Monday, January 26, 2009

Another Semester is Underway

I've taught my first classes of the semester. The students seemed engaged and interested, for the most part but I'm sure some thought I was just a big, dorky old lady. Unlike teachers who are with students for a whole semester, I have one hour with them to make an impact. I really never know if what I've tried to teach has taken or not. Sometimes, they come by the Reference Desk and thank me, or I see them working from the sources I told them about, but usually, I never know how they did on that research paper or if they found that literary criticism they needed. Educators these days are obsessing on outcome evaluation but it is a very complicated issue with library instruction. My hope is that, occasionally, students I teach will think, "I'll see if I can find a book for that," or "I'll look that up," rather than just blowing off a question or looking it up in Wikipedia. The fact that I so seldom have feedback makes those students who do come back and tell me they got an A on the research paper that much more precious. I wish I'd gone by and told the librarians "Thanks" occasionally at WTSU. Karma, you know.
Stretch,
Jo

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Isn't African American Fiction Literature?

My book group is discussing the books of Toni Morrison next month and I wanted my own copy of Beloved because I kept wanting to write in my library copy and circulation staff frown on that, especially from librarians. So I stopped by Borders and there were no Toni Morrison books on the shelf in the LITERATURE section. When I asked for assistance I was directed to the AFRICAN AMERICAN section. I am saddened and hurt that an author with the gifts and status of Toni Morrison is not shelved with Steinbeck and Faulkner, but with romance novels that happen to have African American girls as the main characters. The same is true for Zora Neal Hurston and Ralph Ellison. It seems to me to be the literary equivilent of being made to sit at the back of the bus. As we inauguate our 44th president, we should move to incorporate these writers into "mainstream" literature. English teachers and readers already have. It is time for booksellers to catch up. If you feel the same way, please let Borders know. http://www.borders.com/online/store/CustomerServiceView_contactinfo#contactus

Stretch,
Jo

Monday, January 19, 2009

America Loses a Great Artist

Andrew Wyeth died a couple days ago. As I was growing up he was one of the great artists Mother would talk about. His paintings caused stories to form in my head. They always seemed mysterious, as if he was letting me in on a secret. I know there are young artists out there waiting to join his ranks. I hope I can find them.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/16/MNPL15BSVL.DTL

Stretch,
Jo

Friday, January 16, 2009

Do You NEED me to help you to the car with that?

Yet another nicety of our society that has gone by the wayside is the nice teenager who politely and efficiently sacked our grocieries and carried them out to the car for us. I miss him. I am perfectly able physically, mentally and emotionally, to sack and transport my own groceries but I still miss having someone else do it. It was a good way (when properly supervised) to help a young person learn some responsibility and work skills and express appreciation to paying customers. Last night I bought about $350.00 of groceries and Angie and Addie and I had to unload them to be checked out then help sack them and carry them to the car. Are you listening, Albertsons, Kroger, and Tom Thumb? The CEO of Albertson's holding Company, Jefferey Noddle, has a five year compensation package of 18.5 million dollars! He should personally be available to carry my groceries to the car!

Stretch,
Jo

Monday, January 12, 2009

How Does This Happen?

As of today I am the mother of a 21 year old, an 18 year old and a 13 year old! How do they get older when I don't? Amy was very disappointed today when she ordered a margarita at a restaurant and they didn't even card her. She wanted the experience of showing her id and being legal. Oh, well. She'll probably look 15 for many years to come so they'll be plenty of time for being carded. I'm also the mother-in-law of an employed person! Yea! Jordan got a job as a plumber's apprentice. I'm not quite used to using the phrase mother-in-law, yet. Maybe it will grow on me.

Stretch,
Jo

Thursday, January 8, 2009

I'll take your advice next time

My good friend and mentor, Sandy, told me I need to keep my blog posts short so I'll do them more often. I didn't take her advice on the last one. I'll work on that.
Jo

The Rest of the World Must Be Right Some of the Time

My mother was a very strong, brilliant, opinionated person. Often, when she would get on a soapbox about something, she would say to herself (and me), "But the rest of the world must be right some of the time." I never thought she really believed that. I still think she thought she was right all of the time and rest of the world was wrong. But don't we all think that? Why would we continue to stand by a thought or deed if we thought we were wrong? Of course we think we are right or we would change what we think.

I had an experience Christmas Eve of which I can't let go and I keep asking myself and those unfortunate enough to have to listen to me if the rest of the world is right this time and if not, what can I (and we all) do to avoid situations like this. So maybe if I put it out here in blogsville I can let go of it and quit annoying my family and friends with this story.

My family went to the movies on Christmas Eve. We rarely go the movies as a family and I had great hopes of it being a special family time. We could talk about the movie and what fun we had over hot cocoa and it would become a Christmas Eve tradition. Okay, I have a very low bar for meaningful family experience.

As we were getting our popcorn, the young woman serving us was quite grumpy. Not overtly rude, it was just clear she did not want to be there. As she gave me my drink I smiled and said, very sincerely, "Thanks for working on Christmas Eve, we appreciate you being here so we can have a family outing." I try, during the Christmas season or when I shop late at night, to express appreciation to retailers and service people because I've been in their shoes and know it is no fun.

Well, she just looked at me, which is fine, but the young man beside her snottily said, "It's Hanukah, too, you know." Now I don't know if he was Jewish or if he was missing some important tribal gathering to get paid minimum wage at the movie theater, but I took a deep breath, decided his motives didn't matter and said, again very sincerely, "You're right. I'm sorry I didn't mention that. Thank you for working during Hanukah."

Now during the exchange I had been handed all my movie snacks. One of which was a pickle juice pop. For those of you unfamiliar with this delicacy, it is what the name implies, frozen pickle juice in a little plastic cup to be eaten like ice cream. Yummmmmm! I asked for a spoon. They had no spoons. I looked at the cup and once again very nicely and sincerely said, "Oh, well, maybe you should have told me that before I paid for it. How do I eat it?"

A third young person working behind the counter turned around, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "Suck On It!"

My question to you, gentle readers, is "What should my response have been?" Do we live in a world where teenagers who are being paid to do a job should be allowed to treat paying customers like this? Was my mistake trying to be overly nice in the first place? What can we, as a society, do to reintroduce civility and manners into our little corners of the world?

This is not a rhetorical question. I truly am asking you what I should have done. I won't bother you with what I did, it wasn't particularly interesting or effective. Please let me know your thoughts in case, heaven forbid, I should be presented with a simular dilemma again. Let me know if this was, indeed, one of the times when the rest of the world was right.

Stretch,
Jo