Friday, March 8, 2019





Why were you lurking under our window?"
"Yes - yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our windows, boy?"
"Listening to the news," said Harry in a resigned voice.
His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.
"Listening to the news! Again?"

"Well, it changes every day, you see," said Harry.
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


 

Thursday, March 7, 2019



I was born 50 years after slavery, in 1913. I was allowed to read. My mother, who was a teacher, taught me when I was a very young child. The first school I attended was a small building that went from first to sixth grade. There was one teacher for all of the students. There could be anywhere from 50 to 60 students of all different ages. 
                                                   -Rosa Parks

Wednesday, March 6, 2019


 
Here are the hours my local library, which looks pretty substantial in a New York City kind of way in this photo, is open. Notice the hours don't allow school kids to study there at night. In the suburbs the libraries are open at night. Notice that two days it doesn't even open till noon. Bars in the neighborhood open earlier. Notice that it's not open on Sunday. The pols must think everybody is in long brunch lines all day Sunday. If the city is progressive enough to scare Amazon away, for now anyway; if it's enlightened enough to vote 9-to-1 against its own Donald Trump, then you'd think it would be of a mind to have a vigorous library operation. You'd certainly think so in a city where people live in apartments and might not have a study space for their school kids.

 

Regular hours:

DayHours
SundayClosed
Monday12 PM–7 PM
Tuesday10 AM–6 PM
Wednesday12 PM–7 PM
Thursday10 AM–6 PM
 Friday10 AM–5 PM
Saturday10 AM-5 PM

Tuesday, March 5, 2019


http://arthurmillersociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ams1.jpg

'A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.'
Arthur Miller 


Monday, March 4, 2019




No matter that we're asking Alexa all sorts of things in more and more of our homes. Or that my 10-year-old-grandson here in the city was on a computer in his bedroom playing Fortnite most of the time I stopped by there last evening. And no matter that Netflix is huge and getting huger. And so is the TV screen in most living rooms. No matter that it really is becoming the world Ray Bradbury predicted. Johnny still should learn to read well.