Storms from the 34th Floor of a Toronto Hotel, May 9, 2009

May 3, 2009: More on the beauty of the game.

Game: May 3, 2009,
Tigers vs Cleveland Indians
Score: 3-1 Tigers
Game time temperature: 66
Attendance:27,411
2hrs 37 minutes
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Biggie Bagel





When I first started going to baseball with D in 1992, I have to admit much of the appeal of baseball for me was pure aesthetics. I loved sitting up high and watching the perfect balance of players on the field. I loved the red earth, the green grass, the white of the lines, and the expanse of sky above. At the time I longed for a camera but was content enough to compose shots in my mind. Now I never go to a ball game without a camera: I still can't get over the beauty of park and the game.

When we first started going to Tigers games, we generally sat in the 320 range which gave me that beautiful, expansive view of the skyline and the field. Our partial season tickets are 13 rows up from the field between the first baseman and the right fielder. Though I often miss the view from the 300s, this space gives me a different angle on the game and I've learned to like what it offers. Last week I purchased a new lens for the camera and I'm pretty excited about that. Here are some photos to celebrate the beauty of the game and the arrival of the new lens (thanks PWM!) Oh, and here's Biggie Bagel with the new lens; he looks mighty fine!

April 29, 2009: Why it's a beautiful game

Game: April 29, 2009, Tigers vs Yankees
Score: 8-6 Yankees
Game time temperature: 51o
Attendance: 28,345
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Dashing Donut

2hrs 57 mins

At 9:44 PM, it was the bottom of the 8th inning.  I took this photograph of a nearly empty ballpark and told Dale "I'm going to call this 'O ye of little faith.'"  D nodded but noted, "There's an inning left and they're down 7 runs."  "True, but you never know."  Indeed, you never know.  This is why this is a beautiful game.



The ninth inning began with Cabrera getting a walk.  Guillen follows and gets a double.  Laird strikes out.  Inge gets a double and scores two runs. 8-3.  Anderson strikes out. The second out.  Santiago gets a single. The guys in front of us put on their rally caps. The Yankees get nervous. Curtis steps up, hits it out of the park and scores 3 runs.  The rally cap guys hug each other.  8-6. Still only 2 outs. They could do it.  Polanco pops it to 2nd base and gets the final out.  The Tigers lose by 2 runs.  Still, they almost did it.  And this is why it's a beautiful, beautiful game.

Orange Prize Shortlist

One of my favourite literary prizes is the Orange Prize for Fiction. They just released the shortlist and the winner will be announced June 3. Here's the list. Sadly, your local academic library is at year-end so your friendly neighbourhood English librarian won't be able to order these for many weeks. WPL has two right now.

Scottsboro
Ellen Feldman

The Wilderness
Samantha Harvey

The Invention of Everything Else
Samantha Hunt

Molly Fox's Birthday
Deirdre Madden

Home
Marilynne Robinson

Burnt Shadows
Kamila Shamsie

Over the past few years, I've encountered some of my favourite new authors through the Orange Prize longlist and short list. If you're looking for something new to read, both lists are great starts. Also, check out previous winners and previous shortlists.

Read (and loved): Moby Dick

Last month I was surprised to learn that there are few things more likely to start a conversation than reading Moby Dick on a plane. In carting Moby Dick across the continent and back, I've realized that this is one of the few books that almost everyone has an opinion on whether they've read it or not. It's also a book whose mere presence seems to strike fear into the hearts and minds of the general public. I saw in my plane-mates many of the same feelings I had about the book: fear, dread, and an almost morbid curiosity about why someone would want to read this for (ahem?) fun.

Here's a small sampling of the comments I received:

"How is it the second time?"
"Gee... they sure don't write them like that anymore, do they? Probably a good thing, eh?"
"What's wrong with you? Did you fail highschool? Is that why they're making you read that again?"
"Are you reading that because you want to or you have to? Want to? Whoooaa..."
"You know they have Cliff Notes for that, don't you?"
"I can lend you my Ken Follett if you want. Look, short chapters!"

One wintery night, my lovely friend J and I talked about Moby Dick. We were also talking about baseball and how it seemed like Opening Day would never arrive. I'm not entirely certain how it all came about but somehow he convinced me that I needed to re-read Moby Dick. Perhaps to sweeten the deal, he said, "If you start Moby Dick the first week of March, by the time you finish it, it's opening day!" And so, for reasons I still don't understand, I agreed that on the first of March, I would start Moby Dick. "Ohhh you're in for a treat," he said. "We'll see..." I replied dubiously.

In the first week of March, I tucked Moby into my briefcase in preparation for my trip. I grumbled online to J about its heft and my inability to fit another book in my bag. I made J swear I wouldn't hate him if, on his advice, Moby was the only book I brought on my cross-country flight: "You won't hate it. I promise. You know," he said with a significant pause, "you sure complain a lot for someone who is about to receive a fantastic gift." He was right. I decided to leave my feelings about Melville and the book at home and start anew.

I don't think we'd even left the airport when I realized how wrong I had been to grumble about Moby. By the end of the first 10 pages, I was hooked. I read it through our delay, I read it standing in line to board, I read it through take-off, I read it through turbulence, I read it across 3 time zones. I even read the Cetology chapters.

Even though I found evidence in the margins that I had read it 15 years ago, this seemed like an entirely different book from the one I appear to have read. In its pages I found some of the most evocative prose I'd seen in a very long time. Many times I was tempted to elbow my aisle seat neighbour and say "check out this sentence: 'We are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water. . .'" or "Check this out: 'Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed'" or "read this paragraph at the top of page 104. Isn't it stunning?" It really was a remarkable book and a fantastic read.

Moby Dick is, I think, one of those books that I thought I knew. I see I knew it only by a reputation I mistrusted and by memories of reading it with the sole purpose of negotiating it in a comprehensive exam or a job interview. It's a different book when you read it away from all the reasons that we are supposed to read it: it's a classic, it's important, it's on the exam. I think I liked it because J told me to read it "because you will like it." J was right: I was given a fantastic gift and was wrong to grumble. And wrong to doubt Herman. I am sorry. "Wonderfullest things are ever the unmentionable" (88).

Read (and loved):Museum Behind the Scenes at the Metrpolitan Museum of Art

Every once and a while, I am found by the perfect book exactly when I need it. This time it was Danny Danzinger's Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it found me during our last few hours in NYC in February. We had just left the Met for our second visit in two days and I had a hard time leaving.

At 11:30, I realized I had 30 minutes before I had to leave. I was standing outside the European Paintings Galleries staring at my map trying to decide which way to go. A gentle security guard approached me and asked if I needed directions. I said "I have thirty minutes before I have to leave for the airport and I'm trying to decide if I should spend it looking at work I already love or if I should try to find something new I might love." He smiled, looked around and said, "Well...I'm guessing you already have artists you love. And if you only have 30 minutes, I think you should pick the one you want to see most and then go see that. That's what I would do. Here, this is for you." He reached into his jacket pocket and handed me a detailed floor plan with all the European artists and their locations noted. It was exactly what I needed.

I thanked him and scanned the plan. It was a hard decision but I decided to pick based on where I would most like to be transported to on this grey, snowy, final day of a too short holiday. The warmth of Botticelli seemed exactly what I needed and so I went off to Gallery 4A, and wandered blissfully through sunny scenes of Italy until I found the lovely Botticelli. My 30 minutes was up before I knew it. I set out to find my security guard and thank him for what he'd given me but he was nowhere to be seen. Had I been able to find him, I sure he wouldn't have been surprised to hear that I left that gallery somehow transformed by what I had seen. I am sure it happens almost every minute at the Met.
Soon after we left the Met, I picked up Danzinger's book at Posman Books in Grand Central. As the blurb describes:" In the fifty-two interviews in Museum, we meet some of the people who have given their lives to making the Met the success that it is. We are introduced to curators with endless knowledge who look after the collections; as well as cleaners; florists; police and security staff who maintain and secure the building; plus the philanthropists and millionaires who donate their money for new and wonderful art works"

Reading it has seemed like a decadent treat over the past few weeks. Every time I pick it up, it puts me back in the galleries and shows me something new. I have many favourite parts but this section from Harold Holzer, Senior VP for External Affairs, stands out: "The Museum's for the obvious things, education and illumination, but it's also about a part of life that's to do with creativity and not about strife and conflict. I think it's a way to leave the hurly-burly of the present and to be absolutely transported by visions of beauty or reverence on a scale that we don't experience anymore today, tragically, and to see how all that passion can be focused on something beautiful and extraordinary" (95). What I loved about this book is how many times people say "I can't believe how lucky I am to have this job" or "I can't believe they pay me to do this amazing job." The passion for the Met runs through every page and I now have a list of things I really want to see next time I'm there. And I still have my map tucked into the pages of this fantastic book.

April 15: Jackie Robinson Day

Game: April 15, 2009, Tigers vs White Sox
Score: 9-0 Tigers
Game time temperature: 48o
Attendance: 20,212
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Cuppie Coffee

April 12, 2009

Game: April 12, 2009, Tigers vs Rangers
Score: 6-4 Tigers
Game time temperature: 54
Attendance: 18,905
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Dashing Donut

Today was one of those days when I realized what a beautiful, beautiful game this is. 4-0 Rangers at the bottom of the 8th: a HR from Inge starts off the inning and, as they say, "we have ourselves a ballgame." The Tigers win 6-4.

The 2.0 Haiku: A month of Facebook SU's

Heidi is singing "hey la, hey la, my boyfriends are back"

Heidi doesn't think it's a good sign when neither she nor her friend can answer the question "is this the band or the sound check?"

Heidi is a lot like Piers Plowman, apparently

Heidi wonders why the bigger the store, the more guys there are who look like D.

Heidi wonders if "do you have a stapler I could borrow?" counts as a reference query.

Heidi is reading an article that starts: "There's an old cliche that librarians are dusty, spinsterish women in twin sets and granny glasses shushing patrons who turn their pages too loudly."

Heidi wonders if she is alone in a library and no one asks her questions, is she still a librarian?

Heidi sounded her barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world and it sounded like this: "Woohoo!! Currtiiissss!!!!"

Heidi can't wait to see Curtis, Mr Van Slyke, her favourite scorecard vendor and veggie dogs

Heidi was going to get to Comerica early on Sunday to hide eggs in the outfield for Curtis but thought better of it.

Heidi does not have Amy Winehouse's beehive...

Heidi's new research project has given her hives... seriously

Heidi is not angry because you mentioned she's an actor

Heidi is unpredictable as weather. She's as flighty as a feather. She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb!

Heidi just had a V8 and thought "Drat. I could have had a chocolate croissant!"

Heidi wonders if that burly cro-magnon dude who, last Opening Day, explained to his pal that garden burgers were "some of that vegetarian bull*&^%..." will be as gleeful as she is that they have veggie dogs at Comerica. She guesses "yes!"

Heidi says OMG OMG OMG!!! They have veggie dogs at Comerica this year!!!! All those letters I sent under DB's name sure paid off! Woooo!!!

Heidi dares to disturb the universe....

Heidi finished Moby Dick! Wow…

Heidi is going to change all her business cards to say "University of Windsor Castle" and change the logo to a little corgi

Heidi is, according to MR, "ruthlessly clever" and evidence that the world does NOT do his will. Ah... Scrabble....

Heidi just answered "uh... yeah.. sometimes..." to the question "Hey, I don't see your husband around much anymore. Do you?"
·
Heidi is trying to decide whether she should try to finish her "difficult third album" or go get a coffee.

Heidi is having one of those moments where she's hoping her friends are sending her fake emails trying to get her to buy fake books. The other scenario is that these are real novels. This scares her.

Heidi is listening to Said the Whale and preparing to read the last few chapters of Moby Dick.

Heidi is remembering that last spring D decided to call her "Nemo" until the Tigers won their first game. Heidi was Nemo for weeks. She hopes today is her only day as Nemo.

Heidi has recreated her trip in 13 status updates. She will stop now.

Heidi is happy to have her feet on the ground after a flight that resembled white water rafting and necessitated the flight crew to announce "if someone is missing their box of Hot Tamales, it's back here in the rear of the cabin.

Heidi is feeling nostalgic for the days of wasabi foam

Heidi is wondering when gross cuts of meat and internal bovine organs replaced wasabi foam as the "must have" menu item in trendy restaurants

Heidi must be Cutie because this sure seems like a Death Cab

Heidi thinks you're better off traveling with D since "that place where they had all those pretty flowers" and "that corner where we saw that Yorkie puppy" are not terribly useful navigational signposts.

Heidi and D were thinking of the same cheese shop. It is on State and Lake and had pretty flowers last fall.

Heidi and D evidently think about urban spaces differently. H: "you mean that cheese shop that had all those beautiful flowers last fall?" D: "I don't remember flowers; it was on State and Lake. Was the one you're thinking of on State and Lake?" "Was the one on State and Lake the one with flowers?"

Heidi wants it to be spring even more since she was found by the perfect black dress. D reminds her she has mentioned this six times already

Heidi is wandering around the Art Institute and thinking about Whitman: "If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles."

Heidi must have done something right since the perfect DKNY black dress found her and was 75% off.

Heidi is shopping for the perfect imaginary chaise lounge for her imaginary loft in Chicago. Because it's imaginary, D is amenable to it being pink.

Heidi is traveling without a laptop but finds herself still thinking in status updates

Heidi wonders what she did to deserve getting a Kelly Clarkson song stuck in her head. PS: Oh, and there are about 5 of you who aren't allowed to answer that. You know who you are.

Heidi is happy to be your Little Hoodrat Friend

Heidi is happy her prose of yesterday is evolving from "turgid" to "workman-like"

Heidi is slaying rhetorical dragons before noon. Watch out...

Heidi has been alerted: "there's a man who has been looking for you." Upon further research, Heidi has determined it is not Curtis Granderson, Colin Firth or Alan Rickman.

Heidi is the librarian your mother warned you about

Heidi's Super Powers seem to have disappeared. It's blustery again. Drat on both accounts.

Heidi wonders if she woke up with Super Powers. An hour ago she said, "I wish it were sunny..." and now it is. She'll keep you updated!

Heidi wonders why it always rains on her and her bike... is it because they lied when they were 17?

Heidi had the tuna salad sandwich from food services. She mentions this in case she is unable to answer "what's wrong? was it something you ate?"

Heidi is cheering for the whale. Run Moby run!

Heidi is starting to think Ahab might be a zombie...

Heidi realizes it might appear that it takes a village to help her pick out shoes. Some days, this is true.

Heidi IS going to finish Moby before starting P&P and Zombies. Still, she notes the blurb: "The real question is: if Mr Darcy became infected, would Elizabeth have the fortitude to behead him in time." Moby marathon ensues (and H is ok with that)

Heidi wants you to know that the first line of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

Heidi says: quick, facebook friends: Kitten heeled pumps or patent flats??

Heidi says "wooohooo!" Her copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has shipped from Amazon

Heidi says "hey Windsorites, see that sunshine? You can thank my kitten heeled shoes for that!"

Heidi realizes she'd have a hard time calling Samuel Beckett a hotty. In case you were wondering...

Heidi is convinced that wearing kitten heeled shoes today will hasten the arrival of spring.

Heidi has to look away when there's violence against whales in Moby-Dick. It's hard to read with one's eyes closed but Heidi's doing ok.

Heidi thinks Leonard Cohen should have written more poems about librarians

Heidi is set in 11/13pt Garamond Three

Heidi placed an order for a new fountain pen cap and glowers at the drain that devoured the first one. Heidi feels guilty for glowering since it's really her fault.

Heidi says "Just say No to Boolean Searching."

Heidi is thinking she might become the Gob Bluth of Librarianship

Heidi does not own an oatmeal sweater. As far as she knows it is not grounds for biblio excommunication (contrary to popular belief)

Heidi is probably not going to arm wrestle for cash at L__s

Heidi is home, exhausted, unable to sleep and amazed at her own stupidity for accidentally dropping her fountain pen lid down a drain. Sigh.

Today at the ballpark: Opening Day, Crepes and Curtis

Game: April 10, 2009, Tigers vs Rangers
Score: 15-2 Tigers
Gametime temperature: 51
Attendance: 44,588
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Biggie Bagel




As reported earlier, a good friend of the cafe said, "If you start Moby Dick the first week of March, by the time you finish it, it's opening day!" I started Moby Dick the first week of March, I finished it this week, it's opening day.

Seeing the park and the players at batting practice today, I remembered why there was a lump in my throat as I left the park for the last time last season.



And, in what could easily become a pre-game tradition, D and I sought out and found this amazing creperie close to the ballpark. It's a creperie takeout window called Good Girls Go to Paris. It's really worth checking out and supporting people doing cool, interesting things in Detroit.

Bibliography of Unfinished Books: A Chance Encounter

Last month on a long flight, I had a conversation with my row mate, an architect from Tennessee. When he found out I was a librarian, he said "what do you think about eBooks?" "Oh...gosh..." was all I could say for a few minutes. I asked if he wanted the long answer or the short answer and was relieved when he said "maybe the short answer." Truthfully, I'm still working on my long answer but here is my short answer: "It depends."
My architect friend is not alone in wondering about eBooks: almost every day someone asks me something about eBooks. Are they the wave of the future? The end of the biblio world as we know it? The harbinger of democracy or an omen of doom? I don't think there is an answer to the eBook question, or, more accurately, the eBook questions. While unanswerable in many ways, I think questions about eBooks are important for all of us to consider in whichever ways are important to us. The major issues, it seems to me, are related to copyright, access, and preservation. Here is but one example of an issue many of us need to consider sooner rather than later.

Today, while waiting for someone near the "overflow" reference works, I saw a title that caught my eye and made me smile: Bibliography of Unfinished Books (1915). Feeling guilty about being the authoress of two unfinished books, I sighed and picked it up to see if, by chance, my name and unfinished titles were listed there. Thankfully they were not.
While advances in eBooks (particularly related to historic books) intrigue and engage me,something magical happened in the act picking up this book, flipping through its yellow pages and liberating the decades worth of dust trapped on its edges. Embossed with gold lettering and bound in once elegant blue cloth now faded with disuse, this book captured my imagination in ways I've yet to fully articulate. I was instantly captivated and have since spent part of the afternoon perusing it and discovering in its pages the seeds of my next research project. There will be more to come on this subject over the next weeks and months to be sure but I thought it would be useful to post this brief note about one version of this book and post a link to another version. In some ways, they are the same book, in others, they are very, very different. More on this later.

Finally a periodic table I understand...

This is mighty cool.

Melville, Mudville, March

Good friends are hard enough to find but finding a good friend who likes both the Tigers and Melville is a rare and welcome thing. This particular friend said to me, "If you start Moby Dick the first week of March, by the time you finish it, it's opening day!" And so, I find myself re-reading Moby Dick on the first day of March and looking forward to opening day. Seeking out my dusty copy, I was amused to see the various copies of Moby Dick that I have acquired over the years (all, I believe, from D). In honour of Melville, baseball, and those who love both, here's a small gallery of Moby images from my collection.

Construction or Christo at the Leddyverse?

You be the judge.

"this town is ripe for really great things to happen." Tom Lucier

D and I went to Phog Lounge twice yesterday: once right after it was announced that Phog is officially the "No.1 live music venue in Canada" and then a second time later in the evening to share a pint with other Phog revelers.

As we left Phog last night, I stopped to take this photo. It's probably not obvious from the photo but there's something
magical going on inside those orange walls on University Ave and I know I'm not the only one to think so.

There is--despite the news (or maybe because of the news)-- a more urgent sense of hope in the people I know in Windsor. Maybe it all started on November 4 when Obama said "I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there." The news in Windsor has been particularly difficult lately. Still, somehow, everywhere I go there's a growing sense of optimism that things can change. Two things in particular stand out. Last week I attended one of the most amazing and inspiring events I have been to in recent memory. You can hear Tom talk about Pecha Kucha Windsor - Talk 20 and watch video of the various stellar presentations. I think everyone left feeling a little more inspired, amazed, challenged, reflective and, most importantly, connected to our city and to each other.

All day I've been walking with a spring in my step. In part it's because Windsor's own Phog lounge was voted the No.1 live music venue in Canada. While the victory is lovely, it's the process that has been particularly moving. In Phog, Frank and Tom have created something really special in Windsor. More and more, Phog seems to embody the undercurrent of energy, creativity and determination that has always appealed to me about Windsor since we moved here in 2000. Every single day I see evidence that contradicts the recurrent comments that I hear about Windsor.

In a recent story, Tom is quoted as saying "People are so blinded by this 'poor me, poor Windsor,' but this town is ripe for really great things to happen. There are people doing things besides worrying. They're getting out there and getting excited about the place they're living in." There's an excitement building and I think Tom's right: this town is ripe for really great things to happen.

If you live in Windsor, stop by Phog for a pint, some Phries and some perfectly chilled Junior Mints. If you don't live in Windsor, Tom will take you on a tour here. Either way, I think you'll see why so many of us voted for Phog. It's not just a space where we go see bands: it's much, much more. As Tom notes on the PhogBlog, "When you want something, and you participate in what it takes to make that happen with a mobilized group of inspired individuals, you succeed whether it ends in a victory or defeat paired with a tighter community." Yesterday Phog's win proved how true this is and how amazing it can be.

One week later...

It's not quite time for one of my Mum's favourite poems but on my walk this morning, there were a few places that were definitely mud hyphen line break luscious. It's pretty amazing when compared to this time last week.

Caliginous, diaphanous, mellifluous: some of the most beautiful words

My missed friend A (of whom I could write an ebullient encomium) sent me this fantastic link to the Hundred Most Beautiful Words in English. This link is inspiring me. Stay tuned.

Sunshine and baseball of a different sort

Yesterday was one of the first sunny days in weeks. I went for a walk in the quietness of a sunny Sunday morning and marveled at Alberta-ness of the sky.

Just read: Detroit Tigers Reader

February is still a few days away and Windsor is 3 cms away from breaking an all-time snow fall record. As I write this, there's a foot of snow on my lawn and another 10 cms predicted. Sometimes when we're shoveling out the car or trudging across campus, D or I will say "Pitchers and catchers, pitchers and catchers." According to the widget on Tigers.com, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 13 days, 18 hours and 29 minutes. I wish I could say the same thing about spring itself but pitchers and catchers reporting is the most reliable harbinger of spring around (prairie crocuses are a close second).

For two Octobers in a row, I've had the same conversation with my colleagues D and D in my workplace's stairwell: "Now that baseball's over," I say, "what are we going to talk about?" Both Octobers, they've looked at me, shrugged and said "Next season, of course." In the past few years, I've started to see the beauty of the hot stove league but lately I'm finding comfort in it. As a cure for the midwinter blues, I started reading Tom Stanton's excellent Detroit Tigers Reader. Collections of this kind are often hit and miss but this one is packed with lovely pieces of writing: informative, engaging, heartbreaking and inspiring. Along with the kinds of pieces one might expect, Stanton includes a remarkable piece on Satchel Paige from The Daily Worker (1941), a moving piece on the death of Charlie Gehringer, (1993), and a heart-breaking piece about Mickey Cochrane (1937). After getting lost in this book, the world seemed a little greener and warmer. It was startling to look up from its pages and see the snow falling.

I'm starting to see that the appeal of following a team is its continuous narrative. Not only does one season seem like the next chapter of the previous, one finds allusions, nuances and insights into today's game by learning about yesterday's. Reading Grantland Rice's piece about the 1935 Tigers winning the world championship, I was struck not only by Grantland's skillful narration but by the way that the scene I was reading was remarkably timeless: "The score was tied at 3-3. The Cubs had spiked him for eleven hits. It was quite apparent that one run meant the ball game and possibly the championship. At this ticklish moment, Stan Hack kicked in with a low liner that cleared Gerald Walker's head for a triple. Here was a Cub on third, only a few steps from a run that looked taller than Mt. Everest. And there was nobody out." Change the names, change the teams and it could have been last year.

Maybe that's where the comfort comes from. In some ways, nothing changes. Yet everything is possible. I think that's why I keep checking the widget and saying "pitchers and catchers, pitchers and catchers." If you're pining for the warmth of the ballpark, check this out.

Collected Status Updates

By popular-ish demand, here are three weeks’ worth of status updates. The ones in quotations were generously donated by my very funny friend JW who generously took on the task of writing my status updates while I was sick. He continues to offer them. He’s just that kind of guy. Thanks for reading.


Heidi feels better about working today knowing it will get her Opening Day off in April. 1:53pm -

Heidi "hasn't had this much fun since the pigs ate Grandpa." 12:20pm -

Heidi wonders if one can develop Stockholm Syndrome in relation to one's workplace. 10:28am -

Heidi has brought today's Meeting-a-palooza to an end. 2:37pm -

Heidi has used paperclips and sticky notes to impose order on chaos. 9:55am -

Heidi's morning began with Elizabeth rejecting Mr Darcy. Even though she's read the novel 16 times before she still says "gasp!" 8:18am -

Heidi is happy to be wearing her Keen Mary Janes. She does not expect Grover Cleveland Alexander or Grover Cleveland would be similarly happy. 5:01pm -

Heidi wonders if Grover Cleveland Alexander would be a better mascot for the day than Grover Cleveland or Super Grover. 1:17pm -

Heidi wonders if Grover Cleveland would be a better mascot for the day. 11:32am -

Heidi said "Oh. Yeah... forgot that" when J reminded her of Super Grover's propensity for crashing into things. 8:48am -

Heidi wishes she had a cape to help her feel more like Super Grover. 8:13am -

Jan 21

Heidi is back to being Groverian. 1:16pm -

Heidi wonders what would happen if she answered every question she gets on the reference desk as Yoda would. 10:52am -

Heidi is feeling less like Chewbacca and more like Grover today. 8:58am -

Heidi is going to take a muscle relaxant so she will stop making sounds like Chewbacca every time she moves. It's hard to be Heidi lately. 9:12pm -

Heidi IS walking around like Frankenstein. Or a burly linebacker in heels. 4:24pm –

Heidi worries she's walking around with a stride akin to Frankenstein's thanks to her recent physio appointment (if Frankenstein wore shoes like she does). 3:15pm -

Heidi needs to step out of the library. She just referred to someone as "embodying chivalry 2.0." 2:20pm -

Heidi wonders how long until the First Puppy is appointed. 12:46pm -

Heidi has radio coverage!! Woo hoo! 11:53am -

Heidi can't get a live stream of anything... boo hoo... 11:49am -

Heidi is giddily watching CNN

Heidi is listening to Patty Griffin's "Heavenly Day" and celebrating this long-awaited "brighter coming day." 9:11am -

Jan 19

Heidi is changing her name to Fernando ‘Boogaloo’ Velez. Maybe not right away. But soon. 10:30pm -

Heidi wishes she had Dap-Kings named Homer ‘Funkyfoot’ Steinweiss and Fernando ‘Boogaloo’ Velez. 1:02pm -

Heidi hopes leaving her keys at home isn't an omen for the week. 9:16am -

Jan 18

Heidi is working on her difficult third album. 5:46pm -

Heidi is stepping away from the laptop.... 4:04pm -

Heidi is thinking about setting up a facebook group callled "Fans of Mr Dickson and his generous use of his snow blower on our street." 2:45pm -

Heidi is once more convinced that the right pen can solve just about any writing problem. Today's weapon of choice: the Elysee medium nib fountain pen with Parker ink. 11:33am -

Heidi is feeling reclusive, recalcitrant, recast and oddly receptive. In short, she has a day of writing ahead of her. 8:55am -

Jan 17

Heidi "dreamt she walked through a field of tulips with Colin Firth. He was about to ask her something important when he tripped, broke his leg & she had to shoot him.” 10:38pm -

Heidi "has never been to Alaska, but she's starting to think maybe she has..." 10:33pm -

Heidi "has ended her trash talking and is contemplating taking out the trash, but without talking to it." 2:11pm -

Heidi has been listening to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and is wondering where a girl might get some Dap-Kings of her own. 1:05pm -

Heidi is venturing thither. To America. Anon. 9:05am -

Jan 16

Heidi is probably not going to join the Facebook group "People who turn acronyms into adverbs and don't use them with irony." 11:31pm -

Heidi had a pint o' Strongbow. She no longer has a need for a geospatial portal. 7:12pm -

Heidi has a list of status updates that she wrote during her 5 hrs of meetings. Most relevant: "Heidi would like a beer. Or a geospatial portal." 3:56pm -

Heidi appears to have her own fight song... cool. 11:19am -

Heidi regrets saying "meh" to her question "should I dry my hair this morning?" 8:32am -

Jan 15
Heidi was told that he was bad, but Heidi knew Charley Gehringer was sad. That's why she fell for... 10:19pm -

Heidi was asked, "by the way where'd you meet Charley Gehringer?" She met him at the candy store. He turned around and smiled at her. You get the picture? 5:36pm -

Heidi heard the words she doesn't like to hear "Heidi... I thought you were supposed to one of the nice ones." 4:24pm -

Heidi and Charley Gehringer apologize to K for being unable to do anything about her library fines. Charley says "library fines do not make you a bad person." 12:03pm -

Heidi disagrees with D. She does not think Charley Gehringer would be "horribly disappointed" in her for accruing 75 cents in overdue fines at WPL. 8:47am -

Heidi "realizes with a start that in another life she was actually Charley Gehringer." 3:07pm -

Heidi wishes she'd published in "Fenland Notes and Queries: a quarterly antiquarian journal for the fenland, in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge." 2:33pm -

Heidi is having her mind read. It is unlikely it will become one of Oprah's Picks. 12:10pm -

Heidi wonders why there are TV chefs yet not TV librarians. 10:49am -

Heidi wonders what Gordon Ramsay would be like as a librarian. 9:48am -

Heidi is trying not to roll her eyes at the discussions of the "extreme, bitter cold" hitting Windsor. 9:12am -

Jan 13

Heidi did not realize until she read D’s status update that she was being all Gordon Ramsay-y while cooking. At least it wasn't Rachel Ray. 7:56pm -

Heidi did not know there was a song about pinball machines in the Mikado. She is a better person for knowing that there is. 5:54pm -

Heidi wonders how a librarian will be written into the Mikado but looks forward to finding out. 4:41pm -

Heidi has been made the subject of re-written Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics "For She is an English Librarian." Heidi is greatly amused. 1:02pm -

Heidi now knows what "luthier" means. 12:04pm -

Heidi is watching the snow fall and thinking about pitchers and catchers. 9:16am -

Heidi "has sent a message to an old friend. It reads, in its entirety, 'Ishmael: Call me.'." 10:55pm -

Heidi 's status writer is back at work: "Heidi is worried about the famed "Irony Triangle" that crosses the 49th Parallel. No, actually, she's not worried." 8:35pm -

Heidi is singing Supremes songs about Curtis. Again. 7:17pm -

Heidi doesn't know how to break it to D that we're going to have to go to Home Depot again. Oops. She thinks she just did. Darn status updates. 4:02pm -

Heidi is thost in lot... 2:02pm -

Heidi is happy to have a cute photo of Stephen Colbert in her presentation for this afternoon. 1:01pm -

Heidi just watched a Russell Crowe movie and still doesn't know which monochrome to wear tomorrow. These two facts are not as related as one might think. 10:38pm -

Heidi is trying to decide which monochrome to wear tomorrow. It's harder than one might think. Really. 5:45pm -

Heidi 's claim to Pinball Wizardry is tangential, at best. 4:47pm –

Heidi has been outed as a pinball wizard by Dale. She's as incredulous as you are (but hoping to beat her top score of 37,433 points today). 11:09am -
Jan 10

Heidi admits the pinball machine is pretty cool. 4:47pm -

Heidi is watching the arrival of a pinball machine from a distance. 12:11pm -

Heidi is smiling at D's inner ten-year-old as he patiently awaits the arrival of his pinball machines. 8:46am -

Jan 9

Heidi will be supplying her own status updates over the weekend. Her writer has the weekend off. She thanks him for his top notch work. 5:52pm -

Heidi "is no longer under the weather. She's back to controlling it from her mountain aerie." 1:31pm -

Heidi "feels so good she's considering a run for the Senate in 2010." 12:00pm -

Heidi feels better than she has in 23 days!! Woohoo!!!! 10:31am -

Heidi is very happy with her professionally-written status updates. She wonders what else she can outsource. 3:54pm -

Heidi "is invading her personal space." 1:42pm -

Heidi "was going to contemplate the enduring mystery of life, but then she thought, 'Oh, screw it.'." 1:02pm -

Heidi is, according to her professional status update writer, "the funniest person who ever lived more than a year in Lincoln Nebraska" other than Johnny Carson. 12:28pm -

Heidi 's 3rd outsourced update: Heidi thinks people everywhere just wanna be free, & they'd probably want it even more if they were working in a library. 12:13pm -

Heidi likes having a professional writing her status updates. Here's the latest: "heidi rules, but only with lined paper." 11:51am -

Heidi has resorted to outsourcing her status updates to professionals: "Heidi has decided to stop being sick, and the decision couldn't have come at a better time." 11:00am -

Heidi feels like a freak show: 3 out of 5 people she has met said "Whoa, you look horrible," 1 said "there there" and 1 said "Hey! I like your hat!" 9:37am -

Heidi made it to her office... 9:15am -

Jan 7

Heidi likes these phrases from a NY-er restaurant review: "oxymoronically bland" and "with the texture of Play-doh, a freezer burned strawberry parfait." 5:45pm -

Heidi is home again today. 8:52am -

Jan 6

Heidi is thoroughly bored with her recurring status update motif and knows you are too. She apologizes. :(. 10:55pm -

Heidi would not have made a good invalid in a Victorian novel. 4:54pm -

Heidi is yellow today, she shines her light out like the sun/ She is a rainbow today/ All the colors of the world... 9:10am -
Jan 4

Heidi can't remember whether librarians report before or after pitchers and catchers. 8:35pm -

Heidi thinks Laundry Gnome 72 does a nice job with silks. 5:39pm

Heidi is happy to see Laundry Gnome 72. 3:32pm -

Heidi is looking out the window anxiously awaiting the arrival of the laundry gnomes. 1:43pm -

Heidi thinks that if you're sick for the whole holidays you should get a do-over. 1:21pm -

Jan 3

Heidi is still gathering library fines while she may. 4:26pm -

Heidi might be said to be a maverick.

Obama Dress Updates

What an amazing day! It's going to take more than a few hours to process how incredible it was. After my earlier post, I feel compelled to note that Michelle's inaugural dress was a lovely creation by Isabel Toledo which was paired with Jimmy Choo shoes. Meanwhile, the adorable Malia and Sasha appeared in outfits designed for them by J Crew. According to the Guardian: "From a fashion-watcher's perspective, it was Malia and Sasha Obama who stole the show today. Not even Aretha Franklin's spectacular hat could compete with a virtuoso display of on-trend colour-blocking by the first daughters, in their contrasting coats and scarves. Malia, 10, looked terrific in electric blue and black while Sasha, 7, hit it out of the park in this season's hot orange-and-pink colour combination. You heard it here first: orange and pink is the new red, white and blue." No news on the inaugural gown nor the First Puppy. Know that I'm eagerly awaiting news on both.

Facebook status update: Heidi is once more convinced that the right pen can solve just about any writing problem.

I'm behind on a writing deadline and I am trying to catch up today. I'll admit the prospect of spending today writing was making me a little cranky. My crankiness was also, I knew, the reason why I was spinning my writerly wheels. Over the years, I've developed a few tricks and today I pulled out the tried and true "writing with a lovely pen can make any writing task do-able and enjoyable." Today's weapon of choice: the new Elysee medium nib in older Elysee body with black Parker ink. Result: A less cranky Heidi and a map out of my writer's block and a good start at finishing. While taking a break, I started pondering my pens and took a few photos.































Some links of possible interest:
J Herbin Ink
Pear Tree Pen Company
Lamy Pens

Things Pondered: Michelle Obama's fashion sense

Sorry for the slowdown at the Cafe. After 3 weeks of struggling with what my doctor called "something viral," I am finally feeling almost 100%. The mind does funny things when the body is ailing and, after hours and hours of feeling horrible and watching distressing cable news stories, this particular mind found refuge in pondering Michelle Obama's fashion sense.

First of all, I should confess that I am someone who made a Michelle Obama inspired dress purchase this fall. But, I'm also someone who actively followed the Obama campaign and is excited by the idea of a "Michelle 2016" campaign. My interest in Obama's fashion sense is, in part, rooted in my own fondness for her dresses and fantastic kitten heel shoes. Mostly, however, I am fascinated by the ways in which her style has been politicized but also how style has become political in ways I do not recall seeing before.

In discussions of her sense of style, her choice of dress is routinely read as indicative of something larger, something more powerful, something more important than just a well chosen, well-tailored dress. In Saturday's Globe and Mail, there was an interesting article on the front page of the style section: "Relevant, Modern, Fresh, Cool, Self-Assured, Accessible, Poised, Unpretentious, Michelle." In this article, Amy Verner writes, "don't call her the new Jackie Kennedy. Michelle Obama's accessible chic says more about the culture at large than the world of haute labels."

Indeed, part of what seems to make Michelle Obama so accessible is many of her clothes come from stores we see at our local malls--albeit sometimes some of the upper end malls. Stores like Target, H & M, J. Crew and Black Market White House are accessible in ways that Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barney’s New York and Macy’s are not. In the summer, US Weekly also announced on its front page that Michelle shopped at Target. Perhaps Michelle Obama's appeal is rooted in a kind of sartorial "Yes We Can" idea. In writing about Target's partnership with Thakoon, one of Michelle Obama's favourite designers, New York Magazine writes "Sounds like we'll be getting Michelle Obama fare, which means we can all dress like her for New Year's!" In other words, with Michelle Obama-inspired wear at Target, the slogan might be "yes we can (perhaps) afford it."

Is Michelle Obama's sense of style bigger than "mere fashion"? It may well be. Contrast the stories about Michelle Obama's dresses from H&M, J. Crew and Black Market White House with some of the other fashion stories floating around during the election. And, more recently, A New York Times article suggests Obama may in fact be able to "Save America’s Fashion Industry?"

Interestingly, the Globe and Mail article also cites Suzanne Boyd, editor in chief of Zoomer Magazine, who notes, "There was never a run on anything Laura Bush wore." Change we can believe in? So it would seem.

Some other links perhaps of interest: Michelle Obama Fashion and Style, Michelle Obama: What Should She Wear, and the First Lady Fashion Quiz (I scored 11/15)

Possible margin comments my 18 year old self might have made if my afternoon were a short story: "Auspicious." "Symbolic." "Important."

Today, New Year's Day, I was washing up some dishes and thinking about the year that passed and the year to come. 2008 had some truly amazing days, hours and moments but it also had some very difficult segments.
In thinking about the year to come, I noticed two of my flowering plants-- neither of which had bloomed in 2008-- were starting 2009 on a pretty hopeful note despite the short, cold, dark days we're now having. Ever the student of literature I couldn't help but see this as a very good sign of things to come for 2009. "My year will blossom! I will flourish!" I smiled inwardly at my instinctive leap toward seeing the objects on my countertop as part of a larger symbolic and metaphoric matrix. Last week, you see, my brother found at my parents' house my copy of The Stone Angel. It was the copy I read in my first semester of university. Earlier this week, he was amusing me by reading out my young marginalia over the phone. No matter how distant the lass who wrote "symbolic" and "important" in green ink in the margins of her novels might seem from the person washing dishes in a different decade and province, it's strangely comforting to see she is still alive, well and ever hopeful.