Time to quote Shakespeare.

“Blow, wind,/And crack your cheeks!/Rage, storm,/You cataracts and hurricanoes,/Until you have flooded our steeples/And drowned the cocks!” – King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2. “Cocks” meaning roosters. This quote fits perfectly with the weather I dealt with this morning on my way to work. There’s supposed to be more tonight through tomorrow. I’m not complaining – it could have been snow, right? Speaking of Lear, I’m caught between two productions for which is my favorite: Laurence Olivier’s film version (with him, Leo McKern, Diana Rigg, and Anna Calder-Marshall among others), or the staged version I saw maybe ten or twelve years ago with Olympia Dukakis as Queen Lear and Tina Packer as the Fool. Both productions were excellent, and I got to speak with Ms. Dukakis after the show. Not only is she highly talented, she’s very classy and was kind enough to spend some conversation time with a teenage theatre/Shakespeare geek. I ended up working for Tina Packer’s Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, during its 2004 summer season.

I didn’t find any special jobs this week, but I did get a call for a phone interview! This is my first nibble on the job front since my interview with the Rockefeller Archive Center a few months ago, and I’m rather excited.  I’ll be speaking with someone tomorrow afternoon about the position of Information Resources Assistant (Intern?) with the University of Michigan‘s Art, Architecture and Engineering Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s part-time, but I’ve heard that UMich is a very good school and place to work. I was told that I’m one of the top ten candidates for this position based on the resume I submitted, and the worst that can happen at this point is that four of the others are chosen for in-person interviews. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and do my best with the phone interview, but I won’t be holding my breath. That would make it hard to provide coherent answers.

Same again, as usual …

I’ve kept looking on the job boards, as always. And as always, while there are jobs being posted, most of them don’t fit my skill set and/or personal requirements. Many of them require experience, coursework and/or skills that I don’t posess at this time. Others look like things I could enjoy and grow in, but the fact that they are part-time would not justify my moving out-of-state right now, even if I were to gain and ace an interview. I’ll just have to keep searching, like all my fellow librarian job-hunters. I believe I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I figure there’s a library out there that desperately needs me, we just haven’t found each other yet.

This week’s news of interest includes fossils in California, a popular (mainly) children’s/young adult author, another famously out-of-this world author, and zombies on campus. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that a utility company building a new station in California unearthed an assortment of fossils that could shed light on the evolution of mammals, definitely in North America and possibly worldwide. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fossil_find

Dubuque, Iowa’s Telegraph Herald published an article about a talk given by Gary Paulsen, author of Hatchet, Dogsong, and many other great books. I remember reading and enjoying Hatchet years ago, and the movie was pretty decent from what I remember. Anyway, Mr. Paulsen stated that if he hadn’t had a chance encounter with a librarian who encouraged him to read as a teenager, he wouldn’t have become who he is today. http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=296301

In case all you Discworld fans out there hadn’t heard, Terry Pratchett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II last year as part of her New Years’ Honours. An online Australian news service posted an article detailing how Sir Terry was so thrilled to be a knight, he gathered steel (including some meteorite chunks) and proceeded with expert help to forge his own sword. There’s a link in the article to one of Sir Terry’s blog posts that includes a photo of the sword – I think it would do one of his dwarfs proud. http://www.news.com.au/technology/terry-pratchett-creates-a-sword-with-meteorites/story-e6frfro0-1225926584339

I mentioned zombies on campus. I’m not referring to sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated students, though I’ve been in that position often enough to willingly believe in that type of zombification. The BBC reports in its US & Canada section that the University of Baltimore is going to be offering “Zombie Studies.” Oh, how I wish that class, or something like it, had been available when I was an undergrad! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11219411

In honor of “Zombies 101,” this week’s word is Pall: a noun meaning a cloth coffin-cover, a coffin itself, a general covering, or something contributing to gloominess. Discworld’s Igor clan specializes in producing pall-like atmospheres for their employers. If you receive an Igor in a crate, beware – you, too, could be a mad scientist!

Rejection, fun videos, and a sad incident

As always, the search continues. Things continue to be tough in the library world. I received a couple more rejections this week, and I’m sad to say that I’ve had two in-person interviews for librarian positions in the past year. You can guess how those turned out. It’s the old double-edged sword: I can’t get good work unless I have experience, and I won’t accrue experience without working in the field. I’ll just have to keep plugging with my search-and-apply strategy.

I found a few articles and videos of interest this week. The first is an article about a library in the Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam in The Netherlands. This provides free reading material for travelers who are waiting for flights, connections, or local transportation. I think it’s an amazing concept, and hopefully it will spread to more airports worldwide. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/arts/16iht-library.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Next, we have a video montage of GLBT-rights protest signs set to John Mayer’s “Waiting For the World to Change.” Some of the signs and t-shirts are counter-protesting anti-GLBT posters. All of them are well-said (in my humble opinion), and some are downright hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9gbQKwOh68

Then there’s the Army pit crew who beat the crash suits off of any NASCAR crew by breaking down and rebuilding a Jeep (which they arrived and drove away in) in under four minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VciecTUi0E

I’ll admit this last story made me sad. A dog identified as a pit bull was fatally shot in public (in the middle of a festival with kids in attendance, no less) after getting into a scuffle with a smaller dog. Parrot (the dog) was being brought under control by his foster owner when the Washington D.C. police officer jumped in with what I personally believe was a gross over-reaction. Here are the links to the Washington Post article and the official police report: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/12/AR2010091203938.html                http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/documents/dog_shot_police_report_09132010.pdf

This week’s cool word is “pishogue” (pih SHOHG): black magic/sorcery/witchcraft, an evil spell, a fairy or witch.

Another week gone

Another week gone by, and still no luck with the job hunt. I’ve found and applied for a few more library positions and received a couple rejections, and that’s the usual. I’m thinking about where in my area I’d like to apply for a seasonal position to supplement my income over the winter, including local theatre companies. I haven’t done any theatre work since the summer-to-fall after I graduated from Salem State College (University now) in 2005, and I miss that world.

Speaking of theatre, and this is somewhat related, I saw Nanny McPhee Returns last week. The first movie was excellent, but the sequel is even better. Emma Thompson is excellent as always, and the story/plot is more real than that of the first Nanny McPhee movie even with the magic. I highly recommend it for kids of all ages. My friend and I were cracking up, as were the young’uns in attendance.

“It’s a strange thought, I grant you. But there it is.” – Nanny McPhee

Still no luck with the job hunt. I’m going to work on contacting public libraries in my area to see if they need any volunteers so I can keep my hand in as the saying goes. I did apply to one library, but when I last checked, my application was being passed around among the higher-ups. I’ve been praised for keeping a positive attitude about the current state of the job market for librarians, but it’s still tough.

As tough as things are, movies like Nanny McPhee Returns help me stay at least a little happy. Yes, that’s Nanny McPhee, “small c, big P”, who first appeared five years ago. Emma Thompson reprised the title role, of course, and was brilliant as ever. As with Despicable Me (I raved about it last week), there’s plenty of humor for kids of all ages. My friend and I were laughing quite a bit, as were the young’uns in the audience, sometimes even at the same things. All else I have to add is that I never knew birds could have gas before, but it was great!

This week’s bibliophilic word is Gamin/e, which can be defined as either an abandoned street urchin, or a saucily appealing young girl.