Thursday, June 30, 2005
Click here for the Rest Of The Story~Marvelous!
In January I wrote about the closing of the Salinas Libraries so you can imagine that I'm pretty happy about this article.
In Steinbeck Country, We Said No to Closing the Libraries
by Anne Lamott
"Salinas is one of the poorest communities in the state, within one of the richest counties in the country, the locale of so many of Steinbeck's great novels: Think farm workers, fields of artichokes, garlic, faded stucco houses stained with dirt, ticky-tacky housing tracts, John Ford, James Dean's face in ''East of Eden," strawberry fields, and old gas stations.......
".....My sad '60s heart soared like an eagle at the very name: an emergency read-in. George W. Bush and John Ashcroft tried for three years to create a country that the East Germans could only dream about, empowering the government to keep track of the books we checked out or bought, all in the name of national security. But they hadn't counted on how passionately we writers feel about saving the world, or at any rate, the worlds contained in the skinny, silent spines of books.
"We came together because we started out as children who were saved by stories, stories read to us at night when we were little, stories we read by ourselves, in which we could get lost, and thereby, found. Some of us had grown to become people with loud voices, which the farm workers and their children of this community all of a sudden needed. And we were mad. Show a bunch of writers a sealed library, and they see red. Perhaps they are a little sensitive, or overwrought, but they see a one-way tunnel into the dark. They see the beginnings of fascism".
At present the Libraries have reduced hours but they are still open! At least until the end of the year.
¶ 6/30/2005 08:33:00 AM
In Steinbeck Country, We Said No to Closing the Libraries
by Anne Lamott
"Salinas is one of the poorest communities in the state, within one of the richest counties in the country, the locale of so many of Steinbeck's great novels: Think farm workers, fields of artichokes, garlic, faded stucco houses stained with dirt, ticky-tacky housing tracts, John Ford, James Dean's face in ''East of Eden," strawberry fields, and old gas stations.......
".....My sad '60s heart soared like an eagle at the very name: an emergency read-in. George W. Bush and John Ashcroft tried for three years to create a country that the East Germans could only dream about, empowering the government to keep track of the books we checked out or bought, all in the name of national security. But they hadn't counted on how passionately we writers feel about saving the world, or at any rate, the worlds contained in the skinny, silent spines of books.
"We came together because we started out as children who were saved by stories, stories read to us at night when we were little, stories we read by ourselves, in which we could get lost, and thereby, found. Some of us had grown to become people with loud voices, which the farm workers and their children of this community all of a sudden needed. And we were mad. Show a bunch of writers a sealed library, and they see red. Perhaps they are a little sensitive, or overwrought, but they see a one-way tunnel into the dark. They see the beginnings of fascism".
At present the Libraries have reduced hours but they are still open! At least until the end of the year.
¶ 6/30/2005 08:33:00 AM
Comments:
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It's a great start. Loved the line about Bush and Ashcroft trying to create East Germany's dream world! *LOL*
Bush and Ashcroft haven't bothered our local library. As a matter of fact we (mostly Republican citizens) support it and keep it open. I guess we don't feel the government owes us anything.
We appropriate funds both at the city level and in our County Board meetings (I'm County Board Chairman) so that the rural residents pay their way. I guess it's a difference in philosphy.
We appropriate funds both at the city level and in our County Board meetings (I'm County Board Chairman) so that the rural residents pay their way. I guess it's a difference in philosphy.
Cliff I don't want to get into a dispute over this, besides you don't argue politics with anyone, especially with a Farmer from Nebraska! ;-) and that's what is so great about blogs, we can voice our opinions and throw around ideas and maybe hear something we haven't heard before or think the blogger is an idiot! I'm the first to admit that there is so much I don't know and understand, but I'm working on it. What I do know is that this community is mostly made up of migrant workers. It's the poorest community in California, though it's in the richest county. For some reason they have no money in their coffers to keep their libraries open. Now why is that?
Regarding Bush and Ashcroft and the patriot act, well I'm just going to put up a new post that someone else wrote.
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Regarding Bush and Ashcroft and the patriot act, well I'm just going to put up a new post that someone else wrote.
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