Library 38: The Pierson Library (Shelburne)
It's a wizard not a shooter.
Library 38! The Pierson Library in Shelburne was the 38th stop on my quest to read, write, and knit as many of Vermont’s public libraries as I can during my sabbatical.
I read: “Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody” by Michael Rex
I wrote: a body paragraph of a research paper
I knit: a cinque terre shawl by the Plucky Knitter
Special thing #1: Hen Solo and I got to spend some time with Jae on their birthday (Happy Birthday, Jae!). Jae read us “Goodnight Goon” in the children’s section, and then knit with us for a bit by the fireplace. Dr. Jae (who is left-handed) learned to knit from their grandmother (who is right-handed). So Jae is a left-handed continental knitter who holds the working yarn in their right hand and moves stitches from the right to left needle. This is fun to watch.
Special thing #2: After Jae left, I was knitting with a stranger in the community room. It was quiet. They were typing. I was knitting. Suddenly a loud voice in this silent space RANG OUT and scared the %£%# out both of us. I jumped and my heart started racing.
The typing stranger and I looked at each other and laughed, and then confessed that we’d both thought we were about to die. We were comforted that we were not the only person in the room to react that way, and then also felt discomforted in our reality. It felt like the first time I huddled in a dark corner with a group of children in a science lab when a lockdown drill happened during a school observation visit. I felt bonded to those around me, and also terrified about how normal it seemed to the students to be silently modeling best practices for avoiding the attention of an active shooter.
As it turned out, the loud voice belonged to armed-only-with-spirit Jasper (aka Ydrigal the Wise), who was announcing a Wizard Reading for Tolkien day. I moved from the fireplace room into the children’s space so as to not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That was a good decision. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to a wizard in a crocheted hat read Chapter 1 of The Hobbit out loud in a giant room of children’s books. One of the librarians said: “you picked a good day.” I agree.
I teased my wife in post 36 about not reading to the end of my posts because they are too long. I had to tell her to read to the end to see my note (which she did). I need to confess that she has read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy 17 times, and I have not read any of these books. She is a Tolkien quiz wiz; she claims LOTR geek entitlement; LOTR is a part of her identity; it is her orientation towards the world. It was hard to tell her early in our relationship that I don’t enjoy reading fantasy. As of today, thanks to Ydrigal the wise, I have read The Hobbit Chapter One.
Now I’m the only one in the relationship who hasn’t read to the end. Touché.
I am a leftie who also works right to left, but I am a thrower so an English knitter. I can knit continental but I prefer English mostly out of habit