This is from 2019. It’s a thing I wrote that fits into a lot of the themes of my podcast episodes. I will use it for notes. I have visited a lot of libraries. Let me share with you. You’re welcome. I’m Hersch. Have a nice day.
Libraries are a glimmer of hope in a situation where a rogue, corrupt element in government has done everything they can to destroy society’s institutions. The Library concept is like a buoy in the chaos of idiocy. Go to a Library.
We have seen some weird sh*t in the past 30 years in the U.S. We have a system where two Parties are vying for the favor of off shore interests and then behave as though we owe them our votes. It’s way past beyond surreal. It won’t be long before the concept of receiving pay for work will be called an entitlement by these cretins.
Your Library is an oasis of sanity. Re-acquaint yourself with organized society. The people working in those places understand systems. Once you really think about it, you realize there are people holding it together all over the place, in spite of this sickening economy, not because of it.
After spending some time re-acclimating yourself at the Library, go to the grocery store, the big box store, and to other places where people are trying to hold together this failed system in spite of itself.
Tell me, people in our society aren’t smart enough to put together a Health Care System? Tell me they can’t put together an education system. These are smart people. They shouldn’t be wasting their time holding together the local Wal-Mart, still having to live on assistance, while making the Walton’s rich. They could be operating the systems we desperately need to be building. If you can hold together a big-box store, a hardware store, grocery store, or a Library you can hold together the institutions we need to rebuild.
In Most Cases, Librarians are Constitutional Champions
Librarians protect not only our First Amendment Rights by supplying us with all sorts of information, and carrying books that some people think should be illegal, and banned. The majority of them also protect out Fourth Amendment Rights, too, by not releasing information to snoopy creeps who want to know what we’re reading, or what we’re researching in the Library. Of course there are exceptions to that, like in any sector of society, there are people willing to sell out their fellow citizens, but those Librarians are the exception, not the rule.
Librarians get degrees in Library and Information Sciences. There are several types, with different names and they range from Bachelor to Doctorate degrees, just like any other Science field. You can imagine that there would be people who use these skills for nefarious, invasive purposes, and you’d be right, some of them do, but remember, most of them are not like that.
I like it when Libraries, even though they are and should be Publicly funded, have a little donation jar set-up. I always put some change or a couple of bux in there. Many of them have suggestion boxes. I drop notes in those boxes that say “Thank you”. I think very often Librarians are under appreciated. Let them know how you feel.
Some Libraries are super old. I’ve been to a few like that. There’s one in Ellsworth, Maine that’s so cool. The doorways are really short because it was built at a time when people in America were on average a foot shorter. I have to kind of duck to go in there. I’ve found the coolest esoteric, really old metaphysics books in there that were probably as old as that building. There’s another old one in Old Colorado Springs, Colorado that’s also ridiculously old. It looks like it was built while people were on a wagon train on their way out west or something. I wish I could visit every Library.
Some newer, or new-ish ones are amazing. Like the one in the picture below in Woodland Park, Colorado. I believe it was built in the 70’s. That picture is taken from the second floor of the Library and you can see Pikes Peak. What an amazing view, and it’s a very nice, modern, large library with everything you can think of, I was in there doing some writing and it was super quiet and the Librarians were the best people, of course.
If you go to the Waukegan, Illinois Library your mind will be blown, because they’re integrated with the Field House. Members of the Library are automatically members of the Fieldhouse, which is a fitness facility on the edge of the Public Park. You can take a couple of fitness classes for no charge in there, and then there’s a tiered membership fee structure that gives you more privileges depending on your membership level. Tell me we can’t have nice things and that everything is a pipe dream?
I’ve seen other things at Libraries too, I can’t remember where it was but there was one that had soundproofed music rehearsal rooms, because it was in a place where apparently, people needed a sheet music Library and there were a lot of musicians. It wasn’t a University, it was a Public Library.
You should see the massive Library in Superior, Wisconsin. It looks like it was built in the 70’s. Kind of boring and boxy looking from the outside, but it’s massive inside. That place is so big it’s really easy to find a place to get lost and read or write. Also, there’s always stuff going on for pre-school aged kids. They have a movie room, and puppet shows, reading hours where kids come and listen to a Librarian read a story. All kinds of stuff. What a great way to use the Library, for pre-school age activities. Excellent.
Look, for real. I visit Libraries. Anywhere I go I visit them and hang out and see what they have going on. And I always say thank you, because those people kick-ass.
Libraries Are Oases of Sanity