Library 47: Dailey Memorial Library (Derby)
Such is the tyranny of publication.
Library 47! The Dailey Memorial Library in Derby was the 47th stop on my quest to read, write, and knit in as many of Vermont’s public libraries as I can during my sabbatical.
I read: Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang
I wrote: a letter to my local legislators
I knit: a Read This! Hat by Junction Fiber Mill in Making Tracks
This library has considerably less taxidermy than the Hitchcock (but still a good amount of taxidermy). The most photogenic was a Canada Goose named Crouton. Jennifer and Maureen kindly took a selfie with me and Crouton (hello again, Jennifer!)
While this library was being remodeled in 2017, patrons “adopted” the books and kept them in their homes for storage. I like the idea of the books spread out all over the town in piles and boxes next to beds and sofas.
One patron came in to return books for her neighbor, and told the librarians the neighbor was nervous to keep the books for too long in case she died before she finished reading them. It made me think about the end of my own life and what I’ll be reading. I hope there will be a kind neighbor and a library nearby. And some yarn.
I tried to get a picture with this bust, but it was a bit out of my reach. I have enjoyed taking selfies with statues ever since reading this line from The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (I read this with my lgbtq+ book club in Shanghai):
“He’s shown astride his horse, waving his sword and about to gallop into the nearby petunia bed: a craggy man with seasoned eyes and a pointed beard, every sculptor’s idea of every cavalry leader. No one knows what Colonel Parkman really looked like, since he left no pictorial evidence of himself and the statue wasn’t erected until 1885, but he looks like this now. Such is the tyranny of art” (p. 176).
Taxidermy. Selfies. Statues. They take a nuanced life and trap it in time. I think about Atwood’s quote each time I see a statue now. Writing something down and publishing it has the same effect, to some degree. The ideas are frozen in time, while the author and the libraries continue to change and grow and learn.
Such is the tyranny of publication.
