A Relatively Ordinary Life

I’ve challenged myself to write every day in April and post to my blog. It’s a big challenge for me as evidenced by the lack of posts to this site. I’m not exactly sure why I can’t write every day – I love to write. There is always the excuse of being too busy, not having enough time. But maybe I’m just not inspired? How does one find inspiration?

Should I find inspiration amongst the stacks of books that surround me in this library?

Have you ever realized how libraries always seemed so large? The rows and rows of books brimmed with excitement and adventure. Today, as I sit at the old wooden table and wait for inspiration to take over, I’m shocked at how much has changed when it comes to books, reading, learning and libraries.

According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, “21% of Americans have read an e-book in the past year.” More people today would rather find a book on a Nook or other electronic reader that cuddle with a good hard cover book and feel the pages. Turning pages is a whole new activity these days. And don’t think that the libraries don’t feel the change as well. I wonder how many of the books around me have been touched in the past year.

As I take in the details around me, my eyes are drawn to the stacks of colored paper advertisements on the reference desk. I stop on one about the library’s program for downloading ebooks. It’s amazing that the old paper and ink fortress is now entering the digital age but more interesting is the line “…only with a valid library card…” Isn’t that some sort of contradiction?

Library cards, another blast from the past. I honestly can’t say when I had my last library card. After grad school, I sort of took a break from libraries. But just in case you ever want to establish the value of your library card, there are calculators available.

And, remember the good old card catalog? It’s been banished to some dark space in a dusty basement or attic reserved for antiques and replaced with a computer. A quick Google search will provide links to “11 Ways to Reuse Old Card Catalogs” or even an “Ode to the Card Catalog.” For those of a certain age, the time spent flipping through the little typed cards was the beginning of a journey.

But now, anyone looking for a book in a library also needs to be computer literate. It’s the only way to find the location of a book. The computer perched on the short stack next to me has a sign that reads “15 minute Internet Access”. Even searching for a book has been cut down and monitored.

What about the librarians? The older women and men, normally with thicker-than-average sized glasses, who controlled what books were removed from the library and who were more than happy to “shhh” talkative boys or girls when their voices reached an octave higher than a whisper. How do these changes impact them? They are being told to “change with the times” and to find ways to adapt.

Changing and adapting are terms we’ve all become used to hearing given today’s economic situation but as the Globe and Mail said in 2010 libraries are recession proof because they’re free. But the article goes on to talk about how in some libraries in Canada, they are adding bars and wireless Internet hotspots. The normal quiet haven of the library is now getting into technology age. I guess you can call that adapting, right?

I’m not sure what will happen to the libraries around the country or the world for that matter. I’m not sure if I want my local library to resemble a Barnes and Noble with a coffee shop or the local corner bar. One thing I am sure of is that despite the changes and challenges of the libraries, being here, in the stone-cold silence, sitting on this old rickety chair, looking at the stacks of books, I have taken a trip down memory lane and found the inspiration to put pen to paper (or, if you prefer, fingers to keyboard).

Inspiration can come from anything. What inspires you to read and write? Has technologies rapid growth killed you love for paper, ink, and the binding of books? Have you stepped inside a library lately and been a bit disappointed about how small it feels?

There seems to be an onslaught of media coverage and discussion about questions of beauty, how women are characterized in the media, and how women interact with each other. Let’s take a quick look at three recent examples:

“There are downsides to looking this pretty…” an article by a British woman (Samantha Brick) opened discussions about how a woman’s looks impact her career and relationships with other women. The news media grabbed hold of this topic and investigated. Personally, I know that there is cattiness in the workplace when you have a group of women working together. More often than not, it’s because there are a few that are more aggressive in managing their careers. And yes, I can say that I’ve had issues with a female boss because she was threatened by me (with absolutely no reason). But never have I seen women having issues with other woman at work because of how beautiful they were (or were not).

Ann Romney ‘never worked outside of the home’. I simply can’t believe that Hilary Rosen wanted to open Pandora’s box about woman choosing to have careers or a family. But she did. And Ann Romney took to Twitter to explain that she chose to stay home and raise five boys. Then Rosen apologized publicly. I am sure that there are a number of women who have families and work outside of the home that would choose to stay home if they could financially afford it. And there are an equal number of women that would not trade the balance of working and raising a family. The reality is that in some cases women have the choice – like Ann Romney did – and some others just don’t. But, the key here is that the debate over whether women should be at home or not was long dead and now it’s back.

Ashley Judd’s “Puffy Face”. She’s an actress, a humanitarian, a writer and apparently a woman just like the rest of us who has bad days, gains weight, and gets sick. However, Judd did not take comments about her puffy face lightly. In fact, she blasted the media and started a lively discussion about how women are judged on how they look and the damage that does. It’s also interesting to note that she calls out other women for driving the story – not men. Maybe Samantha Brick was right in her article about being beautiful and how that creates issues between women? Judd has done the media circuit explaining and campaigning for others to share their ‘puffy face moments’. Her Twitter account is more and more popular.

And finally, there is a new commercial for Depend undergarments for adults featuring the actress Lisa Rinna. There is apparently some hubbub about the fact that she’s in the commercial. I can see two sides to this conversation – 1. She definitely doesn’t need to use the product so why is she endorsing it? How about getting a real person who needs to use the product? 2. Having someone famous who is fashionable is showing that the Depend products don’t need to be feared or stereotyped as something bad, wrong, or unfeminine.

So what do you think? Do the more beautiful women have is harder at work and socially? Does staying home raising kids make a woman unable to understand the greater economic issues that are engulfing this nation? What about puffy face moments?

And if you could choose a topic for the media to grab hold of next week, what would it be?

A Relatively Ordinary Life

Perspectives on things seen, heard, and experienced

From Within The Stacks

Mirror Mirror On The Wall …

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