Thursday, January 25, 2007
Oh, and by the way ...
... I have to say, Jeffrey responded much more graciously to my crime march-related slamming of him the other day that he really had to. He responds at length to the criticism of his position in his blog, and while I still don't agree, he defends himself well.
Library 2.0 -- it's on!!!
Just as I was talking about social software in libraries and the "next generation catalog," here comes SOPAC, the "Social OPAC," created by John Blyberg at the Ann Arbor District Library, which has all the very things I was talking about -- reviews, comments, tagging, customization, the works. Fabulous!
AADL is very cutting-edge on the 2.0 front -- their website has been blog-driven for a while, using blogs to advertise events, publicize new acquisitions and let the director talk to the citizens. It is a very supple, natural, yet dynamic website. And I daresay it was neither terribly expensive or difficult to create -- if you know some Web programming. These tools are designed to be easy, to be used and tweaked by ordinary users. This is not out of the reach of even modest libraries, if someone is willing to put the time in to learn the skillls. Or if the library is open to harnessing the native skills of its younger, more tech-savvy workers.
The SOPAC, of course, is more complicated, but it is built, as I understand it, with a set of customizable modules overlaying the catalog, and interacting with it to retrieve and display bib records. They did it themselves, by the way -- it is not a product of their automation vendor.
Another neat, very 2.0 thing about it is that you don't have to be an AADL cardholder to have a SOPAC account and add content. Anyone can register. So you can play aroud with it! Add tags! Write reviews!
That's what 2.0 is all about -- collaboration.
It's just super-cool. Watch the movie, too -- it's neat and very informative.
AADL is very cutting-edge on the 2.0 front -- their website has been blog-driven for a while, using blogs to advertise events, publicize new acquisitions and let the director talk to the citizens. It is a very supple, natural, yet dynamic website. And I daresay it was neither terribly expensive or difficult to create -- if you know some Web programming. These tools are designed to be easy, to be used and tweaked by ordinary users. This is not out of the reach of even modest libraries, if someone is willing to put the time in to learn the skillls. Or if the library is open to harnessing the native skills of its younger, more tech-savvy workers.
The SOPAC, of course, is more complicated, but it is built, as I understand it, with a set of customizable modules overlaying the catalog, and interacting with it to retrieve and display bib records. They did it themselves, by the way -- it is not a product of their automation vendor.
Another neat, very 2.0 thing about it is that you don't have to be an AADL cardholder to have a SOPAC account and add content. Anyone can register. So you can play aroud with it! Add tags! Write reviews!
That's what 2.0 is all about -- collaboration.
It's just super-cool. Watch the movie, too -- it's neat and very informative.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A nice Library 2.0 list for Public Libraries
My Top-ten Library 2.0 “No-brainers” for Public Libraries « The Other Librarian
This is a nice, easy list of simple -- mostly free -- things libraries can do to be more responsive and collaborative. Very simple things like having a blog with an RSS feed, allowing social software like YouTube to run on public access PCs, and adding the Del.icio.us plug-in to browsers, so patrons can tag on the fly.
I am all for this. As a minor webhead myself, I am all about Library 2.0. Why? Because it expands the capabilities of the library. Because, as patrons use and create with collaborative software, at their library, they become more engaged with the library itself, and become stakeholders, concerned and involved with the future of the library itself as an institution. That's the hope, anyway. Besides, it's just offering better service. And why not do that? It's free, it's easy, and it provides a useful servicefor patrons. What's not to like.
I look forward to going out into libraryland with my degree and being a "change agent," bringing these L 2.0 techniques to whatever library I end up in. It pleases me to think of returning to NOPL as a branch manager, and creating my own little Branch 2.0, doing gaming programming, and having regular patrons read my "branch manager blog." It pleaes me greatly. It is the only reason I might consider going back -- assuming that is possible.
This is a nice, easy list of simple -- mostly free -- things libraries can do to be more responsive and collaborative. Very simple things like having a blog with an RSS feed, allowing social software like YouTube to run on public access PCs, and adding the Del.icio.us plug-in to browsers, so patrons can tag on the fly.
I am all for this. As a minor webhead myself, I am all about Library 2.0. Why? Because it expands the capabilities of the library. Because, as patrons use and create with collaborative software, at their library, they become more engaged with the library itself, and become stakeholders, concerned and involved with the future of the library itself as an institution. That's the hope, anyway. Besides, it's just offering better service. And why not do that? It's free, it's easy, and it provides a useful servicefor patrons. What's not to like.
I look forward to going out into libraryland with my degree and being a "change agent," bringing these L 2.0 techniques to whatever library I end up in. It pleases me to think of returning to NOPL as a branch manager, and creating my own little Branch 2.0, doing gaming programming, and having regular patrons read my "branch manager blog." It pleaes me greatly. It is the only reason I might consider going back -- assuming that is possible.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
March on!
Somewhat out of the loop up here in Baton Rouge, I was enormously heartened to hear about the anti-crime march on City Hall. I think it will really have an effect. Angry people marching in the streets is really the only thing that inspires fat-cat politicos to action; it scares them, as it damn well should. And I absolutely LOVE the fact that Nagin was not permitted to speak at the rally!
And on a related topic, I feel I have to express my complete disgust at the anti-march stance taken by my former co-worker Jeffrey over at Library Chronicles. Jeffrey, I am appalled. You accuse the marchers of being Yuppies, of being crypto-fascists implicity endorsing the advent of a police state, of being racially insensitive because they are upset that it was a a white woman and mother, Helen Hill, who was murdered. But it is her family and friends who organized the march -- how should they not be upset? They are trying to do something, trying to effect change, address the issue. How can you censure them for that? At least they are trying something -- whereas you consistently sit back, criticize, belittle, and offer absolutely nothing in the way of constructive alternatives or options.
That is no longer good enough. Bitching and brick-throwing no longer cut it. Jeffrey, I used to read you every day, but as of today I am removing you from my blogroll. You are too negative. I feel you are now part of the problem, not the solution. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. But I don't have to read it.
And on a related topic, I feel I have to express my complete disgust at the anti-march stance taken by my former co-worker Jeffrey over at Library Chronicles. Jeffrey, I am appalled. You accuse the marchers of being Yuppies, of being crypto-fascists implicity endorsing the advent of a police state, of being racially insensitive because they are upset that it was a a white woman and mother, Helen Hill, who was murdered. But it is her family and friends who organized the march -- how should they not be upset? They are trying to do something, trying to effect change, address the issue. How can you censure them for that? At least they are trying something -- whereas you consistently sit back, criticize, belittle, and offer absolutely nothing in the way of constructive alternatives or options.
That is no longer good enough. Bitching and brick-throwing no longer cut it. Jeffrey, I used to read you every day, but as of today I am removing you from my blogroll. You are too negative. I feel you are now part of the problem, not the solution. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. But I don't have to read it.
Various fundies, wingnuts, and TV talking heads have been squawking about freshman Congressman Keith Ellison, a Muslim, taking his oath of office on a copy of the Quran, but for myself, this makes me proud to be an American.
Do you get it? Thomas Jefferson had a copy of the Quaran! Isn't that what America is all about, being open to the offerings of other cultures, taking the best of them and energizing them with America spirit and optimism? If TJ was open to studying the books of other religions, we can do no less.
I feel very happy for Keith Ellison that he had such a rare and precious volume to swear upon. The people who are upset and frightened by this are fools. They should be glad instead.
Do you get it? Thomas Jefferson had a copy of the Quaran! Isn't that what America is all about, being open to the offerings of other cultures, taking the best of them and energizing them with America spirit and optimism? If TJ was open to studying the books of other religions, we can do no less.
I feel very happy for Keith Ellison that he had such a rare and precious volume to swear upon. The people who are upset and frightened by this are fools. They should be glad instead.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Bloggitty Bloggitty Blog
Haven't had much time for blogging lately, as it is final exams time and I have been quite busy with homework.. I was stressing so over my research paper for Cataloging class that I actually made myself a little ill. I have really struggled in that class; I knew it would be hard, but I didn't think I would hate it so very, very much.
I crept onto campus to deliver my paper and beg off of the final class; it's a night class, and I didn't think I would last until 9 PM, and the wretched ride home after on the night bus.
"Oh, too bad," my Catalog prof said. "You would enjoy this class."
"What is it?"
"Cataloging of non-book materials."
"Oh. No, I wouldn't enjoy that. Let Ulrik have it; he's taking Advanced Cataloging."
"Yes, he is. And so should you."
I gaped at her. "Are you kidding? I'm hanging on in this class by the skin of my teeth!"
She waved her hands. "Oh, you're fine." (Well, I'm OK, once she delivered a giant heap of extra credit for us to do.)
"I don't know what your career path is ..." she continued.
"Public libraries."
"Oh, you should definitely take it then. You'll need it."
"Please don't say that ... you're scaring me."
"I'm telling you ..."
"But I hate it."
"Yes, you'll always hate descriptive cataloging. But that's OK. I hate it too."
You wouldn't know this from some of the, ahem, discussions we got into in class. I was quite sure she would be delighted to see the back of me.
"I feel faint," I said.
Sh brandished my research paper. "But you did your paper on Colon Classification. I mean you actually read it!"
"I have to go," I said, and I did.
Fear the proselytizing Catalogers! (Although, I have to say, my heart softened toward her after she made a fizzbin reference in class one day. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in class who got it, too.)
I crept onto campus to deliver my paper and beg off of the final class; it's a night class, and I didn't think I would last until 9 PM, and the wretched ride home after on the night bus.
"Oh, too bad," my Catalog prof said. "You would enjoy this class."
"What is it?"
"Cataloging of non-book materials."
"Oh. No, I wouldn't enjoy that. Let Ulrik have it; he's taking Advanced Cataloging."
"Yes, he is. And so should you."
I gaped at her. "Are you kidding? I'm hanging on in this class by the skin of my teeth!"
She waved her hands. "Oh, you're fine." (Well, I'm OK, once she delivered a giant heap of extra credit for us to do.)
"I don't know what your career path is ..." she continued.
"Public libraries."
"Oh, you should definitely take it then. You'll need it."
"Please don't say that ... you're scaring me."
"I'm telling you ..."
"But I hate it."
"Yes, you'll always hate descriptive cataloging. But that's OK. I hate it too."
You wouldn't know this from some of the, ahem, discussions we got into in class. I was quite sure she would be delighted to see the back of me.
"I feel faint," I said.
Sh brandished my research paper. "But you did your paper on Colon Classification. I mean you actually read it!"
"I have to go," I said, and I did.
Fear the proselytizing Catalogers! (Although, I have to say, my heart softened toward her after she made a fizzbin reference in class one day. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in class who got it, too.)
Friday, November 24, 2006
"It’s hard as hell to fight it, don’t buy it!"
On the way home from Thanksgiving dinner at my folk's we went by the CompUSA to see if we could pick up a Playstation 2 cheap. The store was open from 9 to midnight for early Christmas sales.
Well, when we got there the parking lot was full, giant SUVs parked on the curbs, and the line to get in ran down the building and aroud the corner. They were letting peoplein ten at a time or something.
No Playstation for us. Fine. No problem. But getting back on the expressway, we saw that the parking lot at Best Buy was also jammed full, even thought he store was closed. And then we saw them, the people, crouched under blankets, huddlingin line -- waiting at ten oclock at night for the store to open at 6 AM.
Now look, people, this is going too far! Eight hours in the dark and cold to buy some cheap swag? This is not right! It is sick, sick, sick! NO video game or HD TV or Bluetooth-enabled cellphone/MP3 player is worth this level of obsession. You're not doing this because you love your family and want to give them the best -- you're doing it becuase you want to pull one over on other people and buy cheap swag! It's FUCKED UP, people! Enough already!
Buy Nothing Day. Check it out!
Well, when we got there the parking lot was full, giant SUVs parked on the curbs, and the line to get in ran down the building and aroud the corner. They were letting peoplein ten at a time or something.
No Playstation for us. Fine. No problem. But getting back on the expressway, we saw that the parking lot at Best Buy was also jammed full, even thought he store was closed. And then we saw them, the people, crouched under blankets, huddlingin line -- waiting at ten oclock at night for the store to open at 6 AM.
Now look, people, this is going too far! Eight hours in the dark and cold to buy some cheap swag? This is not right! It is sick, sick, sick! NO video game or HD TV or Bluetooth-enabled cellphone/MP3 player is worth this level of obsession. You're not doing this because you love your family and want to give them the best -- you're doing it becuase you want to pull one over on other people and buy cheap swag! It's FUCKED UP, people! Enough already!
Buy Nothing Day. Check it out!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
OK, so who is this asshole Alan Richman who peforms a virtual second Katrina on the restauarants of New Orleans in the current GQ? It's Online here:
YES, WE’RE OPEN
He mercilessly disses everyone from Galatoire's to Jaque-Imo's, and casts doubt on the whole idea of rebuilding the city at all, even while surveying the devastation of Gentilly as he eats a po-boy from Zimmer's Seafood. Unbelievable! He also characterizes pre-Katrina New Orleans as a joyless theme park, while making the usual inaccurate outsider's errors, such as assuming the people stumbling still-drunk and blinking from the Bourbon Street bars in the morning are locals, not touristas (or contractors as the case may be now.)
It is just a horrible, horrible culinary poison-pen hatchet job. A sample:
What's so infuriating about it is that this Richman is obviously the kind of smug East Coast hipster who ought to get New Orleans, but he doesn't. Doesn't have a freakin' clue. Thinks he does, but man, does he not.
New Orleans, unique among Soujthern cities, was never much for mealy-mouthed nicey-niceness, but for once I have to follow the moonlight-and-magnolias line: If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.
Thanks to the AV Club's Hater for the heads-up.
YES, WE’RE OPEN
He mercilessly disses everyone from Galatoire's to Jaque-Imo's, and casts doubt on the whole idea of rebuilding the city at all, even while surveying the devastation of Gentilly as he eats a po-boy from Zimmer's Seafood. Unbelievable! He also characterizes pre-Katrina New Orleans as a joyless theme park, while making the usual inaccurate outsider's errors, such as assuming the people stumbling still-drunk and blinking from the Bourbon Street bars in the morning are locals, not touristas (or contractors as the case may be now.)
It is just a horrible, horrible culinary poison-pen hatchet job. A sample:
I think people either take to the city or they do not. They buy into the romance, or they abhor the decadence. I know where I stand.
New Orleans was always a three-day stubble of a city, and now, courtesy of Katrina, it’s more like five. The situation is worse, of course, in the devastated areas, where the floodwaters and the winds did their work. I know we are supposed to salvage what’s left of the city, but what exactly is it that we’re trying to cherish and preserve? I hope it’s not the French Quarter, which has evolved into a illogical mix of characterless housing, elegant antiques stores, and scuzzy bars, a destination for tourists seeking the worst possible experience. The entertainment values are only marginally superior to those of Tijuana, Mexico.
What's so infuriating about it is that this Richman is obviously the kind of smug East Coast hipster who ought to get New Orleans, but he doesn't. Doesn't have a freakin' clue. Thinks he does, but man, does he not.
New Orleans, unique among Soujthern cities, was never much for mealy-mouthed nicey-niceness, but for once I have to follow the moonlight-and-magnolias line: If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all.
Thanks to the AV Club's Hater for the heads-up.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Sucks to Be You , Rummy
I can't say I care for Donald Rumsfeld's intimation during his farewell press conference that the American public is too dumb to understand what's going on in Iraq:
The great respect that I have for your leadership, Mr. President, in this little understood, unfamiliar war, the first war of the 21st century -- it is not well-known, it was not well-understood, it is complex for people to comprehend. And I know, with certainty, that over time the contributions you've made will be recorded by history.
WhatEVER. You're still history, buddy.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Back to Hell Again, Sort Of
I suppose I would be remiss if I did not follow the rest of the Nolabloggers and comment on Chris Rose's recent column, To Hell and Back. It is about his depression in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Some people have been sympathetic, others, not so much.
My take? I appreciate Oyster's comment that the column neglects the ontological aspects of depression. (Depressed? After Hurricane Katrina? You have to take a pill for that?)
But given that, I have to say, give the guy a break! He ate, slept and breathed Hurricane Katrina for more than a year. That would make anyone clinically depressed!
Indeed, I know people, plenty of people, people who emerged basically unscathed, who are still just crushed by sadness, by all the tragedy. By the loss of the city. The survival of your own house fades into insignificance next to the loss of 1000,000 houses, and the families they represent.
I wonder whether Rose's depression could not have been treated as well by a long sabbatical in the country, by getting away from New Orleans and forgetting for a while, by good food and enough sleep.
But in the end, I just can't say. It's not my business. It's not my disease, not my treatment. It's just none of my business.
I saw Rose at the Louisiana Book Festival, and he was animated and happy to be there. So his treatment is working. That is a good thing. It would just be spiteful to hate on a guy for not being depressed anymore.
As to his alleged douchebaggery, meh, I don't really have an opinion. He is what he is. He does what he does. He seems to be reaching people beyond south Louisiiana, so that is good. Keep the recovery in the public eye, because we are not OK.
I can't fault anyone for breaking down from the strain of POKSS, or for seeking help. We all need help. I wish him well.
Some people have been sympathetic, others, not so much.
My take? I appreciate Oyster's comment that the column neglects the ontological aspects of depression. (Depressed? After Hurricane Katrina? You have to take a pill for that?)
But given that, I have to say, give the guy a break! He ate, slept and breathed Hurricane Katrina for more than a year. That would make anyone clinically depressed!
Indeed, I know people, plenty of people, people who emerged basically unscathed, who are still just crushed by sadness, by all the tragedy. By the loss of the city. The survival of your own house fades into insignificance next to the loss of 1000,000 houses, and the families they represent.
I wonder whether Rose's depression could not have been treated as well by a long sabbatical in the country, by getting away from New Orleans and forgetting for a while, by good food and enough sleep.
But in the end, I just can't say. It's not my business. It's not my disease, not my treatment. It's just none of my business.
I saw Rose at the Louisiana Book Festival, and he was animated and happy to be there. So his treatment is working. That is a good thing. It would just be spiteful to hate on a guy for not being depressed anymore.
As to his alleged douchebaggery, meh, I don't really have an opinion. He is what he is. He does what he does. He seems to be reaching people beyond south Louisiiana, so that is good. Keep the recovery in the public eye, because we are not OK.
I can't fault anyone for breaking down from the strain of POKSS, or for seeking help. We all need help. I wish him well.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
On the lighter side ...
Some emails from reader's I've received have let me know that this blog is coming across as pretty damn bleak, and going back and reading it in its entirety, I can see that it certainly is. Not my intent, but since I began it in the period shortly before the one-year anniversary of Katrina, it's no wonder.
But let me assure you that all is not doom and gloom, either in my own life, or in New Orleans itself. For example, take a look at this video from YouTube:
I love this video! It cracks me up. I watch it when I am feeling down about the recovery, or my situation. It actually makes me feel better about the recovery. That everything is going to be all right. There is just something so hilarious and beautiful about this pasty, sunburned, fat white man, dancng in the ruins of New Orleans. dancing in front of a house whose door is hanging wide open, because it's so fucking wrecked that it doesn't even matter if anyone breaks in -- there's nothing to steal, and if anyone trashed the place, no matter how hard they tried, they could not measurably impair the state of the house. (My house's door is hanging open right now too.) Dancing in the waist-highh weeds, dancing ... in a neighborhood that could be my own (although I think it's Lakeview) ...
It's hard to describe the rush of incredulous laughter and unexpected, perverse joy I got when I first saw this video. It is so RIDICULOUS, and yet so right. I laughed my head off, and so did my husband.
You see, this is New Orleans! This is what the city is about -- not the houses, not the buildings, the business or the tourist trade, but the people and their spirit. And this is why we will prevail in the end -- white and black, rich and poor, Catholic and Pagan and Voodoo. Because New Orleanians love life! If the storm has wrecked your city and the flood has destroyed your home, what else is there to do but dance, dance! Dancing in the ruins -- in a way, that is what New Orleans has always been about.
There's no drowning the spirit, baby!
The video is by EndlessJoe, the dancer is CaptainPepito, and the music is by DJ Kool. Rock on! Laissez les bon temps roulez!
But let me assure you that all is not doom and gloom, either in my own life, or in New Orleans itself. For example, take a look at this video from YouTube:
I love this video! It cracks me up. I watch it when I am feeling down about the recovery, or my situation. It actually makes me feel better about the recovery. That everything is going to be all right. There is just something so hilarious and beautiful about this pasty, sunburned, fat white man, dancng in the ruins of New Orleans. dancing in front of a house whose door is hanging wide open, because it's so fucking wrecked that it doesn't even matter if anyone breaks in -- there's nothing to steal, and if anyone trashed the place, no matter how hard they tried, they could not measurably impair the state of the house. (My house's door is hanging open right now too.) Dancing in the waist-highh weeds, dancing ... in a neighborhood that could be my own (although I think it's Lakeview) ...
It's hard to describe the rush of incredulous laughter and unexpected, perverse joy I got when I first saw this video. It is so RIDICULOUS, and yet so right. I laughed my head off, and so did my husband.
You see, this is New Orleans! This is what the city is about -- not the houses, not the buildings, the business or the tourist trade, but the people and their spirit. And this is why we will prevail in the end -- white and black, rich and poor, Catholic and Pagan and Voodoo. Because New Orleanians love life! If the storm has wrecked your city and the flood has destroyed your home, what else is there to do but dance, dance! Dancing in the ruins -- in a way, that is what New Orleans has always been about.
There's no drowning the spirit, baby!
The video is by EndlessJoe, the dancer is CaptainPepito, and the music is by DJ Kool. Rock on! Laissez les bon temps roulez!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Still Truckin'
I have updated my GA Journal. I am beginning to learn how to give formal instructional sessions, which is a huge part of academic librarianship these days.
In other news, I have been reading Nola.com a lot lately, and am upset and frightened by the horrendous crime wave that is occurring in New Orleans lately. It is like the bad old days of 1994, when the yearly murder rate stood above 400, and New Orleans was undisputably the "Murder Capital of the United States." But with the population of the city so much less now than it was then -- less than 200,000 people by last count -- I would say it's actually, objectively worse. I am concerned about my parents down there, and my husband, still living in one of the devastated areas. For myself, I'm glad I'm in Baton Rouge right now.
Hopefully the recet dismissal of revolving-door judge Elloie will put some brakes on the crime spree. His was just another example of the lack of leadership that has plagued the city throughout the recovery effort.
I really struggle with the idea of returning to New Orleans after I finish my degree. There are good reasons to return, and just as good ones to "shake the dust of [that] crummy little town off my feet" and never, never return. The good reasons are: my family is there; all my friends are there; making a difference by contributing to the rebuilding, and; it is home after all.
The bad reasons are: why go to all this struggle and sacrifice just to go creeping back to my old life; the recovery is not going well; News Orleans will never be what it was; it is still lacking in economic and professional opportunity, and; it is a crummy little town after all.
I love New Orleans, don't ever say I don't. I love it with all my heart. Seeing the city ruined, the people scattered, has been a nightmare, a kind of living death. I grieve for the dead and for the city ruined. But having lost everything, I want to create a good, new life for myself and my husband now. That is why I am in school after all, trying to better myself, trying to take something positive out of this horiffic catastrophe. And I suspect I can do a better job of that somewhere else, than in ruined, staggering, broken New Orleans.
It kills me to say that. N.O. loyalists would call me a traitor, a weakling, and they might be right. I greatly admire people like Mark Folse -- expatriates who've come home and are struggling to rebuild their hometown. But as heroic as that is -- they didn't live it. They didn't flee with the clothes on their back and live a gypsy's life for months while the city lay submerged and off-limits. They don't wake from dreams of drowning in their own house, struggling to climb the attic ladder as the cold lakewater sucks at their legs and thighs. They don't know who lived in the houses with the numbers in the search tags.
You know, I'm just tired. I want it all to be over. When I graduate, I want to get a good job where I can put to use all the things I'm learning in library school, buy a nice house, and live in a community where I can shop and go to the movies and run errands without it being a major operation. I want a future.
It's almost a year still until I graduate. A year from now, I might find those things in New Orleans. But i don't know, I don't know. A fresh start -- is that so much to ask?
In other news, I have been reading Nola.com a lot lately, and am upset and frightened by the horrendous crime wave that is occurring in New Orleans lately. It is like the bad old days of 1994, when the yearly murder rate stood above 400, and New Orleans was undisputably the "Murder Capital of the United States." But with the population of the city so much less now than it was then -- less than 200,000 people by last count -- I would say it's actually, objectively worse. I am concerned about my parents down there, and my husband, still living in one of the devastated areas. For myself, I'm glad I'm in Baton Rouge right now.
Hopefully the recet dismissal of revolving-door judge Elloie will put some brakes on the crime spree. His was just another example of the lack of leadership that has plagued the city throughout the recovery effort.
I really struggle with the idea of returning to New Orleans after I finish my degree. There are good reasons to return, and just as good ones to "shake the dust of [that] crummy little town off my feet" and never, never return. The good reasons are: my family is there; all my friends are there; making a difference by contributing to the rebuilding, and; it is home after all.
The bad reasons are: why go to all this struggle and sacrifice just to go creeping back to my old life; the recovery is not going well; News Orleans will never be what it was; it is still lacking in economic and professional opportunity, and; it is a crummy little town after all.
I love New Orleans, don't ever say I don't. I love it with all my heart. Seeing the city ruined, the people scattered, has been a nightmare, a kind of living death. I grieve for the dead and for the city ruined. But having lost everything, I want to create a good, new life for myself and my husband now. That is why I am in school after all, trying to better myself, trying to take something positive out of this horiffic catastrophe. And I suspect I can do a better job of that somewhere else, than in ruined, staggering, broken New Orleans.
It kills me to say that. N.O. loyalists would call me a traitor, a weakling, and they might be right. I greatly admire people like Mark Folse -- expatriates who've come home and are struggling to rebuild their hometown. But as heroic as that is -- they didn't live it. They didn't flee with the clothes on their back and live a gypsy's life for months while the city lay submerged and off-limits. They don't wake from dreams of drowning in their own house, struggling to climb the attic ladder as the cold lakewater sucks at their legs and thighs. They don't know who lived in the houses with the numbers in the search tags.
You know, I'm just tired. I want it all to be over. When I graduate, I want to get a good job where I can put to use all the things I'm learning in library school, buy a nice house, and live in a community where I can shop and go to the movies and run errands without it being a major operation. I want a future.
It's almost a year still until I graduate. A year from now, I might find those things in New Orleans. But i don't know, I don't know. A fresh start -- is that so much to ask?
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Library 2.0 Redux
I enjoy this hit I just got from the famous Library 2.0 Idea Generator: embrace the biblioblogosphere using a folksonomy.
Well, you'd have to, wouldn't you?
And this one from the whiteboard: rant about your library and call it a ''Rich User Experience."
Yes, we should unload on patrons and they should thank us for it!
Ha, ha, just kidding, potential employers!
Seriously ... just kidding. Irony! Irony!
Well, you'd have to, wouldn't you?
And this one from the whiteboard: rant about your library and call it a ''Rich User Experience."
Yes, we should unload on patrons and they should thank us for it!
Ha, ha, just kidding, potential employers!
Seriously ... just kidding. Irony! Irony!
100 Days
Here from the Times-Picayune is the official assessment of Mayor Nagin's "100 Days:"
Nagin says city making progress
To quote,
But the things they cite as their "accomplishments" are things like the trash being picked up more frequently. Which is nice as far as it goes, but people in the devastated areas still don't have reliable electricity or phone service. People still don't have houses! And the displaced working poor are still displaced, in cities like Houston where they are rapidly wearing out their welcomes.
The whole thing has been a huge disappointment. The joke around town has been, Hey, Ray, a 100-day plan means you do stuff in the first 100 days, not take 100 days to come up with a plan. I thinks it's safe to say nothing has really been accomplished.
Not that I expected anything from him at this point, but a lot of people did.
It's a bad sign.
People are also extremely frustrated with the nightmarishly bureaucratic Road Home, to which you have to apply with an extremely long, complex and number-heavy application before you can get in to see anyone or even really talk to anyone one the phone. It turns out the "applications" people filled out online months ago were really just "registrations" and generated no useful effects except maybe to give the LRA some rough idea of the numbers of people who have been applying.
It's just all very discouraging, and I'm worried. About six months ago the scuttlebutt was about people moving back into the city: evacuees who swore they would never return coming home after all, and expatriates like Mark Folse moving home to take a stand and try to save their city.
But now, I'm starting to hear about people giving up and moving away. The rebuilding hassles, the spotty electricity, the outrageous spike in the cost of living, the rising crime rate -- some people have just had it. It's so sad. It doesn't have to be that way. Another New Orleans is possible.
There is a Recall Nagin movement afoot. I'm not sure that's the right move at this point, or in fact if it is even legally possible. But someone needs to hold his feet to the fire. 100 days of nothing still equals ... nothing.
Nagin says city making progress
To quote,
"While committees on topics ranging from health care to repopulation met during the past few months, neither Nagin nor any of his advisers hinted Tuesday at any major change in direction for the city. Much of the progress they touted sounded more like the return of a hobbled government to some level of functionality than the realization of a bold new vision.
As Nagin put it: 'The key question is, is New Orleans in a better position today than it was 100 days ago. And my conclusion is that we are.'"
But the things they cite as their "accomplishments" are things like the trash being picked up more frequently. Which is nice as far as it goes, but people in the devastated areas still don't have reliable electricity or phone service. People still don't have houses! And the displaced working poor are still displaced, in cities like Houston where they are rapidly wearing out their welcomes.
The whole thing has been a huge disappointment. The joke around town has been, Hey, Ray, a 100-day plan means you do stuff in the first 100 days, not take 100 days to come up with a plan. I thinks it's safe to say nothing has really been accomplished.
Not that I expected anything from him at this point, but a lot of people did.
It's a bad sign.
People are also extremely frustrated with the nightmarishly bureaucratic Road Home, to which you have to apply with an extremely long, complex and number-heavy application before you can get in to see anyone or even really talk to anyone one the phone. It turns out the "applications" people filled out online months ago were really just "registrations" and generated no useful effects except maybe to give the LRA some rough idea of the numbers of people who have been applying.
It's just all very discouraging, and I'm worried. About six months ago the scuttlebutt was about people moving back into the city: evacuees who swore they would never return coming home after all, and expatriates like Mark Folse moving home to take a stand and try to save their city.
But now, I'm starting to hear about people giving up and moving away. The rebuilding hassles, the spotty electricity, the outrageous spike in the cost of living, the rising crime rate -- some people have just had it. It's so sad. It doesn't have to be that way. Another New Orleans is possible.
There is a Recall Nagin movement afoot. I'm not sure that's the right move at this point, or in fact if it is even legally possible. But someone needs to hold his feet to the fire. 100 days of nothing still equals ... nothing.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Truckin
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But the fact is, I don't feel much like celebrating or comemorating it. For me now, my life is about struggling to move on, not look back. In a way, for people like us who have been displaced, Hurricane Katrina has never really ended. It is still going on.
This is certainly true in New Orleans proper -- where there are not enough hospitals, not enough schools, where whole neighborhoods still don't have phone sevice, where two-thirds of the potable water in the sytem leaks out before it can be delivered, where the power still goes out every time it rains. And where the levees are still not fully repaired. Make no mistake, New Orleans is not OK. There is still a long, long way to go. Even in the Sliver by the River, life in the one-time City That Care Forgot grinds you down. This month I had my Mom come up and spend a few days with me in Baton Rouge, because she was getting so depressed, and she lives well Uptown; her home never flooded.
Normally I am no fan of supressing your emotions -- I feel the only way to deal with them, is to feel them fully. But in this situation, I see no point in dragging up all the grief and anger about the destruction of my home and may way of life, about the dead, the lost, and the city ruined. That grief, that loss is so huge, that I think if I give into it, it will consume me. I will never stop mourning. Never stop crying. It is too vast. I think this is why people obsessed over their missing pets so much -- that loss, that small loss in the face of so much death and desctruction, was something they could handle, a grief they could encompass. A way to express, yet contain the grief. It was just a dog or a cat, after all. Not a wife, not a parent. A child. A universe.
So I can't go there. If I think about evrything I have lost, how alone I am up here, I will just fall apart. No. I have to keep going forward, try and build a future. One lonely day at a time. The New Orleans of August 28, 2005 is gone forever. Whether here or there, we can only move forward. We have to keep on truckin. Like Scarlett O'Hara said, Don't look back. The past will only drag you down.
This is certainly true in New Orleans proper -- where there are not enough hospitals, not enough schools, where whole neighborhoods still don't have phone sevice, where two-thirds of the potable water in the sytem leaks out before it can be delivered, where the power still goes out every time it rains. And where the levees are still not fully repaired. Make no mistake, New Orleans is not OK. There is still a long, long way to go. Even in the Sliver by the River, life in the one-time City That Care Forgot grinds you down. This month I had my Mom come up and spend a few days with me in Baton Rouge, because she was getting so depressed, and she lives well Uptown; her home never flooded.
Normally I am no fan of supressing your emotions -- I feel the only way to deal with them, is to feel them fully. But in this situation, I see no point in dragging up all the grief and anger about the destruction of my home and may way of life, about the dead, the lost, and the city ruined. That grief, that loss is so huge, that I think if I give into it, it will consume me. I will never stop mourning. Never stop crying. It is too vast. I think this is why people obsessed over their missing pets so much -- that loss, that small loss in the face of so much death and desctruction, was something they could handle, a grief they could encompass. A way to express, yet contain the grief. It was just a dog or a cat, after all. Not a wife, not a parent. A child. A universe.
So I can't go there. If I think about evrything I have lost, how alone I am up here, I will just fall apart. No. I have to keep going forward, try and build a future. One lonely day at a time. The New Orleans of August 28, 2005 is gone forever. Whether here or there, we can only move forward. We have to keep on truckin. Like Scarlett O'Hara said, Don't look back. The past will only drag you down.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Katrina Anniversary Update
Oh, and in NOLA news, it seems City Hall has scaled back its official Katrina observances, due to a firestorm of criticism about its glitzy, convention-esque functions. No more Charity Jewels Auction or Platinum Gala. This is a good thing.
See if someone is organizing an observance in your own neighborhood. That would be more appropriate, I think. The civic association for Gentilly, my old neighborhood, is organizing a service at the London Avenue Canal, the breach in which destroyed the neighborhood. It will be hard, but good. Much better than some phony parade.
See if someone is organizing an observance in your own neighborhood. That would be more appropriate, I think. The civic association for Gentilly, my old neighborhood, is organizing a service at the London Avenue Canal, the breach in which destroyed the neighborhood. It will be hard, but good. Much better than some phony parade.
LITA
Today I joined the Library and Information Technology Association (lita.org), a division of ALA that concentrates, appropriately enough, on the use of information technology in libraries. In the past it concentrated on things like integrated library systems and retrospective conversion, but today it is mostly concerned with the use of the Internet and Web in libraries, a topic I am very interested in myself. It also covers Library education and technical issues such as authority control and Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information (MARBI).
My favorite committee is the Top Technology Trends Committee, which tracks and educates about emerging trends in library technology. They have a good webpage compiling information, available to the public, about new developments in IT. Check out their pages on blogging and folksonomies, for example.
Unfortunately, I sort of missed the LITA conference this year. It takes place before and during ALA Annual, which I did attend this year as it was in New Orleans, but at that time I was not aware of LITA and so did not seek out any of its events. I may have stumbled across some, but frankly I don't remember -- so much stuff goes on at Annual it is hard to keep it straight. A very similar experience to the World Science Fiction Convention, which I attended in 2000. Fun but exhausting.
My favorite committee is the Top Technology Trends Committee, which tracks and educates about emerging trends in library technology. They have a good webpage compiling information, available to the public, about new developments in IT. Check out their pages on blogging and folksonomies, for example.
Unfortunately, I sort of missed the LITA conference this year. It takes place before and during ALA Annual, which I did attend this year as it was in New Orleans, but at that time I was not aware of LITA and so did not seek out any of its events. I may have stumbled across some, but frankly I don't remember -- so much stuff goes on at Annual it is hard to keep it straight. A very similar experience to the World Science Fiction Convention, which I attended in 2000. Fun but exhausting.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I have updated my GA Journal.
I would be intersted in hearing anyone's thoughts on the Spike Lee documantary about Katrina, When the Levees Broke. I don't have HBO so was unable to see it. I hope it becomes available on Netflix soon.
I would be intersted in hearing anyone's thoughts on the Spike Lee documantary about Katrina, When the Levees Broke. I don't have HBO so was unable to see it. I hope it becomes available on Netflix soon.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Library 2.0 Nirvana
I have to say, this is pretty funny:
The Library 2.0 Generator
My favorite commandment was, "Attract Walt Crawford and reach Library 2.0 Nirvana overnight."
Although I have to look up Walt Crawford now.
The Library 2.0 Generator
My favorite commandment was, "Attract Walt Crawford and reach Library 2.0 Nirvana overnight."
Although I have to look up Walt Crawford now.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Katrina Dinner
This is a splendid idea:
http://www.katrinadinner2006.com/
A memorial supper on the anniversary of Katrina for still-distant New Orleans refugees. It's based on the form of the Jewish Passover seder, with some distinctive New Orleans touches. Menus and New Orleans-themed playlist included.
People actually in New Orleans could do it too.
This is way better than a "Diamond and Platinum Gala" and a phony jazz funeral.
http://www.katrinadinner2006.com/
A memorial supper on the anniversary of Katrina for still-distant New Orleans refugees. It's based on the form of the Jewish Passover seder, with some distinctive New Orleans touches. Menus and New Orleans-themed playlist included.
People actually in New Orleans could do it too.
This is way better than a "Diamond and Platinum Gala" and a phony jazz funeral.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)