Library Science

Part of what calls me to the field of librarianship is a fascination with information, and in a larger sense, useful knowledge. One of the main things I would like to do with this work is to contribute to the dialogue of what books should be in every library. I imagine that there should be a guide, a list of say 500 books and you should be able to walk into any library and find multiple copies of them. They should run the gamut from basic bike repair to history to Pulitzer prize winning fiction to graphic novels. I should be able to walk into the library and come out with a copy of Chiltons and go fix my car. I should be able to walk in and immediately put my hands on a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, or Silent Spring, or anything else covered in any college 101 course. I have noticed of late a huge discrepancy in the books that Borders carries and the books that are in the library. Of course, you can always walk into a Borders and immediately put your hands on something like “Breakfast of Champions” or Neruda’s 100 love sonnets, or Tolkien. I am sure each has a list of restocks and I am eager to join that debate of what should be in that list, that shoring up of the body of information that educated people share and that comprises civilization. I just read a review in the Times of ‘1001 books to read before you die,’ but the reviewer was skeptical. The critic immediately zeroed in on many flaws, mistakes and omissions, you would think with 1001 that you would cover everything non-specialized that would make anyone’s top 20 or so, but there seemed to be little effort at achieving a credible canonicity. I think that for any given author, only the works that can stand up to the classics, that can actually be in the company of Dickens, Melville, Tolkien, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner, Chaucer, the Bard, etc., should be included. For most writers, that is maybe 3, 4 books. I have found that even my favorites have about 3 or 4 really great works and then there is a sharp drop-off in quality from there, maybe with the exception of  Vonnegut, but he has the advantage of being just plain funny.   

An interesting article in the Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25internet-t.html?pagewanted=10&_r=1&th&emc=th

 

 

It kind of speaks for itself. It helped me come to a deeper understanding of why Toltec Wisdom forbids gossip, defining it as a breach of integrity. Of course we talk about our friends, but mostly this presumes a deep concern for their welfare, sometimes taking the form of “What do I do about X,” we are involved in their life, we invest time and energy and resources into our friendships. So, there will be some discussion, but I am not sure how it falls under the category of gossip. Maybe true gossip has none of this concern, none of the element of connection, but is much closer to Schadenfreude, condemnation or a desire to have power over someone by affecting someone else’s opinion of them. Gossip as an industry seems a disgraceful and despicable waste of time altogether, a devaluing of time as a personal resource. Not just a waste of time, but somehow creating an existential deficit, as if you have to make up the time by increasing the proportion of goal-oriented behavior in your subsequent time. Celebrity gossip especially is something I just don’t get.  Not to go all Andy Rooney, but I couldn’t care less about Tom Cruise, “Brangelina,” or any other actor’s personal life. Why should I care? What makes this industry continue to put out garbage pretending to be news while the world is seeming to turn itself into either a giant ghetto or combat zone? The thousands of pictures, so-called ’stories,’ its starting to become slightly disturbing. Who has the time for this worthless information? It is worse than fiddling while Rome burns. Not only that, but the comments are an entire nother thing. I had a Youtube account for awhile and most of the comments seemed as if they coming from junior high schoolers. Scary in their level of ignorance and brutal stupidity, they made me wonder how they managed to go digital at all. It used to be that you could take for granted a certain level of education in the general population, you could refer to great Masterworks of culture, important historic events, philosophic ideas, etc., and people could discuss them intelligently with you. This is becoming very rare in my experience nowadays. It seems that people are even stupid enough to be surprised when gossip comes back to hurt them, they seem hurt when it comes back to them. They don’t like the taste of their own medicine, but worst of all, it seems to them like their opinion actually matters. This line of thought is taking me back around towards what I plan to do as my future career and will have to be continued in the next post.  

More on the Secret

More on the Secret. I watched this one for the second time, and I do believe in it. I think its for real, but I still feel its necessary to do due diligence. It may turn out to be that with patience, thinking positively, and trying to be happy will generate positive results no matter what the specific income amount. It may be that I have suffered mixed results from putting mixed messages out there. I may not have committed completely to my goals in the past and my efforts and thinking were divided, with the results that I got mediocrity with regard to both singing and work goals. So, this time I am trying to follow the directions more specifically, plus adding in some Wayne Dyer: avoid all thoughts which weaken you. Then, I need to think about income instead of focusing on debt. It is not that I want to waste the money, using it on conspicuous consumption or egotistical things. I want to be responsible to myself- responsible for my own well-being, upkeep and survival, its not really about fancy cars, fancy clothes and eating out all the time. I think of money in terms of it creating freedom and choices and flexibility rather than lifestyle. So, I need to stop all negative thought. I need to replace that with gratitude, so I made my thankful list. Now I need more clarity about my vision- my Real Estate Empire. I think I am catching myself falling into old habits. When I have free time, I have been practicing instead of working on getting closer to doing deals. I think I am clear about the two jobs, if not: let me be official. At this point in my life, I want and need the universe to send me two jobs. I need my 35 during the week as a temp clerk, and I need 32 on the weekend, which is probably what I would do total during the week if I had one real corporate job like a financial analyst or staff accountant, or technologist, or lawyer (at least).  OK- this is clear: 1) No negative thought at all. 2) Gratitude 3) 2 jobs so I can start doing deals ASAP. Plan B: Graduate school to upgrade the temp clerking job. I want to close the first deal no later than 3/31 of 2009. I am visualizing the house, the offer, the closing. Time to put the Secret to work, I am doing everything I can to make this happen.  

The Subway

First I have to mention that normally I am complaining about the expensive and generally late/delayed/under construction NYC subway, but this time I have to give proper credit to the E line. This right on time Express experience zipped my late slacker self across Queens to the Jamaica stop in less than 30 minutes from midtown. AWESOME!! I thought it would be 3 times as long, but the E hauled ass. I don’t know if anyone is paying attention, but the E has always seemed to me to be on time. I have taken it on several occasions and it always seems right on. Same with the 7 and the L. I have had long waits for the uptown and downtown A. The 1 is better, but I remember twice sitting at 168th for about 20 minutes waiting on the uptown. The 4,5, and 6 seem a little better than the A and the 1, but not as good as the D and B, which come very frequently and I would put those second only to the E. My results probably square pretty well with the straphanger polls. So my opinon goes: E, 7 and L, D & B, 456, 1 and A. Some may like the 456 better than the D & B, so I’d put those about the same. Oddly, the downtown 1 seems better than the uptown, I don’t remember waiting very long for that one.