Library - grace grits and gardening

There are some things I will never understand. I drove over to the Lakewood Library for some quality quiet time. I was interested to see how my neighborhood library compared to the non-libraryish library of Osceola. The parking lot was completely full, forcing me to park on the street around the corner. Wow, the library business was good in Dallas! I saw my friend Marcia, who was also looking for a parking space. She enlightened me – it was “story time” for all the neighborhood preschoolers. Ahhh maybe the library wouldn’t be so quiet after all. I wonder if dogs are allowed?

Lakewood Library

As I walked toward the front door, I noticed the light posts that lined the walkway were covered in yarn from top to bottom – each a different color combination – to keep them warm??? It wasn’t even cold. This yarn trend had become quite common in Dallas and apparently across the state as of late. Maybe it’s popular everywhere, I have no idea, but I have not seen any tree scarves in Arkansas – ever. It’s just very odd to me.

I selected a table near the window in a far corner. In the Hispanic area. Half the Lakewood Library – books, signage, periodicals – is designed for Spanish speaking visitors – an obvious difference from my hometown library. This was not surprising given our neighborhood mix. The library was very neat and orderly and organized. It was nice. It was libraryish. Mrs. Perry would approve. The Spanish books were aligned evenly just as she required.

In Osceola, most of the people inside were obviously using the computers to look for jobs. In the Dallas library, there was a balance of patrons – moms and/or nannys with kids, elderly men reading the WSJ, people apparently working, and several homeless people. If I become homeless, I will hang at the library.

While there, no one asked me to spell anything. I do not believe the librarian was cooking behind the counter. It was quiet. Later, as I walked back toward my car, I looked at those light posts again and contemplated this new strange trend. All the trees in the Dallas Arts District were ‘yarn bombed’ last summer. (I know this to be the correct terminology only because I googled it.) The Winspear Opera House requested its trees be covered for the opening of the musical Hair. An arborist was consulted to insure no trees would be harmed in the project. In Austin, the trees around the State Capitol and on the University of Texas campus were covered with these crocheted scarves. Who does this? Why?

Nana crocheted. She made blankets and doilies and Christmas ornaments. I don’t think she ever crocheted scarves for her apple trees or blankets for her irises. She tried to teach me. I could do a long line of stitches, but never turn, so maybe this is the one thing I could crochet – if my trees get cold this winter…

Dallas Arts District

I can’t imagine the time someone devotes to this. Who is this graffiti knitter? Is this one person with way too much time on her hands? or a group of people? Do they have nothing more productive to do all day long? Someone wraps all these trees and just leaves their hard work behind for others to see and critique and hopefully enjoy – what if no one does? Maybe everyone thinks its bizarre. Maybe people laugh and roll their eyes. Maybe people drive by and shake their heads. Maybe no one understands why anyone would spend all that time… They do it because they enjoy it?

Sorta like blogging.

talya

Musical Pairings:

Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin'”

John Mayer, “Waiting on the World to Change”

Austin

I love libraries. In junior high I volunteered in the school library for Mrs. Perry, our librarian. She taught me how to sort and arrange books, and how to properly align them on the shelves. I dusted the book jackets and wiped down the reading tables at day’s end. I loved the smell of the books and the lemon pledge. I still do.

While visiting my home town, I planned to spend some time at the public library, which was one of the only places with wi-fi. I was looking forward to this, because I had fond memories of that place. Growing up, my sister and I spent many a hot summer day there. We walked to the library while our mother had her hair styled a few blocks over at Lucille’s Beauty Shop. This was when kids could play outside all day long and not end up on the 6 o’clock news as a kidnapped, decapitated victim. This was when the primary crop in the county was cotton, instead of crystal meth.

I remembered the building well. It was a stately, two-story, brown brick building with large white columns in front. Inside, the space was serene, clean and organized – everything I came to love. The librarian commanded respect with her low voice. She looked and acted the part. A card catalog whiz, she was kind, yet strict and orderly. I’m sure it was in her job description. I became best friends with Nancy Drew in that very building.

Fast forward 33 years: Oddly the building had mysteriously shrunk. The columns seemed smaller. The inside was tired and chaotic. Most of the reading tables had been replaced with study carrels equipped with computers – a sign of the times. The two remaining reading tables were covered with cardboard boxes of books – seemingly donated – haphazardly stacked, uncataloged and unorganized, leaving no room for actual reading! Checking out a library book seemed almost secondary there. It was a sad state of affairs.

Books, books everywhere, but no
place to read….

To say that it was difficult to concentrate on my writing was a wild understatement. Evidently library etiquette had changed since I was there in the 1970s. It was now acceptable to use your “outside voice” inside the library, to each other, to yourself, or on a cell phone. And the cell phone could freely ring – no need to put it on vibrate. But it was NOT ok to take a lidded iced tea inside. I was required to leave my tea at the check-in counter totally unattended where anyone could slip in a roofie. But I am a rule follower, so I complied.

Although thirsty, I learned quite a bit about a variety of topics. The first day, I assisted my carrel-mate with her spelling as she hand-wrote “prison letters”. The second day, I inadvertently memorized most of the GED questions as the man across the aisle read the questions over and over aloud. The lady adjacent to me was working on her cosmetology license. I’m pretty sure I could roll up a perm now. Do people still get perms?? I also learned the citizens were in an uproar over the high electric bills in town. They blamed the mayor.

The library workers were an interesting group. Mr. Librarian actually assembled a salad for his lunch on the counter while demonstrating the proper way to cut and chop an avocado to the other workers. I think I saw him wash it down with a swig of my tea. He was on a low fat/high protein diet except on Saturdays when he liked to eat Mexican food at Mi Pueblo. He coached the other workers on the difference between good fat and bad fat. He scolded them about eating bad fat, quizzing them to see if they really knew the difference. I wonder, did he get this information from a library book? On day three of my library adventure, there was a lengthy debate among the library workers centered around smoking. The conversation became heated when Mr. Librarian posed the following, “Why did God invent tobacco if we weren’t supposed to smoke?” I kid you not. I looked above my study carrel at these people, and almost blurted out, “But didn’t God ‘invent’ bad fat?????” I seriously needed to return to Dallas ASAP.

During the three afternoons I was there, one elderly man came in to check out books! Only one person. Bless his heart. Once I was convinced he was not a missing silver alert victim who had accidentally stumbled in, I was beyond thrilled. I heard him ask for assistance locating a specific book. He waited quietly and patiently for the conclusion of the riveting avocado demonstration. I almost jumped up to eagerly help him myself. Or cut up the damn avocado.

Mrs. Perry would be mortified.

talya

Musical Pairings:
David Allen Coe, “Jack Daniel’s If You Please”

PeopleAreOdd

Reading Talking & Library Gossip

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