07.19.08
may I recommend…
I’m having trouble letting go of my friend’s copy of Middlesex. I think if I type out a few of the passages that meant the most to me, I can finally give it back.
I said a few times that I am so pissed off that Middlesex already won the Pulitzer, because now I can’t be first to declare it the latest Great American Novel (yes, I do think a lot of myself). It is as rich, complex, and readable as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, which (to my great satisfaction) the New York Times panel named the greatest work of fiction in the last 25 years. It’s not for the faint of heart– but if you dig in, it is so worth it.
Middlesex is a great story– a requirement. It’s beautifully written– not a requirement, but quite nice. But what I love about it is the way Eugenides can touch upon every divergent chaotic aspect, turning point, compromise and loss that makes a story, a person, a family, a nation, our beliefs and values– and it hangs together, like our lives somehow do, and is a darn good read. And it’s about the Other Side, that we never seem to think of on our own. For example, I never would have thought to flip the Armenian Genocide coin to see the Greek Atrocities that came with it.
Deeper than that, I love the way he treats the compromises we, as individuals, as families, as communities and nations, are forced into (or believe we are forced into) in order to survive–bootlegging, soft porn, hash, heritage, covert operations in Cyprus, community, family– and I love the way he questions gender and gender roles. I believe gender prejudice is one of the two most important issues we must face if we are going to survive as a nation, as communities and as individuals with any integrity whatsoever. But he doesn’t bang us over the head with that. That may not even be his intent. (I’ve steered clear of reviews/interviews.) It sneaks up on us through the eminently readable and very broad story and the emphatically sympathetic characters. And that’s always the way things begin to matter to us–through paying honest, caring attention to the people experiencing them.
So, the passages.
“I bring up my parents’ failed assault on the Great Books for a reason… Even back then the Great Books were working on me, silently urging me to pursue the most futile human dream of all, the dream of writing a book worthy of joining their number, a one hundred and sixteenth Great Book with another long Greek name on the cover: Stephanides. That was when I was young and full of grand dreams. Now I’ve given up any hope of lasting fame or literary perfection. I don’t care if I write a great book anymore, but just one which, whatever its flaws, will leave a record of my impossible life.” (302)
Quoting (fictionalized, I’m guessing?) Phil Donahue on medical and psychological aspects of transsexuality and hermaphroditism in the seventies: “Here’s what’s not so funny. These live, irreplaceable sons and daughters of God, human beings all, want you to know, among other things, that that’s exactly what they are, human beings.” (410)
“I don’t fit into any of these theories… Unlike other so-called male pseudohermaphrodites who have been written about in the press, I never felt out of place being a girl. I still don’t feel entirely at home among men. Desire made me cross over to the other side, desire and the facticity of my body. In the twentieth century, genetics brought the Ancient Greek notion of fate into our very cells. This new century we’ve just begun has found something different. Contrary to all expectations, the code underlying our being is woefully inadequate. Instead of the expected 300,000 genes, we have only 30,000. Not many more than a mouse.”
[So, how different are we, really, from each other, and from every living being? Do we have as much basis as we think for separating ourselves to the extent necessary to label, kill, turn a blind eye?]
“And so a strange new possibility is arising. Compromised, indefinite, sketchy, but not entirely obliterated: free will is making a comeback. Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.” (479)
There are more, so, to be continued.
May I recommend…
There are so many gems in Tom Hodgkins’ The Freedom Manifesto but I finally found one I had to dash up here and quote:
“When I was young, I never understood gardening, as I was only interested in drinking. Now I see that all those middle-aged and elderly gentlemen and ladies in their garden were actually having a great time, when I just thought they were being boring. My life has improved enormously, as now I am interested in gardening and drinking: two pleasures, where formerly there was only one.” (page 169)
07.16.08
“It is not true that we only have one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.” — S. I. Hayakawa, beautifully stenciled on the back wall of the new Pike Road Branch Library
Yesterday’s opening celebration at The Pike Road Branch of Montgomery City-County Public Library, near Crockmier’s on Vaughn Road, was a very special and worthwhile occasion.
Pike Road’s library has always been something special. It has a caring and hard working Friends of the Library group and dedicated library users who assist a dynamic and creative librarian, Lynda Maddox. Supported by Montgomery Public Library’s centralized Extension, Administrative, and Collection Development departments, Lynda and a corps of dedicated volunteers have been running excellent library programs and services for years– in dilapidated trailers which have even lost their roof a time or two over the years during our very active storm seasons.
Several who spoke at today’s ceremony expressed gratitude for those trailers– and noted that today’s grand opening finally brings the Pike Road Branch and the wonderful work done by Lynda Maddox and the Pike Road Friends and volunteers to a facility that reflects the high quality of service, dedication, and patrons who are Pike Road’s library.
Even with the library jammed full of dignitaries, well-wishers, vases of fresh flowers, media cameras, members of the library’s board of trustees, library staff and delighted families with children, the first impression upon entering the library is of space and comfort. The retail space has been renovated to provide every useful and enjoyable aspect of library services– from funky, functional and comfortable seating in the magazine area to an enticing children’s area.
A retail space is often a wonderful place for a public library branch. The surrounding businesses bring people to the library; the library brings visibility for the surrounding businesses. Mr. Johnny Sullivan of neighboring Crockmier’s welcomed the library very kindly and asked that the library call upon him for any need.
The delightful decorations high on the walls marking the various sections of the library are beautiful altered books. Each letter of words like ‘Juvenile’ or ‘Fiction’ made a little work of art out of a book that was once too damaged to remain in the library’s collection. Marilyn Heard and George Evans created these and other finishing touches which are just the right mix of satisfyingly chic, and comfortingly, solidly antique.
A similar ethic was applied as the new facility was furnished. Library Director Jaunita Owes reminded the crowd that nothing from the old facility was thrown away. We have not lost; we have only gained. Much of the shelving in the new library came directly from the Pike Road trailers. With the help of Gaye Smith and Business Interiors, gains included tables properly wired for computer connectivity, elegant, dare I say funky, and truly comfortable furniture for the reading area, and attractive and functional additional shelving– all of which came together to compliment the way the space beautifully combined old and new.
Relationships were also a great gain from this process. New relationships resulted in greater understanding between all parties, greater creativity, greater bang for the buck invested, and an amazing end result. We hope we can continue to build relationships and experience this level of creativity, bang for the buck, understanding and teamwork as the public library strives to grow in ways that serve our community’s needs best.
Reverend Dilbeck of Pike Road Baptist Church said he was very sorry to see the library leave his neighborhood. The responsive Dedicatory Litany he led blessed all present with the reminder that we must commit to uphold the principles and values for which the library stands, and to daily support– with our time, with our finances, and with our pursuit of those values and principles– of our library’s service to the people of our community.
Longtime Friends of Pike Road Library spoke of the history of library services in Pike Road, dating back to when the Pike Road Library consisted of a bookmobile visit every two weeks– and the joy those visits brought residents. Elected officials very briefly and modestly highlighted their role as this project began to take wing, and spoke with great pride in this wonderful accomplishment of team effort. Each speaker’s words reflected the dedication and hard work of those who have brought this project to its beautiful and functional fruition. Library Director Jaunita Owes, whose gratitude, delight and pride were evident, was very thorough in her recognition of the varied contributions of so many dedicated people and agencies.
Speakers noted that achievement and excellence have their price, in money, and in hard work. Renovating, moving or building a library is an incredibly detailed and laborious practice, often guaranteeing grey hairs and high blood pressure for any librarian involved. But in balance, very little was said about the months and days and long, long hours required to make this happen. Focus was overwhelmingly on the joy of seeing it come to pass. The unbelievable smoothness of the transition was credited to the hard work of Pike Road’s Friends and volunteers.
Several speakers noted that children have been riding bicycles over to the library for weeks, pounding on the locked doors to ask ‘is it open yet?’ This speaks well of the need for the library’s presence at this location. Won’t those kids be thrilled now! It is also a reminder to those planning the development of that area of our community to remember the children, parents with strollers, and perhaps older adults who need it to be safe and accessible for walking and cycling.
I hope too that Commissioner Ingram’s mention of outdoor tables, a grocery and a possible coffee shop will come to be. Our communities need comfortable, welcoming ‘third spaces,’ open to all, where we can meet and mingle outside our separate churches and families and truly become community.
Long time volunteer Mrs. McCain was present handing out programs and reminding the attendees who continued to flow in to sign the guest book. She finally sat down after hours of assisting at the occasion. We spoke for a few moments and she said “I am so glad we have reopened! I’ve been going through withdrawals since the library closed! I even found myself buying two books!”
Buying books? The horror! No wonder the hard working Pike Road Library volunteers got the the library’s books packed, a week-long job at least, in a day and a half! They need their books before their passion for reading drives them to do something they’ll regret!
After the ribbon was cut to officially open the library, there was a stampede toward refreshments that were as delicious as they were beautifully presented. The Friends of the Pike Road Library and Incredible Edibles provided a lovely and truly Southern assortment that included ham biscuits, mini mandarin chicken salads and key lime tarts, sweets of every description, sweet tea, and the best cheese straws I have ever tasted. As the crush began to ease, I found a quiet spot to enjoy the occasion and my refreshments (two heaped plates!), socialize a bit with Mr. Pickette, President of the Friends of the Montgomery City-County Public Library, and simply people watch.
I saw a young parent in the children’s section using her cell phone to tell someone “it’s so beautiful!” Her face radiated delight. I am sure that on this one special day her delight in finding such a wonderful facility just wiped awareness of the library’s ‘no cell phone’ rule right out of her mind. It was just that good. I’m sure she can be excused just for today.
06.21.08
A Quiet Emergency
This is a slightly longer version of the little article I wrote for my library’s monthly Reference Notes–
Every time we use a cell phone, a computer, an electric light, heat or cool our home or drive to work, approximately 80% or more of the energy (depending on where we live in the world) comes from non-renewable resource fossil fuels. Our appliances, even when not in use, are leaching power for tiny lights or clocks or sleep mode or pilot lights.
Demand for fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) is rising quickly, and production is becoming more expensive. The Economist points to nationalist and political tensions and the challenges of accessing oil in difficult terrain.
In spite of our concerns about the environment and global warming, pollution’s toll on our health, rising costs, and dependence on foreign resources in unstable regions, America’s cars and houses are getting bigger and bigger. The decline of urban quality of life and business opportunity creates suburban sprawl. We commute to work and school, and drive across town to get groceries that have been transported across our nation or around the world. Families relocate to find jobs or affordable housing, and we lose small local communities and must drive long distances to spend time with friends and loved ones.
Meanwhile, rising superpowers China and India extend American-style fossil fuel burning amenities to their immense populations.
Soaring gas prices are a major problem for working families who are also facing the foreclosure crisis and rising food prices. Each year Americans die because they cannot afford to heat or cool their homes. In Fueling our Future, Robert Evans notes that pollution from fossil fuel burning has been linked to heart disease and cancer, and a 2001 study at Harvard linked it to infertility and early menopause as well. The International Panel on Climate Change found that as the earth’s temperature rises worldwide drought is not certain, but likely (Evans 13).
For those of us not profiting from the fossil fuel energy industry, this is all a bit of a worry.
In The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook, Greg Pahl’s expert sources predict that a horrific energy crisis could be upon us any time between 2010 and 2037. Visions of California’s rolling blackouts, or of the gas lines of that made the US look like a struggling Communist bloc nation during the 70’s dance in our heads.
A comfortable lifestyle using less energy and using energy that does not create pollution or greenhouse gases and does not depend upon tense relationships with antagonistic foreign nations is possible now.
But energy is a commodity-to be produced, bought and sold in the greatest quantities and at the highest profit possible. This model is not just incorrect for our energy future (no pun intended). It is a dangerous gamble.
Scientists and entrepreneurs with excellent ideas are struggling to gain a financial toehold to launch and improve sustainable, pollution- and waste-free technologies to run our homes, industry and transportation with renewable or sustainable resources.
Resources at Montgomery City County Public Libraries sum up the advantages and disadvantages of renewable or sustainable energy.
At this time it actually costs more fossil fuel energy to create biomass and biofuel than they yield. They produce carbon dioxide and may compete with food production for land. If they are managed as commodities like fossil fuels energy, consumers risk the same vulnerabilities we face today- severe weather and other events can result in shortage and drive up price
Hydrogen fuel cells are incredibly efficient, but cost more to produce than they yield.
Solar power is endlessly renewable and free of pollution but requires large surface areas to yield power even approaching the scale of fossil fuels.
Many are opposed to the stately ranks of giant sculpture like windmills needed to produce wind electricity on any great scale. Storage of any renewable energy produced is an important issue still to be solved. Daytime and evening demand must be more carefully balanced with renewable energy resources to insure an adequate supply.
Nuclear power and our long term dream, nuclear fusion, are incredibly efficient, with no greenhouse emissions. Much like the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on a purely statistical basis this seems to be our best bet. Evans details ways nuclear power production has become much safer (124-26) But the millennia-long legacy of nuclear waste, the dangers of uranium mining, and the tragedies at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island make many wonder if it is worth the price.
If we don’t own profitable stock in an energy trader, what can we do?
Evans states that we must reduce demand / consumption and work for greater
efficiency (174). In the wake of the 2001 energy crisis, California’s efficiency mandates and credits for using alternative energy created both great grumbling and great opportunity.
California is now a worldwide model for reduced consumption, but its hugely profitable Sempra Energy, for example, is still building infrastructure for and trading huge amounts of natural gas in the unregulated energy industry. Efficiency and reduced consumption are key, but not enough. According Evans and Pahl’s sources, the transition from mostly oil, coal and natural gas to mostly renewable energy must go forward quickly.
Sustainable profit is possible.
Even as pollution caused by China’s industrial revolution - fueled mostly by coal and other fossil fuels - spawns whole ‘cancer villages’ within China and washes up onto America’s shores, the richest man in China is worth 4.8 billion dollars because he can barely keep up with demand for his solar modules.
But until policymakers and consumers make a move on a massive, nationwide scale, our best chance for improving our health and saving our endangered ice caps, species, and pocketbooks is one family, one business, one building at a time.
Montgomery Public Library offers many excellent books on creating homes, buildings and lifestyles that employ alternative energy or greatly reduce dependence on fossil fuel energy, from Solar Power your Home for Dummies (690.83 DEGUN) to Eco-Renovation the Ecological Home Improvement Guide (643.47 HARLAN).
Greg Pahl takes it even further. He supports the Community Supported Energy (CSE) Model. Consumers can choose local energy just as they are choosing to purchase local food to improve nutrition and reduce environmental toll, animal cruelty and disease outbreaks (for more on the advantages of local food, see Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, 641.973).
Pahl notes that hydroelectric power on a massive scale is very powerful, but major sites in America have already been developed (causing great disruption and damage to the environment. However, on a local,community scale, where geography and river flow permit, hydroelectric power would be excellent and environmentally benign (Evans 104). Evans even mentions burning solid waste or capturing methane gas from landfills (102).
Solar power is also much better suited to a distributed application. On a community or local level, fields of mirrors the size of Rhode Island would not be necessary for solar power to make a huge difference, and in places like Arizona, peak production would coincide with peak need.
My money is on solar power, based on an episode of National Public Radio’s Science Friday program. But local communities can make the best decisions based on their unique resources, geography and values. Community energy requires greater responsibility, but it also keeps 3 to 4 times more money circulating in the local economy than absentee ownership (Pahl 267).
“Local communities… tend to be better stewards of their immediate environments because they know that if they are going to continue to thrive they need to conserve those local resources… While the global free-market economy has repeatedly demonstrated that it has no soul or compassion, most communities by contrast are blessed with both (Pahl 268).”
Take advantage of the resources the library offers to learn how to live well while consuming less. Learn about the various options and voice your informed opinion within your community.
