3365 What puzzles me about libraries

Keep in mind that I was never trained to be a librarian in a public library (there are four types--academic, public, government and private/special/business). I didn't receive the official indoctrination, and never joined the American Library Association. However, I use the library maybe twice a week, and get great benefit from it.

What I've never understood in all my years of using a public library is why they are adjunct lyceums, chautauquas, amusement parks and community centers for meetings. It's not like our community has no outlet or opportunity for activities. Our suburb (and others in the Columbus area) has a "Life Long Learning" program, tax supported through the city, and federal grants, I believe. These classes meet in a variety of community buildings from churches, to fraternal halls and public schools. You can take accounting, furniture refinishing or Swahili--there's a huge variety. Various universities and colleges in the area also offer continuing education or credit for college courses. The local churches also offer both religious and non-religious programing on everything from politics to art to financial management, plus personal growth classes and lectures on marriage and parenting. The Columbus Museum offers classes as do local environmental and history societies. There are community art groups all over the place--the Worthington Art League, Dublin Community Arts Council, etc. who bring in speakers and programs. The mega-lumber sites like Lowe's and Home Depot offer home maintenance and interior decorating classes. The whole foods stores teach cooking and health classes. The local hospitals and medical networks send out quarterly announcements about their classes on everything from cancer to coping with stress. Every imaginable sport training and league is offered through the community programs, or you can go to a local sports mega-store and climb their indoor mountain. Our senior centers located throughout Columbus offer a wide variety of lectures, how-to-classes, and recreational opportunities.

So why is the public library offering writing classes, or music lectures, or quilting discussions, or this noisy gathering for middle schoolers:

The library “turns it up to 11” as we invite guitar heroes of all ages to join us in our first all-new videogame themed events. Play the Playstation 2 versions of Guitar Heroes 1 and 2 on our giant 12-foot screen as we transform our Theater into a Virtual Rock Venue, complete with sound system and lights. Sign up is limited to 50 and we expect to be “sold out.” We’ll provide snacks and everything needed to play. Feel free to bring in your own custom Guitar Heroes controllers.
UAPL program for winter

There may have been a time long ago--maybe during the Great Depression--when people didn't have much to do in their leisure time. But those days are gone.

I think it is time to privatize the libraries. They've lost their mission and are searching for something to do with their staff and money.

3364 Friday Family Photo

Kleppinger Clippinger Klepinger--that's a family name in my genealogy (maternal side). I wish I had a photo of Anna Maria Klepinger, also called Polly. But Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre didn't invent the daguerreotype process until 1839, 11 years after she was married. I'm guessing it was considered a bit worldly in their conservative religious group, even when it became popular.

Insert here
a photo of
the lovely

Anna Maria, b. 1808, d. 1875
and
her husband
Christian Wenger, b. 1805, d. 1885
on their
wedding day
August 14, 1828

Christian and Polly were successful farmers--owning over 1,000 acres of land near Englwood which is near Dayton, Ohio. However, they started married life with almost nothing. My grandfather's older sister, the woman we called Aunt Allie (Mrs. J. Edwin Jay, later President of Wilmington College) related this tale for the Kleppinger researcher: "It is said that when Christian and his bride came to their new home on horseback and dismounted to enter their cabin, he said, 'Polly, this is all we have.' and showed her the coin. It is said to have been 50 cents."

Christian was a Deacon in the River Brethren (Brethren in Christ) which I think was a split off and mix of Mennonite and Dunker Brethren. They had 12 children, and the one I do have a photo of was Nancy, my grandfather's mother. That's probably where Aunt Allie heard the story of her grandparents' 50 cent start in life.

Although I had Christian and Polly in my database (the Wenger family I've written about before), I was able to find this anecdote by using Heritage Quest Online at my public library. You can search census data, or people, places and books. The book Kleppinger-Clippinger Klepinger family history by Stanley J. Kleppinger (Allentown, PA: George P. Schlicher & Son, 1956) 351 p. with its index had been completely scanned and was easily searchable. The next time you have a question about someone hiding in your family tree, ask your librarian if there are any on-line sources available.

Kleppinger
Klepinger
Wenger
genealogy
Brethren
Brethren in Christ

3363 Send Mom on a cruise

Although my children might tell you otherwise, I'm not one of those high-maintenance mothers. I rarely say, "give me grandchildren," "train your dog better," and "stop smoking" all in the same sentence. Even so, maybe your mom is a bit cloying and needy--dentist appointments, grocery store shopping, and lonesome. Maybe she doesn't drive anymore, her house needs painting, the gutters are full and most of her friends have died or moved away?

You've seen those stories about how luxury cruises are cheaper than nursing homes? It's true--I just noticed a story today in the travel section--and cha-ching, I just couldn't resist thinking about sending good old mom on an extended cruise as an alternative to assisted care.

Now, assisted care isn't a nursing home; it's independent living, usually in a nice apartment but there are people around to serve meals once or twice a day, and help with personal care and entertain even if it is in North Dakota or Kansas. They can play pool, or bridge for hours on end. It can be pricey--maybe $5,500 to $6,000 a month depending on the facility. But you can send mom on the maiden voyage of the Queen Victoria, 106 nights, for $20,304. That's 3.5 months--there will be staff to clean the room (every day), change the linens, 3 fabulous meals a day, entertainment, a nice library, a doctor on call all the time, new friends, exercise facilities, swimming, massage, hair dresser, cable, TV, wireless, and so forth, plus stops in interesting places like Copenhagen or Amsterdam where there will probably be bus tours with a guide just like the ones to the malls in Fargo close to her assisted living unit. Let's see, 3.5 months x $6,000 = $21,000. Wow. The cruise is cheaper! Where do we sign up.

Ooops. Sold out.

cruises
assisted living
retirement
care givers

3362 Any stick will do

when Nancy Pelosi pounds the President. I was looking back through searches for her exact words when she was claiming our troops didn't have enough equipment or boots on the ground to win, but although I found it reported, I think it's been removed from her web page. But scanning the 2003 and 2004 statements (with photos), her plastic surgery is quite evident, anticipating I suppose how much she'd be on camera, and also that she may be the biggest, shrillest shrew ever to hit the fan. I think we can give her credit that we are where we are in Iraq because she certainly has been giving comfort and aid to the enemy. Someone please hand her a history book of the Vietnam War, the one where the Communists praise the American war protestors for giving them hope and courage.

3361 Is it cold somewhere?

It's back to the young 50s in Ohio, but my tips on frozen car doors has had 13 hits today.

3360 Librarians and Nurses, peas in a pod?

The American Library Association has great difficulty minding the store--er--the library. Is it too boring figuring out why Google and Amazon left them in the dust? The ALA spends its time fretting over the Bush administration, poverty, crime, gay and women's rights and war while handing Castro and Chavez a library get-out-of-jail-free card. I guess all the library problems have been solved (except how to get an increasingly non-reading public to use libraries).

Then I was looking something up in a nursing journal, "Journal of Professional Nursing." I think it was something about handwashing and how hospitals and medical staff are infecting people because they've become careless. And I came across this challenge--nurses should prevent war, not just treat war wounded.

"Nurses have a distinguished history of caring for the wounded during wartime without regard to ethnicity, nationality, religion, and other personal factors. Although it is important that this tradition continue, nurses can individually and collectively take a more active posture in preventing war and armed conflict. "Journal of Professional Nursing," Nov-Dec 2006. Now what direction do you suppose that "active posture" will take?

Here's a radical concept. How about if the librarians collect, preserve, promote and dispense information (from all view points, not just their own), and nurses protect and care for our health with the highest proven standards (like hand washing). Then after doing a highly professional job for 8 hours or a shift, they could leave work with a clear conscience to tackle those projects of their own religious and political persuasion.

Poetry Thursday

Indiana claims James Whitcomb Riley as the "Hoosier Poet," and there is a collection of his manuscripts at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. You really only need one poet like Riley to enchant the school children with the rural dialect and old stories, so there probably wasn't much demand for Harry S. Chester, the "Elkhart County Poet," who also enjoyed and wrote poetry in this style. He was the Clerk of Courts, and although I've browsed through the Internet, this poem, "The Wakarusa Band," is the only title I can find. I didn't actually find it on the Internet either--I was doing genealogical research at the public library, and it is in the Elkhart County History. I have few ties to this county, but don't you get a little misty eyed thinking about old Harry behind the desk scratching out the marriage licenses, and tapping his toe while he passed his time writing poetry.

The Wakarusa Band
by Harry S. Chester

You talk about your Brooks's Band and Boyer at his best
An' Thomas's big orchestra, an' Sousa an' the rest
Their hifalutin' music, I suppose, is good enough
For city folks who educate on operatic stuff;
But when you want to reach the heart and make it laugh an' sob,
An' be in touch with nature like, and make it thrill an' throb
With melody an' music that a child can understand,
You ought to hear a concert by the Wakarusa Band.

They ain't up on concertos an' cantatas an' the like
But you can't beat 'em grindin' out a quickstep on the pike
An' when they play "Old Nellie Gray" an' "Where the Daisies Grow,"
My memory goes slidin' back to the long, long ago;
An' music that'll work like that an' strike your very soul,
An' flood you full of memories an' all your past unroll
That kind of music playin' fills its highest mission and
That's why I like to listen to the Wakarusa Band.

I saw the great directors in Chicago at the Fair,
With all their fine musicianers annihilatin' air;
A drum'd bang, a horn'd blat, a clarinet's shriek
An' ef you call that music, say, you ought to hear me speak;
I want the kind of music, that'll melt into the heart
I wouldn't give a picayune for all their classic art;
Let educated critics gulp it down an' call it grand
But I’ll just sit an' listen to the Wakarusa Band.

There are several photos of the Wakarusa Band (not to be confused with the music festival in Kansas) in the archives at the Public Library in Wakarusa, Indiana, here and here.

While I was at my public library, there were some middle school “musicianers annihilatin' air" with bang and blat and shriek.

My Turn
You ramble in your Myspace on why you do that stuff--
Your fuzzy youtube I 'spose is good enuf.
But still I'd rather read your words and text
without that noise ef from you gen-next
which don' melt my heart or strike my soul
as your past and future you unroll.

Poetry Thursday
Wakarusa, Indiana
dialect poetry

3358 What a nice idea

Burning the clocks. A little late for 2006; maybe next year. We've got a creek. . . I could make a lantern.

3357 Are you from Podunk?

For you non-USA'ns, "Podunk" is a synonym for the town from nowhere--too small to matter. Except to the people who live there. I grew up in two lovely Podunks, Forreston and Mt. Morris in Ogle County, Illinois, in the northern part of the state, close enough to Wisconsin and Iowa that we sometimes took Sunday afternoon drives to those states. Here is a website that's lots of fun, called epodunk.com where you can search out information about your little town. There are also Podunk sites for Canada and Ireland.

It appears to me now in 2007 that Forreston is the more attractive of the two, but when I was living there (1946-1951), Mt. Morris was twice the size and had the better business district, nicer homes, paved streets and more advanced schools. In those days Mt. Morris had a thriving publishing and magazine distribution industry--actually they are still there--but experienced a devastating strike in the 1970s, and the town has been slipping since. Even today, many libraries have subscriptions addressed to Mt. Morris. Statistically, the 2000 census still shows Mt. Morris with the higher median income and home values, but it essentially no longer has a school system, which really gutted the town of community spirit. Meanwhile, Forreston has diversified with small businesses, rallied its voters for bond issues, made itself a wonderful place to buy real estate and settle down, and has moved on. Both towns have housing stock with median range far below the national average.

The funny little picture on the Mt. Morris epodunk site is actually a post card of Pine Creek, IL where my dad grew up. It is closer to Dixon (home of Pres. Reagan) than Mt. Morris. Not sure how they select the graphics.

3356 Are you a tea drinker?

Although I’m not particularly fond of tea, I do drink it first thing in the morning because I am awake about an hour before the coffee shops open.* I thought this study of the affects of milk on the vasodilation benefits of tea was interesting. I always add a bit of orange juice to kill the taste. I wonder what that does to tea? It seems to be something in the milk--rat cells being tested to find that out.

"In a study of 16 postmenopausal women, those who drank about two cups of black tea without milk had a greater than four-old increase in flow-mediated vasodilation from baseline in the forearm brachial artery (P<0.01), said Verena Stangl, M.D., of the Charité-Universitätsmediz in Berlin, and colleagues.

However, those who drank a mix of 90% black tea with 10% skimmed milk had no more of an increase in vasodilation than if they had consumed two cups of hot water, Dr. Stangl and colleagues reported online today in European Heart Journal." Reported at Medpagetoday.

*Although I'm a coffee drinker, I don't like the taste of my own brew (or yours either), so I've been going out for a cup since I was a teen-ager. While there, I draft my blogs.

3355 Fat pills for dogs

Can you believe it? People are going to drug up Fido so he can lose weight. My solution is much cheaper and healthier. If you own a dog, get up off your fat butt and take him out for a walk or run for 30 minutes a day. You'll both be much healthier. Just remember to take the plastic bag for the feces. If you don't have the time, hire a dog walker--our travel agent, who is also an exercise nut, does this to stay svelte and trim. And if you have a fat cat, take a string and play chase with her for 15 minutes a day. The cat will lose weight, and you'll feel like a kid again and go to bed with a smile on your face.

3353 Ten phrases I would not miss

I've seen end-of-the year lists of over used words, list of new words, and of course, Wired always has it's own list of tired and fired words. Here's my list of meaningless gobbledegook, phrases I'm sick of seeing primarily because they promise more than they deliver.

1. tax initiatives
2. voting irregularities
3. renewable energy
4. bipartisanship
5. mission statement
6. vision for change
7. experts say (also its first cousin, informed sources say)
8. interface
9. segue
10. Islam is a religion of peace

3353 What's going on in Stockton?

Do you ever read those full page ads in the paper called "legal notices" where the confiscated belongings are listed from criminal busts? No? Must be one of my odd quirks. The Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. Dept. of Justice lists seized property--there's lots of legal mumbo jumbo so it isn't clear to me if the listed parties can reclaim it or if it will be auctioned. On the list are lots of weapons, watches, currency, vehicles, airplanes, boats, bank accounts, jewelry, and some furniture and electronics. Then there was Strockton, California, and the property seized was grow lights, fans, carbon filters, all kinds of special boxes, etc. Apparently Victoria Chu, Ngai Chung Hung, Roex Hung, Michael Lee, Wing Chou Chan, Wayne Feng and Ka Wai Yu were dabbling in some unauthorized agricultural venture to the tune of a quarter million dollars.

3351 Monday Memories--Grandmother's Hymnal

One of the books I inherited that means a lot to me is my maternal grandmother's hymnal. Here is what we librarians call the bibliographical information and a description of it. I have a 115 page list of my grandparents books which I used for various publications I wrote when I was working. (Aren't you pleased I'm not listing them all?).

The word "Brethren" refers to "Church of the Brethren" an Anabaptist group, although at the time this title was printed, they just referred to themselves as "Brethren." The official term was German Baptist Brethren at that time. My family spoke German for about the first 100 years they were in this country (giving it up around the 1820s) and the Brethren printed the first European language Bible in the colonies--but it was in German, not English.

I used a wonderful program called "Notebook" to make this list, which I no longer have or know how to use (lots of DOS type commands), and could sort by author, title, date, publisher, subject or keyword. Any time you complain about the hymns your church is using--just take a look at what your denomination was singing 100 years ago. It's an eye-opener.

Brethren's Tune and Hymn Book: Being a Compilation of Sacred Music Adapted to All the Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs in the Brethren's Hymn Book. Carefully revised, rearranged and otherwise improved. Mt. Morris, IL: The Brethren's Publishing House, 1894. no. 11

Subject: Brethren--Hymnbooks

Notes: Script: "Mary L. George, Ashton, Illinois."
This is a reprint of the 1879 "The Brethren's Hymnbook"
edited by J.C. Ewing, the first hymnbook with four-part
harmony, copyright by Quinter and Brumbaugh Brothers.
James Quinter selected songs from earlier editions.
Today we would recognize few of the hymns in this book.
The Brethren's Publishing House was privately owned.
In 1897 all rights and titles were turned over to the
Church's General Missionary and Tract Committee and it
moved to Elgin. When the Kable Brothers started their
printing venture in Mt. Morris, they used the printing
plant. ("Brethren Press," Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol.
1:193)

View More Monday Memories Participants
My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.

3350 Oh lady, you don't want to know!

She wanted to know what sort of cold hearted bitch she was, and I was ready to respond, but didn't want to sign in for one more password. So I moved on, but I really, truly wanted to call her exactly what she'd already named herself. Other words that come to mind. . . whiny, spoiled, self-centered, childish. But maybe it's depression. I think it's what started the women's movement in the 1970s. And children's lives have been going down hill since.

3349 Randy's new blog

Randy Kirk has started a new blog called The God vs No God Debate, and you're invited to join in. Stop by and take a look. Tell him Norma sent you.

The first 5 topics will be:

What are the practical advantages of believing in God?
What are the practical advantages of not believing in God?
Why do Christians feel so compelled to convince others to believe?
Why do atheists want so badly to win the debate?
How should evidence be "weighed" in this subject area?

3348 A new epidemic among teens?

The Dec. 28 issue of New England Journal of Medicine (355:26) has a series of articles on mental illness in teens. Now, it's not that new diseases can't arise--afterall, when my grandmother was a child, virtually no one got polio. It became an epidemic in the 20th century because sanitation improved and children no longer had the harmless mild type. Still, as my class prepares for its 50th reunion next summer, I am sort of wondering why we students didn't see mental illness among our classmates (there were a few teachers I sort of wondered about, however). The lead article suggests the screening of all teens to catch the "silent epidemic of mental illness among teenagers" which is leaving them vulnerable to emotional, social, and academic impairments in later life.

I'm sure if my friends and I had had screening, that the usual anxieties about grades, or mood disorders from squabbles with parents, fatigue from bad schedules or bruised and broken hearts from dating, or poor social skills resulting in rejection by the "in-crowd" would have rated us off the charts for feelings of hopelessness and depression. And I didn't know a single person in my high school who had an eating disorder or a drug/alcohol problem to the extent that we began to see in the late 60s and early 70s. However, I think pharmacologic intervention for huge numbers of teens who might have otherwise passed through a phase of sadness or emptiness without medical help, is a pretty high price. We don't even know the long term results for adults. Does the phrase "follow the money" come to mind for anyone but me?

3347 Go Bucks--but learn to spell

Yesterday at the coffee shop someone had written on the children's blackboard in the back of the shop:

" 'Gator meat tastes like WOLFERINE."

Here is a photo of a wolverine, a member of the weasel family and the Michigan mascot. According to their website, no one knows how the school got that name, although there are some interesting theories. Wild wolverines do not exist in Michigan. Although they've been known to get wild when they visit Columbus.


If I were a betting woman, or if I even followed football, I'd say OSU by at least two touchdowns.

3346 Mandated folate levels

This is certainly odd. Or maybe not. In the 1990s, the federal government mandated folate be added to cereal foods because in pregnant women it can reduce certain birth defects. But. . .

"Fortification of enriched cereal-grain products with the B vitamin folic acid to help prevent pregnancies affected by neural tube defects (NTDs) such as spina bifida and anencephaly became mandatory in the United States in January 1998. Although median serum folate concentrations among nonpregnant women of childbearing age increased initially after the mandate, levels decreased 16% from 1999--2000 through 2003--2004, and RBC folate concentrations decreased 8%." MMWR Jan. 5, 2007

I'm guessing it is certain low-carb fad diets that suggest you not eat bread, rolls, macaroni products, rice, corn meal, etc. The largest decrease was among non-Hispanic whites. You can't mess with Mother Nature--eat all the colors, ladies--just eat less if you're fat. And move more. It works. And be especially careful if you are childbearing age.

3345 One of the best movies I've seen

Finally got my husband to go to Dream Girls with me. Of course it's the best I've seen this year--not too hard since this is only the 7th, but I'd say the best I've seen in a decade. Maybe 2 decades. I'm ready to see it again, and that's really unusual for me. I think Overboard is the only movie I saw twice in the theater.

Every performer was outstanding--Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx (I've never liked either one), Beyonce, Anika Noni Rose, Danny Glover--but Jennifer Hudson was just extraordinary. I've never watched American Idol, but I've read about her smack down by Judge Simon. She's Fabulous. Couldn't believe-my-ears stunning. Not just her singing but her acting. Why they call her "supporting actress" I'm not sure unless they mean it as in "foundation" or "no-story-without-her."

The movie doesn't get preachy--if you lived in the 60s you catch the fleeting frames of history--but it does show that greed, bad behavior and infidelity know no racial preference. Yes, you have to suspend belief a bit--you are watching a broadway musical of the 1980s based on a 1960s girl group, in a 21st century movie verson, but as my daughter always says, "Mom, it's a movie!" Yes, it is, and this is what movies should be. Not truth. Not reality. Not a sermon. Just knock-your-socks-off terrific. And who knew Eddie Murphy could sing like that?

Dream girls
Jennifer Hudson
Beyonce Knowles