Thursday, June 05, 2003
all you need is karaoke to start a dance party
libraries are full of children and old people. it's like a circle -- new life meeting their ends -- brought together by books. as one delightful woman told me, "as i've gotten older i started to read more mysteries. i'm just not interested in steamy sex scenes anymore." i told her that i couldn't get into mystery but that i did enjoy those ridiculous true crime shows with the murder mysteries -- although, not Murder She Wrote -- then she remarked, "you will when you're older." i suppose we'll see. i already feel like i'm sixty now and i'm barely twenty-two.
i've been with the desoto library for five years. five years! i've seen people come and go, patrons coming in one day then next week going to their funeral. i've been working with the same staff as well. i've done almost every duty imaginable, although my loyalties will always be with the Children's Department. i liked flipping through the books and interacting with the parents. there was something fulfilling working with children, you just don't get working in the adult reference area. i miss the interaction and smiling faces. today, was a flashback.
every year there is the Summer Reading Program which encourages children to read for 30 hours (15 for the tots) in which they recieve prizes after reading for so many hours and when they complete it they get a new book. each summer, they have a kick off party to start the program with games and snacks and chaos -- i spent two and a half hours tattooing small children (and some parents). my jaw hurt from smiling and my voice cracked from saying "you're welcome" over and over again. some kids kept coming back and had tattoos up and down their arms...hmm, prospective emerson students, probably...and i had a favorite. i think she could have been as old as ten but probably was younger, she was about up to my waist in height with light reddish hair and freckles on her cheeks. i complimented her and she said, "i got them from my grandmother." she came back to me three other times each with a rose tattoo. it looked good and i complimented her. sometimes there are just people you connect with and i wish i could have been this girl's big sister.
___________________________________
our location was right in the middle of the karaoke machine and the face painting. how many times can you hear n'sync in a day? i wish it would have gone bye bye bye. the fog of kids was dense. if there was a wall on the other side of the room, i sure couldn't see it. the time flew and pictures were taken, unnoticed. at one point, i turned around and there was the photographer of the desoto paper staring me in the face. i ignored him and went back to tattooing this one girl's arm and as i took my second swing around, he snapped another shot. guh-reat. later, he asked me my name. it's always the days when you least expect it that you become famous. he winked at me too, but not that creepy wink that your grandma or grandpa gives you...a come hither wink, perhaps? probably just a twitch.
sometimes i can't believe how long i've been here. i feel like one of the older patrons -- the ones that come back every week for a new book. the chatty ones that speak with the circulation staff, but as beverly said, "diana, you look like you're twelve. it's so cute." and i know a day will come when i won't go back but i don't want to think about that.
¶ 1:40 AM
|
libraries are full of children and old people. it's like a circle -- new life meeting their ends -- brought together by books. as one delightful woman told me, "as i've gotten older i started to read more mysteries. i'm just not interested in steamy sex scenes anymore." i told her that i couldn't get into mystery but that i did enjoy those ridiculous true crime shows with the murder mysteries -- although, not Murder She Wrote -- then she remarked, "you will when you're older." i suppose we'll see. i already feel like i'm sixty now and i'm barely twenty-two.
i've been with the desoto library for five years. five years! i've seen people come and go, patrons coming in one day then next week going to their funeral. i've been working with the same staff as well. i've done almost every duty imaginable, although my loyalties will always be with the Children's Department. i liked flipping through the books and interacting with the parents. there was something fulfilling working with children, you just don't get working in the adult reference area. i miss the interaction and smiling faces. today, was a flashback.
every year there is the Summer Reading Program which encourages children to read for 30 hours (15 for the tots) in which they recieve prizes after reading for so many hours and when they complete it they get a new book. each summer, they have a kick off party to start the program with games and snacks and chaos -- i spent two and a half hours tattooing small children (and some parents). my jaw hurt from smiling and my voice cracked from saying "you're welcome" over and over again. some kids kept coming back and had tattoos up and down their arms...hmm, prospective emerson students, probably...and i had a favorite. i think she could have been as old as ten but probably was younger, she was about up to my waist in height with light reddish hair and freckles on her cheeks. i complimented her and she said, "i got them from my grandmother." she came back to me three other times each with a rose tattoo. it looked good and i complimented her. sometimes there are just people you connect with and i wish i could have been this girl's big sister.
___________________________________
our location was right in the middle of the karaoke machine and the face painting. how many times can you hear n'sync in a day? i wish it would have gone bye bye bye. the fog of kids was dense. if there was a wall on the other side of the room, i sure couldn't see it. the time flew and pictures were taken, unnoticed. at one point, i turned around and there was the photographer of the desoto paper staring me in the face. i ignored him and went back to tattooing this one girl's arm and as i took my second swing around, he snapped another shot. guh-reat. later, he asked me my name. it's always the days when you least expect it that you become famous. he winked at me too, but not that creepy wink that your grandma or grandpa gives you...a come hither wink, perhaps? probably just a twitch.
sometimes i can't believe how long i've been here. i feel like one of the older patrons -- the ones that come back every week for a new book. the chatty ones that speak with the circulation staff, but as beverly said, "diana, you look like you're twelve. it's so cute." and i know a day will come when i won't go back but i don't want to think about that.
¶ 1:40 AM
|
