Learning is Good

Hello readers new and old. This is a post that is my entree into the new (to me) world of online Open Learning. (If you're not a librarian, feel free to skip this post.) I am always looking for new ways to learn about my field and to keep current. I hope to find new colleagues and learn new skills that I can use for library instruction. Onward!

Goodnight Sweet Prince

He always projected an eerily otherworldly aura even when you saw him in the flesh, and his music reflected that. Even when you felt that you knew him--as people often do when they are fans of a particular artist—you didn’t. Like any genius, he was a man out of time and space who did not move with the rest of the world but instead created his own. This much was recognizable instantly.

Going Back to The River

I wasn’t even supposed to be at the Spectrum on Tuesday, December 9, 1980. My original plan was to catch Bruce at the Boston Garden on December 15 or 16, but between exam schedules and difficulty getting a ticket, I had to settle for an 8-hour bus ride to Philadelphia. I had never really been to Philly before, though I grew up only a couple hours’ drive from the City of Brotherly Love. And I had only traveled long distance by bus a handful of times. This trip was definitely going to be an adventure.

Forbidden Words 2012

In the glorious tradition of Matt Groening and without further ado, my brief and to-the-point list of Forbidden Words for 2012. Feel free to contribute your own.

Skill set

Double down

Let’s do this. No, let’s not and say we did.

Game changer. Not every situation requires a sports metaphor. Really.

Wait, what?

Fiscal cliff

Epic – The overuse and misuse of this word drives me absolutely bonkers as it’s usually performed by semi-literate folks trying to sound educated and actually doing the opposite.

On Twitter

Since I first became aware of this thing called Twitter back in 2008, I have questioned its value, just as I would with any new gadget or any trend in our cultural zeitgeist. I am by nature a contrarian, one who is not inclined to go along with something new just because it’s “the latest thing.” It’s not that I won’t come around eventually—I often do—but I require demonstrable proof of worth before jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. That’s because I really don’t believe in bandwagon-jumping in general. Performing an action because it’s being marketed to you, because someone is spending a great deal of time and effort to get you to buy into it, just doesn’t seem logical to me, and never has. I guess part of this mentality was formed by my own personal circumstances, and by growing up in Washington DC in the 70s, a period of intense cynicism and self-interest. My father was a lawyer, and I learned fairly early on that I had better have my facts down if I wanted to hold my own with him. Dealing with him was often difficult because he had a brilliant mind and rarely lost an argument, legally or otherwise. He would hold forth on and we would all be forced to listen whether we wanted to or not. It got so that I would take the opposite point of view whenever I talked to him just to antagonize him, just to get his attention at all. It became a defense mechanism, one that did no good for our father-daughter relationship and which made forming any sort of personal relationship very tricky. I spent years keeping people at arm’s length because of my argumentative nature, because of habits formed around the dinner table. But I gained a great deal of respect for facts in the process.

Thanksgiving 2012, or What I Learned From Sandy

1) Backup generators don’t necessarily go to those who need them most, and sometimes they don’t work. Several hospitals lost generator power due to being flooded. How is it possible no one thought this would happen, especially at the Shore? Also, it is not mandatory for gas stations, grocery stores and cellular towers to have backup generators. How is this not a security issue? And then there are the people with generators in their vacation homes while entire buildings were in the dark.

Ignorance is Bliss

I guess I haven’t done one of these in a while. The reasons why are too many and too complicated to get into, and maybe you’ll hear about them at some future time. Today, however, I’m just interested in getting a few things off my chest, so to speak. I apologize in advance for sounding a bit whiny, but it has been a long, hot summer down here on the Jersey Shore. So without further ado, some random observations: