Every year around this time in certain parts of Europe a strange thing happens. The demons of winter make an appearance in the cities and towns. These are the Perchten, which, according to pagan tradition, serve to chase out evil and cleanse the world for the new year. Over the years, the Perchten have also become associated--and often confused--with the Krampus, a similar demon who is paired with Saint Nicholas and beats naughty children with a stick.

Last night the Perchten marched through the main street of Salzburg, striking terror in the hearts of tourists. It was fantastic! If you don't scream, they tend to leave you alone, but if you look scared, watch out! Also, as my friend Alice learned, you should not wear a skirt to these events, as your legs need to be protected from the switches.

After the horde marched past we actually followed them into the main square. Louise really wanted to get a picture with one, but every time we got close enough to ask, she ran away. Silly girl. At one point I got so fed up that I kicked (very lightly) the large bell a creature had handing off the back of his belt. I earned a smack on my head from his switch, but it was worth it. Eventually we did get a picture with one on Louise's camera. Here's the best shot I got:

Maybe it's because I've been watching "Angel" lately, but they seem like the sort of demon Buffy would love to fight. Perhaps that's why I had the urge to kick one...

-Kim

the side benefits of working in a castle

Now, there are many benefits to working in a castle, such as having the most beautiful office in the world. But those pics will come later. today I want to talk about something that is completely unrelated to work. The side benefits, if you will.

Occasionally, outside groups rent out the Schloss for events. There have been a number of weddings since I've been here, and just last weekend, a corporate group on a worldwide tour ended their time in Salzburg by renting out the Marble Hall for a concert.

Now, interns are never invited to events such as these, but we do have free access to the Schloss at all hours because it's where we get our food and where we're supposed to do our laundry. So no one questions you walking in the front door and getting in the elevator. On Saturday night three of us made our way up to the balcony/gallery level of the Marble Hall just as the concert was starting to enjoy the show. The singer was a classically trained tenor, but as he was backed up by a jazz band, it wasn't your standard operatic concert. Here's a taste of one of his early pieces:

Shortly thereafter, he brought out a few Sound of Music classics. You can't sing a concert in Salzburg without doing "Edelweis."

After that, my compatriots gave up the idea of subtlety and began dancing in the balcony. After the vocalist noticed and gave us a friendly wave, I decided to get up and join in the fun, as it seemed there was no going back. In fact, at the end of the concert, the vocalist gave a shout out, thanking "the three girls dancing in the balcony for the support."

It was an epically awesome night.

-Kim

In the beginning

I promised you stories, and you will get stories. Here are a few from my first week here, way back at the start of September:

International Travel

My journey to Salzburg began in the afternoon on Friday, September 10. With my suitcase and my backpack stuffed to capacity and ready to go, Mom, Dad and I hopped in the van and drove down to Sioux Falls to catch my first flight. The Sioux Falls airport was in the middle of a rather large renovation project, and the usual path from the check-in counters to the gates was blocked off. Instead, we were funneled through a winding tunnel built of plywood. It felt a bit like being a gerbil in a maze (Yes, the usual phrase would be about a rat, but gerbils are much cuter). I'm pretty sure we had a good long farewell hug three different times between check-in and when I went through security. Those hugs had to last me a long time! Getting through security was a breeze, as it always is in SuFu (which is one reason I chose to fly out of there), even though I was wearing my tall brown riding boots (hey, I had to get them on the plane somehow!). Of course, there is really no reason to get to the Sioux Falls airport the full two hours early, but it didn't seem right to press our luck on such an important day. So I waited for over an hour to board the plane. Ihad a window seat, which was great, except that it was so cloudy there wasn't much to see. Instead of watching the familiar Sioux Falls landmarks falling away beneath us I was greeted by the sight of clouds, but I did have the surreal experience of seeing the shaddow of the plane, darting back and forth as it passed over clouds varying distances away.

In Chicago I was annoyed to discover that I actually had to leave the terminal to get to the gate for my international flight. This meant riding the airport tram and then going through security again. I got a window seat for this flight as well. I watched the lights of Chicago drop away behind us and then settled back for a nap that wasn't meant to be. Even though this was an overnight flight departing at 10pm, the airline felt the need to feed us dinner. So the lights stayed up, and so did I. The dinner was alright, but sadly the beverage cart had no Ginger Ale (and just when living in Boston had taught me to love the stuff!). There were many options for in-flight entertainment, but in economy class we had no control over them. Several movies played at the same time, and you just had to hope that the one you wanted to watch would be starting when you wanted to watch it. I ended up watching three different movies, Prince of Persia, Letters to Juliet, and The Karate Kid, for lack of any better options. They were all reasonably entertaining, and better than nothing since I inexplicably could not sleep. However, after the first movie, I caught the second one about 30 min in, so I had to wait until it looped around again to catch the beginning. So I watched bits and pieces of movies out of order all night. It was lovely. As we neared Copanhagen the next morning, one of the flight attendants came by to tell me that my suitcase was not on the plane. I had a moment of panic and despair, but luckily that didn't last terribly long. I couldn't do anything about it in Copenhagen without leaving security, so I opted to wait until finally arriving in Munich. At Copenhagen we had to go through security yet again, and then get our passports stamped for entering Europe. I was dead on my feet at this point.

The flight to Munich was a much smaller group, and I dozed in and out quite a bit. Upon arriving in Munich I went immediately to the counter to report lost luggage, which was helpfully located right next to the luggage carousel for my flight. The airline employee was very helpful and gave me a complimentary bag of toiletries to ease my wait for my own bag. He seemed to take an interest in this foreigner with a German name who was on her way to go live in a castle.

My transportation from Munich to Salzburg was a shuttle bus. There were four other people on the bus, most of whom got dropped off before me. I dozed for much of this trip as well, because it certainly didn't feel like the reported 2 hours. I'm sure it was not the most direct route, and it didn't give me any idea what the city of Salzburg was like. It was nearing sunset when we pulled in at Schloss Leopoldskron and I walked into the Meierhoff for the first time. The Meierhoff is actually older than the Schloss, and was originally a barn. Now it's a large pink hotel with a lovely courtyard in the middle and the offices of the Salzburg Global Seminar taking up most of the ground floor.

Much of that first night is fuzzy, because I was so tired. The girl working the reception desk was very nice and called the only other intern who was in at the time to show me around a bit. Lisa is Brittish and an absolute dear. She cooks much of her own food because the kitchen staff don't know how to prepare food for a vegan, so that first night she offered to share her dinner with me. After the trials it took to reach this place, it was the perfect welcome: warm, but not overwhelming.

I met the rest of the interns and staff over the next several days. Well, I really shouldn't say all. There are still staff members I haven't met, and my time here is now a third done! But people are coming and going here all the time, so it's not too surprising. Plus, there are only a couple of us who do our work in the Schloss, so I really don't cross paths with staff members much. Tourists poke their heads into my office from time to time, and I see the kitchen staff quite a bit on my way in and out, but not my actual coworkers. I was offered the chance to work in the general intern office where there would be people around me, but I couldn't give up my beautiful view for that. Besides, the librarian needs to be by the library. This is the way the world works!

Oh, and my luggage did arrive, only a day and a half behind me. And since I spend most of Sunday asleep, I really didn't suffer that much for not having it. In fact, when I told other people at the Schloss that my luggage was lost, they generally seemed more upset than I was. But then, that's just how I react to things. After the initial shock, if it's something I can't do anything about, I resign myself to making the best of it without much thought. And really, if something had to go wrong in the adventure of getting me here, at least it was something relatively small.

Oh dear, will every story be this long and require it's own post? I may have to do some grouping or some serious editing of my usual, detailed style If we're ever to get caught up! We'll see if I can do better next time!

-Kim

extraordinary

I have now been in Salzburg for over a month. For nearly five weeks I have lived in a hotel and gone to work in an 18th Century palace. I have moved from being overwhelmed by it all to being so comfortable I don't even think about it. It's funny how quickly things become familiar. I have the most beautiful office and work in an absolutely gorgeous library, and just recently I was reminded of how absolutely extraordinary this is. This is not the sort of space a recent graduate is supposed to get to work in! Yet here I am. At our last session I got up the courage to do a bit of actual networking, and the fellow I spoke with said he could hook me up with people who want to put toegther archives in Norway if I would be willing to move there. That's right, Norway. He also is going to introduce me to the state archivist of Maryland, so there's plenty of options.

How do I keep falling into so many wonderful things? The only answer I can find is that my life is being directed by someone who has grander plans than anything I could ever dream up. So I thank God for the blessings, hold on tight, and keep moving forward. At the rate my life experience has been expanding, from local to national to international, I fully expect to end up working in the first intergalactic library and archives by the end of my career. Or institute a proper archives program at USF. Either would be just as rewarding, and just as miraculous.

-Kim

storytelling

Hello there, faithful followers! You've had nothing to follow for quite some time, and I feel very bad about that. It's not that nothing interesting has been happening of late, in fact, it's quite the opposite. I find I am spending all of my time and energy on crazy adventures and have less left for reporting them to the masses.

But I aim to correct this problem!

I have been in Salzburg, Austria for almost three weeks now. My intention had been to blog the day I arrived and put up something every time I experienced anything new, which would have been essentially every day. And actually, a more previous intention had been to start the series of Salzburg posts in the summer as I was preparing, but that didn't happen either--but no more excuses! Although stories from these past weeks will lack the immediacy and emotion they may otherwise have had, I still intend to share at least the highlights of what's been going on so far.

They may be patchy and out of order, but the stories are coming! Stay tuned!

-Kim

Hillsong - From The Inside Out

Last night I attended the evening service at Park Street for the first time in months and learned an absolutely amazing song. Take a listen.

What is a perfect moment?

A perfect moment is sitting on a boat in the evening, the gentle waves of the marina pulling the craft ever so slightly against its moorings, a lulling rocking.



The fading exhiliration of adventure on the water draining stress and tension from muscles still taught from straining on ropes.



Old friends laughing together, coiling ropes and drinking cans of Blue Moon Bavarian White beer.



Recognizing a piece of music on public radio, crying out, "I've played that! When did I play that?", and the rush of joy when the recollection comes rushing back and the strings and organ come pouring out from not only the radio, but out of memory. And when the laughter drowns out the title of the piece, still lost in the overcrowded oblivion of memory, taking another sip and looking up into the heavens, stars winking around the top of the mast, the orchestra in the mind pulsing in time with the lapping of the wavelets on the hull.

gradgitation

let us commence

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for Park Street Church. Our associate minister, Daniel Harrell, has been called to serve as the head pastor at a church in Edina, MN. This Sunday he gave his farewell address, speaking at all four services. It was a highly emotional day for everyone, especially since Daniel has been on the ministry team at Park Street for 23 years! This is what they printed in the bulletin about him:

Gratitude for 23 years:
Farewell to Daniel Harrell, Associate Minister

Growing up in North Carolina, Daniel began his ministry in Young Life and InterVarsity. While an editorial cartoonist in college, he majored in psychology and religion (UNC Chapel Hill, 1983). He honed his ministry manifesto “to have fun” at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv, 1988), and twenty-four years ago this June, he joined Park Street’s staff as youth minister. Since then, he’s earned a PhD in psychology (Boston College, 1993), taught as an adjunct professor (GCTS, Fuller, Gordon, BU), written a book on the compatibility of faith and evolution (Nature’s Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith, 2008) and on the 2008 Leviticus Project (How to Be Perfect, 2010), been minister of education, minister of outreach & urban ministry, and interim senior minister. In 1993, he led a team to launch the current Sunday Night format. The PowerPoint clipart, PSC logo, special Sunday Night services, Holy Week liturgies, and Thursday Night Homeless Outreach are all the work of Daniel’s hands. Daniel, his wife, Dawn, and his daughter, Violet, leave us now to start a new chapter of life and ministry in Edina, MN, where Daniel has been called to serve as senior minister of Colonial Church. Please keep the Harrell family in your prayers and take a few moments to say goodbye in the Welcome Center following the service today.

I took my opportunity after the service to shake Daniel's hand and assure him that he would do just fine in the Midwest, that his preaching style and his heart would be warmly welcomed by his new church. He was visibly relieved to hear such a report from someone who calls that region of the country home.

The day had a ceremonial feel to it, like a graduation. This effect was heightened for me because one of the hymns selected for the morning services was "For All the Saints," which is the song USF uses for the processional at commencement, and which I have played probably hundreds of times. By now one would think I'd be completely sick of the piece, and that might be true were I asked to play it again as a processional, but actually singing the words was a new experience for me, and thankfully we only sang it once. As an archivist I have a deep love for tradition, and hearing the familiar tune, I couldn't help but sing louder, as if I were on the stage at the Washington Pavilion, watching the graduates file past the faculty on the stage, sharing one last hug or handshake (wow, I'm really sentimental today, or possibly just missing the community of the USF faculty). I am probably the only member of the congregation who had such a visceral reaction to the hymn, but it just felt right for the day.

Daniel moving on from Park Street is a commencement of sorts. He is closing one chapter of his life (though another member of the ministerial staff reminded him he would always be one of use, echoing the words of Aslan: "once a Park Streeter, always a Park Streeter" [this will apply to me soon to, as I have decided to officially join the church this summer and will be attending new member classes in May and June!]) to begin another in a new place.

So many people in my life are experiencing a commencement, a new beginning, of one sort or another. My friend Brittany got married this weekend, and several other friends have weddings in the works. Many of my grad school friends are graduating and moving out in the next couple weeks. Dianna is headed to Japan to teach English literature at a university for the next two years, and she's leaving shortly after her own graduation, in only a matter or weeks. Other friends are soon to have their first child. It boggles the mind.

Today I finished two of my three final assignments of my graduate career. My Master's gown and hood have already been purchased and are hanging on the back of my dorm room door. I'm beginning to pack up boxes of books and clothes to ship home, move across town to my summer residence, or simply get rid of. And since services yesterday "For All the Saints" has been playing in my head nonstop, in spite of the peppy showtunes I tried to drown it out with.

Commencement is coming.

The grad school chapter of my life is almost at an end, and the next is about to begin. I don't know what this coming chapter will be titled, or what the setting will be beyond this calendar year. Beyond summer work and an international internship in the fall, I don't know what the setting or the content will be. But I know it will be great.

I say, bring it on.

Let us commence.

-Kim

The Wall and the Wing

This was probably the worst time possible for me to start reading a new book. I have several papers due in only a week, an orchestra concert and an art show to put on in a matter of days, and a very tight schedule to stick to to get it all done. But last week I was shelving in the children's section and this book caught my eye. I've been able to resist the books already in my room out of familiarity with their presence, but this exotic new book from the strange and distant land of the library was too enticing. I began reading it at work during a long, boring shift promoting the self-checkout machine and then had to finish it on my own time. Now that I've finished, I have to say that the distraction was worth it.

The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby is a delightful fantasy about a world where almost everyone can fly, if only a little. Gurl, an orphan at Hope House for the Homeless and Hopeless, can't fly at all, but her life becomes much more interesting, if not less miserable, when she discovers she can become invisible and forms an unlikely friendship with a rare stray cat and a boy named Bug, who even kind of looks like one.

The main characters in this story are utterly believable, just two kids who don't fit in their world trying to get by. And the rest of the cast is so over-the-top it would be ridiculous if it weren't done so masterfully. There's the Professor, with grass growing out of his head and kittens in his pockets, Mrs. Terwiliger, the headmistress of Hope House who loves plastic surgery and plastic monkeys, and Odd John with a zipper on his face--don't ask what's underneath! Even New York City is bigger than life and full of real magic.

The pace is good, and the writing doesn't distract from the story, much. There were two tiny spots near the end where the dialog felt a little forced and preachy, but overall the craftsmanship is so good it just blends into the background. And even though I could see the biggest part of the conclusion as early as chapter 12, there were enough smaller twists and surprises to keep me satisfied.

All in all, it's a read worth your time, though I would wait to start it until after your work is done, because once you pick it up you won't put it down until the flight is over!

-Kim

I want this book

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2010/4/13miracle.html

archives in the spring

This past Saturday was the spring 2010 meeting of the New England Archivists in Amherst, MA. It was a pretty good conference, but until just a few days before it began I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. The short version is that I thought I had a ride, then, about one week before the meeting, I learned I no longer had a ride and set about scrambling to find one again. At one point I almost gave up and decided not to go, but that would have been the wrong choice. By Wednesday night I had secured my ride again and could rest easy.

Because the meeting was in Amherst, I got up at 5am on Saturday to meet my group at the rental car (by the way, I'm pretty sure ZipCars are the best thing ever for city dwellers). We managed to make only one wrong turn on the way there, for which Christina was demoted from her role as Navigator. She should have kept her position, because on the way back our new navigator failed big time, and only Christina's photographic memory of which stores we had passed on the way there was able to get us back on track.

The campus at UMass Amherst is actually very nice. During our lunch break I went outside and walked around a lovely pond full of ducks and geese. The sessions were pretty good too, for the most part, and I picked up some awesome swag, like tin acid-free boxes big enough only for business cards.

The best part of the day, however, came after lunch at a session on international archives. One of the presenters, who works at Tufts, is from Austria and spent time talking about the state of Austrian archival institutions. How awesome is that? When the session ended I introduced myself and got her card. Later on this spring we're going to meet and talk about libraries and archives in Austria! How much more perfect could that moment have been? I guess I really was supposed to go to this event.

-Kim

well there's good news...

...and there's complicated news. After my one month post-op check-up on Friday, the good news is that my healing is progressing at such a rate that my dentists continue to be astounded. In both thickness and height, this second grafting procedure has yielded even better results than the first. Hooray for me.

The news that gives me complicated feelings rather than simply good or bad is that the earliest date we could schedule my next surgery, the upper left side, is May 21. We did what we could to try to get it in sooner, but this was the best we could do. It boils down to the difficulty in matching together three schedules: mine, my dentist Fatema, and the surgeon Dr. Griffin.

On the one hand, this is great because it won't take any more time away from this semester (it actually falls exactly one week after my graduation). This is very good news, since I have three big projects to complete in the next few weeks and another surgery would make that difficult, to say the least. So there is a sense of relief associated with this news. Also, my healing weeks will be in the empty buffer zone between the end of the semester and the start of my summer job as a tour guide at Park Street Church (unconfirmed, but I know they want me back), so I'll have plenty of time to sleep and recover.

On the other hand, scheduling the next surgery for May stretches out the whole process much longer than I would have liked. The procedure that we do in May will be the third in a series of at least four (there has been some debate between Fatema and Dr. Griffin about whether they might do one more procedure on the bottom teeth when we're done with all the bone grafting, to thicken the soft tissue even more). After the surgery in May I will have to wait four to six weeks before we could even consider doing the upper right. Waiting for the left side to heal is absolutely necessary so that I will be able to chew on that side again when we do the surgery on the right--there is no getting around it unless I want to be on a purely liquid diet for six weeks. Not to mention that having two large areas healing at the same time is just not the best idea. So the fourth surgery would be put off until at least June, best case scenario. Then we take into account all the follow-up appointments to check the tissue growth. I've been in every week for the past month for measurements, photographs and cleanings. The weekly visits are now over, but she wants to see me at the two and three month mark as well. So, best-case scenario, the last date I could have a surgery this summer and complete my follow-up appointments, would be the end of June. That would be a tight squeeze, fitting it in after the one on May 21. So, my series of surgeries is likely to be incomplete when I leave town at the end of summer in preparation for spending the fall in Salzburg. Darn.

On the other hand, having the work unfinished gives me a reason to come back to Boston in January and narrows my job searching options. This could be a good thing, as a narrower focus could make searching easier, and I do have a few good contacts here in Boston, as well as friends who would let me stay with them while I look for a place of my own.

On the other hand, if I don't find a job right away but decide to come back to Boston to complete my surgeries (even without dental insurance) it will be a very expensive few months. If I were allowed to look beyond the Boston area, say back home in the Midwest, I would have more options and therefore, mathematically, better chances of finding something.

On the other hand, by completing this internship I am making my resume much more impressive and making myself much more likely to get a job period, wherever I look. After all, who else will be able to say they've done what I will be doing?

On the other hand, sometimes I worry too much. God has been working things out beautifully so far, and I should trust him to continue. He led me from USF to Boston, to an incredible program where I have learned much and made great friends. He made sure I was in Boston, with access to the most current and exciting dental procedures when I needed them. And he blessed me with an incredible internship, which will bless me in ways I can't even imagine yet. I worry because I don't know where I will be or what I will be doing in January, when really, that's not so bad. Plenty of people don't know what they'll be living next week or whether they'll have enough money for food tomorrow. I have never had to worry about those things, and there is plenty of time still for these details to come together.

As for surgeries, I'll take them as they come and trust that the one who created my mouth will grant me the time and the opportunity to complete the work of repairing and strengthening it.

-Kim

Erin go Bragh

St. Patrick's Day is pretty much the perfect holiday for me. It was originally observed to celebrate a Christian Saint, it now commemorates the country I have been in love with all my life, and it gives me an excuse to wear ridiculous amounts of green without being laughed at.

And today is already off to a great start, celebration-wise. Allow me to share a bit of my obsessiveness:

Breakfast: a bowl of Lucky Charms (On a side note, it's always the marshmallows that get the press, but have you ever looked closely at the cereal pieces? Just what are they? I swear I saw an icthus.) and a cup of Irish Breakfast tea (with a little milk, this may be my favorite variety of black tea)

Clothing: Green socks, green Dropkick Murphys t-shirt (I already wore the Ireland football [read: soccer] jersey on Sunday for the parade fiasco, and I'm wearing green every day this week as a challenge to myself to do so without repeating anything--not so hard, actually), and green USF track jacket.

Accessories: Chipped, forest green nail polish replaced by a fresh coat of springier peridot green, green belt (which I wear most days), and harp earrings to go with the silver harp necklace I bought in Ireland four years ago (the 12-stringed harp is the official symbol of Ireland, for anyone who didn't know). (Sadly, my other key accessory, a pin of a frog sitting on a shamrock that reads "kiss me, I'm Irish" is at home in South Dakota, out of my reach, along with my Celtic cross pendant made with real conemara marble from Ireland. Still, wearing *all* of that at once might have been a bit much for tutoring at the writing center.)

Music: Dropkick Murphys has already been playing on my iTunes, and I'll probably mix in some Celtic fiddling later as well, and of course my favorite tune, Barrage's "Until We Meet Again".

Dinner: This one is rather out of my control, but Bartol has advertised an Irish dinner tonight. Last year they served corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread, and if that repeats I will be very happy indeed.

And, as if just to make this day even better, the sun is shining, the puddles are gone and Boston is set to hit a high of 60 this afternoon. It's a wonderful day to be alive, Irish or not, although of course everyone in the world is Irish today.

And it seems as though the luck of the Irish really is with me today. As rare as finding a four-leaf clover is finding a teaspoon in Bartol. At some point we were inundated with soup spoons, and lately that's all a person can find. But today at lunch, after scooping out the last bit of my favorite flavor of ice cream, I went to the utensil racks and found one! It was dead center, showing just barely enough for me to see that its curve was different from all the spoons around it. I plucked it from the buch with joy and returned to the table triumphant, to applause from my friends (yes, they really were that impressed).

It would be lovely if this luck, or these blessings, rather, continue. I have a five pager paper due tomorrow that has yet to be written. But since I already have an extensive outline prepared and late last night solved the problem of the accompanying diagram, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. I'll spend my evening writing instead of attending the certainly overcrowded party at the Beehive, but when I finish I'll be dancing a jig to celebrate!

To close, I offer this saying I found on Island Ireland. May it be said of me as well.

What Shall I Say About the Irish?
The utterly impractical, never predictable,
Sometimes irascible, quite inexplicable, Irish.
Strange blend of shyness,
pride and conceit,
And stubborn refusal to bow in defeat.
He's spoiling and ready to argue and fight,
Yet the smile of a child
fills his soul with delight.
His eyes are the quickest to well up with tears,
Yet his strength is the strongest
to banish your fears.
His hate is as fierce as his devotion is grand,
And there is no middle ground
on which he will stand.
He's wild and he's gentle,
he's good and he's bad.
He's proud and he's humble,
he's happy and sad.
He's in love with the ocean,
the earth and the skies,
He's enamoured with beauty wherever it lies.
He's victor and victim, a star and a clod,
But mostly he's Irish—
in love with his God.

-Kim

Texas!

One week ago today I spent the day in Austin, TX with Dianna. It was the last day of a spring break trip to visit her down in Waco. Last year she came to Boston to visit me, and it snowed. I thought this year we should do the smart thing and let me come to Texas, where it would be warmer. It actually rained half the time I was there, but it was a warm rain, and actually, that's probably all that saved me from coming back north with a wicked sunburn. The sun shone strong in Austin that day, though it was on its way down by the time Dianna took the photo below on our visit to the capitol building.


Another highlight of our time in Austin was the LBJ Presidential Library. I have a newfound respect for the man now. Previously he was just one of the other names other than Lincoln or Washington and had no real association for me. Now that I've been reminded of the hundreds of bills and acts he signed into law to make America a better society, I find I have become a fan. And the nerd in me just loved being in the museum. They had on display some of his actual speeches with hand written notes and the Bible he was sworn in on after JFK's assassination (by the way, we also saw the spot where Kennedy was shot on our way through Dallas, complete with conspiracy theorists trying to win over the tourists). And then we walked up from the lower level and I was absolutely astounded by what we saw:


All those shelves of red boxes are the LBJ archives. Those are the actual stacks of archival quality, acid free boxes with the presidential seal embossed on them. What a collection!

On the two days we stayed in Waco, it rained. That wasn't a big deal on Sunday, since we had intended to stay indoors anyway, going to church and watching the Oscars in the evening. But on Monday a got the grand tour of Waco in the rain. The best part was probably visiting the Dr. Pepper Museum. Did you know that Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco? Well, it was, and the old bottling plant is now a museum, with old equipment and advertisements on display. They even have their own archives. I wonder if I could get a job there? Dr. Pepper is my favorite carbonated beverage, after all...


Best friend fail. Sadly, this is the only picture from the whole trip I have of me and Dianna together. I don't have any idea how it could have slipped my mind, especially since I likely won't see her again until Christmas....


This sidewalk leads up to the bear enclosure on the Baylor campus. Yes, they have two live bears on campus. Sadly, I didn't get to see them. The first two times we went, it was cool and rainy and they were asleep in their cave. The last two times, we stopped by in the morning on our way out of town, and it was apparently too early and they hadn't been let out to play yet. It made me very sad.

In all, though, it was a great trip. Being back in a plains state made me feel so much at home. The weather was great, too. It felt like being home in South Dakota in the summer. I enjoy living in Boston and don't seem to have any trouble with the closeness of the city. But I'll always be a Midwestern girl at heart, with a special love for the wide open spaces and simple living. I mean, how can you not love a sky this big?


-Kim

the Great Flood of 2010

I don't care if it's not official yet--I'm declaring this one Great anyway. It's been raining for three days, and while I haven't yet heard any official totals, what can be seen with the naked eye is pretty darn impressive. Entire branches of the T system were unable to run, and buses were trying to shuttle people in to work. It's amazing that in a culture so accepting of snow days we can't call a "flood day" when things are so bad. The trains have just as much trouble in current conditions as in heavy snow, and yet everyone is expected to slog through and get to work. About half of my photo archives class was absent today because they either couldn't make it into town or they had to stay home to deal with flooded basements.

I didn't leave campus at all yesterday, so I missed some of the excitement, but the news this morning was ridiculous. The above ground stops of the Green Line weren't running for several hours, and the Fenway T stop was completely shut down. They even put up a dam of sandbags to keep the muddy river creek (which crested at 15' above it's usual level) from sending water down into the subway tunnels. Below is a photograph of the barricade from the MBTA Flickr account.


This next picture (also courtesy the MBTA) is of a section of track on the Green Line between Chestnut Hill and Newton Centre that completely lost its support when a sinkhole opened underneath it. Read the full details here.


This next one I took myself when Christina and I wandered over to the park after class. Our usual route to the Longwood T stop is completely underwater. The trains are running again now, as the train in the back of the photo shows, but you have to take a much longer route to get to the station. Going on this photo expedition, I learned my rain boots are no longer perfectly waterproof. Sad day. Oh, and apparently the Charles River is overflowing its banks as well.


And the worst part? Metro Boston got off easy compared to a lot of other towns in the area. Allan Parish was right, a little rain never hurt anybody "but a lot can kill you." Let's pray the rain really does stop tomorrow so we can start putting things back together.

-Kim

And just for the sake of irony, I have one more thing to share. As I was writing this my iTunes was on shuffle, and several water related songs came up. But the one that really made me laugh was "Flood" by Jars of Clay. In case you don't know the words, here they are. Now you can all share in the irony.

"Flood"

Rain, rain on my face
It hasn't stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud

Chorus:
But if I can't swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up - when I'm falling
Lift me up - I'm weak and I'm dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - Keep me from drowning again

Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, I'm losing control
Dark sky all around
I can't feel my feet touching the ground

[Chorus]

Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me

[Chorus]

Lift me up - when I'm falling
Lift me up - I'm weak and I'm dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - Keep me from drowning again

parade fail

March 14 is Pi Day. This year, it was also the date of the annual South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. Unfortunately, this weekend a Nor'easter blew through New England. The rain was pouring down all day, and the wind made it come horizontally. And yet the parade went on. Here's a picture from the boston.com website of what the conditions were like:


After much deliberation, my friends and I decided that rather than get soaked and risk getting sick at possibly the most inopportune time of the semester, we would stay in and watch it on TV. However, after much painstaking research and phone calls to both the Mayor's hotline (the guy who answered the phone was rather rude when he told me they had nothing to do with the parade, in spite of the fact that boston.com advertised that we could phone the hotline for news of the parade) and the official parade phone number, we learned that the only station that would be broadcasting the parade was New England Cable News (NECN), which is not included in the Simmons dorm cable package.

With that sad discovery, we decided to make the day as Irish as we could to make up for it. After much deliberation and searching through the available movies on Netflix instant download for any related to or filmed in Ireland, we decided on one that Sara owns, "The Secret of Roan Inish." It was a very fun movie full of adorable accents and beautiful music. Here we are getting ready to enjoy the show, still decked out in our very green finery:


I just hope that there will still be some Irish fun to be had on the holiday itself and that Boston did not expend all its fervor on one dreary, blustery parade day.

-Kim

I dream of teeth

On Wednesday night I dreamed I went to see my dentist and she wasn't there. Many strange events and circumstances had transpired to make me late, and when I arrived her area was empty. I was very sad, because this meant that I was never going to have my stitches removed and would have a mass of wet string in my mouth for the rest of my life. (Is it weird that I'm now dreaming about going to the dentist? Let's hope it was just because I really wanted my stitches out!)

Thankfully, this did not happen when I went in on Friday. I was a few minutes late thanks to the mass transit system being what it is, but it wasn't a problem. However, once Fatema had called me from the waiting room and brought me back to her chair she discovered that Dr. Chueng was nowhere to be found. Dr. Chueng is the one who has been taking the measurements in my mouth from the start, so we couldn't possibly take them without her.

Fatema called and left her a message and set about completing the portion of the appointment that she could do on her own--taking photographs of my progress and removing the stitches. She applied a topical numbing agent, so I couldn't feel much while she was cutting the thread and pulling it out, but I could see the pieces of thread as they came out, and it's amazing how long some of them were.

By the time we had finished that, Dr. Chueng had appeared and we were able to take the measurements. Afterward Fatema gave me a fancy new interdental brush to keep the spaces between my teeth clean. I won't be allowed to floss for many more weeks as the bone and soft tissue continue to grow, but the plaque still needs to be kept out. The same company also makes extra-soft toothbrushes which are better for my extra sensitive tissue post-surgery. Sadly, the only store in all of Massachusetts that sells them is about two hours away by car. Who would have thought I would end up buying my toothbrushes online? Still, it's a small price to pay for a healthy mouth. That's what I have to keep telling myself when I get frustrated by the pain and inconvenience of oral surgery. The pain is temporary, but the benefits are long-lasting. I may not be able to bite into an apple right now, but I'll be glad when I am an old woman and able to do so with my own teeth.

-Kim

whims, bangs and flops

Hello world! I know it's been a while, but I really am still here.

Now what was it I wanted to tell you all about? Oh yeah! So, I did a rather brave thing not too long ago. I decided that my bangs were getting too long, but since I'm trying to grow the rest of my hair out right now it clearly made no sense to go out and pay a professional stylist. So as I was waiting for the free skate of the Olympic women's figure skating competition, I sat down on the floor in front of my full length mirror with a trash can between my knees to catch the mess and cut my own bangs. I think I did pretty darn well, considering it was my first attempt. It was easier because the bangs were already a good shape, so I just tried to cut the same amount off all the way across to keep them even. Possibly they ended up a bit shorter than intended, but that just means I can wait even longer before attempting it again. So what do you think?


Oh yeah, and I just spent several days in Texas visiting Dianna. It was a blast and will be highlighted in a separate post soon, along with pictures. Right now I'm playing catch-up with my schoolwork because of spending most of my spring break in sunny Texas, so that comes first. Also, I'm going to the dentist today to get my stitches out: yay! I'm really tired of having this mass of wet string in my mouth.

-Kim

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - RGM version

I am absolutely in awe. Go. Watch. It.

Surgery 2

I have eaten about 10 gallons of ice cream in the last week. At least, that's what it seems like. Last Friday I had the second surgery of this long process to reinforce my mouth. Last fall was the lower right quadrant, and this time we did the lower left.

The surgery went as planned--4 hours in the dentist chair having my gums cut open and stitched back together. I won't bother you with the grisly details this time (you can check out the post from last time for that). Now that the periodontal department is on the 12th floor, the surgical room has a much better view. The chair was parallel to the window rather than facing it, but as I was looking toward the ceiling for the whole four hours, it hardly matters. There were fewer students watching the procedure this time, but the (rather good-looking) head resident did pop in toward the end when Dr. Griffin was stitching me up.

I got to listen to my iPod this time, which was a lovely distraction. The playlist started out with Jeremy Camp, the artist I always go to when what I really want is for someone to hold my hand.

The incision was larger this time, reaching past the center of the mouth to expose the bone added last time so the new graft could join it properly. Once he had exposed the graft he commented on how amazed he was at the three dimensional growth. Fatema took a picture of the comparison between the exposed root of the new site and the new, thicker bone of the previous site. It was a perfect before and after picture and could even end up in a published article someday. That would be pretty awesome.

Over the weekend my diet consisted almost entirely of ice cream, and I slept most of the day in a nest of cushions I built to keep my head elevated. Apparently it did the trick, because when I went for my one week check-up yesterday Fatema was amazed at how quickly my healing was progressing. The swelling is going down much more quickly than before, and the pain is fading as well. When the pain does flare up, usually just when it's time that I can take more pain meds, it doesn't stretch across the whole site, but centers itself around the pointed eye tooth, right in the corner. I realize that my mouth is actually round and doesn't have a corner, but mentally that's what it feels like.

I can eat any soft foods now, but ice cream is still a large part of my menu, since it requires little to no chewing and can therefore be eaten more quickly than anything more substantial or with actual nutrients. Eating is a difficult task now--it requires both hands and careful attention as I must choose only soft foods and cut everything into pieces rather than bite directly in. It takes longer than it should, and I can't do anything else. For instance, I had to stop twice while writing this post to eat some Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie ice cream. Oral surgery would be a great diet, except that it leaves me feeling hungry all the time, and the easiest things to eat are terribly unhealthy.

Still, it's good to know I'm making such good progress and will be back to myself again soon. And more importantly, it's good to know the first procedure was so successful, and that this whole painful process really is worthwhile.

-Kim

Harry Potter!

Last week Adrienne and I made the best possible use of having President's Day off from classes. We spent the afternoon at the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Boston Museum of Science. This is a touring exhibition that has been in town for several months and will be leaving after this coming weekend. The exhibit includes many costumes and props actually used in the filming of the Harry Potter movies and is a Potter nerd's dream come true.

The main hallway of the museum was all decked out for the occasion. Sadly, no photography was allowed inside the exhibit, but I'll do my best to paint a picture with my words and bring you into the experience!

First of all, there was a lot of waiting. In order to keep the crowd size under control, admission was timed, and a new group was let in every five minutes. Before our group could enter, three children were sorted. I should have volunteered, but I wasn't sure if they would take someone over four feet tall.

Once inside the doors, we watched a video montage and, while we were distracted, a wall rose behind us to reveal the Hogwarts Express, steam rising from it, announcing our arrival at Hogwarts. We walked past a wall of portraits, through the doorway to Gryffindor tower with the Fat Lady singing and into the main exhibit hall.

First were costumes and props belonging to Hermione, Neville and Ginny, and in a corner by themselves, Harry and Ron. I was most impressed by seeing everyone's wands. They're all so detailed, and even Neville's has a fancy twist in the handle. (I thought very hard about buying a replica of Hermione's beautiful wand, but they were ridiculously expensive.) Harry and Ron's fancy beds were there as well. After the kids was a row of professors and their associated props, prominently featuring the various Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Snap's robes were there, as well as Lupin's (along with the mirrored boggart cabinet), Lockhart's finery and Umbridge's pink nightmare. Trelawney was sadly absent, but in Professor Sprout's corner was a row of mandrakes that visitors were encouraged to pull up out of their pots to a chorus of squealing.

Following the academic area was a quidditch pitch, with uniforms from the World Cup, Harry's Firebolt and the chest of quidditch balls. Also, there was another interactive exhibit where we could play quidditch! Well, sort of. We got to throw quaffles through hoops as if we were chasers in a game, and I got mine through the farthest hoop on the first try!

Next was Hagrid's hut, with various magical creatures surrounding it, including Buckbeak the Hippogrif, who I have always wanted to ride and was sorely tempted to touch. The last thing we were allowed to touch was Hagrid's chair. The thing is absolutely enormous! I could curl up in it quite comfortably and take a nap. It even puts to shame the armchairs in the basement of Mears Library back at USF, and that's saying something!

After the magical creatures of the Dark Forest was a display of evil characters. I hadn't realized before that the dementors have no legs but only a disturbingly long spine that becomes a creep-tastic tail. There was fog in the air, and a bit of wind making Voldemort and his Death Eaters' robes flutter menacingly.

From there we passed through a hall full of Umbridge's notices into the Great Hall itself. The hall was decorated for the Yule Ball, and everyone's party attire was on display. Hermione's dress is actually prettier in person (I think Adrienne should get one just like it!), and Ron's really isn't so bad. Up close I could tell it was actually very well made, and the lace seemed less offensive. Dumbledore and McGonnogal's robes and wands were there, as well as Sirius' nicer clothes from Order of the Pheonix and Fawkes, who is larger than I had originally thought.

And of course, the last place we were sent was the gift shop, full of all things Harry Potter. In the end, I bought myself a plastic time-turner (the nice gold one was far too expensive), and Adrienne got a Dumbledore's Army t-shirt. And on the way out we took pictures by the only items we could--a poster advertising the exhibit and the chess piece Ron sat on in the Sorcerer's Stone, which has been on display in the museum lobby for several months.


Look, I finally got my Hogwart's letter! I'm ditching library school to go learn magic!


And Adrienne is still too giddy to do anything but grin!

I feel that this summary is sorely lacking, and I wish I could just go back and take you all with me to experience it for yourselves. If the exhibit travels anywhere near you, definitely go check it out!

-Kim

The Suburb Beyond the Stars

The Suburb Beyond the Stars (due for publication June 2010) by M.T. Anderson is the sequel to The Game of Sunken Places. I never read the first book, and it's a credit to Anderson that I was still able to enjoy the story without having read the first book. Granted, I would probably have enjoyed it even more with the previous story as background, but this really is a new adventure, and the recurring characters are given enough of an introduction for things to make sense without completely boring those who already know what's going on.

The story begins in Boston, with Brian being chased through the T system by otherworldly beings on his way home from a cello lesson. That opening is full of win and extra nerdy bonus points. Brian and his friend Gregory found themselves in the middle of a conflict between two groups of powerful beings, the Thusser and the Norumbegans, in the previous book. With the Game finished, the Thusser should have left them alone, but the attack on Brian is just the beginning. Gregory's cousin Prudence, who was also involved in the Game, has disappeared, and time itself is being bent in the new development that sprang up around her house in the woods, directly over the caverns where the Norumbegans once lived and the Game took place. Brian and Gregory (and an ax-wielding robotic troll) have to find Prudence and save the world from the Thusser!

This story was an exciting ride and a joy to read. The friendship dynamic between Gregory, the cool and funny one, and Brian, the smart one, is believable and entertaining, and I found myself really caring about them. I may have to go back and read the first book now to build up my knowledge base on the Norumbegan/Thusser conflict to prepare myself for the next installment of this fascinating story. That's right folks--it's still not over! And from the way this one ends, the next chapter portends to be even more fantastic, in every sense of the word!

The Wide-Awake Princess

Sometimes a "new" twist on an old fairy tale can feel forced or corny. Thankfully, that isn't the case with E. D. Baker's The Wide-Awake Princess, due for release May 2010.

Baker (who apparently also wrote the book Disney's newest movie "The Princess and the Frog" is based on) invites us to a land where every royal personage is blessed with magical gifts at birth in order to be talented, graceful, and most importantly, beautiful. Everyone, that is, except Princess Annie, the younger sister of Gwendolin, the most beautiful princess in all the land. Gwennie was cursed to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and sleep for 100 years, and in order to keep any curses from falling on Annie, she was given the gift of being untouched by magic, good or bad. So when the fateful day arrives and the whole castle falls asleep, Annie is the only one who can fetch Gwennie's true love to bring their kingdom back to life.

But finding a true love is easier said than done! Annie, joined by castle guard Liam travels through all the surrounding kingdoms, meeting one prince after another and sliding from one classic fairytale to the next--from gingerbread houses to ogres and transmogrified royalty--with quick wits learned from growing up without magic. With all the princes around, one of them has got to be Gwennie's true love, right?

This story is wildly entertaining, if at times a bit predictable. Even if the main plot follows the usual happy ending curve, the smaller details are still surprising and full of whimsy. And besides, we wouldn't want an unhappy ending for our heroine, who deserves a true love far more than her overly-magicked sister. My one real objection is that the final action sequence is not done well. It felt incomplete and needed to be either expanded and given more emphasis or left out entirely so as not to distract from the happy ending. And if I were to critique the author as a member or my writing group, I might comment that at times the characters seem to spend too much time explaining things to each other in rather contrived conversations. But with only a few awkward pages in a book that is otherwise truly magical, I'll forgive Baker and offer my compliments for a story well told.

de-cluttering

We've talked about clearing some of the "junk" out of my room, but for the sake of my soul and my sanity I've committed to more than that. I'm also cutting those things that are really just in the way out of my schedule so that I can more fully enjoy those activities that are actually necessary and life giving.

I've always had trouble with the word "no." I don't like to disappoint people, so I generally try to do whatever is asked of me. Part of that is a general sense of generosity, which is a great trait to have when going into a service profession like library/archives work. But another side is the more insidious need to live up to the expectations of those around me. But since the only expectations I should be worrying about are God's, I've learned in the last several years to not worry so much about ruffling a few feathers by not jumping on board every pet project a friend or classmate or even fellow church member wants help with. Really, I already have enough of my own.

This past week I left my new writing group. Don't panic--I know that seems out of character for me, but it will all make sense soon. I am still connected with my first group back home through email and face-to-face meetings whenever I'm in the state of south Dakota, so no worries about me getting disconnected from the craft. This past fall I had also joined a writing group at Park Street Church, in the hope that a local group might hold me more accountable for producing work and actively seeking publication. But this group never felt quite right. We don't all write in the same genre or for the same age level, and there is a definite disparity in the level of talent between several of the members. It also felt very rigid. We met twice a month and at each meeting discussed a new piece of writing. That meant that in addition to my grad school coursework and my own creative writing I was supposed to read and thoughtfully comment on up to 15K words every two weeks. I couldn't always keep up, and felt incredibly guilty when I wasn't prepared for a meeting or missed because of my surgery. So I gave them my apologies and cut myself loose to focus on grad school.

All this to say that I do appreciate what I did receive from the group. It was good to experience a different group dynamic and be exposed to some other styles of writing. And they gave me a true glimpse of how an agent or editor who has never heard of me may react when presented with only the first few chapters of my novel and not the whole story. They were decidedly unimpressed. I met with my home group over Christmas break and talked over their response, brainstorming ways to make the rather slow beginning move along faster and ways to introduce tension. I trust my home group enough to move forward with trying a new beginning, and now that I'm not trying to be creative on someone else's rigid schedule, the ideas are flowing a lot more smoothly. Now that I've gotten rid of the guilt, I can enjoy the truly life-giving experience of creating new worlds with my words.

-Kim

Green Witch

Alice Hoffman's Green Witch, with a release date of March 2010, feels as though it were written just for me. It actually follows another book, Green Angel, but is also approachable on its own.

Green is a teenage girl who has suffered greatly. Her family all died the day the city across the river was attacked and engulfed in flames while Green, left behind that day, watches. Time has passed, and the survivors in Green's village have tried to rebuild their lives. Green's garden grows like magic as she and the land heal. To cope, Green has begun writing down the stories of everyone in the village, making her own paper and ink to use, and adding ingredients fitting the story to be written--cinnamon for the baker's story, grass for the man who made windmills to make the earth green, the last page of a printed book for the schoolteacher.

But certain stories are more important to gather. There is talk of witches in the land--women who stood too long in the shower of ash from the city who now have the power to discern truth and grant a heart's desire. Green begins a journey to find each of these women to write down their stories and search for hope. She is also searching for Diamond, a boy she fell in love with after the tragedy, who left her to search for his own family. Can hope and love prevail as Green learns that the Horde, who destroyed the city have been capturing her neighbors and friends and plan to attack again?

I loved every bittersweet page of this book. Not just because Green is a writer like me, or because I love the description of how she makes her paper. Beyond such details this is a story about finding hope when all seems lost and trusting in love again after pain. Although it is clearly inspired by 9/11, the point isn't hammered into the reader, and we are allowed to make the association on our own, or choose a different pain instead. Loss is universal, but as Green reminds us, so is redemption, hope and love.

This book is labeled for ages 12 and up, and I think adults will connect with it as well. Even though I could see much of the ending coming, there were still a few surprises, and I was never frustrated with the pace. I heartily recommend this book, though I advise that you read it in a quiet place where you can soak it in completely without distraction.

Conviction

On the very same day that I finally published a post about ALA Midwinter, reveling in the amount of free stuff I had been able to acquire, Dianna wrote this. In it she describes her realization that she had far too much "stuff" cluttering both her apartment and her life, distracting her from what was truly important. In fact, she describes it as smothering her.

Wow.

That one hit me right in the gut. How many books did I pick up at ALA? 71. How many of them do I actually intend to read? I don't know, but it certainly won't be all 71. Then why did I take them? Why did I lug a bag of books on each shoulder across the city of Boston each day of the conference even though I didn't feel well?

Greed. I wanted to have more books, more stories to read and keep. And because they were offered to me for free, I didn't give it a second thought at the time, figuring that there was no harm in picking up a few books I was only marginally interested in since it wasn't going to cost me anything.

But there is always a cost. There was the cost of the effort it took to bring them all home on public transportation. There was the time spent sorting them into piles and finding the last open space in my room where I could store them without tripping over the piles. And now there's the guilt of knowing that I will never read them all, at least not before I have to move.

I have always been a pack rat. You can call it collecting or archiving to make it sound better, but the truth of the matter is that I have trouble letting things go, even after they have served their purpose. Because I like to have them. Even books. I would rather buy books than borrow them from a library, because then I can keep the books and return to them again whenever I like. Now, that in itself is not all bad. A person should always have a favorite book close at hand like an old friend. But what about the books that were only fairly good. Why do I need to keep them? Or the ones that are amazingly good, but I know I'll never read again? Why am I keeping Moby Dick? Because someday I might want it, and then I would regret letting it go. At church recently our pastor defined greed as perverted love, and he's right. Love of stories and books is a wonderful thing, but not when taken to this extreme.

Soon I will be moving on and moving out, and much of what I've collected cannot come with me. So it's time to take Dianna's convicting words to heart and clear some of the smothering stuff out of my life. Thankfully, I've already devised a plan. I am still going to read as many of the books as possible, but only the good ones. If I'm not excited by the end of the second chapter, they go immediately. Some won't even get that far. I have reevaluated the stacks of free books and set aside many I know I won't miss and added them to the North Hall lending library. Of those that I actually read, many others may also end up in the cabinet in the dorm lounge, ready to be enjoyed by others. Some truly excellent books will be set aside to be given thoughtfully to those of my friends who I know will enjoy them. So far one has even joined my personal collection, though I mean to keep that category small and exclusive.

In fact, this is to be my pattern in reading from now on. As much as possible I will find books I want to read at the library instead of the bookstore. I imagine this will be good for my bank account as well! If I do buy a book, I will only do so if I am ready right then to read it, not just with a vague inclination that someday I might. And when I have finished, I will consider deeply whether I really intend to read it ever again of it would be better off being enjoyed by someone else. Stories are meant to be shared, after all, not kept. Then a healthy love of story can be spread.

-Kim

Groundhog Day

Oh the irony.

Yesterday I started reading a new book from my ALA freebie pile, a YA fantasy about Sleeping Beauty's sister, a girl who cannot be affected by magic.

Today I awoke at 7:40 in a panic because I was supposed to be at the library at 7:15 for my shift.

I hope I don't have to start repeating this day over again until I get it right...

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod

I told myself I was only going to spend my time reviewing books I actually enjoyed, but the cover art on this one was too good not to share. I mean, just look at that contrast shadow and the adorable vampiric smiley face! It's pretty much awesome. Unfortunately, that's where the excellence ends.

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod is a series that has apparently been going for a while now, as this is the fourth book in the series (with a release date of 2-9-10). If you're already a fan I have no doubt you'll like this one as well, but it's a hard sell to newcomers. The main character is a moody teenage vampire, Vlad, who is apparently less romantically appealing than Edward Cullen but with the added bonus of being much less annoying. Vlad is also half-human and in the subject of a vampiric prophecy. I would like to thank author Heather Brewer for writing a book about a teenage vampire that actually has a plot. And bloodsucking. Vampires who don't drink blood are no fun. Vlad avoids killing people by selecting drudges, or servants, to feed off, in deference to his human side. Other vamps just kill people, which has led to a society of slayers. The inclusion of slayers also earns Brewer bonus points, but she promptly looses them for naming the most prominent slayer Joss. I would have thought of Buffy at the mention of slayers anyway, but making her creator the namsake for your own slayer is not cool.

I only read the first several chapters, a smattering of pages in the middle, and then the last three chapters. And yet I had no trouble following the story (aside from references to events from the previous books in the series), which makes me wonder what all the rest of those pages were there for. Also, Brewer should perhaps be reminded that titling the final chapter of a book "An Unexpected Ending" pretty much ruins any sense of surprise she was hoping to achieve, since the twist was hinted at in only the previous chapter.

In short, I have read worse books about vampires, and this series certainly has more potential for actual plot development and is therefore less annoying than Twilight. But that's really not saying much.

Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies

How could a person see this book and not want to read it? Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies (due out May 2010) is a hilarious middle-grade sci-fi adventure in which twins Kevin and Joules Rockman need to save Camp Whatsitooya from sugar crazed, telepathic, man-eating rabbits from outer space.

This book literally had me laughing on every page. Occasionally the narrator laughed with me.

The story is presented in a variety of formats, moving seamlessly from traditional text to illustrated comic book style sequences, to charts of helpful information, to SPAM advertisements. My personal favorite was Kevin's Chart of Famous Last Words, compiled from his and his sister's own life experience and many many episodes of the Late, Late, Late Creepy Show for Insomniacs.

And just what does have the power to repel the Fluffs and save both Camp Whatsitooya and the world? Glitter? Junior High Musical Seven? The Plumbing Channel? SPAM? You'll have to pick this one up and find out! You won't regret it.

Zebrafish

Zebrafish, by Peter Reynolds, was the first of my ALA freebies that I sat down to read. My primary interest in picking up the title was that included in my registration materials was a coupon for a prize pack of promotional materials for the book. Once I read the blurb on the back cover, I knew I had to read it right away.

Zebrafish is about Vita, a self-declared indie girl who lives with her cancer researcher brother and wants to start a band. None of her friends have any musical talent, but with the help of a little computer animation, everyone can be in the band, named Zebrafish after the clear-skinned fish that help researchers study cancer. And what do bands do but put on concerts? In this case, a computer-animated, one song benefit concert. But instead of saving the pandas like band member Tanya wants, Vita decides to help something a little closer to home--the local hospital where her brother works and Tanya goes for chemo treatments.

The book is a fast read (it took me less than half an hour), with only 19 short chapters written in graphic novel style. The illustrations are great, and definitely suitable for middle-grade readers. And I can't think of a single middle schooler who wouldn't think a book about kids starting a band and making a difference was totally awesome.

Where this story finds its heart is in the deepening friendships between the band members and their decision to do something to help a friend in need. And the best part? This heartwarming conclusion encourages kids to think about ways in which they can make a difference. The prize pack was full of items promoting generationcures, a program based at Boston Children's Hospital.

This book is set for a release date of May 2010. I highly suggest keeping an eye out for it if you are or know anyone who enjoys entertaining and heartwarming middle-grade books.

the hills are alive

For as detail-oriented and nit-picky I can be about the little things in life, I have a pretty lax approach to handling the big things. It's not that I'm unconcerned about my future, it's just that I take seriously God's promise to work together all things for the good of those who serve him. The larger decisions in life I find easier to let go of and wait for God's leading because they're already out of my hands and too big for me to fully comprehend.

The first prime example of this is my decision to come to USF. I always knew I wanted to go there, probably because my cousins had loved their time at the school. But there was no way we could ever afford it unless I got the very top scholarship the school offered. I'll admit to being a little worried about that one for a little while, but I knew I didn't want to go anywhere else, so I trusted that it would work out. And it did. God cleared the way for me to spend four amazing years being nurtured and challenged by friends and professors and an amazing Christian community.

The summer I first worked for the Sioux Falls Parks and Rec department I quit my job at Hy-Vee before I knew what I would do instead and made plans to live in Sioux Falls for the summer. All I knew was that I didn't want to work another summer at the salad bar, away from the home I was making in Sioux Falls. I turned in an application at Parks and Rec so late in the spring that I shouldn't have had a chance, but another girl left a position at Tuthill, and they needed a new person at the last minute (I got the call just as I was finishing spring finals), but their required background check took exactly as much time as I needed for my trip to the Boundary Waters and my brother's wedding. I couldn't have planned it more perfectly if I had tried. But God planned that one. He gave me the gift of spending one last summer with my grandma, living in her house and being closer to her than ever before. I am so grateful for that.

And then there was Boston. I had never heard of Simmons College, and possibly never would have, before Dianna suggested we go to Boston over fall break our senior year. She had people and a school to visit and wanted me to come along. So I did a little searching and found a school in Boston with a library science program that I could visit, to legitimize missing the last day of class before break. Enter Simmons College and a school visit that would change my life and draw me back to Boston for my graduate studies.

This is how I live my life: I see things that look fun and try for them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I get something better instead. I've been turned down for jobs at both Harvard and the JFK library since coming to Boston. Instead, I spent an awesome summer as a tour guide at Park Street Church and look forward to doing the same after graduation this May. I think that job has done a far better job of preparing me for what's coming next.

And what is coming next? In case there's anyone left who hasn't already heard, I'm going to Salzburg, Austria in the fall for a three month library internship at the Salzburg Global Seminar. Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of it--I hadn't either before the internship announcement found its way into my inbox. I initially applied on a whim, figuring that it wouldn't go very far but I may as well take a shot at such a great opportunity. After weeks of hearing nothing, I got an email just days before Christmas from the director, asking if I would be able to do a phone interview in January. Well, that got me pretty excited, and I started actually telling people about the internship possibility, since it suddenly seemed like a real possibility. The more I talked about it, the more excited I got, and I had to remind myself I hadn't actually gotten accepted yet.

My first full day back in Boston I spoke with the director, Cheryl. Apparently the seminar hasn't been able to keep a full time librarian for a few years now and there is quite a bit of work to be done. The actual collection is only about 10K volumes, most of them rather old, but Cheryl wants the library interns to look into ways for the library to expand online services to visiting scholars. She figured that recent library school graduates would be the best to fill this role, since we've just had two years of reading and talking about the most current library science topics and should be better prepared to help bring the little old library forward into the digital era. It's a little overwhelming to think that I will be the sole librarian working on this in September, but it's a challenge I look forward to. I wouldn't want a job that was too easy, even in such a place as Salzburg.

Another thing that makes the challenges easier to face is the library itself. I have seen one picture so far, and it is beautiful. The Salzburg Global Seminar is housed in the Schloss Leopoldskron, Max Reinhardt's old home, the 18th century "castle" of Sound of Music fame. The outdoor scenes of the movie were actually filmed on the lake, though not on the actual property, due to conflicts in scheduling between filming and seminar sessions. But if you think about the Captain's estate in the movie, that's pretty much where I'll be working. And where I'll be living. The internship is unpaid, so they provide room and board, as well as paying for my travel to and from Salzburg. I will have a room (with private bath) in the Schloss, and will take my meals with the seminar interns and visiting scholars. And apparently I'll also have the use of Max Reinhardt's office. And the great music hall, where Mozart is said to have performed. Could someone please pinch me?

There are, of course, a few more hurdles, including applying for a three month work visa. But there's plenty of time to get the details smoothed over. And learn a bit of German so I'm not completely lost when I leave the seminar for tourist-y fun. Plus finish library school and learn as much as possible about what I'll be doing at the Schloss.

But I trust that will all come together.

-Kim