Month: January 2017

How do you make a curved wall?

The office across the hall from mine was vacated, and a new company moved in.  As part of their move they installed a curved wall just inside the front door.  I watched the metal studs go up.  They were six inch or so inches apart and framed in an arc.  I wondered how they would make the flat drywall fit onto the curve.

I got my answer the next day.  It involves a heck of a lot of drywall screws.

The peaceful transfer of power

I’d hoped for a different kind of day. One with historic implications. One where I set aside my daily doings to watch the ceremony, so I could say, “I watched her inauguration.” I was looking forward to the day when, after 241 years of US history, we finally had a president who looked like me.

This morning, reading my friends’ final “Obama: Yay!” posts, I broke down. It’s hard to see a woman I voted for lose, but it’s even harder to see a highly qualified, nose-to-the-grindstone, over-prepared woman who really, really wants the job lose. It’s even worse that the man who won is not highly qualified, woefully unprepared and I suspect him of wanting to win the election more than wanting to govern the country.

The clip from Facebook that tripped me over to sorrow was Barak Obama at his second inaugural. After giving his inaugural address, he left the podium, then turned back saying something to the effect of: “I want to take a second look at this. I won’t see this again.” That appreciation—of how lucky one is to be the US President—will be missing for the next four-to-eight years. We’re setting aside a leader who understood gratitude, and struggle, and going high when others go low and we’re swearing in a leader who thinks his success was inevitable, who never misses an opportunity to promote himself, and who responds to the smallest slight with a full-bore attack.

Maybe something good will come out of this chaotic and often hate-filled leadership style. It’s possible. In the time between the election and the inauguration I’ve looked for signs that the man we will call President takes seriously the gravity of his duties. I’ve found little evidence.

In four years, I’m guessing my life won’t be very different than it is now. Sure, we could get sucked into some sort of war that’s entirely unnecessary, but we’ve been doing that since 2003. My hopes for the next four years include the wish that people aren’t hurt by policies I disagree with (ban on Muslim immigrants, repeal of the health care law, bathroom “safety” laws) and that maybe things take a turn for the better.

Joining the government is public service. I’ll be watching to see who is being served, who is being left behind and who is being left out.

Image from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/20/donald-trump-inauguration-pictures-protests-plaudits-divided/members-mormon-tabernacle-choir-seats-west-front-us-capitol/

Finished! Reading for the Mock Printz

I am ready to discuss all 17 books for the Mock Printzes I will attend.  I’ve already been to the Hollywood Mock Printz.  What will the YALSA (Library) Mock Printz have in store for me? (Also: notice there isn’t much overlap between the two lists)

Reading for the Mock Printz was more difficult before I was a part of the Librarian Book Group.  Thanks to them, I had already read eight of the books.

Three sentence movie reviews: Moonlight

This suffered the unfortunate fate of overselling, which meant I watched a movie I would have found to be amazing and wonderful expecting it to be a transformative movie, and thus left feeling shortchanged.  This is unfortunate, as this was an amazing and wonderful movie grounded firmly in the performances, story and setting.  You should see it, but you might want to ratchet down your expectations to avoid suffering my fate.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theater with S. North

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/moonlight_ver2.html
(I didn’t really look at this poster until I downloaded it for this review, but WOW! This is an amazing poster!)

Hollywood Mock Printz

Getting to the Mock Printz at the Hollywood library turned out to be difficult. That huge amount of snow we had mid-week is still hanging around.  I took the Max downtown so I could swim, and then had planned on jumping on a bus to the library.  But I was met with a new development in transit alerts. Usually these signs say, “15 minutes” or “7 minutes” or “due”.  I’ve never encountered them giving bus updates in miles.  I translated that as being “forever” and planned a different route.The better route was the Blue Max line, which was also delayed, but it was delayed while I was sitting on it, and thus, warm.

We had a great list of books to discuss and a large turnout of teenagers to discuss them.  Danielle, steller Youth Librarian, has nicely primed the pump by having a Mock Printz discussion group that meets monthly.  

After much discussion, here was my vote.  I was pleased that so many people enjoyed The Sun is Also A Star, which I loved, but figured was too swoony-romantic for the general population.

It turned out they loved it so much that The Sun is Also a Star won the Hollywood Mock Printz.  We also picked two honor books, Salt to the Sea and Exit, Pursued by a Bear.Thanks for the fun workshop!