My friend Anna sent me a link yesterday to an article about folk music having become the sound of lesbian culture. I have noticed this phenomenon, but I had never really thought about it specifically. You can read the full article yourself, but it will require a free registration with the New York Times.
“We’re seeing the coming together of a way of life and a form of expression that’s kind of primary,” says Lisa Merrill, a professor of performance history at Hofstra University. “This doesn’t happen often.”
A county in Washington State wants to dissolve the entire county library system, according to this New York Times article. So far, petitioners have managed to collect enough signatures that it might actually make it onto the ballot. Aparently some folks are upset that they pay an average of $38 per year in property taxes to keep the rural libraries up and running. <sarcasm>Gee, that sure is a big chunk to be taking out of some family’s budget.</sarcasm> Seriously, folks, don’t you think that is a small price to pay to have access to free books and computers?
“I home-school my kids, and our four library cards are maxed out at 40 books at all times,” said Linda Arrell, who lives off the electric power grid with her family north of here. “They say everybody is on the Internet, so we don’t need a library. Well, some of us don’t have credit cards, and some of us don’t have power.”
Oh, and that bit about the head librarian’s salary being too high? Let’s put this in perspective here, folks. Ms. Robinson is responsible for nine library branches, which includes all of the staff and budget issues that any large organization spanning a geographic area that size would have. If she were in the corporate world, she would be making three times as much.
