Overheard on the Elevator

Scene: Group of four young women discussing gender rolls and societal expectations.

"When I call my male friends 'dude' I'm making a statement. By saying 'dude' I'm making a declaration that he is just that my dude. It establishes a platonic relationship....." (Conversation trails off as they get off the evaluator and the doors close.)

*love*

30 Days of Thanks, Days 8 and 9

Day 8: My cat. Yes, two days in a row. It's my blog and I can do what I want to.

I took the cat to the vet this morning. I had planned on doing this Thursday but decided I wanted to watch him for another night. By the end of the day I knew he needed to go in. I dropped him off in the morning so the vet could take a look at home while I was at work. I wasn't feeling good today so I had planned to go in for some morning meetings and then go home. When I got home my place was empty. And quiet. And for a few hours I experienced what my life would be like without him. I didn't like it.

The cat? We think it's a specific type of intestinal infection. It may be chronic, it may not. We're going to treat it with some medication and see what happens. This came on very suddenly and hopefully it will go away as quickly as it came on.

Day 9: My students. Students are the best and worst things abut being at a university and about teaching. They can be aggravating and time consuming and whiny. But they can also be cool and funny and inspiring. I've been doing consults with my students relating to their final assignments. Students have to research a topic of their choice and this week meant getting to know them a little more about them and their topics. A few of them didn't think they needed the help. Most of them appreciated it more than they thought they would.

This week they were entertaining and interesting and funny. And one, he was inspiring. He is in school to change his life. He's not what you would think of as a "normal" student and he is pretty amazing. He has some struggles, but I want him to succeed because he wants to succeed and because I know he can. I've hooked him up with some services in the library that have given him the support he needs, and talking to him, other faculty have done the same.

When we met earlier this week he told me how much he appreciated my help and how much support he's gotten from others on campus. He was very tentative and overwhelmed the first week of class, but talking to him now it appears he's settling in and adjusting. This warms my heart.

I think you forgot your pants.

File under: Something I almost said to a student today.

Seriously. A student came to me for some research help and she was wearing what looked like her boyfriend's button-up shirt, some fancy-ass lacy fishnetty tights with some crazy Lady Gaga shoes.

But I don't think she really forgot her pants.

Being Positive

I have a difficult time being positive. I tend to be naturally pessimistic. I don't know why, I just always have been. I've had this attitude that if I expect the worst, when it doesn't happen, I'll be happy. Someone once told me that was defeatist. I always saw it as realistic.

Anyway, my point: I've been feeling cautiously optimistic lately. And that's saying a lot since last week I had a slight melt down at work. It wasn't truly a melt down but I got frustrated by constantly hitting that wall of resistance that you tend to meet not only in libraries but in higher ed. And then today a faculty member needed some research help and during the process we began to talk about libraries. We discussed our library, other libraries, and libraries in general. We touched on the issues libraries face when it comes to collections, balancing access versus ownership, collaborative space verses collection space, and so on and so forth.

He had all positive things to say. That's really nice to hear since so much of what we hear from faculty is negative. They want to know why we don't have a specific book or journal or some obscure item that only two libraries in the world own. Why aren't we like Harvard/Yale/University of Chicago/University of [insert Big State U name here]? Why? Because we're not Big State U, and we aren't trying to be Big State U. So it's refreshing to have someone wander into the library, ask a few questions, start a conversation, and then tell you why you as an organization are doing things right.

It's so easy to focus on the negative. This has been a busy quarter. I'm in the process of putting together my annual review file for my job, and I can barely wrap my head around what I have done in the last three to six months. I didn't get everything done I wanted to, but I was damn close. Instead of focusing on what I didn't do, I'm trying to be impressed with what I did accomplish. And I kind of am.

About a month ago, a student came looking for me. He was looking for tax resources he thought were in gov docs, and he couldn't find them (they were in reference). Out of the blue he said, "You've really helped me out over the last few years." He made my day.

Librarians don't get thanked by many students, really. It's happened a few times in the last couple of years. One student came to see me the day before he graduated to thank me and tell me he couldn't've done it without me. He gave me a gift certificate to his parents' restaurant. I've never used it because they have little that's vegan. Instead I tacked it to my bulletin board as a reminder of why I do what I do and why I love what I do.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 2 - 9

Day 2: My health. Sure, I have an assy sinus infection that is cramping my style. I had to walk across campus to a meeting (yes I am still going to work) and I had to stop so I could cough. My sinuses are constantly draining and it can cause me to cough in the grossest way possible. And it hits at the worst times--like mid-sentence. But... it's a cold. It will pass. I don't have to deal with this everyday--just when it hits. So, overall, my health is pretty damn good.

Day 3: My past. Before I moved here I got rid of a bunch of stuff I had been carting around for years. I got rid of it because I thought that part of my life was over. It is, technically, but now that part of my life is coming back. Part of me wishes now I hadn't gotten rid of that stuff, but it's just stuff. What's more important is the rediscovery of the places, events, and people that shaped me into who I am.

Day 4: My view. I know, it is probably a little shallow, but I do have one of the best views in the world.

My view

Day 5: Free time. This quarter has been crazy busy and it is probably one of the reasons I'm sick. But I still have the time to sit on my couch with a cat at my feet and a computer in my lap and type up what I am the most thankful for.

Day 6: Family. Predictable. But not just my immediate family, I'm talking extended family. Seeing a handful of my cousins over the summer was great. These are people I normally only see when someone dies. And then everyone comments that they need to do under happier circumstances. Well, I went back to Iowa, and my visit snowballed from seeing immediate family to getting together almost half of the cousins on one day. At the end of that day, one of my cousins thanked me, because my visit was the spark that started the whole family gathering. Most of my cousins are significantly older than me and we have different world views. But... we have so much in common. Despite our age differences, we have similar memories with our grandparents and ever with our parents. One even thanked me for all the years I put up my grandmother's Christmas tree because she knew Grandma couldn't do it on her own, and Christmas would never be the same with out Grandma's Christmas tree (and all the accessories that had to be placed in the same exact place every single year).

Day 7: My friends. Again, predictable. But throughout my life, my friends have helped make me who I am. I cherish all of them more than they probably know.

Day 8: Students. Some days they drive me completely crazy. And other days they are beyond awesome. Sometimes it's having a student ask about citation style... And twenty minutes later I've taught the her the difference between paraphrasing and direct quotes and helped her understand her assignment and how she should be approaching it. Other times it's having a student refer to something I showed them in class three weeks ago--and they referred to it correctly. This happened to me this week and it took every little bit of self control I had to not jump up and down and squeal: "Oh my god, you actually listened to me!"

Day 9: Sanity prevailed. The Personhood Amendment in Mississippi failed and failed miserably. Ohio rejected a law limiting the bargaining rights of public employees.

Overheard on Campus

Guy, on phone: About that incident at work. Did you read the local paper? Did you see? Yeah, he used some sheets to, uh, yeah. Do that.
[What? What did he do? C'mon, people.]


Dude One: I ruined my suit.
Dude Two: How?
Dude One: It left it on the stove too long. I told my roommate to turn it down, but he forgot. Some of it was okay, but the stuff that settled on the bottom was burned, like the meat the vegetables.
[For a second, I was confused. Then I realized he'd said "soup' instead of "suit."]

Seen in the Library

Lately I've been taking note of the fashion I see in the library. Our students tend to fall into two categories: über-hipsters or über-hippies. There are a few that fall in the middle. So, I see a lot of skinny jeans, neon plaid, Gunne Sax-inspired clothing, sparkly headbands and ponytails.

Tonight, as I did one of my last Friday night reference shifts, I began to wonder if Facebook and Twitter were around back in the day what the librarians at my school would've said about me and my friends.*

A few thoughts:

• Seen in library: Shaved head, black leather jacket, bad attitude. Hey little girl, chill. We get it. You're "edgy." By the way, the world doesn't hate you. 
• Seen in library: White tshirt, black bra, combat boots. Who does she think she is? Nancy Spungen? Didn't your mother teach you how to dress? 
• Seen in library: Hyperactive boy dressed like Morrisey. Seriously, that's not going to get you laid. Or maybe it will.
• Seen in library: Long hair, Chuck Taylors, drunk. Again. 
• Seen in library: That's some curly, curly hair on a dude who seriously looks like one of the Muppets. 
• Seen in library: That poor guy is a surfer stuck in the midwest. Keep livin' the dream. 
• Seen in library: Amazon girl with a Molly Ringwald obsession. 
• Seen in library: I think I just saw Alice Cooper. Seriously. Alice fucking Cooper. 

These are all friends from college. I don't think any of them read my blog, but if they do... they totally know which one of these they are. And yes, I'm included. Although I think I could count on one hand the number of times I went into the library my freshman year.

*I should've asked. Last year when I attended a symposium at my alma mater, I showed some of the librarians who was there when I was an undergrad a picture of me when I was a freshman. And at least one said, "Oh my god, I remember you." This was 20+ years ago. I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or frightened.

Four Loko Stories

Anyone who works on a college campus has probably heard of Four Loko. It's the caffeine/alcohol drink that has been banned by many states. At Thanksgiving we were talking about our students (as you do) and the topic of Four Loko came up... and a friend mentioned the site Four Loko Stories.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Overheard on Campus

Classes started this week. I can't tell you how great it is to have the students back. They are energetic and excited and pretty great. All of a sudden, the library is alive.

Plus, I have more opportunities to observe.

This morning I overheard this conversation (paraphrased):

Girl One: ...I kept telling people I needed to go because I had to get to sleep early. I had class in the morning so I couldn't stay. But then this morning I woke up and I was on an air mattress in the middle of the floor and people were asleep on the furniture.

Girl Two: This wasn't in your house?

Girl One: No. And when I woke up I wondered where I was, but, hey, I got to sleep early.




At least she made it to campus, and I assume class.

Staplers

The quarter ended yesterday. It was pretty anti-climactic. It usually is. I work the last Friday shift. Believe me, the last two hours of the last day of of the academic year are the two longest hours known to man. And what was the one damn thing students wanted? A working stapler.

We have two or three staplers on the reference desk. We have one or two on a tools table (along with a paper cutter, a hole punch, and a few other things), and one next to one of our printers. We go through staplers like no one's business. Students beat the crap out of our staplers. I mean they destroy them by just slamming them down on their papers.

One guy was pretty upset that none of the staplers on the desk were working. I wasn't going to put a whole lot of effort into fixing them. C'mon, there was 90 minutes left to the school year. I kept directing him to the brand spanking new electric stapler next to the printer. But he really wanted the manual staplers to work. Finally, he moved over to the electric stapler. Success! But as he was walking past the desk he told me how he needed to push down on the top of the electric stapler to make it work.

Um. No. No, you don't. Great. They are going to beat the hell out of our electric staplers, too.

Seriously, though. Staplers. Staplers are one of the hottest commodities on campus. while meeting with a group of students in my office, one of them said she bought a little plastic stapler in the bookstore for $2.50. Without hesitation, I said, "Every single one of you needs to walk across the street to the bookstore and buy one of those right now. That $2.50 will be the best $2.50 you will ever spend." Then they went on to tell me how their professors will doc them points if they don't staple their papers.

I sighed, shook me head, and said, "And they should." I wanted to point them all to Sweet Pickles Stapler Lecture. Hell, every professor on the face of the earth should repeat this verbatim to his or her class.

Anyway, as I was closing down the library, I was cleaning off the references desk. The end with all the staplers? There were so many staples on the counter and floor it looked like there had been some sort of stapler massacre.

Some friends and I vented about the staplers (and other things) over some red drinks in fancy glasses and hummus. Now begins the summer of clean up, preparation, travel, and conferences.

Overheard on Campus

Female student: blah blah blah [something about food]

Male student: Do you want to eat it or have sex with it?

Seen (and heard) on Campus

Human vs Zombies: One group of students wears one color headband, another a different color. They spend a few days or a week or something chasing each other around campus trying to eliminate each other. This afternoon I heard some louder-than-normal commotion under my window followed by "Brrrrraaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnssssssss......" This goes a long way to explain why a student came to the reference desk last year to ask if I believed in zombies. (My response:"Uhhhhhh.")

This morning I passed a student (female) wearing what looked like one of those jerseys with the 3/4-length sleeves that were a different color (blue) from the main part of the shirt (yellow), a skirt that looked like a ballet practice skirt (several layers of that gauzy material, about mid-thigh length) in a different shade of blue, and Birkenstocks. There is a chance she had dance practice or something later that day, but knowing how our students dress... I kind of doubt that.

While helping a student (a senior) do demographic research, we were talking about the age range and definitions of generations. Simply put, I told her, Millennials: Her. Gen X: Me. Boomers: Her parents, maybe. She said, "My mom is 45."

I responded with something like, "Oh my god I am so old!" Because, I told her, her mom is five years older than me and there is no way I am that old. It if just NOT possible.

Jeezus.

Some days this job doesn't seem worth it...

And then there are days when it does. Like today.

It's been pretty quiet in the library this week, and completely dead today. Today was the last day of finals and graduation is tomorrow. I caught up on some writing, editing, and organizing. You know--end of term stuff.

Mid-afternoon a student showed up at my door. If you asked me his name I couldn't tell you, but he has been in at least one of my classes every quarter since I've been here. Last quarter I told him I would try not to bore him--since he really had heard everything I was going to say. (I call them "my classes" because I work much closer with the classes and students here than I did at Ye Olde University.) Anyway, I always liked this student. He was never afraid to ask for help. That may sound simple, but many people can't ask for help. Or when they come to me they try to be a know-it-all or they are ashamed they couldn't do it on their own.

This student would show up in my office or come to me when I was at the desk, books in hand, trying to find that one piece he was missing. He never came across as entitled or needy. He just knew when to ask for help. By last quarter he'd come to me at the end of an assignment with a list of sources he had checked, knowing I'd ask him where he had already looked. But there was always that one piece that eluded him.

So today he stopped by to tell me he was graduating tomorrow. And he wanted to thank me because he couldn't have done it without my help.

Y'all, I almost cried, I was so touched.

The only thing students at Ye Olde University ever did was try to hug me after getting loaded in a local bar.

Seen on Campus

A guy beatboxing and playing harmonica... almost simultaneously.

Overheard on Campus

Scene: Two dudes walking across campus.

Dude One, clearly agitated and loud: They can go ahead and call me a cocksucker. Fine. I don't care! Cocksucker! Go ahead! That's what I am: A Cocksucker! Cocksucker!

Dude Two: *silence*

Dude One: Cocksucker! I dare you to call me a cocksucker. Hey, you have nice eyes. Cocksucker!

Overheard on Campus

Male student: "I'm trying to decide if I should go work out or get high."







Well, okay then.

BYOP

I live in a hippie town. I think I've mentioned that before. How hippie is it?

Well, I went to a local knit night tonight. It's a mix of people--old, young, middle aged. It's a good group and one I need to get to more often.

But, tonight, I sat next to a college-aged girl and guy. He was dreadlocked and getting a degree in mechanical engineering. And he knit. And he talked about how he spoke to his mom every day. So did the girl. They bonded over this.

That's not the reason this is a hippie town, though. They were talking about some party. "It's BYOB," he said. "BYOP?," she asked. "Well, that, too," he said.

What made me laugh was that they talked about BYOP as if it were nothing, knowing that no one in this hippie town was going to even blink an eye.

Seen on Campus

A female student wearing a bowler hat, black-and-white pinstriped suitcoat, a vest--possibly gray, a white shirt--possibly ruffly or with some other sort of collar embellishment, black riding-type pants, black leg warmers, and black-and-white wing tips.

Stirrup pants. You know, those black stretchy stirrup pants that back in the 1980s tortured those of us neither tall nor thin enough to wear them. These stirrup pants were worn by a little bitty cute student wearing pointy-toed black heels. She was also wearing a cropped motorcycle jacket and longish red shirt.

The '80s are so very back.

Seen on Campus

The beginning of the quarter means the students come back with a vengeance. And our students are fun to observe.

Trends I have noticed in the last week (some new, some not):

Dreadlocks. Lots and lots of dreadlocks. Old dreads, not-quite-dreaded dreads. They're everywhere.

Purple hair. Lots of it. It seems to be the color of the quarter.

Multi-colored hair. Purple isn't the only color, of course. This morning I saw someone with white blonde hair with alternating blue and red spots.

'80s clothes. Lots of them. Yesterday I saw my favorite: neon pink top, darker neon pink neck-tie with polka-dots, neon green mini skirt, neon pink tights and pink and green lace up boots--knee-high, of course.

Skinny jeans. Lots of them.

Rolled up jeans. Not pegged like we did back in the day, but rolled up to mid-calf. Boys and girls both.

From Jesus to Drugs in Seven Steps

So... our students. I love 'em. I liked the students at Ye Olde University, too, but for different reasons. The Ye Olde University students were different from what I was used to. Preppy and rich. Boys wore pink Polo shirts with the collar up and girls wore prom dresses, four-inch heels, and carried purses that cost more than my entire wardrobe. The new school students are the exact opposites.

Our students are hippies. I don't even notice if students have dreads or if they are barefoot anymore... because there is a good chance they are both dreadlocked and barefoot. Where the students at Ye Olde University answered my questions with "Yes, ma'am" and "No, Ma'am," the new students answer me with "cool" or "right on."

But this week I've seen a couple of things that made me look twice. And laugh. Tuesday was the first day of the Spring quarter so the library is bustling after being empty for a week and a half. I was standing at the reference desk, chatting with some coworkers when I noticed a flurry of tie-dye over by the printer. It was a student. Male. Dreadlocked. Wearing tie-dye. But not any tie-dye, he was tie-dyed from head to ankle. He had a tie-dyed do-rag tied around his dreadlocks (I'm sure in hippie-speak it is called something other than a do-rag). Then he was wearing a baggy tie-dyed garment. I say "garment" because I don't know if it was one or two pieces, but basically, it was a baggy t-shirt thing and a skirt. He wore this over some ankle-length leggings. And past his ankles? Barefoot. He was bouncing back and forth between the computers and printer on his toes.

I watched him for a few minutes, turned to my co-worker and said, "I love our students. They're just a little bit freaky."

Then today I ventured into the bathroom on the main floor of the library. The stalls don't have a lot of graffiti, but there is some from time to time. Someone had written, "I feel empty." After that, someone wrote, "I feel emptied." Then two different people gave suggestions for a couple of campus Christian organizations, like the Newman Center. The next person wrote something along the lines of, "I've heard acid can give you real clarity." Followed by other suggestions about taking LSD: Take it when you are in a good mood or it could go wrong. Be patient, when you take it remember to wait an hour -- don't take another hit thinking it isn't working. So on and so forth.

Next to that someone wrote, "From Jesus to Drugs in seven steps. Only here."

Yep.... Only here.