Council Bluffs

Here's a photo of me and Teen Services maven Anna Hartman standing in front of a golden mummy. Ever see that movie "Bucket of Blood?" It's about a sculptor who finds success by murdering people and covering their bodies with a thin layer of plaster. It made a big impression on me when I was ten years old. Anyway, as I was delivering my talk in Council Bluffs a few weeks ago, the golden mummy stood silently at my back the entire time, and I kept thinking about that movie, and how the thing at my back might be a deceased librarian preserved by a shell of gold leaf. If you ever visit the teen area at the Council Bluffs Public Library, check it out!

Wadsworth Fairy Rings

Wadsworth, Ohio is a lovely little town just west of Akron, Ohio (home of The Pretenders, one of the great pop-punk bands of the 1980s). I spent one day in Wadsworth enjoying the way the chunky little Midwestern houses all seemed to be within walking distance of a wooded area or a cornfield. Bonus: I saw some spectacular fairy rings* on several of the well-groomed lawns. The Wadsworth Public Library is much nicer than you would expect in a small semi-rural community, with lots of books, computers, and a user-friendly “loft” for teen readers. I gave a loosely-formatted and wide-ranging presentation to a small but avid group of readers, and left all too soon. Wadsworth is one of those places you visit and think about living there. What's the word? Oh yeah: Bucolic. Very bucolic. Bucolicious, one might say. What I brought back with me, aside from thoughts of impulsive relocation, was leads on some great music from librarian Sean Rapaki, a connoisseur of obscure bands from the 60s and 70s, most notably one Roky Erickson of whom, I am embarrassed to admit, I had never heard. Thanks, Sean! *Don’t know what a fairy ring is? It's a mushroom thing. Check out these two spectacular fairy ring images I pulled off the web: Yeah, I know. I'm a fungus nerd. But fairy rings are really cool, and once you spot one, you'll see them all over the place.