I am still reading Christopher Moore’s Fool while going back and forth to work and during my lunch breaks and I laughed out loud today, one of those short barking types of ha! laughs, when I came across this exchange between Pocket the Fool and some thespians he met on the road:
We’re rehearsing a classic from antiquity, Green Eggs and Hamlet, the story of a young prince of Denmark who goes mad, drowns his girlfriend, and in remorse, forces spoiled breakfast on all who he meets. It was pieced together from fragments of an ancient Merican manuscript.”
“No,” said I. “I think it will be too esoteric for the king. He is old and nods off during long performances.”
“Shame,” said big hat. “A moving piece. Let me do a selection for you. ‘Green eggs, or not green eggs? That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to eat them in a box, with a fox–‘ ”
“Stop!” said I.
What made me laugh was that while I read this I wondered, “what would Harold Bloom think?” And then I wondered if I should try to find his Yale email address and send it to him. But then I decided perhaps that would not be a good idea. I don’t want hastening him to his grave on my conscience.
In library school news, remember that paper my Bookman declared boring? I got my grade back for it, 20/20. I received the following comments from my professor:
Your paper is the best in the class. Your document could pass for a company’s annual report. I like the formatting, style, and layout. It is an aesthetically pleasing document. Your writing is crisp. Each section is amply covered. It is clear to me you understand social cognitive theory to change employee behavior. You clearly put a lot of time and effort into this assignment.
I’ve been feeling rather smug ever since I got the grade on Friday. I’m not certain if a three-day weekend counts as having put in a lot of time, but I’m not going to correct him.
Now I am working on my next assignment due in a week. For it I had to interview a manager at an information organization. I took the risk and interviewed the director of the library where I work. She was enthusiastic and the whole thing went rather well. She was also kind enough to provide me with a copy of the library strategic plan and a budget summary, and documents from a self-study the library did last summer before the American Bar Association inspection. Writing a paper analyzing the library and her management style shouldn’t be too hard. However, I’ve gone and set the bar so high already this could be a bit challenging. I’m up for it.
Which leads me to work news. I still love my job and I have been there almost a month now. In March I am going to get to go to a local conference on libraries and technology. That should be fun. Currently, I am putting together a proposal for a library blog. Ours does not have a blog. It used to but no one wanted to do the work of writing regularly and so it fell by the wayside. When I asked my boss if we had a blog she said no, but if you want to do one I am sure it would be appreciated. And now I have been asked to write up a little something about the whys and wherefores and hows and whos to present to the director and the rest of the library staff.
I have a feeling that I will soon be finding myself writing up a little something about why we should be on Facebook. I’m not even on Facebook. But it’s the thing to do and I need to build a library resume on something more than checking books in and out and processing interlibrary loans.
Woohoo! Don’t you love happy little professor comments when you’ve done a good job? I’m starting a blog at my work too; it’s interesting to figure out all the setup stuff.
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Completely exciting.
These sort of things [reports where people who asked you to write the report actually remember your name] do not happen to me!
As I have said before….
As I have said before….
“I want your life!”
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What a lot of exciting news! Yay for the paper! Are you going to print that quote out and frame it? 😉 And a library blog sounds a lot of fun. Oddly enough I’ve been toying with the idea of running an education-issue related blog in college, but I keep holding back, after I’ve had a glance at my other committments…. Still, it would be fun.
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Well done on your general all-round success! Sounds like you’re in the right place. My university library is on Facebook though I can’t help wondering what Facebook’s apparent plans to allow companies to exploit user data for direct marketing could mean for them, and indeed for your library if you decide to go ahead.
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What rewarding and encouraging comments! Sounds as if your second paper will be a winner, too.
I’m definitely adding Fool, now. I loved Biff, and I think I might love Pocket almost as much.
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I love the quote! I can see why it made you laugh aloud.
Good ideas for blog etc. at work; sometimes you have to create your own credentials! And you are definitely suited to doing that. Nice words from your prof, wow, I am impressed. How pleasing to get that mark and that response!
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I would love to have you working in my library (especially now that I really miss the library back home) A library blog with good content will be the real draw. Is there anyone else in the library who wants to help contribute to the blog though? Otherwise you will end up doing it yourself, and it could be tiring.
Not sure how being on Facebook is useful for a library though, since it’s boring unless you really want to social online, or you want to play games.
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Best in the class — woo-hoo! That’s awesome. And totally no surprise 🙂 Your next assignment sounds a little more interesting. And have fun with the blog! You will do a great job with it.
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I can’t wait for Fool. Jealous that you already have it..
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Silly girl, setting the bar so high in the beginning but congratulations! I’d be so proud of that evaluation.
You’ve reminded me, I’ve got to catch up on my Christopher Moore books.
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Daphne, I do love those happy professor comments. You’re doing a work blog too? Cool. I unfortunately will not get the pleasure of setting it up. The media services department will get to do the design work.
Cipriano, lol, my life isn’t as exciting as all that but it does have moments 🙂
Litlove, frame it? Heck, I’m getting a tattoo! 😀 I hope the library blog ends up being fun. We’ll see how my coworkers respond. I like your blog idea. Any way you could share the work with a few other people?
maggie, thanks! And thanks for the tip about Facebook. I will have to look into that before I make any kind of proposal. The library is very protective of students and their privacy.
jenclair, Pocket the Fool has some rather Biff-like qualities. What I enjoy is Moore’s matter-of-fact writing style. It plays well against the silliness of the story.
Melanie, thanks. One of the things I am learning about the library I am at is that they are open to ideas and suggestions but it has to come from me. No one is going to come to me and say, hey why don’t you do this? An entirely new kind of environment than what I have been used to.
Dark Orpheus, I’d be happy to work in your library, we’d have so much fun talking about books! Do you think you want to move to MN so your library will be closer? 😉 Not sure if anyone else will want to contribute to the blog. I don’t think anyone is interested in writing, but I have offered to do the writing if only they help with ideas. I’m not sure about Facebook and the ins and outs of it but libraries are jumping on board so it is something to check into.
Dorothy, thanks, you’re sweet 🙂 Yes, this next assignment is a little more interesting. Thank goodness.
Colin, I got lucky with Fool. I think you will enjoy it.
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Carrie, thanks. I know it was silly of me to start off so well but I have never been very good at pacing myself.
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Wow, Stefanie, that’s wonderful what your professor wrote. I’d still be on cloud 9 after that 🙂
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