Here At the Scenic-Vu Motel--Thelma Hatch Wyss

Here's a dirty secret about libraries--they throw away books. Even though I am immune to the sight of books in a dumpster due to the Great Law Firm Purge of '01, the idea of public libraries weeding out and tossing good books, books that I read and loved, makes me cry.

So sometimes I try to give them a little more life by taking out books I've read before and liked. This YA novel from 1988 is a good read but slight. It's the diary of Jake Callahan, who along with 6 other high schoolers is boarded at the Scenic-Vu Motel in Pine Flats, ID. They all come from a hippie family settlement up the mountain 90 minutes away, and the school board will not pay to run bus service up there for a handful of high school students, preferring to pay to board them in town.

Jake's a senior, which mean's he's the defacto leader of the bunch, keeps them on the honor roll and out of trouble with two rules-- "Work Hard" and "Have Fun." His journal details his attempts to come to grips with his unusual family, deal with the burden of being the grownup for the other 6 kids, and attempts to get a social life and some fun out of his last year of school. They all bond with the motel's owner, Mrs. Metz.

Wyss has an engaging voice, but the plot and characters are slim. Not an emotionally gripping tale, but when I was a kid way back when it was an enjoyable read.

Book News

Okay, so I was reading Publisher's Weekly at the Ref Desk last month and saw that the American Girls series has a new character--Julie, a girl growing up in 1976 San Franscisco. I about died and felt so very old that the 1970's are now historical, even thought I was a toddler in 1976. Miss G., who's a bit older than me, was charmed and wants the whole set. She has the Little Miss G(s) to think of.

Logically, I know I'm in my thirties, but I so do not want to believe it.

The JT Leroy scandal ends and we should all feel so very sorry for its fucked up perpetrator. Um, no. It was fraud--it's one thing to have an alias and a writing persona, but it crosses the line when the character of the author and the spectacle she creates and uses to sell the books eclipses the quality of the writing.

Slate's take on the Alvarez book is much like mine, but a little harsher.

And no one reads. The few of us who do read, read a lot, in order to make up for the rest of you. Isn't there a WPA-like program for that, subsidizing us great readers so we can benefit the rest of you?

Librarian Links Roundup

Shelf Check is a hilarious look at the library world.

Numbers 26, 27, 37, 38 and 47 are especially funny, but I howled through the whole thing. It's the dog days of summer--the library world goes nuts.

Library Career Romances is a bit of historical pop culture ripe for feminist analysis. My favorite is The Loveliest Librarian, as I have also found beauty to be an asset in library work. Face it, the patrons will stalk you even if you are plain--you might as well dress up and enjoy yourself.

Bookhunter is an amusing graphic novel set in 1973 about the theft of a rare book. A little long, but well grounded in that early 1970's cinema style--it reminds me of Bullitt.

You Know You Want This Job

Archivist Internship

Jerry Bruckheimer Inc. has an unpaid internship in its Santa Monica office for a library archive student. The ideal candidate has strong organization and communication skills. Must be a proactive self-starter with proven time management skills and the ability to multi-task. Must have a working knowledge of PC and networking technologies.

This is a great opportunity to obtain hands on practical experience in the archival profession while working for one of the most reputable entertainment companies in the industry.

Assist Archivist with the following responsibilities:

-Researching and procuring periodicals pertaining to Jerry Bruckheimer
and all Jerry Bruckheimer business entities, including Film and Television
-Scanning and cataloguing articles into searchable database
-Preserving and storing originals
-Recalling and printing articles for staff members

Qualifications:

Education:

Must currently be enrolled in an accredited college or university with the ability to receive academic credit . Students that are enrolled in a Masters of Library Sciences program are highly preferred

Associate or 4 year degree a plus, preferably with an emphasis in archiving or library science.

Skills/Competencies Required/Desired:

-Competent and demonstrated ability to work with various
industry-standard publishing software applications such as Photoshop, Acrobat, and MS office
-Demonstrated exceptional organizational skills
-Good written and verbal communication skills
-Patience and strong interpersonal and customer service skills
-An understanding and appreciation for the importance of protecting the company's image and legacy

Please send a cover letter and resume to: jbinterns@yahoo.com with "Archival Internship" in the Subject line.

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER!

Another A+ Week In Library Science!

The good overwhelmed the bad this week:

1) I explained to our 14 year old Children's Room page what a card catalog was. She thought it must have been a real pain to use. I laughed gently, because we have Sirsi.

2) I had a teaching moment when a patron asked about my scar. It evolved into why you should always wear a seatbelt, and pulling out the encyclopedia to show the humerus and explain what happened. A really good conversation!

3) I was working Children's alone one night this week, and had an awesome night. First I set a boy up with the USA puzzle and got to give Miss Kerry's Persistence Pep Talk when he gave up on it. Then an adult patron who heard it said I had a nice way of talking to the kids and asked about my schedule so she could bring her kids back.

Next day I'm working with Miss M and we had a group of older boys in, all of whom were interested in an afternoon of walking the line between boy and rowdy. At one point, just when I was about to interject again, Miss M comes up with "Calm down. If I have to talk to you again, there's going to be consequences. I'm not all nice like Miss Kerry."

Which made me feel bad, but not for long because she turned and said sotto voice, "Actually, you do well with them. You're firm but nice."

Which is good to know--firm but nice is my goal. And I love it that we can do good cop/bad cop on the kids. Excellent working relationship.

4)Other library job is going to start soon. So they say. Plus I'm being encouraged to apply for the position I'm not sure I want or could do. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

You Know What Makes Me Want To Slit My Wrists?

Online job applications.

I just finished one and it took forever. There was no option to save it and come back later. Hell, I tell you. Hell.

What My Life Is Like Right Now

A catch-up post:

If I sound a little down and/or overwhelmed right now, to be frank, I am and I know it.

Mencken is still missing. I contacted Rainbow Connection and they loaned me a trap. In the two weeks I've been setting it out, I've caught 1 raccoon, 1 possum, and 3 cats. None of the cats was Mencken. One was the quite clearly feral Brown Kitty, and I let him go. One was a very sweet tuxedo girl, declawed and spayed, who has a healing bite on her ass. She's a love muffin, and I can't decide if her name is Garland or Marbles. She's in the Tuscan Nightmare room. The other is the gray cat Jackass Neighbor told me about a few months ago that Isadora and I have caught sight of before and Isadora thinks is pregnant. She's in the bathroom until Monday. No, I am not keeping them. And Isadora doesn't blame me for his escape and says accidents happen and that she's only ever really lost 1 kitty. But still, I miss him and I am sorry and my heart hurts.

One of my managers at work is driving me nuts. I also just got her voice out of my head. Ay yi yi. Thankfully, I don't have to work until Tuesday. We have an enormous weeding project that I am not looking forward to participating in.

Freecycle people keep flaking on me.

I have to break in my hiking boots, find a cat sitter, find some clothes, and prepare to go to hiking/weight loss camp with my mom.

I am obsessing over a guy I knew in college who I last spoke to 10 years ago. I know why I am obsessing over him to the point of Google-stalking--he represents a road not taken and even if that road was clearly marked "Teenage Alcoholic--Danger Ahead" and needed not to be taken by me, it distracts me from the fact that I need to be looking ahead now and making some plans.

On the plus side, I do have a car now (thank you, Mom!), one of my dad's station wagons. So at least I am not at the mercy of Cleveland RTA and its notions of "on time" and customer service. We're not talking Nordstom's level of service here. And my mom and I had a lovely visit last weekend, and I had a great time with family I never see, talking story and all that. For all intents and purposes, I have graduated, even if I didn't walk and won't believe it until a diploma shows up. And other standard blessings apply.

I need to move forward, and I need to keep rolling. Time is running out.

Carlotta's Kittens And The Club of Mysteries--Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I am so glad I pulled this off the shelves down in Children's. It's a wonderful book. I've been mostly disappointed in our offerings--and face it, everyone just wants the crack cocaine of internet games, WWE, Disney Channel, Bratz, et al. But still, it's hard to push books on them when what we've got are dull series books for easy readers. If Cam Jansen were my kid, I'd beat the photographic memory right out of her--she's so annoying.

This is a wonderful chapter book, featuring excellent characterization and an easy to follow storyline, and elegant prose. It's a good bedtime read aloud book.

The Club of Mysteries is a group of cats lead by the old, battered tom Texas Jake and composed of brothers Marco (the smart one) and Polo (the dumb one), Boots, and Elvis. And the beautiful calico Carlotta, who has gone off to have kittens. The boy cats are awaiting her return, because they all want to play daddy to Carlotta's kittens and win her favor. But the club realizes they have a very serious task at hand helping to raise these little kittens and keep them safe from all the dangers of the neighborhood.

(Okay, let's remember we're reading a children's book about anthropomorphized animals, and forget what activities lead to kittens and what Carlotta did. There's no neck biting and mounting in this book! The Club of Mysteries is composed of perfect gentleman bachelor kitties.)

Naylor's strengths are her characterization--she really gets the cat viewpoint of the world down--and gentle humor. I much enjoyed this soothing read.

Once Upon A Quinceanera--Julia Alvarez

So how did I come to buy this hardcover and read it? Blame my family. I went to NJ last weekend, and by coincidence the Texas contingent was in town for a wedding, and Sunday morning found us over at the Windsor Diner talking about weddings and other insanity, and this book was mentioned. Probably by me. No, certainly by me. And one thing lead to another, and I was in a bookstore that afternoon and it was purchased. You can get people to buy and read all sorts of books if only you get the idea on front of them. Oh, and deprive them of the computer too.

Anyway, so Julia Alvarez spent a year researching the modern day insanity of the quinceanera, the "traditional" ceremony in which a Hispanic girl celebrates her 15th birthday and sort of symbolically becomes an adult and/or marriageable. Here's the thing--the quinceanera or "quince" is on the cusp of hitting the mainstream/crossing over to Middle America as a ritual for various reasons stemming from the rise of the Hispanic culture, the lack of such formal rituals in the US, television mega party coverage and shopping culture.

Alvarez makes a lot of good socio-cultural points in this book and she does a good job of outlining and linking concepts like consumption, cultural mores surrounding money, tradition, class, immigration and assimilation, telegraphed messages of sexuality and melding of different cultures. The problem is that she crosses this sociological study with a memoir about her coming to America in late childhood and how she tried to find her way into adulthood. But then, it's a pretty slight book-she's got maybe 175 pages tops about quinces, and she needed to pad it out. It's all pretty interesting though, but I prefer the bits on the quinces and wish she'd pressed her subjects harder and dug up more detail. Because as she describes it, the whole quince thing is just fuzzy--even the people paying thousands of dollars for the celebration and the girls going through it can't really pinpoint what it all means, either individually or to the larger group. Alvarez has a lively style--her fiction writing chops show through--and it's a quick, interesting read.

So this book next goes to my mom, my Aunt Mary Jane, and then hopefully down to Texas to my other aunt and cousin. Anyone else want to read it? I paid full price for it and I feel everyone should get a chance at it. And by the way Genevieve, you will be happy to know that I pulled out the personal library kit you gave me a while back to record this book's journey.

CSA--Week 8, Midterm Grades

This week's bag had:
garlic
beets
Pontiac Red potatoes
okra
pecans
white stuffing pepper
cubannelle pepper
poblano pepper
yellow beans

Judgements on past veg:

I joined the CSA for a bunch of reasons 1) I'm very lazy about grocery shopping, and the idea that there'd always be fresh farm veg appealed to me, 2) I know all about my crappy dietary practices, thank you, 3) I felt like supporting a family farm, and there's no farm stands here in Cleveland, 4) I know I have limited tastes and need to branch out a bit in what I eat, and it's better to do that with veg than meat based dishes and 5) I need to lose weight.

However, midway through the season, I have to say I don't think this is playing out well.

Part of it is me. I really need people to eat with and cook for. I am a pack animal. Dusie is right--we should pool our money and flummox some real estate agents and build a family compound of the non-polygamist variety. I can have the house on the corner and tend her turkeys and make dinner for everyone, and encourage my sisters to have babies so I can be Aunt Kerry. Or live in the same single girl apartment complex as Aces and make dinner with her. Problem is I don't have enough friends out her to have over to dinner every week to test myself. Add to this the fact that I work varied shifts, extra hours when I can get them, and don't even bother to eat dinner if I come home at 8:30pm, and don't have a/c--cooking may not happen here.

But the CSA also bears some blame. I'd like it if they told us what it looks like we'd be getting in the next few weeks, even if it's an approximation. I'd also like more variety--I don't need any more okra or popcorn or pecans, thank you! Or zucchini! Basil is overrated!

Some things have been awesome, some not. Worth detailing:

The lettuces have been great--really sturdy and delicious.

The peaches--Eh. Kinda watery. Not a lot of flavor at all. I like a really good peach, even with the fuzz, but these are just lackluster.

Cucumbers--all good.

Beets--yeah, I do like beets. I had forgotten that.

Okra--I know from descriptions that I don't like okra. Yes, I can say that without trying it--all my food aversions are based on texture, not taste. When people give you this look and say "It's slimy but less so if you fry it," I know I'm in trouble. So when in doubt, pickle some shit .

Green tomatoes are welcome for chutney.

I like potatoes (I'm Irish, you know) but it's the middle of summer! It's too hot to roast anything! Or boil! No, I'm not going to make soup!

Too many green beans. I never thought I'd say that, although they've all been good.

Basil--Why not rosemary? Or tarragon?

Genital wart squashes. That says it all.

Other things have gone bad before I've figured out how to use them or remembered their existance.

Annoyances, Part 1

You know, I realize that complaining of the aroma of pot smoke in Lakewood is like complaining New York is crowded, Seattle is rainy, and it's humid south of the Mason-Dixon, but really--dear neighbors, the stink tonight is driving me nuts. Guess you're lucky that no one seems to be that interested in your house, huh? Because after 6 years of living next door to you, I think it's soaked into the carpet like the stink of your cats.

Oh, and don't let your guests park on my side of the drive. And when they do and the lot of you are sitting out on the porch, and a space in front of your house opens up on the street, you need to tell them to move their car before I get home because I will not be amused. I am not friendly. I fully realize that you all are of the "here's an opening, let me slither into it" school, and there's nothing that gives me more pleasure than laying the slap down on you.

I deal with the lack of home training in the EC all day (got called "big bitch" today and got the officer to throw some kids out upstairs AND down). I've got my librarian voice. Don't make me bring it on home.

CSA, Week 7--It's Getting Scary!

This week's haul:

Broccoli. Sigh
1 large, rather attractively striped, zucchini. Its hide would make a lovely dress.
6 small Rock Haven peaches
Lettuce
1 pickling cucumber
3 green tomatoes
1 lb green beans
1 green pepper
1 cubannelle pepper. This wins the "what the hell am I going to do with that?" award for the week.

The Romance Heroine did make it over for dinner this week. We broke out the grill and had pork tenderloin, grilled corn, zucchini fritters, and blueberry gelato and cookies. We are both in bad sorts with lots of troubles. The food, while very good, did not fix anything.

What's up next: I'll report back on the Julie/Julia Project's baked cucumbers, make a batch of green tomato chutney, more zucchini fritters, and heaven knows what else.

CSA, Week 6

This is the week in which I have too much food. I did get my veggies last week, and SuperC picked up my share for this week. I now have way too much vegetable matter in my house. Complicating matters is the fact that I am still commuting by bus and train, so that sucks up a lot of time and isn't necessarily conducive to grocery shopping.

Also I think I want to grill since it's only in the 70s today, but it's raining and I have no matches. Also it might lure Mencken and the other neighborhood kitties.

What I've got (the last 2+ week's pickups):

1 pt blueberries (I don't understand why people like commercially grown blueberries, but I can get behind farm berries. I just don't know what to do with them.)

4 wart squashes

3 pickling cucumbers, which I just added to the brine I already used for the other pickles.

4 regular cukes (Wait! Inspiration has struck! Ever since reading Julie Powell's blog, I have wanted to try the Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe for baked cucumbers that Powell swears is awesome. Is this the week?)

6 corn (2 of which I am having for lunch with chicken and bbq sauce)

1 head garlic

more popcorn (I'll say this--every time I see the popcorn I remember how much weight I lost at Weight Watchers and that the Core Plan isn't that bad.)

2 bunches of basil, starting to turn

1 head of bok choy. (I'm a little afraid of the bok choy)

1 lb string beans

lots of red, white and Yukon Gold potatoes

3 zucchini

kale

2 very pretty green peppers

lettuce!

okra (i am both dismayed and afraid of the o-k-r-a)

broccoli (Let's not mention the broccoli.)

There's other stuff too, bought at the ( hushed voice) grocery store.

Off to consult Cooking Light and make a shoppng list! Thank heavens the Romance Heroine might be coming over for dinner this week.

I Hate To Break It To You...

but we don't need to worry about terrorists blowing shit up. The Minnesota bridge collapse just illustrates a problem we've been ignoring for years.

Not a surprise.

Mencken Is Missing!

He ran out on Saturday night and I haven't seen him since. I am making a flyer to paper the neighborhood and also have been looking for him and shaking a Pounces can. I put Cain in a carrier on the porch and my dirty laundry outside, in hopes of luring him to my house with familiar scent. He hasn't shown up, but neither has a pervert stolen my dirty underpants.

Prayers to Sts. Anthony and Francis have been said. Any hopes, advice and good wishes are welcome.

The Use it Up Challenge, Or CSA Week 5

I did not pick up my vegetables this week, as I got a last minute chance to work an extra shift at work that ran until 8pm. My coworker and her husband are my secondary pickup peeps, but were unable to get there, and I didn't think to call my pal SuperC who is in the same CSA. Ah well. Dan supposedly has my bag, and I sent an email via the LEAF website, but I haven't heard back.

There's too much around here to cook and eat. I've introduced the Use It Up Challenge. New food items may be purchased if only they help me use up what I've already got. Yes, I realize this just continues the cycle. Hush.

Roto Chicken--Turned into chicken salad, which used from the stash: raisins, pecans, curry powder and mayo. Put the carcass in the freezer for soup, because I am constitutionally unable to throw away a carcass that can be turned into soup.

Apricots--Apricot-Cherry Chutney. Used: dried Bing cherries (the dried tart ones are better for eating), bourbon, cider vinegar, sugar, fresh apricots, cake spice, a star anise and a half a vanilla bean. And half an apple from the chicken salad recipe. I totally freehanded this recipe, and it seems okay--I forgot to add garlic, and went heavy on the vinegar.

Brown Sugar Icebox Cookies--Used: CSA pecans, homemade vanilla extract (oh, what else was I going to do with that extra vodka? Note to self--check the amount of vanilla extract you have on hand first!), brown sugar.

What hasn't been used up? The snow peas, kale, a cucumber--sadly, they fell to the fridge rot.

News of the Neighborhood

I was absolutely gobsmacked to see a "For Sale" sign on my neighbor's lawn yesterday when I walked home from work.

Yes, those neighbors. The performance arting, geodome building, dead baby garden planting, talking all night about nothing on the porch, party throwing neighbors.

On the one hand, I'm tempted to clean up my yard to help them sell. On the other hand, I'm tempted to throw a pig roast every weekend in order to disrupt any open houses.

I did however hatch out a plot of a romantic comedy novel that I should pen based on this development. Should I? I don't want to say any more, but I sketched the whole thing out last night while cooking and I think I could do a good job--think P.G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen tackling the woes of a declining Midwestern real estate market.

I Read Of The Book Electronic

Okay, so ever since I discovered that my Cleveland Public Library card allows me access to e-books and other electronic media, I have been very happy. It's good for finding something to read when the library is closed, or if you are perhaps a little embarassed by your reading tastes, and has lots of newer materials available.

Looking for ways to read using your computer? I've compiled some resources.

Daily Lit serves those pinched for time and looking to catch up on the classics by sending excerpts of classic literature and nonfiction via email or RSS. You pick how often you receive the sections, and read at your own pace. Fairly small selection, but it is searchable.

Full Books has a variety of out of copyright material, ranging from reference to classic to schlock. Online reading only, no searching, and it's all arranged alphabetically by title. But it has P.G. Wodehouse. You'll find some gems within.

World Wide School is set up for those who want to broaden their education and offers a variety of older children's materials, classic texts, and fiction. Again, online reading only, but it has a searchable index.

Munsey's is the place if you've got a love for old genre fiction. Tons of pulp and classic materials. You can download to a mobile reader or Adobe Acrobat or read online in HTML. Searchable by keywords, some books are tagged.

Baen Free Library offers the first books of several science fiction series for reading, along with discussion of whether this is good for writers and publishers or not.

And of course, Project Gutenberg the original e-publisher of free copyright material.

ENJOY!

Blitzkreig Book Review, Part 2

Clubbing--Andi Watson & Josh Howard: And Minx Books is now 1::2 in the decent to crap ratio. Somebody have a word with the editor of that line, please. This book starts out with the interesting premise of Goth club girl Charlotte "Lottie" Brook getting caught with a fake id and being sent to spend 3 months with her grandparents working at their golf club in the Lake District, where she finds a little romance and a murder mystery to investigate. And then it suddenly turns into a ripoff of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode. Yes, really. I'm done with this line.

However, note to Genevieve--there is one very funny bit, a "country Goth" vs "city Goth" pissing match.

Girl Most Likely To--Poonam Sharma: This is a book that sent me on a weeklong rampage of asking the question "Do you think I'm retarded?" Because this book insults the reader by feeding her a drippy heroine, a plot that rampages through everything but the kitchen sink with the search for true love, gay friends finding love, straight friends getting a clue, thinking your one night stand taped your sex to sell on the internet, insider trading, a yoga retreat, meddling Indian parents, and a deus ex machina arrival of a career change from banking to writing. Hi, I'm the author and I'm going to distract you from the lameness and unrealistic plot of my tale and paper thin characters you care nothing about by throwing EVERYTHING at you. Then I can cross "wrote a novel" off my life to do list.

Honey, it's okay to be an underachiever if you do it well.

How Nancy Drew Saved My Life--Lauren Baratz-Logsted: Another book that insults the reader's intelligence, this time by giving us paper thin characters and a plot stolen directly from Jane Eyre. And no wink-nudge-nudge to let us know the author is doing something deft with that stolen plot. Nope, it's a lame naive heroine with a habit of sleeping with her employer, which is tragically trite when you're the nanny and a former child actress with AWOL parents and minimal education. Well, that explains her stupidity at least. And why she doesn't realize she's playing Jane Eyre.

And that title? Total bait and switch. Nancy Drew, her awesomeness and the real life lessons you can pick up from her books barely figure into the story. It's a case of a catchy title duping you into picking up the book, only to find there are barely words to describe its awfulness. Non-scatalogical words at least.

I realize not everything can be great, but there's no shame in being just good. This is just crap. I got the feeling Baratz-Logsted owed the publisher a book and just churned this puppy out to meet the deadline. If I had paid money for it, I do not know what I would have done. Thank you, CPL!

More Cooking Chat

Those salad greens I got from the CSA 2 Thursdays ago? Still good. I am finishing them up tonight.

Depending on if I am still hungry after that, I will have more roto chicky and steamed broccoli with lime dressing (recipe from 9/05 Everyday Food--1tbs lime juice combined w/ 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, covering 1 1/2 lbs broc (my ass that is enough dressing for that much broccoli) w/coarse salt). I also have cherries for dessert. Speaking of cherries, I was talking with Genevieve and she mentioned that she would be grilling plums and apricots for her Saturday dessert, and so I bought some apricots myself today. Is there a more beautiful fruit? My favorite thing to do is apricot cherry pie or cobbler or whatnot. But I may also make some chutney. And I will grill them, I think--with vanilla or coffee ice cream?

Those little cukes from 2 CSA ago--made into quick pickles. Turned out well. Have to finish them.

The 2 huge zucchini--I am going to brave hot oil and make zuke fritters tomorrow.

This weekend, I made pork tenderloin with Coffee Bourbon Barbeque Sauce. I can attest that if you accidently put 1/2 cup cider vinegar in the pot instead of 2 tablespoons, you can increase the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and it will turn out fine. Thank you for the hint, Genevieve! It is so thin that it would make an excellent marinade along with a sauce, I think.

The good thing about having no working car is that it does force you to use up and be a bit creative in your cooking, since there's no running out to get stuff--a walk to the grocery for me is about 20 minutes each way. Later I will inventory the fridge, I promise.