There’s supposed to be a video right here, but I can’t see it. I can see it sometimes, but sometimes not. So if you can’t see it, it’s supposed to be Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and I’m not spending any time on figuring out why it’s not showing up. I’m busy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HNY0rx2fw4

We’ve moved! I’m not telling you where because you’re the internet and you’re weird.

It’s hard to write about why we should support libraries without saying, “Duh!” It’s like trying to write about why we should support breathing. Do either of those things really need an explanation? The library has been as much a part of my life as breathing and if somebody said, “I don’t think breathing is that important in this day and age,” I would tell them they’re ridiculous and it’s obvious that they don’t get enough oxygen to their brain. And if someone said libraries aren’t important in this day and age, I would say it’s obvious that they are dumb and they should try to use the library more often. Because I resort to name calling when people disagree with me over something as fundamental as this. It’s just who I am.

We should breathe and support libraries because both of those things are compatible with a good life. I don’t feel like I’m being dramatic here. The library in my hometown is having a rough time. My nieces and nephews and little tiny cousins and friends who live there don’t have library access because of some serious funding issues. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about that and feel a punch in the gut because of it. No story hour, no job help, no school help, no computer help, no free music, no free movies, no free books.

Did I ever tell you about the time that free music and movies from the library led to honest-to-goodness book learnin’ for my little kids? Have you ever heard Rage Against the Machine’s “Renegades of Funk” and wondered what in the heck those young men were yelling about? My kids did. So we learned about it. And *gasp* GRAPHIC NOVELS? The bane of every “serious” book lover’s existence? When Liberty was just a wee lass, she caught site of a page or two of Maus and wondered about that, which led to checking out the Paper Clips dvd, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, all of which led to real-life learning about real-life things. And crying. There was crying because the Holocaust was pretty sad. But Zoo Tycoon is a happy thing! And kids can play that for free on the library’s computers without using up your home computer’s memory. And Zoo Tycoon teaches math, language, biology, and other stuff. And these are just the examples that are freshest in my mind. They’re freshest because they’re from a time when I didn’t trust that natural curiosity would lead to bonafide learning, so when it happened it was shocking, I tell you. Shocking. I didn’t trust the process, even though I had already read most of John Holt’s books about learning, which, by the way, I checked out at my local library. Anyway. Natural curiosity combined with unlimited resources from the library is just the perfect recipe for true learning.

Here in Columbus, our libraries have already had to cut staff, cut maintenance, cut hours, and cut book budgets. Because of state budget cuts, Columbus Metropolitan Libraries are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Voting for Issue 4 will replace the 2.6 mills we’ve already been paying for for the last 10 years, and add just a teensy .2 in order to make up for state cuts. If Issue 4 doesn’t go through, the skin of their teeth will peel away and, well, you don’t even want to know what happens to teeth when the skin peels. I mean, it will be gross. Some branches could close. More staff will be cut. Less books will be bought. Super gross.

If you need more info that might be a tad more coherent, go to KeepCMLStrong.org and get some! And then VOTE FOR 4 on November 2nd.

I didn’t really cry, I just got choked up a little bit while relating a story about my reluctant reader who used to check out piles of nonfiction books and now doesn’t check out anything.

Some backstory, perhaps? Our library, the Whetstone branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, moved the junior nonfiction into the adult section, totally intermingled with all the adult books, making the formerly-easy-to-access-and-super-awesome junior nonfiction books completely difficult and overwhelming for children to browse. Many moms I know have complained about the change, so I set up a meeting with some administrators, the branch manager, and the children’s librarian to see if we could figure out how to fix the issue. Here I give a huge shout out to the moms who came with me and the moms who were there in thought. You guys rock.

Turns out, the library people know that easy access to books is an important part of promoting literacy. They also know that the junior nonfiction is not easily accessible when it’s all mixed in with adult books. We wanted to make it clear that the most important part of a child’s library experience is that magic that happens when a she’s wandering around the stacks and she just stumbles upon something that she didn’t even know she was interested in. That’s where true life-long, self-motivated learners are born.

The administrators told us that circulation has gone up since they implemented the interfiled system, but everybody knows that the recession is a huge reason for increased circulation. Even in Ohio. Yes, every one of those links is to an article pointing at all of those libraries with increased circulation as further proof of the recession, so I’m pretty sure the interfiled system has nothing to do with the better numbers.  Also, Charity pointed out that the CML website has vastly improved, making it easier to reserve books online, which we all do all the time. The administration also pointed out that separating the junior nonfiction from the adult is super hard for the people who re-shelve the books. That teeny little “j” in front of the numbers is overlooked.

Of course, none of us were happy with those explanations and we told them so. Basically, they’re going to implement some interim things, such as more nonfiction displays in the junior section, but they seemed unwilling to make the changes that would give kids easy access to the entire junior nonfiction collection, which is a shame.

I love the library and I hate being the one complaining about the library, but circulation in this house has gone way down since implementing these changes and I know we’re not alone. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined any scenario in which I would write angry letters to the library. This is an uncomfortable situation for me. Extremely uncomfortable. But I can see that this is affecting my daughters’ literacy. There is  nothing better than the independence a kid feels when she gets lost in the stacks and grabs a book that looks interesting, only to find a new passion that leads to more learning and more discovery than she ever could have imagined. That is a whole different level of learning that is only possible with easy access to those books. Searching through all of the adult books and trying to figure out which ones are relevant to kids and which ones aren’t is too overwhelming for kids.

If you feel like supporting our cause, click on the “contact us” button at the library’s website and let them know. Just a couple of simple sentences: “I support encouraging literacy in children by making junior nonfiction accessible to young people. Separate the junior nonfiction from the adult nonfiction.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4fAdizqP0w

P.S. Sacha Baron Cohen breakdanced (brokedanced?) at his bar mitzvah. You want your kids to be like him, don’t you?

Speaking of the gays, here’s a video Dawn sent to me. She knows what I like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw

Yes, the baby is fat, but look at that bathroom! Isn’t it gross? But still, I turned out ok. Sort of.  I say this because we’re buying a house with awesomely dated bathrooms. Maybe. You never know until you actually close. We have a closing date (March 19th), time, and location, so we’ll probably close. But still. It’s a great house, great location, just a little dated. The bathrooms are especially dated, with seashell-shaped sinks in one of them. The other one has a dark brown toilet. And those bathrooms always make me think of that old bathroom in that picture up there.

Oh, and! There’s a Florida room. My friends and I get to play Golden Girls in it. I get to be Betty White because she always had a story about back in St. Olaf and I always have a story about back in Chesaning. I’ll let those of you who know Lynne, Kristen, and Dawn guess who gets to be lusty Blanche, straight-talking, offensive Sophia, and steady-eddie Dorothy. It’s hard to pick because they’re all so slutty and offensive!

Anyway, I’m packing. All the time packing.

It was hard to feel anything but cold about Columbus today, but then my friend AmazonMidwife emailed me about the inauguration thing at Studio 35 and my heart leapt. And then I clicked over to Studio 35′s website and saw the Dude-A-Thon and then I squealed (I don’t actually squeal with my voice, but in my heart I am a squealer). The Big Lebowski is my favorite. Now I don’t care about the weather; it will be in the 30s again soon and all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well, in the name of Jesus. Again, not that Jesus, this Jesus.

Last night, we checked out the new Sprout Soup mother, baby, and child store. It gave me baby lust. Well, baby product lust, anyway. The slings, the diapers, the baby leg warmers. *sigh* It all makes me want to start over with a brand-new, fresh, un-ruined baby. Especially the baby leg warmers. If you are having a baby and I am obligated to buy you a gift, it will be baby leg warmers. And don’t tell Maya, but I’ve got my eye on the Wooden Spinny Speller for a stocking stuffer for her. Actually, I think she might outgrow 3-letter words by Christmas. Maybe I’ll go get it today. I don’t want the last baby to outgrow Sprout Soup before I have a chance to buy up the joint. They also have some cool stuff from Baying Hound, another local entrepreneur. Local! And for those of you who aren’t local, don’t buy local! That’s silly. You’re not helping anybody when you buy local. You could just buy from the sites that are local to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4WZ3LqCKw

Ok, here are my thoughts on the campaign: I get the joke, and I liked it a lot at first, but now I just think there isn’t enough pointing to what Columbus has to offer. Look at the sidebar ad here. I like that because it makes you wonder where the hell the ad is going and then it pays off with a lot of pretty pictures of some fun things you can do here. The print ads are good, too. The videos? I’m not a fan. I like the premise and I get the joke, but there needs to be more indication of what we can do here. We like flashy, pretty pictures of stuff. Without flashy, pretty pictures of stuff, we find ourselves wondering, “Hm. Where do you suppose that cheese rolling festival is? Is it far from here?” Everybody at the shindig pretty much said all that, but I doubt the ads will change at all. But, we all got free t-shirts and ice cream and brownies (oops, I don’t know where the brownies came from) and mouse pads, so whatevs. And I really love Columbus, even if their youtube channel is kind of lame.