Eight Things on a Tuesday

1. The National Book Awards. I was super excited to hear that Franny Billingsley's Chime is included in the nominations. But I was less than thrilled to hear about the colossal faux pas that followed the botched nomination announcement. If you haven't already heard, Lauren Myracle's Shine was accidentally named a nominee. Libba Bray wrote a wonderful (and very swear-y) post on the rest of the story:

However, the NBA stated afterward that, based on its merits as a work of excellent literature for young adults, SHINE would remain on the finalists list. Crisis averted. Or so it seemed.
 
What happened after that is worthy of a soap opera called “As the Incompetence Turns.” Over the next few days, a back-and-forth of “we’re keeping it,” “no, we’re not keeping it,” “it’s worthy,” “no, it’s not worthy” was played out in the media and over the Internet in a very public, very hurtful way that did not seem to take into account that at the center of all this was a real live human being, an excellent writer, whose work and reputation were being dragged through the mud as if it were no big thang while the ruffled feathers of injured egos were patted down in a backroom somewhere.

Lauren Myracle was asked to withdraw from the award proceedings.

I haven't read Shine yet, but I interviewed a high school librarian last week for a grad school application essay who said that one can feel light shining through this book. "It's one of those books where the sun just rises," she said.

There's a good round-up of more reactions at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy.

2. RainyMood.com. The website that does nothing but make it sound like it's raining outside. I visited the website last week, and for a few minutes, I forgot that it wasn't really raining. (via Stephanie Perkins)

3. Books. I'm in the middle of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I have Stephanie Perkins's Lola and the Boy Next Door waiting on my bookshelf . . . but I cannot pick them up again until I finish my English colloquium revisions and the books I'm supposed to be reading right now. Sigh.

4. Cat pictures. They make life better. My kitty turned eighteen last week. Here are some pictures my mom took of her last fall:

Kitty yawn! There has to be a hilarious caption for this photo, but my brain is too fried to come up with one right now. Suggestions?

5. Pumpkins. We have a happy one in our living room:

6. Veggie pizza. Last Friday, my friend Kirstie and I went to the grocery store and picked out some random ingredients. We give you yellow squash, yellow pepper, and potato pizza with basil:

And FYI, putting potatoes on a pizza turned out to be a surprisingly good idea. (And if you try it, you should know that we fried the veggies in some olive oil on the stove before putting them on the pizza, because otherwise they would have spent only 10 minutes in the oven, and they would have been very, very crunchy...)

7. My Judy Moody doodle was still alive on Sunday. The kids at the library left the whiteboard alone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Unbelievable.

8. Pan Am. I got mostly caught up on the TV show this weekend, and am enamored with the clothes and all the spoken French. Also, I can't get over how the ladies carry their purses. I'm not sure I could do this all day:

Happy Tuesday,

I wish my desk lit up, too.

Behold the marvelous children's circulation desk at the public library in Champaign, Illinois. It lights up and changes colors:

Taking pictures in libraries is awkward, what with all the people studying and browsing. But this awkwardness didn't stop me.

Too pretty to leave un-photographed, no?

I took these pictures on a road trip with my friend Amber last week. Our mission? To check out some graduate programs in library science. Naturally, we also spied on the public library systems near the grad programs.

And Champaign's public library is a win.

Signs don't get much more awesome than this.

Other things that make Champaign fun, besides the Jane Addams Book Shop*:

The artwork taking shape on this fence downtown.

Pekara Bakery and Bistro, which makes great sandwiches, cookies, and crepes. We know this because we went there twice in one day. Amber took this picture after we finished a delicious, berry-filled crepe.

Colorful tabletop at one of the gajillion Espresso Royale coffeeshops in Champaign.

The Sousa Archives at the state university in Illinois. I'm a trumpet player, and I've never enjoyed playing his marches, so yes, I took pictures of period shoes instead of his sheet music.

The Art Theater, a lovely 98-year-old theater.

It was very hot inside, though. One of the owners of the Art Theater came in before the film we saw to explain that the old building isn't set up for air conditioning, and the unit they do have is too noisy to run during a movie. So they shut it off, and we roasted. But it was worth it. If you get a chance, I recommend seeing Beginners.** It made me laugh, cry, and wish my pet came with subtitles, too. Here's the trailer:

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*The Jane Addams Book Shop might be America's coolest used bookstore. Remember?
**Beginners is rated R for a reason, though, and is probably not suitable for an all-ages family movie night--which is too bad, because that subtitled dog is so cute.

That's my girl

A little girl brought Max and Ruby's Perfect Pumpkin to the checkout counter at the library this morning:

Image from bn.com

Me: Are you excited for fall already?

The girl's mother: I think she is. Yesterday she told me she wanted it to be colder outside.

Me: I want it to be colder, too.

The mom gave me a look.

Me: But not too cold! Just a little colder.

The mom: Yes, not like winter.

Me: No. No, not like winter.

The mom nodded as if to say, "Good. For a second there I thought I'd have to take our DVDs to the next checkout desk, because you are insane."

But, honestly? I like winter better than the recent heat wave that's been sizzling over the Midwest. And I'm so very excited for fall and pumpkins and hot chocolate and apple orchards and . . . Oh well. I will enjoy summer while it's here, but that doesn't mean I can't look forward to my favorite season.

Waiting for September,

America's coolest used bookstore might be in Champaign, Illinois.

I went on a roadtrip with my friend Amber last week to check out a couple grad school programs for library science, and we spent last Friday afternoon in Champaign, where we discovered the Jane Addams Book Shop. Here are some of the pictures we took:

Shag carpeting . . .

. . . to go with the retro furniture.

Matching book-and-chair.

The Jane Addams Book Shop is three stories tall, and reminds me of Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France.

So, what do you think? Have you encountered a similar used bookstore? An even cooler one, perhaps?

My art is in a LIBRARY

For the summer, anyway. Two of my paintings are in the City Employee Art Show. I ventured to the main library of the system I work for (I work at a branch location) to spy on them last weekend. They are all cozy behind the audio books in a little reading nook:

Snug (with apples) is on the right, and Mutability is on the left. You can see more pics of Mutability here.

The colors are--as always--so much yummier in real life, but these photos aren't bad as photos go. Here's a bit of a close-up on Snug:



Here's my newest painting for my Painting IV class this summer. It's currently untitled, because I'm not yet sure what I mean by it:



I had to drag it outside to get the colors to photograph at least sort-of accurately. I'm so glad my painting prof is accepting 3x3s from me instead of 4x4s like Mutability. (She's always pushing us to paint BIG, because paintings sometimes look smaller once they're on a wall.) I'm 5 feet 3 inches, and carrying a painting that is nearly the same size as me is difficult. I paint on hardboard framed on the side with pine, which is a little heavier than canvas. Also, I can actually get a 3x3 in my car.



I'm hoping to finish a second painting tonight. How are your summer projects going?

Musical Monday (71): "I'm Reading a Book" by Julian Smith

I'm still alive and fine and all; I've just been horribly busy.

But not too busy to enjoy this week's song, "I'm Reading a Book" by Julian Smith.



"I'm at the library where they call me a crook. I never even pay for my library books . . ." Too much fun. (Found via the hilarious Kiersten White.)

Hoping you had a happy Easter (or a lovely Sunday if you don't celebrate Easter),

and wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

A Great and Terrible Library

"Sorry, I get very upset when people screw around with libraries."

I am very interested to hear what the Nerdfighters discover about this library. And while I can empathize with John Green's frustration that Ivan the Terrible died before he could think to tell someone where the fancy library is, I'm not helping them research because I'm frustrated with a research project of my own. More on that later.

Happy Tuesday,

Library News from Egypt + a Sigh of Relief

Excerpt from a brief note from Ismail Serageldin, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (found via bookshelvesofdoom):

"Events deteriorated as lawless bands of thugs, and maybe agents provocateurs, appeared and looting began. The young people organized themselves into groups that directed traffic, protected neighborhoods and guarded public buildings of value such as the Egyptian Museum and the Library of Alexandria. They are collaborating with the army. This makeshift arrangement is in place until full public order returns.

The library is safe thanks to Egypt’s youth, whether they be the staff of the Library or the representatives of the demonstrators, who are joining us in guarding the building from potential vandals and looters. I am there daily within the bounds of the curfew hours. However, the Library will be closed to the public for the next few days until the curfew is lifted and events unfold towards an end to the lawlessness and a move towards the resolution of the political issues that triggered the demonstrations."

I can't even imagine people thinking of looting a library.

And I don't know about you, but I've been watching the events in Egypt pretty closely because a dear friend of mine along with many other people I know were recently in Egypt on a band tour with the college down the street from mine. Their hotel was one block away from the main protest in Cairo. They changed hotels last week and were scheduled to leave on Saturday but their flight was canceled. After many delays and some involvement from one of our state's senators all the students are finally--thank God--on their way home.

Whew. Glad my J-term trip wasn't as eventful as theirs,

Happy Fall! + Pictures and a Library Story

Happy Belated First Day of Fall! This is my favorite season, and I'm so pleased it's here. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but the first day of October where I live was like a switch: leaves that were holding on in September started falling like crazy. I loved it.



I also love apple orchards, and I visited one with some friends a couple weeks ago.

If you look at the banner, you'll see I decorated for fall. It's the same one as last year because I like it, even though it has some design issues and showcases my very low knowledge of Photoshop. (But I did make the trees the duck is walking through out of paper bags and felt.)

Some of the apples were amazing. We know this because we sampled them straight from the tree.

School is super busy right now, and I'm sorry I've been such a poor reader and commenter--I don't mean to be. The first 8 weeks of my semester are outrageous as far as homework goes. I'm also participating in Academic Mentoring this year, which means I'm leading two discussion groups of freshmen a week until Midterm. It's part of the freshman orientation class, which meets separately. I've got lesson plans, I take attendance, I grade small assignments...I feel a little bit teacher-y. It's a little spooky.

Not all of the apples were so good.

I'm still working at the library, too. Last week a gentleman (an immigrant and non-native English speaker) came to the circulation desk and asked:

Gentleman: Do you have any movies about people who die and rise from the dead?

Silence.

Me: ...do you mean like Jesus? Because we have--

Gentleman: No, no, no. Like, like--

Me: Oh! Do you mean like zombies?

Gentleman: What are these zombies?

 

Me: Um, they're dead people who rise out of their graves and...well, they're not like they were. They're monsters. They usually want to eat people.

Gentleman: ...Are you scared of these zombies?

Me: Um, ah, they're in movies--Would you like a copy of Night of the Living Dead? That's a zombie movie.

Gentleman: No thanks.

And then he walked away. Maybe he wanted a movie about a ghost?



Ready for the homework avalanch to stop falling and hoping you're having a lovely autumn so far,

M-M-Mockingjay

My dear friend and fellow art major, Becca, works at the campus library checking in books and making displays. I visited her at the library today, camera in hand, because she recently made a mockingjay:

Ta-da!

Three dimensional and made of papier-mache!

The artist drumming her hands at the check-out counter.

Still making sense of Mockingjay, loving this display, glad I go to school a mere 15 minutes from home so the world didn't end when I forgot important things like textbooks and unimportant things like slippers ,

Anti-Musical Monday (3) on a Tuesday + a Contest worth entering

There was no song yesterday because...

1. I'm moving back to my dorm room next week, and I have packing to do.

2. I'm not usually at the library when the elementary school across the street lets out, but I dropped in yesterday afternoon to help out with a short-staffing problem, and at 2:45 a bajillion kids ran in and dumped their backpacks in a corner. It was like a backpack sea. School years are fun :)

3. My aunt Charleen, who lives on the other side of the country, flew in last week. We've been hanging out and eating cupcakes.

Char and me with our sweet treats

4. (Not a reason for lack of music, but why stop numbering things? ) Gayle Forman (author of If I Stay) reviews some intriguing fall reads in this post. She's also giving away some ARCs of books like Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (there's still time to enter her contest, btw), and all you have to do to enter is answer a simple question and leave a comment. It couldn't be easier.

Happy Tuesday,

Of cupcakes, libraries, and pop culture

Cupcakes are good. They're also quite popular at the moment. There are the TV shows--Cupcake Wars, DC Cupcakes (both ridiculously easy to get wrapped up in, FYI)--and, of course, the cupcakeries, as in bakeries that exist to make the pretty little cakes.

My friend Kirstie and I recently made a couple trips to Oh My Cupcakes!, a recent cupcakery--and the only one--in our 150,000 population city.

Cupcakes are pretty easy and inexpensive to make (although I accidentally started a small fire in the oven when making some a few years ago, which is another story for another post), but there's something cutesy and magical about walking into a building dedicated to them and looking at rows and rows of choices through glass displays, picking one, and eating it from a little blue plate.

YUM.

Anyway. Cupcakes have always been good, before special shops and TV shows and whatnot. At the library where I work, someone recently pointed out an NPR article, "Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries."

The article cites various signs of libraries' advancement in pop culture, one of them being YouTube spoofs like this parody on Old Spice ads, which if you haven't seen yet, watch now, because it's kinda sorta really awesome:

Awesome, right?

Wrapping up here, as the article suggests, cupcakes and libraries currently have a couple things in common: They've always been great, and pop culture attention is fun, but they'll keep being fantastic with or without it. And I guess that's my point. Before I read the NPR article, I hadn't put much thought into it, but I can see libraries becoming more talked-about recently--they're economical, green, etc.

Hmm. Thoughts to think and culture to contemplate. Cupcakes to eat...