Again, I was up far to early with the Internet, mailing letters and postcards to Phoebe, Al, and Mrs. Landow, Rob's mother. I also checked out the library in Holden MA that so facinated and forwarded my photos to the librarian...and in fact got a repsonse, which is below.
I thought a cab was in order for the trip to the Solinet meeting, since I was not sure where the Sheraton Buckhead Hotel was...but it was near the station. I spent too much money, too much time, with a talkative taxi driver who went by the expressway...and said he had 12 children (several in college planning to be a doctor, philosopher) and had been a supreme court justice in Ethiopia. I wonder. The US Today I picked up at the end of the day circled round that poor country telling of the effects of drought, and the fact that relief organizations were now concerned about sending in food for fear supplies would refuel the war with Etrina (spelling ?)
What a lot of familiar faces at the Solinet meeting, but I spent most of my time talking to peple from other libraries, including Florida State librarians...sat next to the law librarian from that university who talked about the great consortia the law libraries had on Florida to add briefs to a state database...$2,000.00 per library per year paid for a lot of manpower...and talk of what they were going to migrate too.
At the second meeting I was at the man in from of me from a public library..walking to an Alabama librarian next to me...explained how Voyager, that has the contract for all state academic librarie sin GA would not work with public libraries, so GA has just signed a contract for its public libraries to use Sirsi (what Emory is on.) Later learned form Joe Swanson that the Morehouse Medical School Library is migrating to Voyager.
One of the really great things was the terrific talk by the SREB guy about the consoria of universities ...Diane Johnson had kep me posted on this ....that led to a kind of virtual university that still leaves autonomy among the institutions.
He passed out this really great overside leaflet with tables showing exactly where each of the 16 states in its membership is with a Galileo type organization.
Emory Med School librarian told me of Carol Burns retirement and the fact they were interested in my videotape from the GHSLA meeting ....the aerobics stuff....Hope I can find it. Sandra Franklin spoke...let's get together some time. Spoke with Carole Taylor of Fort Valley about Mrs. HM Bond's visit to the library...
Nelson's paper on assessment was excellent.I can use much of his materials, especially the bibliography.
They were late setting up the exhibits, and they were not very interesting or useful.
I headed over to Lenox...took in a movie, Final Destination...a teenage flick with a lot of violence....and then bought a watch (same place I had bought two others in a kiosk downstairs)..and indulged in 2 additions to my ballet dancers... a doll, delightful teddy, and an interesting rag doll of some kind.... Folkmanis Kid Gloves. really don't understand. There is a black glove attached to her.
There were a lot of black kids at Lenox outside, photographing each other by the fountain. Is this something to do with Freaknik..Whatever happened to Freakik, anyhow. Not much going on downtown when I got off MARTA about 10:00.
A bit of television....switched channels....the two humor shows Lettman and Leno were both joking about the Cuban kid, and then a switch to the Nightline...on and on there about INS going in with guns....until I fell asleep.
On the one hand it was an interesting day, on the other a bit discouraging (librarians all look and act like librarians....) Perhaps the Markle gal from DeVry who did not follow up on our job was the most interesting, (we talked about proprietary education)...
The computer fellow who talked about programming stuff at OCLC...was way over my head, but I took notes and did not let it bother me. I will recognize the terms as I start hearing more about them.
When I called Eden before going to sleep I heard Marti in the background screaming ..out of control, as she had Friday on the trip in to see Mrs. Landow in Holden. Eden, sounding stressed herself, said that they had been trying to get her to brush her teeth and put her nightgown on. This is the kind of crying she would do a few years ago when she had just woken up from an afternoon nap. There was nothing you could do. She wanted to like in a corner on the floor and scream out of control....
Worried...not only about Marti, but about Rob and Eden both.
Another note...in the alum bulletin for the School of Pharmacy notice about Mr. Boyles dying March 31. Instinct... a card to his wife, and then realized that I had mangaged to let 20 years go by with not contact. Why bother ?
v Message From: SarahOdowd@cs.com Date: Wed, Apr 26, 2000, 3:45pm To: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Re: Happy birthday Dear Elizabeth, You all really did have a busy time! I'm glad your visit went so well. (You've probably seen more of the Mass./Boston area than I have.) I had a wonderful, eventful time myself, last week. Ken and his family came in very late Wed. night (1 a.m., in fact) after 2 traffic jams on the way up from NJ. The next couple of days I tried to help his wife Adela with a college assignment that will "make or break" her, in terms of whether or not she graduates "cum laude" in May (from Caldwell College in N.J.) Her prof. had assigned Adela both a written and an oral report on Noam Chomsky's Managua Lectures (the linguistic section, which represents his thinking in 1986. I was annoyed with the whole idea of struggling to comprehend and explain theoretical ideas that Chomsky himself no longer holds, and think it was very inappropriate for this prof. to assign such difficult material to someone taking a first Linguistics course.) Anyway, after that was over, the weekend became fun. The kids surprised me on Sat. with a morning at a spa (facial, manicure, massage, etc.), followed by a surprise birthday celebration with old friends at a gourmet restaurant in Providence. They also gave me a beautiful outfit and a diamond necklace. I was overwhelmed. I was sorry it didn't work out for us (you and your family, me and mine) to get together this time, but we will have to make sure that we do see each other soon. When Eden comes up north again to see Rob's family, I hope you will be able to come with them . Your cousin, Sarah
Message From: scribe1@xtra.co.nz (Ian Trafford) Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 3:37pm (EDT+16) To: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Re: catch up! Hi Elizabeth, Well some say good things take time, but I do apologise for not writing sooner. It really seems to have been an impossible few weeks. First my PC crashed, which has taken ages to get back on line and download and reply to all the email. Then Sue and I both got a horrible dose of flu, which really knocked us both sideways for a couple of weeks. Not to be reccomended. We finally managed to get mobile again, and have made a couple of trips to see our new grand daughter, which has been really great. Now we are just looking forward to a quiet weekend to come, and hoping for some rest to recuperate. Hope you are well, and taking care there. Ian
Message From: dogb@webtv.net (BJ) Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 7:21am To: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Re: Off to a meeting today which should be very interesting Hi Elizabeth, The real problem with Medicare is that every time you think you've figured out the rules, they change them. It is nice to finally have clean carpets and Ralph did a great job. But having to spend four hours without webtv or TV was not my idea of fun. The one fun part was when he moved my bed and me to the other side of the room to clean where the bed had been. He brought an enzyme spray for Demi to use on any new dog puddles. He claims that you don't even wipe the puddle that the spray uses the puddle's moisture to break down the chemicals in the urine and it eliminates the stain and the odor. This I have to see but I hope Zena doesn't give us a reason to use the spray for awhile. All the noise and stress of having activity for that long really wiped me out. How I could get wiped out watching somebody work is beyond me but I never did much except stare at the TV for the rest of the day. Unfortunately there wasn't much good to watch. I did watch West Wing last night but that was about all I remember. Lately it seems like I'm lucky to find one good thing to watch each night. Today Jean comes again for my bath. Really I don't know if it will be a shower or bath but at the end of her visit, I will be clean which is all I care about. I'll have to start thinking about getting other help while she is gone but the next step is to get Veta to give me a bed bath while she's here on Sunday. Lately my life seems to go from one disaster to another. I like Jean and she is good but I know she won't be around for long. I've decided that I don't have the time or energy to get upset about Demi's personality. She is not the type of person I'd ever want for a friend but she does what I need done and is good at it. That is what I pay her for and the rest I just try to ignore and complain to my friends about. :-) All in all I hope she stays healthy and remains here for as long as possible. I can't count on always being lucky enough to find live-in help I can afford. The gardenia was a big disappointment. For some reason it doesn't have a strong fragrance. It is floating in a bowl on the table next to my bed and I can't even tell it's there. Tomorrow I'll ask Lori to check out the other blooms on the bush and maybe she can find a better one. I wonder if this year's crazy weather effected the fragrance. Sunshine Smiles, Barb
Me
Message From: SarahOdowd@cs.com Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 9:14am To: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Re: Glad you had such a great time I will look for "authors tours" etc. around Boston, that you and I might enjoy when you are in the area. That's right up my alley (19th century New England lit.). Have a good week, Sarah
Message From: SarahOdowd@cs.com Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 9:43am To: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Re: I forgot... a photo from Concord In a message dated 4/25/00 11:26:29 AM !!!First Boot!!!, echristian@webtv.net writes: << http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=10918&a=5078351&p=20106426&Sequence=0 >> I finally was able to see the photo you sent of the British soldiers' grave at Concord, and it was very surprising indeed. Did I tell you that while in Florida this year, I attended a series of symposia on the American Revolution? It was very interesting and enlightening. I wanted to speak up (but didn't, since the room was full of historians, etc.) and mention that Rhode Islanders in the 19th century had taken the principles of the Revolution to heart, and tried to overthrow what they considered an unjust government (the state gov't of R.I.), but the federal gov't at that time had backed the R.I. authorities in power vs. the "rebels" (surprise surprise) and the Dorr Rebellion, as it was called, was suppressed. The leader, Thomas Dorr, was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison, though later released. What the Dorrites wanted was similar to what the earlier colonists had fought for: truly representative government. (R.I. was one of the few states that kept its original charter, from King Charles, after the Revolution. In general, it gave wealthy landowners the right to govern everybody else. After the Dorr Rebellion, the state legislature grudgingly enlarged the base of who could vote, etc.)
Message From: kenme@telstra.easymail.com.au Date: Fri, Apr 28, 2000, 6:48am (EDT+14) To: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Hello again. I was wondering where you had gone too, lost in cyber space, snatched by a Kiwi or something from outer space?????? no it appears you are like me lost in history and what we can learn from it, that is good as long as we realise that history can sometimes be written as a political tool and only by seeing the other side of the coin can we really understand history. I remember many years a go I was sent over seas to do my compulsory mil;military service, talking to one of the other side one day we spoke of the futility of war and why they happen regardless of what we have learnt from the past, seems to me that the environment of that area has a lot to do with the pursuit of war, I think this is one reason why after the second world war we built up economy wise the two main members of the opposition and with that big economy naturally came the democratic system as we know it as they both go hand in hand, sadly religion plays an enormous part in any countries attitude to others, look at Eastern Europe, India, Africa, South America, Ireland, sad we have not matured enough to be stop being led astray. When I was over there I visited a house that G Washington used as his head quarters to give us Brits a hiding, marvellous old house such massive timbers so much labour done so well, I also saw an old milling building the same thing there. While I am on my soap box and before it catches alight I must tell you about my thoughts, I was thinking about the Revolutionary Wars why they were fought [both sides opinion] and what we learnt from those events, is it not marvellous that after you Americans booted us Brits out we remained friend???? think of it, at one time fighting to the death then afterwards and since almost like cousins. I wish I had seen much more of your countryside,historical places and your cities and villages when I was over there, never mind maybe one day. I had better stop my soap bow is smoking but before I do let me reiterate how important history is to me, by delving into the past we can learn about our present time and hopefully guide us in planning for the future. Gee this soap box is getting hot, bye now Ken
jdutton@cwmarsmail.cwmars.org Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 11:06am (EDT+4) To: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Cc: echristian@webtv.net Subject: Re:
What a beautiful building thank you so much! what a nice surprise! We are in the process of getting a web page, but we don't have one as of yet. I would be glad to send you, by mail, a pamphlet we printed about the history of the library/building. We just had our 110th celebration of the building in 1998. It used to be the high school and then it became the public library. Please send me your address if you would like to send you some literature. Thank you for the photos. It was great fun. Jane Dutton
Message From: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2000, 6:22am To: jdutton@cwmars.org Cc: echristian@webtv.net Subject: What a beautiful building Links to a couple of photos I was able to grab on the way out of Holden last Sunday..in all that rain http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=10918&a=5409676&p=20225061&Sequence=0 http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=10918&a=5409676&p=20225065&Sequence=0 I am a librarian from Atlanta Georgia who happened to be visiting in your area..staying with friends in Princeton and traveling past your library all weekend on the way into Holden and Princeton with family. I so wanted to come in. Now that I have found your web page and catalog it seems such a vital place... The architecture is so interesting, and looks different from anything we saw coming from Boston through Concord and that area. If you have references to other web pages about the library I would be interested in learning more about your library. Best wishes, Elizabeth
Message From: iwan.erichsson@bibul.slu.se (iwan erichsson) Date: Wed, Apr 26, 2000, 11:15pm (EDT+9) To: echristian@webtv.net (Elizabeth Christian) Subject: Re: Update Elisabeth Received my mail from the job? Is he David Greenebaum I guess I found out. Exchange should be possible with our library.. Iwan At 04:59 2000-04-26 -0400, you wrote: Turns out our new electronic services librarian has degress in Swedish language and folklore from Harvard and a California university. He has only been with us two years, but I did mention the exchange idea..he was not much interested, but I can send you his email. He is at Mercer Macon, ...check out the web page... http://mercer.edu and locate the Tarver Library Elizabeth