June 18
About Our Mission To Save The Libraries and Presentation to Oakland City Council

Essentially I was winging it, I composed my little one and a half minute speech as I sat listening to what others had to say. I decided to make it as dramatic and personal as I could. As I forgot much of what I had "written" about midway through, I was happy to be holding the sign made by Patrick, which very sussinctly encapsulated all. My story: .....Sometimes a child is beaten, abused and neglected at home. When the child goes to school she is bullied and further neglected. She cannot relate, does not do well in school, feels she has nowhere to go. One day the child finds himself at the library, and at last begins to find himself. Perhaps the librarian and staff help the child, and perhaps she finds the most important help she will ever get in the thousands of books all around her. As she reads she is transported through conduits, portals to other worlds. For the first time his own world enlarges, brightens, expands where previously there had been darkness, pain, and contraction. For the first time and for life, the child has a family where everything is to be learned and gained. It is a safe place to go, books to read, all for free! Because of this bounty sometimes the child grows up, goes to college, even graduate school. In large part because of the library the child becomes a model citizen who never harms another person; a person who can stand peaceful, tall, strong, and creative. It takes a village to raise a child, so don't take the only village away from him that he or she may ever know. God bless the child that's got her own public place to go.

~Chandra Garsson

www.vspcity.com/insomnia

www.darksecretlove.com/chandra

Our Library Stories

In the United States we take a lot of things for granted. Why? Simply because we've had advantages for so long, we begin to expect that they will always be there. I heard that funding for our libraries is being cut, and that libraries are being closed down. This caused me to consider what my voice in the matter is. "What is MY library story?" My library story is about knowledge and community. I can share a beginning to the story, but will the end come much too soon? Will the library in my area be closed down, requiring me to look for other means of gathering information for my schooling; other locales for our community to gather?For as long as i can remember, I've been a regular visitor to the public library. I've always been an avid reader, and the library was a place I could go to expand my mental horizons. Getting my first library card was such a big, important thing for me. Being a card member taught me many things, like being responsible for the care and return of the books, learning how to behave appropriately in quiet surroundings, and even how to use the library systems. In later years, the library has become a place I can go to get information for my extended education. Yes, I am a returning adult student to the world of academics! The library system has changed somewhat since I was a child, but idea of the public library is still the same. This has always been a place where a member of the community can go to get information. I've been able to do research for papers, check out videos for projects, and buy used books. I still have much more schooling to complete and plan to keep going to the library, what would I do if it were not there?Recently, the library became another source of delight for me. I had been looking for a meeting location for our non profit women's group to meet; I looked for weeks. I'd placed calls to many churches and local facilities. Many were not open to our group meeting at their locations, and many, the rents were just too expensive for our small, weekly meeting to sustain. My local library was the answer! They have allowed us to meet at their facility for free! This will allow our small women's group to grow, and eventually become strong enough to pay rent at another place. The public library provides the community with many different services, many more than I have included here. When I think of my library being closed, I think of these many different ways it serves our community. I think of the children who will be robbed the joy of checking out books, of educations that will hindered, and of fellowships that might never have a chance to grow. I think of other countries who don't have public libraries. I think that we, the United States, will be taking a huge step backwards if we allow this to happen. I said that my library story was about knowledge and community, well it's also about unity. The people must be united so that they can be heard - get involved. What is YOUR library story?

Trish Camacho
Avid Reader, Returning Adult Student

wo 27 mei - the library

12°
Patrick
I have some
reading, perception
and visual challenges. I am
very far cited and did not get
glasses till I was in high school.
My mom though it bull shit that I
needed glasses. I did great - really great
with all the eye tests. I kicked butt on those
eye wall charts. >>> They tested my reading when
I was a sophomore in high school. I could not read.
What they said was that I was reading at a third
grade level. They had just opened a special reading
class. Special books with tests at the end of each
story. Great stories - by the way. And reading
machines - to teach us "eye scan". It was amazing.
Most of my recreational reading was at my friend
Derry's. His family was from Bornmith. Pat, or
Mr. O'Donovan had his motor sports publications
shipped over several times a year. Motor Sports as
practices in europe and the UK. It was influential... to
say the least. It also effected my spelling... but that took
me years to suss out. >>> I enjoyed reading. But there became
a both volume and time limit on my abilities. After some unknown
amount of time, or some number of pounds of information - I would
just nose over. It is so disrespectful to find one self nosed over, face
down in some book.... drooling. But I kept at it. And always the big
fats ones with lots of content. Big wonderful histories with people
who did real things. The problem was it could take months to
finish. If I finished. It was normal that I'd get so far... and then
just give up. >>> At some point I wondered into a section at
the local library. That was the Redwood city main. There
were shelves of light brown boxes. I asked what they were.
Books for the blind. They required a special machine to listen.
And there was some sort of qualifying process... but said the
lady with twinkle in her eye. We have a section of booked on
cassette. It was as if the walls of my world had their supports
kicked away, they descended to the ground noiselessly
and there were green fields and paths never dreamed
of beyond the dust and mist. I got a cost effective
portable tape player and a battery recharging kit.
I became a heavy consumer, and could and did place
orders for new books. >>> At about his same time I also
discovered the research desk. On desk at work I had an open
pad. As the day and we progressed I'd write down stuff that struck
me curious. It could have been some bit - a pert of a conversation that
did not sit right. I fear either I or the other party had our facts
wrong.
Or just some confusion that struck me. Or I'm reading a history... and
all this exciting stuff is happening... yeah well. It's not like the
rest of
the world was held in stases. What else was going on. And on and on.
I'd attempt to consolidate my questions... and be sent into the stacks
by Mrs. Alidif. It would not be uncommon for me to be sitting on the
floor with two stacks of books next to me... three open in my lap
and a note pad on the floor. Mrs Alidif was also the first to tell.
and show me of internet research. >>> Just because there is
the internet, there is still required a library. One of the best
jobs the library does is teach how to form and sculpt a
question. How a question is formed, determines how
quenching the answer can be. And we always want
the satisfied feeling. It also stimulates the hunger.
So that the next question is formed with yet more
eloquence - to derive yet greater satisfaction.

There are to my mind three basic driving
forces: eating, fucking, and discovering.
It's best if we don't eat our children, or
fuck our institution and kill discovery.

Stephn J. Lewis
Advertising Art & Creative Director

My Library Story

I am independently happy. My horizons have been stretched around the world and to nearly every state in the US. I am comfortable enough to take months off from work at a time. Work is a pleasure that I continually strive to perfect. I love what I do. I live in a wonderful city (Oakland, CA).
This is worlds away from the impoverished, gang-ridden streets where reading a book or going to the library was an invitation to a beating. Yes, beating from the gangs and beating from parents who saw no value in anything that came from books.
Libraries, books and a mother, who took the time to read to her young son, even while she worked two low-wage jobs to support her family as a single mother, are directly responsible for my liberation from the anguish of a cloistered mind. Sometimes I wonder if “no brains, no pain” might not be an easier way to live but then I experience the joy and wonder of interacting with my peers and my community on a level only granted to those who can see beyond the neighborhood block, and I know better.
Today I became seriously involved with my local Friends of the Library because our City Council is considering reducing library open hours to help alleviate an 83 million dollar deficit. About 30 of us came together to strategize and organize a plan to demonstrate community support for our libraries. We also realized that as a community of volunteers we have to be willing to step up and do our part to ensure that our libraries are supported in such a way that they can not only remain open, but enhance their services.
What is your library story? How has access to a library changed your life? I know that once I can get half of our City Council to tell us their library stories, closing libraries is off the table.
Patrick S. Camacho
Library Advocate