Isn't it enough that they are fruity flavored and loaded with sugar? Here is a partial list of the food that Christina tried with various levels of success to sneak into my grocery bask this morning:

1. Two boxes of sugar cookies
2. Muffins
3. A half watermelon cut in an interesting way
4. "jelly beans"
5. Post Honeycomb cereal
6. Fruit Loops
7. Nibs
8. Strawberry whoppers
9. Two packages of mini donuts, chocolate and crumb
10. Dora AND Blues Clues yogurt
11. Ice Cream
12. Ice Cream Treats
13. Ding Dongs
14. Pizza
and oh yes 15. Candy from the checkout strategically placed in prime "I want it territory"

Book Review - Tipperary by Frank Delaney

I was delighted to receive the Advance Reading Edition of Tipperary by Frank Delaney though LibraryThings Early Reviewers program, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Historical fiction is not a genre I usually gravitate towards, but I found the book beautifully written and was drawn in from the start. Charles O’Brien, the main character and an itinerant healer, issues a warning to “be careful of him” which was intriguing. O’Brien proved to be a likeable and fascinating main character. In fact it was hard to see why his love interest, April Burke, spurned him so!

What a life Charles O’Brien claims to have had! He inadvertently brought down Irish political hero Charles Parnell, is a healer at Oscar Wilde’s death bead, (this is where he meets Miss Burke and first hears the story of her claim on Tipperary castle) gives writing advice to the young James Joyce and become acquainted with George Bernard Shaw and William Butler Yeats. Finally he becomes involved in the Irish civil war and assists member of the Irish Republican Army.

Upon meeting April, O’Brien falls in love not only with her but with Tipperary Castle and tries to involve himself wherever he can in the upkeep and the restoration of this building that both he and April love so much. The descriptions of the Castle and of the Irish countryside are beautifully detailed.

A secondary narrator at first seemed intrusive, especially since I would have like to find out what was happening next, but as he gradually became more ingrained in the story and less dispassionate his insight became more and more important. This is especially true after the fourth chapter where he introduces himself and starts to give the reader some insight into his very personal interest into the story of Charles O’Brien and April Burke. Other narrators including Charles’ mother Amelia and Charles’ dear friend Joseph Harney add interesting perspectives on events as they unfold.

Delaney demonstrates in this book a great love of the Irish land and people and a tremendous grasp of Irish history. I found this book to be a very entertaining read and had no problem with the ambitious scope of this book. Even better the book held surprises right until the very end. I would definitely be interested in reading more by Frank Delaney.

Virginia Counties Targeting Illegal Immigrants?

I just got my issue of American Libraries and learned that in the wake of Congress' failure to pass a Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act in June, Loudoun and Prince William Counties in Virginia are passing resolutions to limit illegal immigrants' access to public services. I say shame on Loudoun and Prince William County and all the other counties and states who are passing laws and resolutions to limit freedoms to illegal immigrants.

What Americans need to realize is that 1. the system of immigration in this country is broken and 2. someone is benefiting from illegal immigration and contrary to popular belief it is *not* the illegal immigrants. Think about this. There are 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Some one must really want illegal immigrants here. Everyone who hires domestic help illegally and pays them under the table benefits, every corporation who "unknowingly" contracts illegal immigrants to work for less than minimum wage benefits. Corporations who can keep wages for all their employees low benefit. Illegal immigrants do not benefit from current immigration law. They end up on a dangerous journey to a country that doesn't want them, to work in a job which puts them in a situation where they are easily exploited.

All immigrants would benefit much more from having an easier legal path to immigration. Employers would have to pay a living wage and benefits, and when the children of illegal immigrants grew up they would not be barred from an education or employment because they too, quite innocently, are also illegal immigrants. I know what the path to immigration is like in the United States because I too am an immigrant. I started the immigration process legally over ten years ago and am not appreciably closer to achieving permanent residency status, never mind having citizenship than I was then . I also know the casual insults that immigrants endure everyday, like having to send my immigration documents to the State Capitol every time I renew my driver license so they make sure that I'm in the country legally, or being tested for Std's just to get my green card, like being an immigrant makes it more likely that I'll engage in risky behavior.

Christians are often admonished to consider, ironically enough, "What Would Jesus Do"? Well, I know what he would not do. He would not throw good people in jail for helping God's people in need, He would not make strangers feel unwelcome in his home and he certainly would not turn people in need away from his door.

The Maternal Wall in Libraries?

Once again I find myself pounding the pavement as it were looking for a new position as a librarian. This time however I find myself having even less success than the last time I looked for a job despite a new gung ho attitude and a positive new spin on marketing myself and ironically three more years of experience. Every time my phone calls are not returned yet again I start to get suspicions why.

You see, since I last worked as a librarian, I have gained five years of more than full time experience in another highly demanding field. You could say that I have experience working with children in a particularly intimate way. Yes, I am a stay at home mother to a five year old girl and a three year old boy. Naively I thought I would stay home with the little ones until they were ready to go back to school and then carry on where I left off. That was before I heard about the Maternal Wall.

Not that I know for sure that this is the issue in my case, just that I know anecdotally from other stay at home mom librarians that it can be hard to get back in the field once you've been out and I also know that discrimination against mothers is widespread in business and the professions. With the wage gap between non mothers and men being narrowed, discrimination against mothers is in large part to blame for there still being a wage gap at all. I also have experienced particularly in academic libraries that the value placed on the so called ideal worker, ei one without outside obligations is huge.

So, where does this leave me? So far I'm learning Spanish and taking a multitude of continuing education courses in my "spare time". It has also left me wondering if some of the continuing education I take should not possibly be in the direction of a new career.

My little Fairy

My son has always been one to develop a clothing fascination. Last week he wanted to wear his Miss Spider rain boots with everything. This week he is wearing a fairy Tutu I made for his sister for Halloween two years ago. So cute. It reminds me of a story a friend told me that she heard on Bill O'Reilly. Bill claimed that some parents of a young boy who liked to dress up in girls clothing decided that their son was a transvestite and convince the school to treat him like one. Typical Bill story. Take one case, which may or may not be true, blow it way out of proportion and use it as an example of the decline of family values in our civilization. Really, I think what happens much more often is that parents blow these innocent little phases out of proportion in the other direction. Right now, I think a T-shirt with a tutu with the all important addition of Thomas the Tank engine sneakers is a good look for my son, just like underpants and rain boots were during the "rain boot phase".