Weekend Reads v. 25.10.2024
Think like a librarian.
I’m off to stay with friends on the coast of Delaware this weekend so we can all experience the magic that is the Sea Witch Festival. I’m not entirely sure of what to expect, but I am going armed with a witch-hat-turned-fascinator so there’s that.
The leaves are really showing off where I am which serves as a beautiful reminder that no matter the chaos of the news or your circumstances, you can count on this season folding into the next. AKA, this too shall pass. If you find yourself feeling a wee bit overwhelmed at the moment, may this whimsical collection of reads provide you with a good distraction from All The Things.
Anyone else out there a fan of BBC’s Shipping Forecast? The routine of the forecast relaxes me. Perhaps this is because the language of the seas hasn’t changed all that much since the days before highways and airplanes, and that sameness feels grounding.
Speaking of maritime, did you know there is an alphabet represented by flags? “The International Code of Signals is a system of signals and codes designed to communicate important safety and navigational messages when speaking is difficult.” Perfect for the high seas…or an office cubicle.
The universe is spectacular. This young star cluster took my breath away. (But can’t someone give her a better name than NGC 602??)
This essay about a time when you could call a librarian reminded me of my first landlord, Marilynn, who was a devoted employee of the Los Angeles Public Library for most of her life.
“From 1984 to 1988, I worked in the Telephone Reference Division of the Brooklyn Public Library. My seven or eight colleagues and I spent the days (and nights) answering exactly such questions. Our callers were as various as New York City itself: copyeditors, fact checkers, game show aspirants, journalists, bill collectors, bet settlers, police detectives, students and teachers, the idly curious, the lonely and loquacious, the park bench crazies, the nervously apprehensive. (This last category comprised many anxious patients about to undergo surgery who called us for background checks on their doctors.) There were telephone reference divisions in libraries all over the country, but this being New York City, we were an unusually large one with an unusually heavy volume of calls. And if I may say so, we were one of the best. More than one caller told me that we were a legend in the world of New York magazine publishing.
“How do you people know all this stuff?” a caller once asked me. “What are you, some kind of scholars or wordsmiths or something?”
“No,” I replied. “Just us librarians.” (Source)
Random but Saks Fifth Avenue has a really good sale going. Personally, I’d like this gorgeous trench coat (that piping!).
“Hello, Room 54? Wake Up—The Northern Lights Are Here.”
Apparently, King Charles ‘shrieked’ the first time he saw Saran Wrap. Honestly, not surprised.
Now I know how to find the perfect perfume for my friend Brigette…or any New Yorker, for that matter.
Are you doing anything for Halloween? I want to know!