A Series of Related, but Unrelated, Thoughts

September 16th, 2004 · 2 Comments
by Booksquare

If anything, their opposition to the Patriot Act (or parts thereof) will change the world’s bizarre perception of librarians. They are not meek, they are not mild-mannered, they are not mousy. Librarians are highly educated individuals. Working in a quiet place does not mean you’re a doormat. We are hoping this changed perception will extend to fictional librarians — no more gray suits with racy underwear underneath, please. It’s been done to death.

Thank you.

A friend recently had a rash of interesting traffic to her website. Now it’s possible that her research on the Internet lead her down some interesting paths (actually, we’ve been on the phone with her during some of her research sessions, and know how interesting those paths can be), but it’s also possible there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for fifteen different government agencies to visit the site of an author whose book won’t be out for several months

She’s had some Barnes & Noble pre-orders, so it could just be a case of rabid fans.

The traffic has slowed, but it does make us wonder — what triggers an alarm in government agencies these days? The husband prefers we do our own research more anonymously. We wonder if the variety of books we check out from the library are setting off alarms. Why has helicopter traffic in our neighborhood been so heavy this week? We support the librarians in their opposition to Section 215. We’ve always had a great deal of discomfort with the Act — it passed too quickly with far too little debate. Given the scope and subject matter, we felt more discussion was certainly warranted.

Finally, how is it that Adam Penenberg can write about a librarian named Jessamyn West without noting the obvious connection? Sure, it’s a joke she’s heard a million times. But that’s the point. This one is actually funny.

File Under: Square Pegs

2 responses so far ↓

  • Kate Rothwell // Sep 16, 2004 at 5:16 pm

    Scary, isn’t it? No wonder the ACLU has had such a dramatic increase in membership during these Bush years.

    [speaking of freedom of speech, and self promotion, {which you were a few entries back} check out the Talk Like A Pirate Day Fifty Five Word Contest at my blog. Win Socks. Not exactly making $55,000 a year at home, but not bad.]

  • booksquare // Sep 18, 2004 at 10:31 am

    If it wasn’t for you, I would have missed this event. This is what happens when meetings take over one’s life — important, critical holidays are nearly overlooked. Though I find it near impossible to say anything briefly , I am trying for 55 words.

    ARRRRR!