Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Literature in the world

Harry Potter has become such a part of our culture that you'll often find references to it in other things, often without any mention of the fact that it's from Harry Potter. I love finding these. I found one in my reading at work day before yesterday, in the New York Times Book Review from June 1, in a review of the book "Love, Nina" by Nina Stibbe, written by Emma Gilbey Keller: "They come from quick-witted stock, and they’re a constant source of the articulate, Hermione Granger-ish back and forth you might expect from two London schoolboys with such brainy parents." No mention of who Hermione Granger is, because Harry Potter is so well-known that everyone reading should know who Hermione Granger is! I love that. It's almost like the Bible: you can throw in a reference to Noah or Judas or Abraham with no need for explanation, because everyone should (though these days not everyone has enough familiarity with the Bible to) get the reference. I found a Lord of the Rings one today, in the same publication - a reference to hobbit holes without any explanation of what those may be. It was great. I'd hate to not know the source material (be it HP or the Bible, or LotR) well enough to get allusions like this - it's a good reason to try to be 'cultured', whatever that may mean in a given society at a given time. Even if HP isn't your thing (or the Bible, for that matter), it's worth reading just so you can keep up with the references. I definitely agree with people trying to get the Bible taught simply as literature in schools; it's so pervasive in our history and culture how can you get by without at least knowing the basic stories?

Monday, September 2, 2013

The morning so far

I saw two wonderful things this morning: cats!

The first one was on my way out to the park, right outside my door. She's a lovely long haired gray with white markings, with a big white nose. Small boned, the kind you could easily knock over. Clearly not a stray, her coat was in really good condition, but hungry for attention. I petted her then went to leave but she made as if to follow me, so I sat down and petted her for a few minutes until she was satisfied and walked a little way away, then I got up and left and she didn't follow me this time.

Then in the park, this one was amazing. There was a guy walking his dog - and his cat! The dog was on a leash and the cat was loose, just following along. She interacted with the dog a bit but mostly trailed behind them. At first I thought, maybe it's just hanging out near them but doesn't belong to them? But then the guy and the dog went over to the stream and he told the cat not to come by name, and the cat stayed on the path and waited for them! I petted him too, he's a big sturdy tabby, really friendly, but he didn't follow me when I left, he waited for his family. So amazing - I've never seen anything like that.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Jury rig

So I was having a conversation today and the term "jury rigged" was used, which made me wonder where it comes from. Apparently, it was originally a nautical term having to do with fixing or replacing a ship's mast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_rig and http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jur1.htm) but my initial guess was that it came from rigging a jury so the trial goes your way - you jury rig something so it works the way you want it to, you rig the jury so the trial goes the way you want it to - see the connection? I was wrong, but it makes a good folk etymology. Never would have guessed it came from ships.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Library visit: Seattle Public Library

I'd never been to the Seattle Public Library before. I'd visited the Queen Anne branch once or twice when I lived there for school, but I'd never been to the main, recently-renovated, big-deal branch before. So while in Seattle today I visited.

I have to say, I wasn't impressed.

The automated book return is cool, and the gift shop is nice, though when I see a sign for a friends store I expect a cheap used book store. I bought a too-expensive-but-at-least-it's-going-to-the-library Alice in Wonderland business card holder. I needed one, and I love AiW. But the library itself...seemed like a waste of space. Keep in mind that I volunteer at a library where they weed great big bins of books and still have so many books that they have overflow stacks in the basement where patrons can't see them. Every library has to weed. And here's this Seattle Public Library with tons and tons of empty space. Which isn't set up in a way that they could fill it with books; I'm thinking specifically of the red room but also all those half-height shelves and lots of airy space around them. Space for computers I understand; I don't like it, but I understand it. But the "artistic" empty space that is intended to be just that? That will stay empty even while they have to weed books for lack of stack space? That I don't understand, and don't like. It also didn't seem as welcoming, to me, as I think it's intended to; I also thought it was confusing and hard to get around. The genealogy room, which is why I visited, is nice though the reference desk seemed a little too high and imposing. This is a semantics issue, but the famous stacks spiral isn't round, it's more like a switchback - not a spiral! It seemed drab and impersonal, not at all like a comfy place to hang out. I think there might be a place to sit down and read, but I didn't see anywhere that looked nice - like I said, though, it's confusing and hard to get around, so maybe I just missed it. Granted there ARE chairs, which is more than my library has, but not as nice as I think libraries should be. And - the joys of urban libraries - the bathroom stall doors are the really short kind so you can see over them and make sure nothing untoward is happening. Ugh.

The one really cool thing, though, was that they have an ASL book group and ASL story times. I've never seen that before, and I think it's really awesome.