amidst the more than a million people without power days
our local library
has been opening at 6am
and closing late
acting without anyone asking
as an ad hoc community center
in order to offer
a safe and welcoming haven to all
full of
electricity and books and computers and games and story times
a friend to all ages
stay as long as you like
take as much as you need
on a morning visit
during my current nomadic existence
i sat with 2 high schoolers
an old couple
college roommates
a gaggle of 3 year olds
and a family
all here for the same reasons
a bit of respite
a cup of coffee
a bite to eat
a wealth of good company
a comfortable chair
and
an awful lot of warmth.
—–
“a library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people.
it is a never failing spring in the desert.”
― andrew carnegie
Libraries are amazing.
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they certainly are –
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Living in A.A. is what life was growing up in the
50’s and 60’s in Detroit. Such a great sense of community!!! Special!!
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it really is, with a progressive twist )
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My sister was new to an area when hey lost power for days. The town library did the same thing, and she has life long friends in the others she met over those few days. Libraries Rock!
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it’s so great –
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Libraries are changing and adapting but still offer adventure to those in need. Long may they remain as a home for tomes, education and self help and filled with tales of adventure to spur the imagination, thrill and scare generations to come.
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here’s to them –
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Agreed, long may they continue.
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Yes it is, Beth. Wonderful place you have there in your neighborhood. (And I hope you get your power back soon, my friend.)
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yes, i feel lucky and i know that you know firsthand, the role of a library in a community. i hope we do too )
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I was always saddened over the years to hear that libraries were a thing of the past. It heartens me to see that they thrive still. And prove just by being used that they are ever lasting, and needed. 🙂
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oh, they are thriving indeed –
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There are so many things to love about a library. A wonderful and heartening post, Beth.
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absolutely, sue and thank you
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Wonderful that the library recognized its mission and became an oasis. But I hope you get back your electricity soon!
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it is, and i hope so too )
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Wicked weather. Hope your power comes back. How wonderful for your library to provide sanctuary.
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yes, the weather has certainly taken a turn for the worse and it is wonderful that they’ve done this
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I love to go to the library and stay for little; the silence, the smell of books, all in there make me feel good. We had lots of wind here but no major damage around. Be safe!
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me too and i’m certainly safe –
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Amazingly, the first thing I did after graduating was to work in a library before qualifying as librarian but jobs then did not materialise and so I drifted off to other pastures but I remember my time in, and the people I worked with, with great affection which is why libraries pop up in my stories quite regularly. Hope you are having a lovely weekend 🙂
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oh, i could so picture you as a wonderful librarian and i’m enjoying this refuge while waiting for the return of the light )
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Your library taking up the slack and coming through for so many is a truly lovely image, Beth!
The humanity of this act of keeping the library open made me smile while thanking my lucky stars that we have electricity still. So sorry, dear. ❤
The Andrew Carnegie quote does say so much, too. 🙂
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thanks, robin –
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Glad you didn’t have to leave library to be in cold, sweet cottage. ❤ (I read your comment about a warm place to stay, which made me happy!)
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Beautiful!
>
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Thanks ⚡️
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Here in Dakota, we got much the same wind as you, but our power lines are mostly underground, thankfully, so no outages that I know of. As a single person, though, I don’t create enough garbage (well, sometimes with the keyboard, but not always in the rolling trash can, haha) to sufficiently weigh down the trash can, so it was blown over the other night in the street. That usually only happens after it’s been emptied. Was going to text my neighbor “Can I borrow some of your trash,” but it was too late at night, so I just brought the thing back up to the house. It’ll stay frozen and unsmelly for another week. Anyway, I love the idea that the library knew their importance in the community. Luckily they’re locally funded and don’t depend on Congress, right?
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Absolutely and u love that you borrow trash)
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Reblogged this on Maureen Twomey.
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Thank you )
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🙂
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My writers’ club meets at a library, and the librarians are always WONDERFUL to us, so helpful! My grandkids grew up, going to Saturday programs at our local library every week. Right now, our libraries have volunteers offering free tax advice to people. They’re a hub of each community.
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that is so great and their truly are a hub –
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sort of a local rendition of Shakespeare & Co.
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you are so right –
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Hope things reach some degree of normalcy for ya soon, Beth.
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))
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How absolutely wonderful. I love that they just DID it. I’m really sorry to hear that you still don’t have power. That’s a long time. Hope it’s back on soon and your library should win the Good Neighbor Award of the year.
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thanks and they absolutely should
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Love the Carnegie quote!
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me too –
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How very nice. I wish more people appreciated their local libraries. Yours is doing a lot to prove its value to the community.
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they really are, in so many ways
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Thanks for sharing. Knowing that some libraries can become community centers helps inspire other libraries, perhaps. And it would be nice if they didn’t need emergencies to make themselves more accessible to the public. For instance, I noticed many comfortable chairs in your library. Our library is almost devoid of comfortable chairs. The librarians say that’s intentional, because homeless people sleep in them. Huh? Public facilities should be available to the public, I say. But that’s a whole series of blogs.
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yes, they purposely made it comfortable, people meet to study, relax, read, and just be around other people. also put a coffee shop right in the middle –
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A coffee shop, too? What a great library.
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yes, amazing –
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Amen to our public libraries.
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yes, to them –
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