There's still time to make your voice heard...

This is a letter that I wrote to Governor Rendell, Mayor McMahon and my local representatives, Michael O'Pake and Thomas Caltagirone. It's not too late to express your opinions (outrage? horror? disgust? at the very least righteous indignation?) regarding the situation.
The Pennsylvania Library Association has a Legislative Action Center that includes some helpful tools to expedite your letter writing, including several sample letters and an elected official finder.
Regarding the city's budget, the next council meeting will be held October 12; I'm sure the council members would love to hear what you have to say.

As a Reference Librarian at the Reading Public Library, I am seeing first hand every day the importance that libraries have in this uncertain economy. Our Internet computers are busier than ever with people filling out unemployment forms, creating resumes, searching for jobs, filing their tax returns or continuing their education. These people do not have the means to buy a computer and maintain an Internet connection, yet many employers require an online application to be completed, and I've heard horror stories from patrons who have tried to file for unemployment compensation by phone or by mail. These people come to us for help; I can’t count the number of times a patron has told me that they were referred to the library by businesses or other government and social service agencies because we would help them.
Now, the Reading Public Library is facing the closure of its three branches and bookmobile. This is the article from the Reading Eagle 9/25/2009 entitled "Funding cuts force Reading library to close three branches, shelve bookmobile," http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=158634. Only the Main Library will remain open; however staff cuts will force patrons to accept severely curtailed services even there.
The libraries are lifelines to citizens in need; we are not just purveyors of the latest Danielle Steel or James Patterson novel. In a depressed economy where so many other state services are being compromised, we are a place where people are able to exercise control over their lives, whether it be by applying for a job (and if you have never used a computer in your life, filling out an application online is a monumental feat in itself), or by learning how to use a computer, or by getting homework help, or by checking out a book on healthy diets or investment advice, or by engaging in a myriad of other constructive programs we offer.
As Carl Sagan in Cosmos said most eloquently, “the library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.
By forcing our libraries into this position, we are turning our backs on the health and future of our community.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Balas Bressler

IMPERILED

It's been a long time since I have contributed to the Reading Public Library's blog, principally due to the volume of other tasks that have piled up over the months, which kept me from making entries. I am making one today because the Reading Public Library as our patrons and staff have known it is about to be severely abrogated--perhaps permanently.

The recession (and I staunchly maintain we are in a national recession, despite whatever edicts come floating out of Washington and Wall Street that claim we are on the road to recovery) has ravaged economies across the board. Funding for public libraries from the national, state, county, and local level has been slashed. It's the same for many libraries across the nation, but Pennsylvania has particularly endangered the status quo of every public library due to the ineptitude of our lawmakers in Harrisburg and their futility in striking an adequate budget deal.

I use the word "imperiled"as this blog's entry because 1) it's not a term one hears at all and 2) it is foreboding enough to match the tone of what horrific circumstances are afoot.

The Reading Public Library staff met this morning and were informed by the Director and the President of the Library Board just what measures will be taken in the very near future to attempt safeguarding some reduced kind of future existence for our institution. We are already in a position where we are not procuring any new material--or at least with extremely limited exceptions, like blockbuster bestelling authors. Staff has been reduced--and before the end of the year, we will likely be cut to such bare bones that a multitude of our services will be terminated.

It's gloomy. It's depressing. It is, however, also reality.

***

During World War II, the British War Office created and disseminated propaganda posters to try and raise the morale of the English people as they faced brutal invasion by the Nazis. One such poster stated the following:

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

A staff member from the Children's Department actually made copies of this sign and shared them; I think it's brilliant. I take this as my personal motto as the Reading Public Library staff endeavors to face a future fraught with uncertainty and dread. I believe most of us will be facing the unemployment line due to the budgetary nightmare our library is facing. And our public--who have needed us this year more than I've ever seen, with people arriving in droves to utilize internet stations for job searching, drafting resumes on our word processors, and checking out books, music CDs, and DVDs by the thousands--shall have to contend with a library hobbled by reduced circumstances. As for my colleagues and co-workers who are still here, we will stand shoulder to shoulder and try--bravely--to execute our duties until we are no longer able to be retained.

+++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE. An official press release to the Reading Eagle was made this afternoon (09/25/09) by the library's Director. The three branch libraries--Northeast, Northwest, and Southeast--as well as the City Bookmobile will be shut down by the end of the year.

And this is only the beginning...

We Need Your Help

The following letter is from Glenn Miller, the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Library Association. Between the ongoing budget debate in Harrisburg and the City of Reading's budget dilemma, the Reading Public Library is in extremely dire straits. Any of the existing proposed budgets would be devastating to Pennsylvania libraries, eliminating core services and crippling our ability to serve our patrons in a time when it is most needed.
Please write or call your representatives; your efforts can make a difference.

Good morning library supporters.

Thank you for your great work last week during PaLA Call-In Week. Without question, our message is being heard and it is your determination and commitment that makes the difference. Our challenge now is keep up the pressure for as long as it takes.

As you probably know, face-to-face budget negotiations are underway. Unfortunately all signs point toward an extended process before agreement will be reached. More on those details a bit later. For now, please know this: The library message IS GETTING THROUGH.
Just today, library funding was one of only three education topics discussed at
the House-Senate Conference Committee. Over the last two weeks, libraries
were frequently mentioned during floor debate in both the House and
Senate. What’s more, in an interview that aired yesterday (July 30) on the
cable channel, PCN, Governor Rendell discussed libraries at length describing
them as “lifelines for our communities” and “lifelines for our kids.” It seems now that libraries are a frequent topic in budget meetings, news accounts, and on TV. This is a very positive and encouraging sign and it’s all because YOU are doing a magnificent job making the case for our libraries.

Action Needed:
(1) Message
(2) Budget Deal Makers
(3) Q&A Background

MESSAGE
Keep the pressure on. Recruit any and every library supporter, young and old, to write a note, place a call, attend a town meeting, or send an email. Even if you’ve written before, this process is so long that a second or third message is A-OK. From this point forward, our basic message—asking that libraries be a priority for level funding in any final budget deal—remains in place but the delivery strategy
changes just a bit.
1. Thank your Senator, Representative and the Governor for her/his past support of public libraries.
2. Because libraries are a lifeline for the unemployed and their families, urge her/him to support library funding as one of the priorities for level funding in the negotiations for a new state budget.
3. Tell her/him that public libraries all across Pennsylvania are busier than ever during this recession serving those looking for work, many without Internet access at home, and hundreds more of their constituents and families who need the library open more hours not fewer. (If you can, offer some specifics about just how
much the library means to you in these tough times.)
4. Remind her/him that the drastic, steep cuts (55%) included in the Senate amendments to the budget bill will force library closings and service cutbacks at a time when their constituents need libraries to be fully open and equipped to serve.
5. Inform her/him that Pennsylvania stands to lose between $1.9 million and $4.3 million in federal money if any of the budget plans currently under consideration pass with deep cuts in library funding.
6. If your State Senator or State Representative is on the list below (“Top 10 State Budget Deal Makers”), urge her/him to support libraries as a priority for level funding in the conference committee budget negotiations.
7. For everyone else whose Senator and State Representative is not on the Top 10 list below, the message is slightly different. You should urge your Senator and Representative to contact the budget negotiators from their caucus and urge them, in turn, to make libraries a priority for level funding in any final budget deal.
8. When you contact the Governor, urge him to make level funding for library services a priority in keeping with his strong commitment to education, to the unemployed, and to Pennsylvania’s children.

STATE BUDGET DEAL MAKERS
Here are the Top 10 State
Budget Deal Makers:
1. Representative Dwight Evans (D) Philadelphia—Budget Conference Committee member
2. Representative Todd Eachus (D) Luzerne Co. —Budget Conference Committee member
3. Representative Sam Smith (R) Jefferson Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
4. Senator Dominic Pileggi (R) Delaware Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
5. Senator Jake Corman (R) Centre Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
6. Senator Jay Costa (D) Allegheny Co.—Budget Conference Committee member
7. Senator Joseph Scarnati (R) Jefferson Co—President of the
Senate
8. Representative Keith McCall, (D) Carbon—Speaker of the House of
Representatives
9. Senator Robert Mellow (D) Lackawanna—Senate Minority (D) Floor Leader
10. Representative Mario Civera (R) Delaware—House Minority (R) Appropriations chair

If your Senator or Representative is on this list, urge her/him to make libraries a priority for level funding in the next state budget.

If not on this list, urge them to support libraries and ask them to contact the negotiators from their own caucus to urge for level funding for libraries.

If you’re not sure who represents you, following this link and type in your zip code in the upper right-hand corner: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm.

Q&A
BACKGROUND
Here’s some additional Q&A that you should know for advocacy
in the immediate future:
Q. Since the budget debate is now in a small committee, what’s the point of contacting my State Senator and Representative?
A. The six main budget negotiators will listen to the priorities advocated by their colleagues. The more such pressure we can garner for libraries, the better.
Q. What is the difference in approach between the two sides?
A. In brief, the Governor and Democrats first want to establish priorities and needs for the state and then figure out how much money is needed. The Republicans prefer first to establish how much money is likely to be available in the next year and then fit spending priorities within that revenue total.
Q. What is the difference in dollars between the two sides?
A. Most analysts believe that the sides are between $800 million and $1.6 billion apart, a sizable gap.
Q. Regardless of what happens in the budget conference committee, aren’t we going to be stuck with either the 15% cut in the Democratic plan or the 55% cut in the Republican plan?
A. No! Absolutely, positively, not. The budget conference committee can choose any amounts in the final budget. That’s why keeping up the pressure on behalf of libraries is so crucial.
Q. What is all this talk about a stopgap or “bridge” budget?
A. On Tuesday, August 4, the House will OK the Senate-passed budget bill (S.B. 850) and send it to the Governor but only as a stopgap/bridge vehicle NOT as a state budget. When the bill hits the Governor’s desk, he then promises to use his line-item veto authority to eliminate all program amounts leaving only the budget lines needed to keep state government open and insure that state workers get paid.

As always, thank you so much for your amazing resilience and great energy. Our chances for a better outcome increase if we can keep the consistent message coming from all directions from many people for as long as it takes.

And one last thing to remember throughout—a cut of 55% is not “sharing the pain” but, in fact, shouldering the burden. Why libraries, which represent three-tenths
of one percent (0.3%) of the entire state budget, face cuts of 55 percent is beyond comprehension. But more to the point, libraries are the emergency room for the unemployed and their families, and we are busier than ever. Forcing libraries to close during these hard times simply slams the door of opportunity shut in the faces of thousands and thousands of Pennsylvanians who need open libraries to find work, apply for work, and gain professional advice and training for their job search. And this is why level funding is needed and justified, even in a bad economy.

We’ll do our best to keep you updated through email and our website, and we expect to add some new advocacy tools very soon. Stay tuned.

Glenn


Glenn R. Miller
Executive
Director
Pennsylvania Library Association
220 Cumberland Parkway, Suite
10
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055
phone:
717-766-7663
fax: 717-766-5440
e-mail: glenn@palibraries.org

Sovereign Center presents the Lipizzaner Stallions

Once again, the Sovereign Center has expressed their generosity toward the library and the community by providing the grand prize for our Adult Summer Reading Program.

One lucky reader in August will win 4 tickets to see the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions perform at the Sovereign Center!

Weekly prizes are being given out as well, so start reading and filling out those entry forms!

Big Thanks to our weekly prize sponsors:

Reading Phillies Baseball Club

Redner's Markets

Brewer's Bar & Grill

Wal-Mart

Sam's Club

Adult Summer Reading Program 2009

NAMES FOR THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW HAD ONE!

The Whatchamacallit: Those Everyday Objects You Just Can't Name (And Things You Think You Know About, But Don't) by Danny Danzinger and Mark McCrum, Hyperion, 2009
NEW 422 Dan

After such an exhaustive title there's no need for me to explain what this book covers. Faithful readers of my entries already know I am mad keen on English vocabulary, and this little treasure has proven most illustrative.

I first gazed over the table of contents, which is a list of the terms explored, and tried finding some which I already knew. I was pleasantly surprised at recognizing several of them:

aglet, the plastic casing which seals off the end of a shoelace

borborygmus, gurgling sounds emitted from the stomach

crozier, the ceremonial shepherd's crook bourne by bishops, cardinals, and the Pope

fontanelle, the soft spot on a baby's head

interrobang, a double-duty punctuation mark that looks like this ?!

philtrum, the small indentation between the upper lip and nose

Of course I was terribly interested in the many other words I'd never learned. Some of the more interesting ones include:

caruncula, the tiny pink corner of the eyeball (and the medical term for "sleepy dust" is rheum, which accumulates in the caruncula)

drupelets, the little globules that compose a raspberry or blackberry

grawlix, a string of symbols used to represent a spoken obscenity in a cartoon

muselet, the small wire cage used to keep the cork in place on a champagne bottle

purlicue, the span of measurement made between the extension of the index finger and thumb
rowel, the spiked, revolving wheel located at the tip of a spur on a cowboy boot

tmesis, the deliberate hyphenation of a word for effect (i.e., un-freaking-fair)

The authors not only elaborate as to what each word describes, but many articles list similar terms as well. An example is the entry for tmesis, which also elucidates the reader on other lesser-heard figures of speech, such as antonomasia (using a proper name to describe someone, such as "She's such a Martha Stewart" for a woman who is freakishly obsessed with crafting overdone dinner parties) and metonymy (using the name of a facet of something to describe the thing in it's entirety, such as referring to Harrisburg when one really means the state government of the Commonwealth).

Each entry’s language of origin and, where applicable, inventor (grawlix is apparently but one of a lexicon of cartoon terms coined by Mort Walker, author of the venerated strip Beetle Bailey) are very capably discussed as well.

The Whatchamacallit is certain to entertain and edify the vocabularean in all of us.

Wolfram Alpha

“Today's WolframAlpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone. You enter your question or calculation, and WolframAlpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer. Based on a new kind of knowledge-based computing…”

This is more significant than just a new search engine; this is the first computation engine widely and freely available. You submit queries and computation requests and WolframAlpha returns an answer. Unlike search engines you may be used to WolframAlpha does not return web pages matching your keywords but instead offers discrete answers and supplementary data. You input "$250 + 15%" Wolfram anwsers $287.50. You ask Wolfram “How old was Queen Elizabeth II in 1974?" it simply tells you 47 years old.

For better or worse we are entering into a new phase of internet use.

Try the following queries in Wolfram for fun:
* Flux Capacitor
* How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
* How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
* What is the meaning of life?
Here are some more fun queries to try.

Main Site: http://www.wolframalpha.com/
See Also: Example Searches
See Also: Overview Video
See Also: Wikipedia Entry

Keep Searching,
Librarian Carl

PS – Keep your eye out for Google’s answer to WolframAlpha called Google Squared which should be launching by the end of the month.
See Also: Tech Crunch, What is Google Squared?
See Also: Wikipedia Entry

GATEWAY TO SUMMER

Earlier this week we marked the observance of Memorial Day. Customarily a solemn remembrance in honor of the many armed servicemen and –women who valiantly made the supreme sacrifice for our nation, Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial gateway to the summer season.

In celebration of the arrival of summer, I’ve collected a few titles on subjects pertinent to the season most people anticipate with glee:

The American Amusement Park by Dale Samuelson (with Wendy Yegoiants), 2001
791.068 Sam

A visit to an amusement park is a vital part of enjoying the summertime in America. Pennsylvania has a healthy number of such fun and frolicsome venues: Hersheypark, Dorney Park, and Dutch Wonderland are all geographically close to Reading. My personal favorite is Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA, if for no other reason than parking and admission are both free. Knoebels has a special place in my family as well. My grandparents met at the roller skating rink there in the 1930s. As a matter of fact, if Pap-Pap were still with us, he and Mam-Mam would be celebrating their 73rd wedding anniversary this very day. My mother and her siblings have their memories of youthful merriment at Knoebels, as do my sister, our numerous cousins, and myself. Now the fourth generation of our clan are making their own happy recollections of having visited there. I recommend a visit to Knoebels to anyone who’s never been there, it’s well worth the drive!

American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn by Ted Steinberg,

2006
635.9647 Ste

Author Steinberg takes on a singularly unique American phenomenon: the relentless pursuit of a flawless greensward. I read this text when it first arrived on our library’s shelves and was flabbergasted at the financial statistics the author reported as to how much many Americans lay out annually on things such as weed killer, lawn feed, watering, and maintenance. I felt the message (which was rather heavy handed at points) that yard turf shouldn’t be quite such a monumental national priority was fully justified. American Green is a verdant gem of a book on a topic most people wouldn’t imagine could take up two hundred and ninety five pages.



Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse,
2007
306.481 Wil

When the canicular days of soaring temperatures and oppressive humidity descend, nothing beats a cool dip in the pool. Wiltse details the history of the swimming pool in American society, focusing much of the book on the roles of the municipal natatorium (to be honest, a natatorium is an enclosed, indoor pool, but it’s pleasant to use a synonym and that’s close enough) in community life. The emphasis on children’s physical fitness, which was born in part due to the frightening polio outbreaks of the years before Salk’s vaccine, played a key role in the pool becoming a mainstay of many cities and towns. The author also addresses the injustice of racial segregation and its affect on access to such pools.

Iced Tea : 50 Recipes for Refreshing Tisanes, Infusions, Coolers, and Spiked Teas
by Fred Thompson, 2002
641.6372 Tho

I am always happy when a book title brings a new vocabulary word into my personal lexicon. Before landing upon this book about iced tea, if someone had asked me to identify tisane I would likely have answered, “Isn’t that the capitol of some nation in Africa?” Apparently a tisane is a beverage, hot or cold, made by infusing parts of any plant except that of the tea bush. “Tisane” and “herbal tea” are not interchangeable because a tisane is not really a tea…fascinating! In any event, I am partial to iced tea, and this book provides many curious and delightful twists on an old summertime favorite.

Whether your estival pastimes include mowing a lawn, taking a swim, visiting an amusement park, or sipping an iced tea: Happy Summer!

SCRIPT AND SCRIBBLE

When I was in kindergarten I remember wandering up to the desk of my teacher, Miss Cindy (we never knew her last name), and beholding her rapidly jotting down a note in cryptic, connected shapes. “Why are you writing sloppy?”, I asked confusedly, mystified at what may as well have been Egyptian hieroglyphics from my childish vantage point.

Miss Cindy raised her eyes and indulgently replied: “It’s not sloppy, it’s cursive writing”. Unconvinced, I told my mother that afternoon how Miss Cindy couldn’t make her letters and instead slashed strange scrawlies all over her paper. Mom smiled and told me it was real writing for grownups. I promptly forgot all about it as I prepared to play with my toys, secretly convinced yet again that adults were more then slightly bonkers.

Then it was my turn to learn cursive. It was third grade and Sister Regina Eileen patiently watched twenty-some students laboriously drawing circles on practice pads. Up, down, up down--the monotony, I recall, was stupefying. The Palmer Method was rigorously applied, and while I could barely move past basic arithmetic in the afternoon, penmanship class in the morning found me a most willing and capable student. And I felt so very sophisticated: I was writing like grown-ups while block letters remained the province of little kids like my sister. I won a Palmer Method Award for the best penmanship when I was in fifth grade and am still proud of it; mostly because my overachieving sibling, who won veritably every other academic honor in both grade- and high school, never had one bestowed on her (tee hee--love ya, Heather!)

Script and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey details the history of how the art and craft of penmanship came about and its current status of rapid decline. Burns Florey was a parochial schoolchild herself, having been instructed in Palmer ways by Sister Victorine. However, Palmer Method was the most utilized instructional tool for cursive script across America’s educational frontiers for decades. The volume does more than detail Palmer Method. The very history of writing tools, from cuneiform and hieroglyphics to quills and ink are thoroughly yet engagingly addressed. Graphology, the pseudo-science of examining personal script and learning about the psyche of the writer therein, is also covered. Palmer’s immediate predecessor, Spencerian script, was something I could not have identified before reading Script and Scribble. For an example of it, consult any can of a certain soft drink—the Coca-Cola trademark is written in Spencerian script.

Not much is made of the Zaner-Bloser school of handwriting, which I’d only heard of recently. A direct descendant of Palmer, it's more truncated and, frankly, much less appealing visually (even if it supposedly easier to learn). I scoff at it. Palmer is the only way to go.

Along with Ms. Burns-Florey, I decry the inattention penmanship receives in our day, particularly where pupils of elementary school are concerned. Penmanship is the most personal tool anyone possesses as a means of communication. Our hand is as unique and special as our voice. I personally enjoy calligraphy (the art of formal script) and am thankful my parents gave me a Sheaffer fountain pen set for my birthday when I was thirteen. Keyboarding is a wonderful tool; I am typing this entry up on a computer keyboard this very moment. I can scarcely imagine not having access to word processors or email. I receive dozens of handwritten requests for genealogy every year which I strain to decipher while silently pleading with the writers of said missives to discover the wonders of Microsoft Word.

However, there’s an incomparable grace and elegance to a carefully scripted greeting, and I hope more of us pause to reflect on our handwriting habits (or lack thereof) upon considering Script and Scribble. The Main Library's copy of this delightful tome is at NEW 652.1 Flo; our collection also boasts several volumes on how to practice calligraphy as well as three actual textbooks on the Palmer Method. Austin Norman Palmer (December 22, 1860– November 16, 1927), R.I.P.

FAMILY REDEMPTION

French films are a peculiar breed of cinema and I have a hit-and-miss record as to my reaction to them. Some I've found to be utterly useless: such as Amelie, the 2001 Audrey Tautou fluff piece about a young woman possessed of a relentlessly saccharine need to be cheerful and helpful (I know, I sound harsh, but watch it and most readers will agree with me). Innocence (2004) is another Franco-flop in my estimation, about a surreal school for young ladies where they are forced to learn dance (it's really much stranger than it sounds).

There have been some French triumphs, though, to offset the offal. The Chorus (2004), a historical drama reminiscent of Mr. Holland's Opus, is exceptionally moving and features an incredible soundtrack featuring a superb boys' choir. When the Sea Rises (2005) is an archetypal foreign film in that it features a very quirky duo--Irene, a peripatetic puppeteer, and Dries, a loveable vagabond--and their offbeat adventures throughout northern Gallic vistas. Incidentally, all four of these films are available at the Main Library on DVD.

My review concerns the movie I've Loved You So Long, which was released in 2008, written and directed by Philippe Claudel. Juliette Fontaine (Kristin Scott Thomas, whose admirable command of French was a facet of her talent about which I'd been ignorant before this project) has been imprisoned for a decade and a half and is being released on parole. Her crime is something I will keep to myself, because it constitutes the best part of what makes the film memorable.

Her younger sister, Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), collects her from the penitentiary; Lea is much younger then Juliette, who had been a physician before her incarceration. Lea is married to Luc; the couple have two very young adopted daughters. It is clear Luc is displeased with Juliette's arrival into their household and treats his newly-met sister-in-law with overt distrust.

Juliette gradually moves from wooden, barely-registering presence to human, engaging interaction as Luc overcomes his reservations and she is introduced to a colleague of her sister's (who is, like Lea herself, a university professor) whose kindness and gentle nature eventually disgorge Juliette from her shell.

Scott Thomas' command of this character and the carefully measured means by which the audience learns of the circumstances which brought about her imprisonment (and how she adapts to life outside prison walls) are nothing short of brilliant. The film moves slowly but the inexorably mysterious backstory of the protagonist helped retain interest.

When we finally learn the full history of Dr. Fontaine, the entire plot is turned on its head. Juliette seems to have found a path, with the redemptive power of her family (she develops a touching materteral relationship with her elder niece, Petit-Lys) and a cautious sense of hope, to inner peace. And if I can say that sincerely, it's my opinion that I've Loved So Long is worthy of viewing. (I've Loved You So Long is available on DVD from the Main Library.)

RHYME and REASON

Nursery rhymes are such an indelible ingredient of childhood most people do not pause to consider their origins. Who would have imagined that "Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub" was describing "the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker" taking part in a seamy peepshow at a county fair? Or that the "three blind mice" represent a triumverate of Protestant bishops who were blinded and executed by the devoutly Roman Catholic Queen Mary Tudor of England? Or that Jack and Jill's seemingly innocuous trip up a small incline was hardly about procuring H20, but was rather an analogy for both of them succumbing to carnal desire for the first time? (seriously!)

Chris Roberts, a London-based librarian, took on the sometimes eye-popping subject of the histories of English-language nursery rhymes in his 2005 book Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme--The Seamy and Quirky Stories Behind Favorite Nursery Rhymes. I presented my brother-in-law with this title several years ago as a Christmas present and he has commented more than once how he has enjoyed the explanations and explications of childhood verses. While I'd known that "Ring Around the Rosey" referred to victims dropping dead from the Bubonic Plague, I'd never heard that "Baa Baa Black Sheep" was a denunciation of the tax laws of thirteenth century England.

The entire subject of rhyme came up today when my sister telephoned me and said that my elder nephew, Alexander, was continuing his fascination with rhyming words. He recently claimed that "flower" and "mother" were words that rhymed, which my sister declaimed as incorrect. Her husband, however, averred the tot was in the right. He said that since the last syllable of both words was the same, it is a type of rhyme. My sister was hoping her brother (who has his bachelor's degree in English literature) would validate her argument.

Sorry, sis.

In fact, the entire world of English rhyme is incredibly rich and varied. Alliteration (the first consonants sound the same), assonance (the vowel sounds are the same, within a single line of poetry), and slant rhymes (imperfect but similar sounds) are all legitimate species of rhyme. Half-rhyme, syllabic rhyme, and imperfect rhyme are other means of having words connect.
I am deeply pleased that young Alex is being instructed about them from such a young age. Expounding on his knoweldge of all things literate and linguistic has been a source of pride and joy for me; this is the same little guy who now knows the proper name for the telephone's pound key [#] (octothorpe) and this symbol: & (ampersand). Not too shabby for having just turned four!

Good Sources: World Digital Library

The World Digital Library (WDL) has been officially launched today.

“The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.
Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information. (WDL)”

Main Site: http://www.wdl.org/en/
See also: World Digital Library Fact Sheet
See also: World Digital Library Preview Video
See also: WDL Wikipedia entry

Keep searching,
Librarian Carl

Without a DOUBT

Very few films I've seen (made in the last decade or so, at least) rightly deserve the adjective compelling. So many deliver either a skillfully-crafted plot or singular performances by a certain actor or an ensemble cast, but seldom does the combination of both cinematic aspects meld to form a truly amazing movie. Doubt, written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, delivers the exception to the rule, and the result is a miracle to behold.

I won't divulge many specifics because Doubt is a creature that must be experienced without much foreknowledge in order to be fully appreciated. The setting is a Roman Catholic grade school, St. Nicholas, located in the Bronx; the year is 1964. The protagonist is a Sister of Charity, S. Aloysius, who is the school's principal as well as the superior of the convent. Rev. Brendan Flynn is the curate (assistant priest) of St. Nicholas Church.

Suffice it to say the two are at odds over most everything--but usually in a subdued, intellectual manner. Sister Aloysius is stern and old-fashioned; Father Flynn is relaxed and progressive. Meryl Streep is unforgettable as the principal; one can scarcely imagine any other actress breathing such forceful life into the role. Ms. Streep can infuse the tiniest act--the raising of an eyebrow, a murmured "hmm"--with oceans of disdain and derision as no other actress today. Philip Seymour Hoffman, a character actor who has justifiably garnered a reputation for his considerable talent, delivers a nuanced performance as the priest.

Another great talent is the fresh-faced Amy Adams, who plays Sister James, a young nun who is neatly--and regrettably--thrust between the two leads and their duelling philosophies of education and spirituality.

This is a thinking film. Based on the play which Shanley wrote, it is incredibly dialogue-driven, but the pacing is impeccable. From the first syllable of Father Flynn's homily at the outset of the storyline the viewer is drawn in as the leads contend inexorably with one another until one of them proves victorious.

One of the many questions the viewer will come away with after watching is: Who won? And at what cost?

Anyone who has seen this movie will tell you: "I believed X"; the crux of the drama evolves from suspicion and self-defense on the part of the nun and the priest toward one another. The polarization of opinion should lead to intense discussion among viewers. Be assured this film will appeal to a wide audience; it is not solely fixated on the Catholic Church, although those familiar with Catholicism will perhaps comprehend more fully some of the themes and issues raised in the plot. At its core Doubt speaks to sweeping concepts applicable to everyone: faith and faithlessness, optimism and pessimism, mercy and justice, right and wrong.

A gross travesty of the 2009 Oscars was that this phenomenal piece didn't receive a single gold statue (it was, however, nominated for five of them).

The Main Library has added two copies of this DVD (released by Miramax on April 7) and I invite the reader to borrow a copy and examine the credibility of Doubt.

APRIL IS...

April is a month chock-full of various national observances; here is a sampling:

ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH

April is the month designated to carefully observe one's alcohol intake. And others', as well. Drink responsibly!

CELEBRATE DIVERSITY MONTH

We both embrace AND celebrate the wonder of diversity in a special way throughout the fourth month of the calendar year.

HUMOR MONTH

Laugh yourself silly as you celebrate National Humor Month this April :- ) Ha, HA HA, HA HA HA HA!!!

NATIONAL LAWN CARE MONTH

Get out there and mow that grass! Rip out those pesky dandelions! And make your neighbors GREEN with envy at your lushly manicured blades! April is National Lawn Care Month!

POETRY MONTH

Discover your inner bard while tackling iambic pentameter, or check out a book of poetry from our collection to help celebrate National Poetry Month.

NATIONAL GARDENING MONTH

With the economy still in a terrible state, many people are discovering the joy of cultivating their own food with backyard gardens. Whether edible or ornamental, plant something and watch it grow this April as we celebrate National Gardening Month! (full disclosure: it's really Landscape Architecture Month, but "Gardening Month" sounds better...)

NATIONAL PET MONTH

Walk your dog! Wash your rabbit! Or stare balefully at your goldfish! Do SOMETHING for your best non-human buddy, because April is NATIONAL PET MONTH! (kind of the same thing--April is really Pet First Aid Awareness Month, but that sounded slightly distressing to me...)

Good Sources: Search Engines & Directories (Part 1)

By Librarian Carl

Online search tools cover a lot of ground these days. One type of online search tool is the Search Engine, more formally referred to as a Web Search Engine. A modern search engine allows you to input one or more keywords and primarily by use of search algorithms and indexing software, often called crawlers, it produces a list of websites relevant to your search query. For most people this means, simply, you type in some words and the search engine brings up a list of web pages on your topic. The behind the scenes “software-powered” process for this is very complicated and often kept proprietary by the various search engine companies. For a more complete explanation of how search engines work, see here.

Another type of online search tool is the Directory. Web Directories rely primarily on “human-powered results” instead of "software-powered results" for cataloging and selection. A Web Directory lists webs sites by category and while most have a search option the focus is on browsing through the list. For a summary of the main difference between a search engine and a directory, see here.

Search Engines and Directories both help you find web resources about your topic of interest but do so by different methods and have different strengths and weaknesses. Search engines are often quicker and easier to use and cover more sites online than Directories. Directories have human chosen or peer-reviewed content with the goal of offering fewer but higher quality web sites and allow for serendipitous discovery that only browsing category lists can afford.

Below I have listed some of the better and larger general Search Engines and Directories. These tools are the best of the best available today and it would benefit any Internet searcher to become familiar with all of them (not just one *cough* Google *cough*).

1) Search Engines

• Google
• Yahoo
• Ask
• Live Search (MSN)
• Exalead
  

2) Directories

• Open Directory Project (ODP) (DMoz)
• Google Directory (content by ODP, organized by Google)
• Librarian’s Internet Index
• Yahoo Directory
• InfoMine
• About.com
  

3) Tips

It is a good idea to get in the habit of using multiple search engines and directories. No search engine is complete (not even Google searches the entire Internet) and all have different interfaces that allow for better or worse searching depending on what kinds of things you are searching for.


4) Learn More

• Search Engine Watch (latest in search)
• Noodle Tools (select the right search tool)
• General Guides [UC Berkley] (instructions)
• List of Search Engines (Wikipedia)
• List of Web Directories (Wikipedia)

Keep Searching,
Librarian Carl

The next two monthly posts will continue our exploration of search tools with a more detailed examination of Search Engines and their subtypes in (Part 2) and a more detailed examination of Directories in (Part 3)

BEWITCHING UPDIKE

The Reading Public Library will be hosting two book discussions of John Updike's novel, The Witches of Eastwick, both to be held on Wednesday, April 8.

The first discussion will be our Brown Bag event from 12:15 to 1:00 pm, with beverage and dessert provided by the library. The second will take place that evening, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Pre-registration is requested; you may visit the Reference Desk at the Main Library or call us at (610) 655-6355.

PLOT SUMMARY (from Wikipedia)

The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the late 1960s, follows the witches Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougemont, who acquired their powers after leaving or being left by their husbands. Their coven is upset by the arrival of a devil-like character, Darryl Van Horne. The mysterious Darryl seduces each of the women, encouraging them to play with their powers and creating a scandal in the town.

The three women share Darryl in relative peace until he unexpectedly marries their young, innocent friend, Jenny, whom they resolve to have revenge on by giving her cancer through their magic. The witches doubt their judgment after Jenny's death when Darryl flees town with her younger brother, Chris, apparently his lover. In his wake he leaves their relationships strained and their sense of self in doubt. Eventually they each summon their ideal men and leave town.

The novel was made into a popular film in 1987, with Jack Nicholson starring as Darryl, Cher as Alexandra, Susan Sarandon as Jane, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Sukie.

FALLEN ANGELS of WINTER

If you enjoy drama that does more than tear at the heartstrings--the kind that virtually eviscerates you at the very core of your soul--then you are in for an intensely emotional treat with 2007's Snow Angels.

Based on the eponymous novel by Stewart O'Nan, Snow Angels takes place in an unnamed northern state where, unsurprisingly, there is frozen precipitation aplenty. The protagonist is young Arthur Parkinson, played to clueless perfection by Michael Anganaro (whom I recognized as having played Elliott, Jack McFarland's son, on Will & Grace). Arthur is a high school student, a tuba player in the band, and an employee of his hometown's Chinese restaurant, owned by Oskar, who is decidedly not Chinese (I think he is supposed to be German).

Arthur's parents (Don, played by Griffin Dunne, and Louise, played by Jeanetta Arnette) are separating and his mother is an emotional whirlwind in the face of his professor father's egress. At work, Arthur flirts harmlessly with Annie Marchand (Kate Beckinsale in the most poignant role of her career), a waitress who spent many years babysitting young Arthur. Annie is estranged from her husband, Glenn (a blowout performance by Sam Rockwell), who has recently attempted suicide in the face of his marital woes. They have one child, four-year-old Tara, both adeptly and adorably rendered by Gracie Hudson.

New girl in school Lila Raybern takes an instant liking to Arthur; the role is handled admirably by Olivia Thirlby, who played Juno's best friend in the popular film of the same name. Lila, with her engaging chatter and delightfully retro cats'-eye glasses, waits patiently for Arthur to realize she has a significant crush on him.

A second couple, Nate and Barb Petite, find their lives hopelessly interlocked with those of Glenn and Annie. Barb, played by comedienne Amy Sedaris in an uncharacteristic dramatic role, is a fellow waitress at the Chinese eatery; Nate (played by Nicky Katt) is conducting an adulterous affair with Annie. Meanwhile, Glenn has become a rabidly born-again Christian and is busily attempting to rebuild his life by finding employment while living with his parents and aged grandfather (and let's not forget the dog, Bomber).

Suspicions fly and secrets are revealed in the ugliest possible scenarios, all of which find climax when an unthinkable tragedy befalls one of the cast and, as a result, several of the characters become lost completely.

I will advise that this movie is incredibly dark and extremely depressing, so be forewarned. Beckinsale and Rockwell, however, deliver stellar performances, and while the film may not be all sweetness and light, I would still highly recommend going out and visiting with these Snow Angels.

I HATED THIS MOVIE

Ordinarily I reserve reviews for books, music, or films that I've not only enjoyed, but that I truly wish to share with other people. "Rachel Getting Married", a movie released last year, is rather the opposite. I despised this movie so intensely I simply had to vent about it on the blog.

Anne Hathaway does herself no credit whatsoever portraying the infinitely loathable Kym Buchman in "Rachel Getting Married". A lifelong junkie who's attempted to kick drug and alcohol addiction numerous times, Kym gets a brief release from a clinic in order to nearly destroy her elder sister's nuptials.

Rosemarie DeWitt brings one of the only sympathetic characters to the film as Rachel, whose life has been spent watching her self-destructive sibling's antics decmiate their family. I had not noticed Ms. DeWitt's cruelly hawklike proboscis so much in "Mad Men", but then the camera angles in "R.G.M." were rather unforgiving on just about every actor. Jonathan Demme, the director, utilized dizzying hand-held-camcorder shots so often I nearly reached for the Dramamine--the result was far from artistic, it was literally nauseating.

Due largely to a devastating incident within the family (caused, unsurprisingly, by a high-as-a-kite Kymmie), the parents of the bride are divorced and each has remarried. Effeminate father Paul (Bill Irwin, who's apparently a pioneer in contemporary American clowning---*cringe*) is the husband of Carol; delightfully distant mother, Abby (played beautifully by Debra Winger), is partnered with Andrew. Abby has little time for her children, maintaining distance in order to move on from her dysfunctional original clan to new horizons with her second spouse.

The majority of the movie is taken up by Kym's monotonous monologues as to how no one understands the plight of the recovering junkie. She makes an unlikely connection with Kieran (Mather Zickel), the best man at the wedding, although he can't rescue her from her obsessive need to destroy everything in her life. Kym, who has spent a majority of the recent past either in rehab or prison, even demands that Rachel remove her best friend, Emma (Anisa George), as her maid of honor and give that position to her [Kym]. There is also a scene of mind-numbing discomfort when Kym delivers a lengthy "toast" at the rehearsal dinner, which quickly transmogrifies into yet another patented "Kymmie Buchman Self-Pitying Soliloquy About HOW HARD IT IS TO BE ME".

Sidney Williams (Rachel's fiancee/husband) is played by Tunde Adebimpe, the lead singer of the group TV on the Radio (I liked his character, who was low-key and amusing). The music in this film, however, is abysmal, with ridiculously extended scenes of very strange, sitar-driven orchestrations being danced to by bored-looking cast members. The wedding itself is bizarre: the Buchmans are Jewish and the Williamses are African-American but with no particular (or at least obvious) connection to Hinduism. Yet the couple is married in a Hindu-esque environment (Indian music, the bride and her attendants wear saris, the wedding cake boasts a huge elephant...?!) that makes no sense on any level.

I couldn't have cared less about Kymmie Buchman and her angst-ridden plight of being hopelessly addicted to apparently every known amphetamine and barbituate in the world. I did feel for Rachel, though: a devoted and duty-driven daughter, yet forever cast aside in light of her sister's perpetual parade of drug-induced, self-loathing-riddled meltdowns. A part of me really hoped Kym would overdose and die before the end; unfortunately that just didn't happen...

How this particular film ended up gracing so many "Best of 2008" movie lists is thoroughly unnerving, and does nothing to hold back my final word on this drivel: spare yourself and decline the invitation to see "Rachel Getting Married".

FASTNACHTS AND PACZKI AND KING CAKES, O MY!

When I first joined the staff at the Main Library many years ago, I'd been only (very) vaguely aware of fastnachts. They had certainly not been a part of my family's Fat Tuesday traditions and I didn't know anyone who ate them when I was growing up. My first Fastnacht (or Fasnacht) Day in Reading found me presented with several variations of the doughnut-like pastry by Berks Countians eager to share this Pennsylvania German cultural food staple.

Unfortunately, my first encounter with a fastnacht was without the benefit of any sweetener, such as turkey syrup (why is it called that, anyway?--it's not poultry flavored! [thank heavens]) or molasses. I was underwhelmed. I could not imagine why people became so excited to nibble on this starchy, almost tasteless dessert bread.

I've never become a fan of the fastnacht, even having eaten them flavored with something sweet. Polish-Americans look forward to consuming paczki every year on Fat Tuesday:

Paczki (pronounced POONCH-key; a single one is a paczek [POTCH-ek]) are in many ways similar to fastnachts in that they are dense, heavy, and fried. Paczki are, however, always filled; prune, cherry, and lemon are among the more customary paczki fillings.

The American South, home to the greatest Mardi Gras celebration in the country (New Orleans), has its own traditional dessert for the holiday.

A king cake is a sweetbread that is usually also filled and topped with sugary icing (Y-U-M!) Traditional king cakes have a trinket baked inside them, which are seen as portents of good fortune to the person who disgorges it. The krewes, or roving string bands that parade throughout New Orleans on Mardi Gras, often select their leader for that august day based on whoever draws the trinket.

Many king cakes have the figure of a baby secreted within them; this tradition grew from the original time of year when this confection was served. Epiphany is the feast celebrated just after Christmas when Christians remember the arrival of the Three Kings to the manger of the infant Jesus. The infant figure represents the Baby Jesus, and the cake is named for the three royal personages who followed a star to find the Christ Child.

This is an example of the Mardi Gras flag; the selection of the New Orleans Mardi Gras colors was done by a member of the Russian royal family. Grand Duke Alexis Romanov was visiting New Orleans in 1872 during the Mardi Gras festivities and was given the honor of selecting which hues would be incorporated into the official banner of the event. He chose purple to represent justice, gold to symbolize power, and green to denote faith; the purple crown in the center indicates Duke's regal bloodline.

Whether you feast on fastnachts, polish off some paczki, or consume a piece of king cake,

Happy Mardi Gras to all...

Good Sources for Online Books

By Librarian Carl

The printed word has undergone a multitude of changes over its history, from papyrus scrolls and wax tablets to parchment manuscripts and paper bound books. The latest format is eBooks. Electronic Books (or eBooks) are digital versions of a traditional print book designed to be read on a personal computer or an e-book reader. Large collections of ebooks are sometimes presented by way of online digital libraries. Although eBooks have been around since the early 1980s, they did not hit the public eye until early 2000.

Many complications over standard format file types, delivery systems, and legal policies are currently plaguing the industry. The field of digital books is constantly growing and changing; thankfully, many easy and free-to-use options exist. This month’s Good Sources column will point you in the right direction.

1) Libraries

Reading Public Library
The Reading Public Library offers a whole host of databases and indexes free to all library members (databases link here and here). One such database is NetLibrary, which offers digital version of books, journals, and other database content.
Link: NetLibrary

Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LC) has both unique eText collections and offers access to a list of databases which
Databases: Databases & E-Resources (Free) (All)
Other Online content: Digital Collections & Services

New York Public Library
Like the LC the NYPL has both their own collection of digital content and offer access to a list of databases.
Databases: Databases and Indexes Online (Free) (All)
Other Online content: Digital Collections

Internet Public Library
IPL offers a list of remote links to various online eBooks and eText.
Online Text Links: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/


2) Other Sources

Project Gutenberg
“Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.”

Internet Archive
“The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others.”

The Online Books Page
“The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 30,000 books, and has several features, such as A Celebration of Women Writers and Banned Books Online.”

Bartleby.com
“Bartleby.com is an electronic text archive, headquartered in New York and named after Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener. It was founded under the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 by Steven H. van Leeuwen as a personal, non-profit collection of classic literature on the website of Columbia University.”

The Internet Classics Archive
“Select from a list of 441 works of classical literature by 59 different authors, including user-driven commentary and "reader's choice" Web sites. Mainly Greco-Roman works (some Chinese and Persian), all in English translation.”

Open Library
“Open Library a project designed to create a comprehensive online database of books. It is a project of the Internet Archive. Aaron Swartz is the leader of the Open Library's technical team.”

Google Books
“Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans, converts to text using optical character recognition, and stores in its digital database.”

Digital Book Index
“Digital Book Index provides links to more than 145,000 full-text digital books from more than 1800 commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites. More than 100,000 of these books, texts, and documents are available free, while many others are available at very modest cost.”

The Universal Digital Library
“The Million Book Project (or the Universal Library), led by Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science and University Libraries currently has scanned ove 1 million books. Working with government and research partners in India and China, the project is scanning books in many languages, using OCR to enable full text searching, and providing free-to-read access to the books on the web.”

BONUS: CliffNotes
The well known student study guides are now available online and for free!


3) Searching On Your Own

There are many more options for online full text. The above list should get you started with the major general offerings. You can use the following keywords to help you search out various other collections.

Keywords: eBooks, eText, Online Full Text, eContent
Keywords: Digital Library, Electronic Library, Online Library

ORTHOGRAPHY FOR ALL!

RIGHTING THE MOTHER TONGUE, FROM OLDE
ENGLISH TO EMAIL: THE TANGLED STORY OF
ENGLISH SPELLING
by David Wolman
New 421.52 Wol

Orthography is a little-known and relatively caliginous subject; its broadest definition is the investigation as to how spoken language is committed to a written format, including the symbols utilized and the process by which such characters are engendered and employed.

In other words, orthography is a synonym for spelling.

David Wolman plumbs the heady depths of English language spelling in his book Righting the Mother Tongue, etc., which was published in October 2008 by Collins. I love the English language and rejoice in its bizarre spelling traditions. I find it delightful that the letter combination ough can be pronounced in such a bewildering multiplicity of ways. Consider the following words: bough, cough, dough, enough, and through -- each corresponds with the following words, pronunciation-wise: cow, scoff, flow, puff, and zoo. Behold the glorious, mercurial inconsistency of it all!

The feckless irregularities of English are the very things which make it an extremely difficult language to learn. For centuries, English spelling has been the bane of its speakers' existence, and through the ages scores of individuals have petitioned to have its orthography radically simplified. One of the earliest pioneers of such a movement was the father of the English language dictionary: Samuel Butler (an Englishman), who authored one of the earliest lexicons in 1755.

We are perhaps more familiar with Noah Webster, an American who published the first dictionary on U.S. soil in 1806. Webster championed spelling changes not only to make orthography easier to comprehend, but also to highlight the difference between American English and its British parent. Webster's influence brought about the disappearance of the superfluous "u" in the American spelling of such words as honor, valor, and color (in England they remain honour, valour, and colour to this day). President Theodore Roosevelt, author H.G. Wells, and playwright George Bernard Shaw were all devoted disciples of spelling mediation.

I was quite surprised to find Melvil Dewey not only on this illustrious list, but that he was at one time America's most impassioned disciple of the simplified spelling movement. Melvil created the Dewey Decimal System, the numerical classification scheme used by public and school libraries to arrange non-fiction materials. At birth his first name was spelled Melville, but in college he dropped the second "l" and silent "e"--for a brief time he even spelled his surname "Dui" in an effort to prove more phonetic. Dewey was cautioned to stifle his spelling-streamline-mania by his employer at his first job as a librarian, at New York's Columbia University.

Dewey courted the philanthropic paragon Andrew Carnegie and was given a generous allottment of financial support for his spelling simplification efforts (Carnegie was himself a poor speller who was very much in sympathy with Melvil's spelling philosophy.) Clearly, however, Dewey's and his colleagues' designs to reinvent English spelling were met with a stunning paucity of success (although various organizations championing the same cause are still extant today.)

Spelling reform does have its positive points. Children would have a much easier time of things in learning the language, for one; non-English speakers would benefit greatly as well if the many contradictory, illogical, and arcane traditions of our written language were to be eradicated.

On the other hand, spelling reform initiaitves have traditionally met with incredibly robust resistance from the masses. Spelling purists (of whom I am one) find the very concept alarming (indeed!), but the majority just cannot be bothered having to re-learn the nuts and bolts of spelling. One of the reasons English has such convoluted spelling practices is because the bulk of the language is borrowed from other tongues. Wolman shares a very brief list of some examples: bungalow (Hindi), guitar (Spanish), bamboo (Malay), kiosk (Turkish), algebra (Arabic), parasite (Greek), cameo (Italian), and curry (Tamil). A huge number of English words are derived from Dutch and German, the two languages with which English shares the most common ground. Moreover, English has a substantial variety of vowel sounds but very few vowels-- re-establishing spelling rules would mean instituting tortuous letter combinations to represent the same sounds, or inventing altogether new letters.

English, like all languages, is constantly encountering alteration, moderation, permutation, and even corruption. An excellent example of this is the contemporary phenomenon of texting, where "texters" utilize all manner of abbreviation in order to save themselves time and exertion. I find this practice as annoying as I do unseemly; besides which, I end up mouthing what the bizarre alpha-numeric symbols are supposed to mean and become frustrated that I'm not reading actual words.

I laughed at myself at times while reading this book. While the American spelling of the word is catalog, I still insist on writing catalogue, which is the British style. I also append the silent "e" in the purals of words that do not actually require them ("volcanoes") and insist on doubling consonants (also a British holdover) for some words (the plural of "bus" in the U.S. is "buses", which to me looks like the second syllable of the word "abuses", and thus has me pronouncing it the same way when I see it written--I use "busses").

This book is not solely for those of us with a penchant for orthographic chronology. Wolman is a breezy writer whose infectious curiosity and self-deprecating humor make for an engaging style of prose. At the outset he bluntly confesses his spelling ineptitude and part of his interest in this subject was a desire to learn why he has always found the subject so very arduous. Both its tone and content make for a highly enjoyable read and I recommend it unreservedly!

THOSE MAGICAL MUPPETS

STREET GANG: THE COMPLETE HISTORY
OF SESAME STREET
by Michael Davis
New 791.4372 Dav

This book is a comprehensive history of the vastly influential children's program, Sesame Street. The author, Michael Davis, is a resident of the Philadelphia suburb of Yardley; his father actually donated the copy of this title in the Main Library's collection. As a Gen-Xr (how I once loathed that label--until Generation Y was given its own identity, riddled with more issues and negative traits than Generation X--ha, ha!), I was constantly visiting Sesame Street throughout my childhood. I was completely enthralled with The Count (ironic, considering I developed a raging math-phobia around age nine that I've yet to shake), and wanted to live with Big Bird. I was not, however, a fan of Bert, what with his puzzling penchant for pigeons and his preposterous paper clip collection. Sesame Street will celebrate its 40th birthday this year on November 10th.

As a neat tie-in to this fun new title (I haven't gotten to read it yet but it's on my list), I read a Mental Floss article today on the back stories of many Muppet characters (please check out http://www.mentalfloss.com/ for the full article written by Stacy Conradt).

Kermit the Frog's initial incarnation took place in 1955. He was made out of Elizabeth Henson's coat (mother of Jim) and ping-pong balls.

Oscar the Grouch's raspy, angry signature voice was inspired by an irate New York City cab driver. Miss Piggy is a native of Iowa. And Telly Monster was originally supposed to fall into seizure-like paroxysms of euphoria every time he sat down in front of a television set, but his behavior was considered too scary for the young target audience. He was then transmogrified into the perpetual worry-wart best known to Sesame Street aficionados.

I always thought the two balcony-bound hecklers on the Muppet Show were simply fabulous...particularly since I've never liked Fozzie Bear and adored the excoriations the pernicious pair heaped upon the hopelessly untalented ursine comedian. I'd long believed them to be named Astor and Waldorf, having heard they were named for two famous New York City hotels. They're actually named Statler and Waldorf--Statler has gray hair and Waldorf has white hair (plus the mustache). Apparently Waldorf has a wife--appropriately named Astoria (wocka, wocka!). I've also heard that Astoria is actually Waldorf's sister (they're the exact same puppet; the female simply has more hair and no mustache) and Statler's wife, which would make them brothers-in-law.



Finally, according to Ms. Conradt's report, the long-held belief that Bert and Ernie were named after characters in the film It's A Wonderful Life is a total myth. I always thought it was a lovely idea, having the police officer (Bert) and the cab driver (Ernie) from my favorite Christmas movie immortalized in Muppet form on Sesame Street. Sometimes the truth hurts...

My nieces and nephews are now happily entranced with Sesame Street as well as the sadly-defunct Muppet Show (on DVD) and I find it heartwarming to bond with them over their favorite characters (unless someone likes Fozzie Bear...or Animal...)

NOTE: On February 11, CNN ran an article titled How Do You Get To 'Sesame Street'? by Todd Leopold detailing Street Gang, etc. by Michael Davis. It's well worth a read!