Libraries Revived!

Okay, that last post about the Jackson County libraries was fairly depressing. It was a sad time for all of us, but after a few weeks last spring, I came to understand that it wasn't necessarily foolish people who voted to shut them down, but property owners such as myself, who'd grown weary of the county hitting us up for higher property taxes to fund a mismanaged library system.
So I'm glad for the new understanding and compassion I gained.

I did take that pottery course last summer, and quickly discovered that in spite of my artistic abilities, I turned out to be pretty terrible on the pottery wheel. It gave me a sore back and made me dizzy, and the only things I could throw were a series of tea-light holders. I also used the "slab" technique to create a large, fish-shaped teapot whose picture I will post sometime soon. The Rogue Community College ID card afforded me entry into the darkened, security-guarded halls of the Medford Main Library, into a reference cavern operated by the college. The fiction and youth sections were closed by formidable metal doors, and it turned out they couldn't get the microfilm I sorely needed for my work.

So, after a long, arduous summer of trying to obtain microfilm, (which sent me driving over the hill to the Klamath Falls library where one of the librarians, I swear, could not pronounce "Siskiyou," as well as cruising the Southern Oregon University library for bits of information), we finally got word that the libraries would re-open in the fall, albeit with shorter hours, run by a private library management system from Maryland. I'm not sure how I feel about the privatization issue, although I think maybe they'll be able to show us a thing or two.

Last week the library in Medford re-opened! Waiting on line among the mothers and children with their arms loaded with books and tapes, I could only smile. Upstairs in the reference section, the best reference librarian on earth, Julie, was back at her post! It was a beautiful thing.

Oh yeah, and I fell head over heels in love with someone from my high school on Long Island. After a six-month period of emailing, calling and sending each other little packages of tapes and books, he came up here to visit from Texas, for a glorious 12 days. More soon.