Yes, this blog is pretty much dead. But it’s useful for blogging in long form for updates that are longer than will fit on a Facebook status update.

I traveled to Toronto for two days (in the midst of spending a week with my parents). I wasn’t up there for any particular occasion. I just wanted to do some sightseeing and to soak up some Canadian culture. (Yes, there is such a thing). I took lots of pictures too, which will be posted after they are developed.

So without adieu, here are my random thoughts on Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.

Some Canadian businesses:
Pizza Pizza, “Ontario’s Number One Pizza Chain”
Jack Astor’s Bar and Grill
Future Shop, “Canada’s largest consumer electronics retailer”
Harvey’s, serving Canada’s fast food needs since 1959
Tim Horton’s (although it’s international now, and can enjoy it when I go to Erie and New England).
– Get your double double, Canadian maple donuts, and your Ice Capp Supreme

Shows we don’t get to watch in the States:
Rick Mercer Report
This Hour has 22 Minutes
The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
Corner Gas
Little Mosque on the Prairie
How Do you Solve a Problem like Maria (Andrew Lloyd Webber casting the Canadian revival of Sound of Music)

What’s with these American theme restaurants?
St. Louis Ribs, Baton Rouge, Boston Pizza, etc.

CBC is having an challenge for people to compose the next Hockey Night in Canada anthem

The Bravo network in Canada is really nothing like the U.S. version. (Their answer to that is a channel called Slice)

CBC is having an challenge for people to compose the next Hockey Night in Canada anthem
The Bravo network in Canada is really nothing like the U.S. version. (Their answer to that is a channel called Slice)

Had an interesting conversation with a shop attendant. She was desparately trying to leave Toronto for Los Angeles. She said she would go to the States with an empty suitcase because everything was so cheap. She didn’t understand my obsession with Paul Gross.

I saw a billboard for “The Canadian Dream.” Which made me wonder what that was.

WTF….
Wheel of Fortune coming to the CBC?!
Desparate Housewives in French?

Visited: Eaton Centre, St. Lawrence Market, Roy Thompson Hall, Canada Walk of Fame, CN Railroad Station, Royal York Hotel, Hockey Hall of Fame

Did you know…
Heinz makes baby food?
Canadian flags are used to sell cars just as American ones do
You can buy poutine at Burger King?
That French-Canadian shows are not that different from Mexican telenovellas?

Just another American tourist reporting back from the land of the maple leaf.

I really enjoy being with my family at Thanksgiving, but I wasn’t born into a cooking family. There were many years my parents (and alas, by that I mean my mom) didn’t cook. We went to a local restaurant in Erie, where we often got together with relatives. This became more common, after my grandmother and many of her close siblings passed away.

I often have only good things to say about the restaurants at which I eat. Whether it’s the atmosphere, the plating, the service, or the unbelievable tastes, I have started to recognize a good restaurant when I see it. (And I silently curse the folks who can’t, heh). The Thanksgiving dinner I ate at a restaurant in Erie, Pa. called the Colony wasn’t it.

Now, I count myself as fortunate to be affluent, well-fed, and overflowing with bounty…Thanks Pete for the flowery language inspiration), but since I’m trying to nourish (get it?) my inner food critic, I’ll indulgence in talking truth to mediocrity. There were two options, traditional Thanksgiving dinner (i.e. choice of turkey, ham, prime rib and side dishes), or the buffet. I’m a dabbler (and it close enough to noon that I trusted most of the food to be hot), so I got the buffet. The house salad was good enough, not bad, just plain salad with house dressing. Ok, well, it’s Erie, and middlebrow Erie at that. Next trip up I got the turkey, both white and dark meat; stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, and some broccoli. There was also Seafood Newberg, which I got on the third trip.

Turkey: dark meat was dry. Why? There’s no reason this should be the case. Perhaps it was because it was cut off the bone and looked like a lot of shredded pork. White meat was bone dry–haven’t these people ever heard of brines, spice rubs, or flavor injections? As much as my heart seizes up even thinking about eating deep-fried turkey, you got to give it to them for making turkey moist again. My parents’ turkey was also dry, and they didn’t give my mom any gravy (she substituted a baked sweet potato for mashed potato). She was left without the little bit that other folks at the table got for their mash.

Ok, back to me…Stuffing was dry and unflavorful; like they took it right out of the Stove Top box. The sweet potato wasn’t bad. Mine was mashed, but not candied, so it wasn’t super sweet. (And it was blissfully free of marshmallows…I’ll take mine by the campfire or bathed in chocolate (later about that)). The mashed potatoes were not lumpy, but they lacked moisture. They had definitely been sitting around too long, and had some unappetizingly herbal flavors. No amount of gravy could help my dish.

Cranberry sauce looked like it came from the Ocean Spray can. Mac and cheese was good–good neutral cheese flavor, nice and creamy, spiked with pieces of hot dogs. I guess this dish was for the kids, because it wasn’t updated at all. The garlic broccoli was a little watery, but it was nice to eat a green vegetable. I had a couple of tastes of dessert–some grapes, strawberries, and other fruit. They had a chocolate fountain going. A nice touch of elegance, if a bit strained for what this meal actually was. I dipped a few marshmallows and strawberries, and enjoyed the chocolatey goodness. But dessert is a serious thing in my family, and we had pumpkin, apple, and coconut pies waiting at home for us and our guests.

Was this a memorable Thanksgiving dinner? Not in the least. I very much hope my family comes south to visit me next year and we have some culinary adventures in Virginia. The price wasn’t that bad ($12 for entrée, $15 for buffet) for this meal, but what is the limit you’d pay for food that is blah? Having experienced a gastronomic low today, I am looking to tomorrow’s meal to make up for it. I will be going to the restaurant of the next Iron Chef, Michael Symon, called Lola, and based in Cleveland.

Greetings infrequent readers of this blog!

I have been traveling since last Wednesday throughout New England, trying to stay as far away from I-95 as possible. I spent a night visiting my friends Matt and Jen; and then drove up to Keene, NH to visit with Jed and John, whom I know from a wonderful week I spent in Provincetown 3 years ago. Besides the fall foliage (so so in my opinion), I did a number of neat things.

1) Went to many wonderful used bookstores in Northampton, specifially Raven and Gabriel Books. You can see my library here. Definitely a good time.

2) Attended an open house at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H. This was a real highlight, as I got to tour the house where Edward and Marion MacDowell lived.

3) Saw wonderful scenery, including Route 9 through Southern Vermont (esp. Hogback Mtn.), Mount Mondanock (N.H.), and western Massachusetts. Not that eastern PA and N.Y. aren’t nice, just not as impressive in the topography realm.

Tonight’s the last night as I’m staying with college friends in Connecticut, before traveling back to Charlottesville and Culpeper. It’s been a good vacation, but not mind-blowing. I did realize that I am not meant for complete rural living, like where you have to drive 30 minutes to get to town. I think it works for New Englanders because there is real cultural life in many of the small towns throughout N.H., Vt., Mass, etc., and you can kind of state-hop and catch a lot of cool stuff. I know there are a lot of tradeoffs to small town life vs. city living (and I’m not saying I want to move back to D.C.), but some of the things I’m looking for are: a solid community of artists and progressive people; 2) decent goods and services outside of Wal Mart; and 3) affordable rentals (for now) and condos (for later). I’ve been thinking I need to get a pet soon too. Oh yeah, and the whole single vs. being in a relationship thing. I guess I have been thinking after all. I love my job, and the choir (and soon my volunteering at the local radio station), but I need more friends and people to hang out with in Charlottesville. Hopefully I’ll find some of these things this fall…as well as getting a sofa and a comfy chair. Long drive tomorrow, so I should go.

As many of you know, I have just moved to Charlottesville, Virginia from Alexandria. I moved in this weekend, and it has gone pretty well. I like my 2 bedroom townhouse, which I have not begun to afford in D.C. I start at the new facility on Monday, and then I’m officially a car commuter-ugh. Oh well, it’s worth it to live close to here:

I look forward to getting involved with music groups, eating at lots of great restaurants, and exploring the town’s cultural side. And the mountains are just beautiful–hopefully I’ll get to hike in them soon.

Good cataloging can only come from accurate processing, labeling, and handling of materials. That’s all I’m saying, but it does show the sort of day I’m having in cleaning up other people’s messes.

First, I had to laugh when I logged in to WordPress to type this blog post. Instead of using a phrase like “Already a member” or “Existing subscribers”, it actually asked “Already hip?” I thought that was a perfect example of what the librerati have been talking about over the last day or two.

Sarah’s post touched me for a number of reasons. Working in libraries is often a second (or third) career for many, and therefore, librarians reflect the skills, knowledge, values, and interests they’ve already cultivated. That one can be a puzzle or zine curator, a manuscript librarian, or a cello music cataloger, is in fact awesome. But it points out the fact that the library profession is not monolithic. One receives basically the same 3-5 library courses, but then you’re on your own in designing a program.

Since we’re telling “how did you know you wanted to be a librarian” stories, I’ll offer a bit about my path. While I had a fleeting thought my senior year in college of going to library school, I thought I would be either a music teacher, professor, or arts administrator. I went to school for arts management/education, to get more people to go to concerts, and involved in the arts. My knowledge of music history was helpful for putting it into context. I continued to research and write program notes on the side. I love doing research, and knowing the sources to help people find information. So, from this, and getting to know recordings and labels (by working at public radio stations) and scores and orchestral music (by working as a performance librarian), I got really good at organizing collections and cataloging items in databases for quick retrieval.

What I didn’t bank on when I entered library school was a growing appreciation of archives and the unpublished. Working with original master recordings of interviews of people from various cultures (like at the Archives of Traditional Music) completely sold me on wanting to be a sound archivist. I like cataloging, and I think it’s what I do best, so it’s a good fit for me; but I definitely feel like a music librarian and an archivist. I have deep concern over the preservation of audiovisual media (and all the digital files which are being created), how musical works are created and transformed (and how we’re going to identify all of those instantiations), and the general music and aural literacy of succeeding generations (who’ll have gone deaf because their iPods are turned up WAY too loud). I think that works to make me an information professional with a stake in the future of this profession. In short, curiosity, service, dedication, and passion are what sustain you for the long run, not the false promise of “rock star” fame which this article implies.

The recent New York Times article “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers” has already provoked a number of responses from across the biblioblogosphere, specifically from IU/SLIS folks, because my friends Pete and Sarah are mentioned. I was in the audience that night at Selam, and spoke to the reporter about being a librarian. I remember being a bit over the top, trying to express my passion for cataloging and metadata. (I think I used the term “cataloging culture” and tried to explain the concept of authority). I also pointed out the difference between libraries and archives. Too much perhaps, but what I find “hip” [can we please have a new word?!] about librarians, archivists, and information professionals is are those who desire to make their workplaces, and more broadly, their profession better by direct involvement (by getting involved directly through new media, rather than waiting a year or more to get their opinions published in a journal). This openness to more voices–diverse, experienced (and not-so-experienced)–helps to promote a better conversation I believe.

On the other hand, I believe libraries and archives are institutions which are meant to be a repository of human knowledge and creativity. How can we share materials if we can’t keep the bits alive, the books free of silverfish, and the acetate discs from delaminating? We must have a balance of preservation and access, so that we can serve future generations as well as those that walk in the door tomorrow.

Pete recently reminded me that I once said that I was a “culture conservative.” By this I don’t mean social, economic, religious, or political. I mean that I have an interest in preserving and encouraging the continued performance and cultivation of traditional forms of artistic and cultural expression. I do this by listening to classical music on the radio, as well as other forms of noncommercial radio. Whether it’s classical, jazz, show music, oldtime radio, stories, folk, country, or bluegrass. Where is the place for innovation in all this preserving? It’s an age-old question, that everyone has to make for themselves–because it is ultimately a question about taste. Aesthetically, I consider myself a blend of a formalist and a humanist, because I think that the elements of the artform are essential to the construction and intrinsic to the worthiness of a piece of art. And art is best when it informs the human condition, makes us ask questions of ourselves, and helps us to understanding what it means to be a human being. (This paragraph brought to you from memories of my aesthetics class in grad school). I don’t mean this as a high-low art comparison, because there’s place for both (and everything in between) in life.

Those of you who know me well, know that I have made a minor obsession about Canada in the last two years. I have struggled to know what makes her tick, how the music and media of her artists inform her place in the world, and what it can teach us Southerners (in the sense of south of the 49th Parallel).

But I’m more of a musician than a politician, so I’ll make this post about music I think that would be a worthwhile playlist for Canada Day—formerly known as Dominion Day.

1) Secord’s Warning / Tanglefoot / Captured Alive / Borealis BCD-157CD
A good reminder that people can be heroic on both sides of a war.
2) Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald / Gordon Lightfoot / Summertime Dream / Reprise (and subsequent releases on CD)
Not strictly a Canadian song in content, but arguably Lightfoot’s song embodies the best in Canadian songwriting.
3) A Case of You / Joni Mitchell / Blue / Reprise (and subsequent releases on CD)
For the sheer loneliness and passion, and for drawing a map of Canada.
4) Possession / Sarah McLachlan / Fumbling Towards Ecstacy / Arista
Like Mitchell, a master of describing both love and pain.
5) Canadian Pacific / Hank Snow / Greatest Hits Volume 1 / RCA Victor tape
After being everywhere, for making the traveler’s journey universal.
6) Helmethead / Great Big Sea / Something Beautiful / Zoe
Because every Canadian playlist should have a hockey song.
7) Snowbird / Anne Murray / Snowbird / Capitol (and various reissues)
Another timeless classic.
8. At the 100th Meridian / Tragically Hip / Fully Completely / MCA
Loved this song the first time I heard it on Due South. A contemporary look at surviving the times in which we live, while holding on to our dreams.
9) Henry Martin / Figgy Duff / Retrospective 1974-1993 /
Amber-EMI
Another song I heard from Due South. The group was one of the early Celtic rockers.
10) Chanson des Menteries / La Bottine Souriante/ La Traversée de Atlantique / Green Linnet
In the spirit of biculturalism, and plus the fact that they are just really too good not to listen to. Vive la difference!

I’ll leave you with some quotes about Canada I’ve found from various sources:

“I guess Canada is a nice country. I’ve never thought much about it. (Anon. Cal-State student).

“I’m not an American! I am a Canadian. I come from a “nice”, thoroughly unrealistic country” (Matthew Fisher).

“The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: Keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear” (Will Ferguson).

“God Bless America, but God help Canada to put up with them!” (Anonymous).

“Canada is a place of infinite promise. We like the people, and if one ever had to emigrate, this would be the destination, not the U.S.A. The hills, lakes and forests make it a place of peace and repose of the mind, such as one never finds in the U.S.A.” (John Maynard Keynes).

“If you don’t believe your country should come before yourself, you can better serve your country by livin’ someplace else” (Stompin’ Tom Connors, who wrote the Hockey Song).

“I wouldn’t let someone take my Canadian citizenship from me for anything” (Jim Kale of the Guess Who).

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind” (John Diefenbaker (From the Canadian Bill of Rights, July 1, 1960)).

“Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United States has produced. We’re different people from you and we’re different people because of you. Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is effected by every twitch and grunt. It should not therefore be expected that this kind of nation, this Canada, should project itself as a mirror image of the United States” (Pierre Trudeau).

“A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe” (Pierre Burton, historian).

“Canada is one of the planet’s most comfortable, and caring, societies. The United Nations Human Development Index cited the country as the most desirable place in the world to live. This year a World Bank study named Canada the globe’s second wealthiest society after Australia” (Time Magazine).

“We’ll explain the appeal of curling to you if you explain the appeal of the National Rifle Association to us” (Andy Barrie).

Happy Birthday Canada, you True North, strong and free. Don’t be afraid to offer tough love to your friends, and remember that you’ve earned a place on the world stage.

New Members Round Table: Conference 101.

What do I take away from x? Did it change my thinking? Am I a better person, employee, researcher, librarian… Some very good generic questions to ask yourself about something whether you’re talking about a degree program, a specific session at a conference, or about friendships and partnerships.

There’s red ships, and green ships, but there’s no ship like partnership (Callum Keith Rennie, Due South, season 3, “Call of the Wild, Pt. II”)

Okay, I’ll stop.

On entering the room, I saw Tiffany whom I met at Catholic University’s library school as part of a career day panel back in March. (Yes, Audio Artifacts readers, I have been having a life while I’ve been ignoring my blog). She had found a job—yeah! Then I saw another person who I knew from interning at the Library of Congress. Her name was Emily and she was a Junior Fellow Summer Intern with me during the summer of 2005. I guess this just shows that if you make your way through a haystack, you’ll eventually recognize a needle or two. (Did I just utterly mangle that metaphor? Oh well)

It was a good introduction to the workings of ALA. The four panelists talked about the exhibits, the structure of the organization, the meetings, the programs, and how we can get involved in the organization even as “younger” members. Even this session was standing room only, with lots of folks standing and sitting in the back of the room. I left there with a good sense of what I wanted to accomplish at the conference, but I was willing to leave myself open to the possibility of going to meetings I wouldn’t normally think about. But at 5:30 (and with a 7:00 meeting ahead), I was hungry and wanted to get some food before the festivities continued.

Foodie comments: I went to Acadiana on the same square as the convention center. I couldn’t get a table, so I ate at the bar. Just a couple of appetizers, and a tasty beverage: 1) roasted sweet corn and blue crab soup; and 2) trio of deviled eggs with crabmeat ravigote, shrimp rémoulade, and louisiana choupique caviar. Yum.

ALCTS 101

Then I headed back to the convention and went to the ALCTS 101 session. (ALCTS stands for the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services). Those newbies (like myself) in attendance got to meet many of the veteran members, and the latter made speeches encouraging us young bucks to get involved, commit, and serve wherever we were needed. Upon rejoining ALA, I rejoined ALCTS (which I just learned is pronounced “uh-lex”). I have only found their periodical Library Resources & Technical Services to be delightfully geeky and helpful as one interested in cataloging, metadata, and preservation issues. They had a light dessert reception for us, and I got to meet some heavy hitters in the field, including Bruce Johnson (who works for the Cataloging Distribution Service at the Library of Congress). I also recognized the incoming president Dina Giambi (University of Delaware) from that same career panel at Catholic University. You never know where you’re going to see these people again, so always try to make a good first impression.
I felt welcomed, but not overwhelmed. These were clearly my people—even the serials librarians. (That was a joke).

Note: If you don’t see enough links or content, don’t despair gentle reader, I’ll be updating these entries and adding links to powerpoints and useful websites as I find them and the notes I’ve scribbled over various handouts.

More to come on Saturday: Libraries as conversations, Shakespeare in libraries, drinking with the music librarians, and clubbing with the Next Generation library crowd.

Friday, June 22, 2-4 pm:

Today I worked for half-a-day, and then went over to the Convention Center to register. As I said in a previous post, I decided to go to this conference a little bit late in the game.
In May, I rejoined ALA, which wasn’t that big of the pain with the easy online registration they offer. Then I waited a few weeks before registering for the conference.

They were tremendously efficient at handling all aspects of my membership, except for a little matter about reconciling my old membership with my new membership.

Can we say database people, help!

I arrived at the will call line, and there weren’t many people waiting. (Unlike the badge holder check-in line, which is very long—lesson: procrastination does pay sometimes).

The official numbers are in, and the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington, DC, was indeed a record breaker. The show drew 28,635 people, including 21,466 registrants and 7,169 exhibitors. The previous record was 27,962, set in Chicago in 2005.

(“ALA 2007 roundup: stats, SPARC, Google, and innovation,” Libraryjournal.com, June 28, 2007.

This conference is vast beyond the scope of anything I’ve experienced to date. I would imagine it would be like attending a presidential primary convention. After signing in and getting my badge, tickets to certain events, and a bag of goodies, I headed to the ALA store to peruse what they were selling, and just walked around the Convention Center to get my bearings. I had close to an hour before attending “Conference 101”, a session hosted the New Members Round Table, or NMRT (per the ALA Acronym list provided in the Program Guide). I felt like I had just purchased a study packet, when I got my guide. It was shrink-wrapped with the Exhibits guide (which was a bit briefer in volume). Sitting on the stairs of the Convention Center, I began to ponder what we all had in common, that would bring so many librarians of so many varying interests, types of institutions, subject specialties, and different publics. It was a heady question to begin with, but I wondered if the hive would coalesce around a central theme or idea; or remain disparate and factional.

More to come on the NMRT session.