Wordsmith Graffiti - Tagging!

Tagging is a gift to those of us who consider ourselves organic thinkers and prefer a less rigid method for organizing "stuff." Words like subjective, unstructured and free-form entice the poet and artist in me. That tagging requires no controlled vocabulary or hierarchical relationships, is downright titillating! How empowering this tool can be to the masses as it plays to the collective power of we the people. Together we become weathermakers of sorts as we form tag clouds that precipitate words and phrases.

I am intrigued by the libraries

"Ella" the Musical!

The lovely little lass tinkling the ivories is my darlin' granddaughter, Ella, or, Ella Enchanted, as I call her. Her Papa, my son, discovered an area library was giving away a piano, so Ella now has a spectacular new toy. You never know what you might acquire through your local public library!

By-the-by, what appears to be a stogie is acutally a harmonica:)

Flickr is a Beautiful Bird

I can't seem to stop conjuring up an image of the lovely bird know as Flicker every time I go to the Flickr site. I haven't posted any photos yet but will fumble my way through the learning process. I have been duly impressed by photo postings on other blogs and hope the artistic part of me can eventually integrate some interesting pictures into my blog.

In terms of usefulness for a library blog, the possibilities are endless. Candid photos, display photos, program photos, you name it. We've always asked permission to post photos of minor children. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask adults as well. In the local paper is one thing, on the worldwide web is another. Horrors if someone in witness protection was posted on our library site and the mob came over to investigate.

Every time I snap a photo of a crowd, I think about cultural differences and photo-taking. When I was in Scotland a few years ago, I snapped a photo of a fire truck that pulled up to a library in Edinburgh in what turned out to be a false alarm. My Dad used to be a fire chief so I thought he'd appreciate a picture of a Scottish fire engine and firefighter. The scathing look I received from the gentlemen in the truck brought a fitting fire engine red hue to my face. I couldn't imagine what I'd done wrong. One of the sweet Scottish librarians told me it was customary to ask permission to take a photo and to do so without asking was considered rude. Thirty lashes with a wet haggis for me!

Library Thing

I've begun adding titles to www.librarything.com/catalog/musetta so now you have a link to my meager list. I'm having a tough time bringing the thousands of titles spinning in my mind into focus. I decided to list a smattering of this-and-that. Don't ask me why I listed what I did. Some are long-time favorites while others obviously held appeal for some reason.

When I had that moment of panic deciding what titles to list, I was reminded of journal writing. I've tried to be a consistent journal writer, but I found I was writing for an audience (the readers who will discover my journals post mortem) rather than authentically writing as me. Instead of simply listing the first 5 titles that came to mind, I obsessed over not adding titles that didn't have intellectual or literary merit. Subsequently, I feared anyone searching my list would find my choices lacking inspiration. Hopefully people posting lists will be authentic and list even the lightest reads such as Evanovich.

Fly Me to the Moon

Wouldn't it be lovely when budget anxieties encroach and life in general sucks, to say, in the words of Eric Cartman, "Screw this, I'm going home." Living and working as a civil servant in a small, and at times, small-minded town, can be incredibly traumatic when the lines become blurred between your right as a citizen and responsibilities as a department head. Intolerant and ignorant people in power cause this blurred effect by punishing your department because you - the whippersnapper that you are - dared to stand up for your rights as a tax paying citizen. When those that make governmental decisions are influenced by personal vendettas and, when sophomoric behavior is the rule, ultimately the entire community loses.