A Ghost of Daisies

On Tuesday, I attended David Meissner’s speech, “MPLP: What it’s REALLY About and Why it Matters to Archivists, Librarians, and Researchers.” The main thing to be gotten from my notes is that the best way to get through backlogs of collections is to process the series, not the individual items in each folder. Secondly, you want to quickly give access to the users. You can even teach users how to catalog the collections for you so that you do not have to!

On my way to class, I had to capture the amazing celestial view that was happening a couple miles above my head.

First, let me say that I abhor shopping. Clothes never fit right (too curvy and too short) and I hate spending money. However, today I went out on a mission to buy some boots and dressy shoes for work. Rack Room Shoes was not open yet when I got there so I went and killed some time at Ross’. I lost my heart to this measuring bowl set:

It’s pink! With flowers! And tiny! <3 They range in size from 1/8 cup to 2 cups.

Then I lucked out at Rack Room Shoes and found my dream boots: right below the knee, low heel, slim, with no decorations. They put me back a very worthwhile $30. I’m especially pleased that they’re pretty much the identical twins of my old boots which are falling apart after 8-9 years of wear.

I then found these babies for work:

You can’t really tell, but they’re embossed with crowns, a family crest, and who knows what else. My left foot is wider than my right so despite three other cute choices, these are the ones I had to settle on.

Finally, I found a 3.5 x 5″ journal set to fit into my purse for work. There are three books (ruled, blank, and grid) which will be perfect for working with websites and taking general notes! I’m so pleased that things went well. Yesterday I also purchased a peacoat online from Delias that I’ve been lusting after for a year. I wish it was gray to match my cloche hat, but this was the only one they had in my size left. I figure that with my tax refund, I should spruce up my closet a bit as I try to present a professional, mature image.

Amanda, Jr., Sherry, Jerry, Grandma, and Grandpa in 1986

I got the call last night that my Grandpa isn’t expected to live more than a few hours—no more than a week–longer. This is my maternal Grandpa John born December 4, 1937. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, Daniel and Alice. At twenty-five, he married my fifteen year old Grandma, Shirley. This is 1962. He fought in the Korean War but a fire in Kentucky robbed him of his VA dues for his old age. Over the next 19 years he and Grandma would have four girls—two whom died shortly after birth–and two sons. They named their children Clara (my mom), Johnny, Jerry, Shirley (dead), Sherry, and Rebecca (dead and my namesake). They have thirteen grandchildren with an age range of twenty-one years.

Jr., Grandpa, Amanda in 1989
Read more…
He’s someone I don’t know very well. But he’s my grandpa and I absolutely hate that he no longer knows anyone is beside him. Aunt Sherry said Grandma is sitting next to his bed, holding his hand, and neither does she acknowledge the world. She stares at him, waiting and watching. This is their 47th year of life together and soon it will end.

The waiting is terrible.

Very exciting class yesterday. So much so that I forgot to post the notes. The topic was on encyclopedias. I did some research and realized that the very racist Encyclopedia Americana (published 2005)’s entry on Crazy Horse had been written sometime in the 1950s. So I wrote the publisher and asked for a revision.

Let’s see if they respond!

This chapter explores using encyclopedias as reference sources. When I was in fifth grade, the elementary school principal gave our family the 1976 World Book Encyclopedias. I used them for looking up Aristotle and Plato for sixth grade papers. Other times I would just flip through the pages, consuming knowledge on whatever I alighted upon. They were heavy and smelled funny and people wore funny clothes in the pictures. I pressed flowers between the pages. We kept them till about three years ago when I donated them to a thrift store.

I don’t think Wikipedia or e-readers can match the joy of browsing through a physical encyclopedia.

This time we’re covering the curriculum and the principal. In summary: as school librarian you need to integrate yourself fully within the school environment since you have a unique view of the entire curriculum. You then need to convince the principal of this. :-)

So the big news out of my camp is that I was awarded a graduate assistantship (GA). There are a lot of duties involved and I report directly to my department’s director which is a huge honor. She’s been very understanding of my shyness! I’m a regular blabber mouth when I get comfortable, but so silent until I’m comfortable with my surroundings. :-)

My duties are being the lab assistant for at least one shift a week, assisting the director with her project in International Comparative Librarianship (which admittingly I don’t know much about right now), help redesign the department’s website (but not code! Thank goodness since my degree is in new media, not computer science!), lead a focus group with the Charlotte cohort on how the program is doing, and whatever duties necessary to help with the accreditation process.

Today I did an inventory on all the equipment in our computer lab. There was some ancient stuff in there! I was especially amused by the digital camera that saved to a floppy disk! I then reorganized the locked compartments in an order that made sense. Tomorrow I want to write out a proposal for a borrowing policy since there is not one currently in place. Also I want to brainstorm on how we can advertise that we do have equipment available for checking out. Maybe a five minute showcase in a few classes so students are aware of them?

Next was phone duty which meant navigating the poorly chosen answering service to filter the voice messages. You could not delete a message until it specifically told you that you could. Times this frustration by how many times I had to replay the message to get a spitted out telephone number. Argh! I then made two calls and got to utter, “a graduate assistant” when I called potential students. I’ve noticed that several emails I have received from other students have their position in their signature. Should I add it to mine? Right now all I have is a link to my blog as my signature.

Finally there was the meeting to address the accreditation process. I took minutes on my netbook (she’ll be one in March!). I’m not really sure how those notes panned out since it was difficult to follow the conversation and type in coherent sentences at the same time. However, it was nice to just email them directly off to the group as soon as the meeting adjourned. I only tentatively put my name forward for one project since I’m still not sure how demanding my normal GA duties will be. I am kinda jealous that another GA is getting to organize the department’s paperwork.

I am so infinitely grateful to have been given this opportunity. Last week I was musing in a broken down fashion that it was time to apply for a minimum wage cashiering job in order to take care of Dollbaby’s needs, but then the life changing email came along! I feel much more secure now with this income coming in. Plus experience! Resume building! I am beginning to feel like an adult. It’s the first time sole responsibility has felt good.

P.S. Did you see the snow storm over the U.S. right now? We’re scheduled to get 5-8 inches while Asheville is looking at 6-10.

I just read about this incredibly traumatic experience known as birth rape. Specifically it’s where a woman is held down and forced to have vaginal exams or other actions performed on her while she’s in labor. These range from dozens of hands going to the birth canal to being cut upon without permission (or anesthesia!) to being tied down as people force her legs wider.

Just…oh my God. And to top it off, here’s a report out of Canada about how it’s common procedure for unconscious women to have pelvis exams while they’re under without their permission. The exams are done by students for practice.

BRB, ordering a chastity belt.

I live-blogged President Obama’s State of the Union Address (video or transcript) in a casual way with my friend. However, here were my main favorite and surprising points:

• Ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
• Bringing home the troops from Iraq by the end of August
• Ending tax breaks to companies that send our jobs overseas (NAFTA devastated NC when our jobs slipped away to foreign shores)
• Graduates wouldn’t pay more than 10% of their income towards their school loans per year
• The smackdown on health care reform being dragged out. We NEED health care in this country!
• JOBS JOBS JOBS