LaughAloud

Dream a Little Dream

I am on a ladder, shoving documents onto the top shelf, hiding them under other books. There are soldiers with guns all over the library. Demanding specific documents be removed and handed over. One approaches me, still on the ladder, and demands we hand over the Census CDs from earlier than 1990. The same CDs that stopped working the week before. They've infiltrated the software, not just come in person demanding we turn over documents.

Once they've removed whatever government information they are trying to suppress, we are loaded onto a bus. The bus is full, are they all from the library? I'm not sure, but the buss is full. We stop for gas, and get out, stretch our legs, buy supplies. It does not feel like we are prisoners. We continue on our journey, to where we're not sure. We make another stop and this time and the military brass and the suit who have been on the bus with us, get off. They speak with one of the soldiers off the bus. He gets back on big gun in hand. Somehow, we know, he's been ordered to kill us.

But he doesn't. What we do to convince him not to kill us is unclear. Instead, they are going to break our hands. Just one hand each.

We're no longer on the bus, but waiting, huddled on the floor of an empty building. They take 3 of us at a time into a room. Use a hammer, smash a finger at a time, while the rest of us sit outside and listen and wait for our turn to come. Through all of this, I somehow manage to sleep. When I wake, Chip is there with me and he has brought me different clothes. He says he knows how much I like the ones I'm wearing, and he doesn't want them ruined by the blood. And I know then, I'm ready, I'm prepared knowing they're going to break my hand in such a way, I know I'll probably never be able to use it again, or at least not for a long time. And I decide, or rather, I know, I will give him my right hand. And it feels surreal because my left hand was always the less important, the extra, the helper. And in half my life it still is. But without my left hand, I wouldn't be able to shoot my bow.

And I prepare to give my right hand over to the hammer.

Fear

"Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sorid and brutal a passion, and renders men, in whose breasts it predominates, so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it."

                                                         - John Adams

Codling Moth

From Report of the Entomologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1887

This is a Printing Office

Imagine, you have entered into the Government Printing Office, passing under the stone sign above, and as you wait in the lobby, you see a plaque with the manifesto printed below.

THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE

Crossroads of Civilization
Refuge of all the arts against the ravages of time
Armory of fearless truth against whispering rumor
Incessant trumpet of trade
From this place, words may fly abroad
Not to perish on waves of sound
Not to vary with the writers hand
But fixed in time
Having been verified by proof
Friend, you stand on sacred ground
This is a printing office

Beatrice L. Warde

Presented by the graduates
of the apprentice class of 1940

Words of a Father

As in.

Catching Up

Why haven't I posted for a month?  Really, I have no good excuse.  Blog worthy things have happened, as well as unworthy events I would normally have blogged about it.  But I still haven't written.  Maybe it was laziness or Civ addiction or just falling out of the habit, I don't know.  But here's trying to change the pattern with a few updates.

Chip update
Chip has a job!  He started working three weeks ago, and is really enjoying it.  He's doing scientific programming using Fortran, and it has something to do with fluid dynamics.  Its very similar to the kind of programming he did in grad school, but in a very different environment with different sorts of results.  So its familiar yet challenging and fun.  We went out last night for a sushi dinner to celebrate our first month with 2 pay checks since we moved to San Diego.  It was oh, so yummy.

My job update
I really love my job! It can be a little overwhelming at times, especially since its really up to full speed, but I still feel like I have a lot of learn. It recently became official that I am in charge of the Urban Studies and Environmental Studies collections in addition to my Government Documents duties. A few weeks ago, I taught my first library instruction sessions for a couple Urban Studies classes which was very stressful, but I think they turned out well, and were kind of fun! I've already had one of the professors ask me to do an instruction session for his other class, which made me feel like the first one couldn't have been too bad!  In other job related news, Alanna has an interview at the end of March for a job in my department.  How fun would that be if one of my super good friends came to live in San Diego and work in the library with me!

Other random tidbits
We recently played Clue. I love Clue. We went to a really fun Mardi Gras party. It was the first Mardi Gras party either of us had been to. This is a bigger deal for Chip, being from St. Louis, which usually has the 2nd largest Mardi Gras parade in the country (the largest this year.) No paczki though. Today a couple friends took us to Ramos House Cafe.  It was an hour drive away, but boy was it worth it!  Yummy, yummy.

I'm sure I'm leaving out key features of the past month, but I think this is long enough for now.  Anyone who has missed my posting, can thank L (who likes to remain mysterious & anonymous) for prompting me into action.

Hanging with the Fathers

Have you ever had an experience where you suddenly realize that your view of the world is wildly skewed?  I had a moment like that yesterday. 

I saw an email about a website celebrating Ben Franklin's birthday, and suddenly thought. "Oh, that's right! Isn't today Ben's birthday!?"  But I thought maybe I had the day off, because there wasn't a special Google page.  (And wouldn't there be? For Ben's 300th!) So I googled* "Ben's Birthday."  That's right, "Ben's Birthday."

I did realize the minute I typed it in, that it was in fact ridiculous to think that what I wanted would be in the top hits.  Most people aren't on a first name basis with the founding fathers.  However, in my defense, earlier that same day I had googled "thomas" as in, Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd President, and the top hit was exactly what I was searching for.

By the way, I have George's number if you want to give him a call, and I'll be hanging out with Alexander this weekend.

*I'm following Jeremy's example here: "Accelerating the trademark dilution by refraining from capitalizing the verb.  Because I might use another search engine. In theory." (Although to tell the truth, I fairly regularly FirstGov-it.)

A Great Discovery

Today I made a wonderful discovery.  It has only taken me four years and four months of working with government documents to make it.   My grandmother testified before Congress, and her testimony appears in this Congressional hearing. Isn't that cool!?

Really, I can't believe I never  even thought to look before.  My grandmother was very active in Girl Scouts at the national level, and it does make sense that she testified.  I guess I just never thought about it, because you would think that's the sort of thing you would know about.  I do remember hearing about her being invited to the White House in the 80's for a Girl Scout function (the first lady is always the honorary president of the Girl Scouts) but I didn't remember anything about Congress. Maybe I knew once, and just forgot.

I checked out the Hearing today, and am working on scanning in the parts where her testimony appears.  I'm going to have to keep an eye out for a copy of one I can purchase, but hearings from the 70s are not easy to come by, at least in their original format.  But just knowing where to find it and see it when I want is really fun. 

For any of my relatives reading this, I'll certainly send you the scanned copy, but if you'd like to see the real thing for yourself, you can find the depository library nearest you, and go see this hearing.  The title is "Youth Camp Safety Act" and at most libraries the call number will be Y 4.ED 8/1:Y 8/9.

Pomological Persimmons

You might not have known this, but in the 19th century, the Bureau of Pomology (part of the US Department of Agriculture) included really cool watercolors of fruit as part of their Annual Reports.  I have a few copies of these watercolors on my wall at work, and my favorite are the persimmons. 

There are two general kinds of persimmons in the pomological reports. The first one is roundish like the picture on the left.  This is the kind I've seen at the store, and when  we went to the  farmer's market last Sunday and today, it seemed like they were being sold at every other booth.  Slightly exotic, yes, but the more mundane form of the exotic.

Today at the farmer's market I looked over and I saw one booth had the OTHER kind of persimmon. (See to the right)  More elongated, more vivid, its just so much prettier.  Now I realize these are both persimmons, and really what's the big deal?  And to tell the truth, I'm not sure.  But I do have this picture on my wall, and not the one above.  And I can't wait to eat it.  Maybe it tastes different, too! 

So just remember.  Next time you're at your local depository library see if they have old Department of Agriculture Annual Reports, or at least take a look at the watercolors the USDA has digitized.  Maybe they'll have your favorite fruit!  Or maybe you'll find a new one!

Bert the Turtle

 

I came across this picture of a Bert the Turtle document the other day when I was looking through some photos I took at work a couple years ago.  Also check out the orginal Bert the Turtle movie from 1951.

A Little Rebellion

"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

  -- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, 1787