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Busy brain
Dec. 3rd, 2011 09:26 amLast night I had a dream that involved skiing (downhill and I kept missing corners, wiping out, and rolling down steep slopes) and the Montlake Bridge (in Seattle). Do any of you have recurring dream series that involved too-high bridges? In this case, due to failing infrastructure, there wasn't a sidewalk on the bridge anymore, just a pair of poles, through which one would peer down and see water far below. At some point, I decided it wouldn't be too bad if I just fell in. I remembered that when my brother was in high school, some of his classmates jumped off the bridge intentionally as part of a cops'n'robbers dramatic movie they made for Spanish class (true story). When I was a young kid I can remember being vaguely terrified of the Montlake Bridge. But part of me absolutely adores it as an important feature of my life growing up.
When I awoke, I started thinking about libraries, and specifically, the Seattle Public Library system. There are so many people who avidly read books in Seattle that it was often difficult to get ahold of newly-released books with any kind of literary potential whatsoever. Fortunately, the library had a "hold" system that would allow users to get in line for those new books, and get books delivered to the local library branch if they weren't kept on a shelf at that branch (very useful when one's library branch was one of the smallest branches in the system). So, for a good part of my life, the book I read at any given time was determined by which book had arrived off of my "hold" list. What a system, though. Seattle's library system has been in jeopardy to varying degrees over the past 5-10 years due to budgetary shortfalls in Seattle, and it has been amazing to watch Seattle's public rally in support of their library system.
My thoughts then turned to the point when the Seattle Public Library system fell short of my needs, in high school. I'm forever grateful to my father for taking me on expeditions over to the University of Washington libraries to look up information for miscellaneous assignments in high school. University libraries can be incredible places of discovery, and there's really no substitute for in-person visits.
And on that note, time for me to head out for some Saturday expeditions.
When I awoke, I started thinking about libraries, and specifically, the Seattle Public Library system. There are so many people who avidly read books in Seattle that it was often difficult to get ahold of newly-released books with any kind of literary potential whatsoever. Fortunately, the library had a "hold" system that would allow users to get in line for those new books, and get books delivered to the local library branch if they weren't kept on a shelf at that branch (very useful when one's library branch was one of the smallest branches in the system). So, for a good part of my life, the book I read at any given time was determined by which book had arrived off of my "hold" list. What a system, though. Seattle's library system has been in jeopardy to varying degrees over the past 5-10 years due to budgetary shortfalls in Seattle, and it has been amazing to watch Seattle's public rally in support of their library system.
My thoughts then turned to the point when the Seattle Public Library system fell short of my needs, in high school. I'm forever grateful to my father for taking me on expeditions over to the University of Washington libraries to look up information for miscellaneous assignments in high school. University libraries can be incredible places of discovery, and there's really no substitute for in-person visits.
And on that note, time for me to head out for some Saturday expeditions.
