You Can Go Your Own Way

I believe that some problems in our society may be due to not enough time carved out for, or appreciation for having creative outlets. Also, the desire to be precise over all else. Precision is important, of course, but I see an abundance of online comments and threads about how to play the guitar or bass exactly like so and so. When I was learning guitar and bass as a teenager, there was tablature notation, but even that wasn't 100% precise. There are so many Youtube videos with note-for-note duplication and or attempts to do so, and unfortunately there are plenty of viewers who criticize others for not being 100% on the mark. To a "T" my guitar and bass player heroes would recommend for players to take the best of what they had heard, but in the end carve out a unique identity.

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Reflections on Libraries

It has been brewing in my head to write down some reflections of library memories. What aspects of various libraries have stayed in my mind over the past forty years, and some aspects that perhaps led me to become what I am today, an academic librarian.🎓🖳📚 I tend to focus on libraries as place and materials, but that is not intended to be a slight of any librarians who may have helped me in the past. Mid to late 1970's Halstead Kansas Public Library - As with many children, dinosaurs were a favorite of mine. I recall this library having a good collection of children's books on dinosaurs, and my family and I going to a slide presentation on fossils by an area high school teacher (very cool!). I remember stating in first grade that I wanted to be a paleontologist when I grew up, and repeatedly asking my dad all kinds of questions of the winners of hypothetical dinosaur fights. My dad was patient but even he grew tired of my questions (thanks and sorry, Dad!). Newton Kan...

Review: Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes My rating: 5 of 5 stars A very immersive and thought-provoking story Why did I give this book 5 stars? What can I write about it? Well, I floated between 4 and 5 stars. What made me tip the scale was my immediate feeling that I was an observer in the story, not solely a reader. I found the transformation of the protagonist, Charlie Gordon - as illustrated by his writing in his progress reports - to be an especially effective narrative device. The story was so organic and straight-forward, that I felt transported to another time and place. Perhaps that result was also due to my empathy with the protagonist Charlie Gordon and my identification with the academic environment, where most of the narrative took place. Some members of my extended family are mentally challenged. I couldn't help but think of them when I read about Charlie. Also, my dad worked with mentally challenged young adults at a clinic when he was...

Star Wars Memories 2017

I was introduced to Star Wars a little under forty years ago. In the summer or 1977 my dad, mom, brother and I saw "Star Wars" at a movie theater in Wichita Kansas. I was seven years young.:-) At the time there were only a handful of action figures at the close by general store, which with the current plethora of all things Star Wars, is hard to believe. Star Wars was fun and exciting, but "The Empire Strikes Back" really floored me. My family saw it at a very new movie theater in the Temple Texas Mall, the screen was low and wrapped around, which added to the more high tech feel of the movie to me. Episode 5 was/is almost perfect in every way. I recall some family debates of what Darth Vader's intentions were for telling Luke Skywalker that he was his father. My dad was convinced that Darth was lying, but I thought given the emotional or Forceful connection shown between father and son at the end of the movie, there must have been some truth to the matter. Thr...

Random musings of a measured overachiever

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