*NOT* a Crooner

Friday was the last day at the branch for one of Red Bridge's longest employees.  She was definitely a staple at Red Bridge, and I know that she touched a lot of lives.  She wanted me to sing a song for her at her party, since she hadn't seen me perform or sing.  I said I would, but honestly had no idea what to sing.

I first thought that I could try a classic crooner song by Frank, Bing, or someone else fancy.  Then I realized that I couldn't pull that off.  So then I started thinking about newer songs about goodbye and stuff, but most of those songs seemed really sad.  Then, I thought about Charlie Brown, like I do a lot.  I decided to sing "Happiness Is..." from the musical.  As it turned out, it was a very appropriate choice.  A song about the little things in life meaning big things was just what she wanted, and what she believed.  There's a video somewhere of it too.

The party was great though.  A lot of people showed up, and we gave her a personalized scrapbook with blank pages filled with guests' names.  Tomorrow is her last day, but I'm sure she will be back.
Tomorrow is also the last day for Diana at the old branch.  I went to her party on Friday, too!  I guess I was a busy guy.  Between the food, gifts, and huggy goodbyes, it was a full day.  I don't know when she'll pop in at the branch, though.  She's always doing something, so she may not for a while.  :-)

Two great children's librarians are retired now... wonder what the future holds?

Vegetables

I went to a Catholic grade school.  My school had 80 kids in it (K-8).  For lunch, we had the best cook, and she always had some great stuff whipped up.

Now, don't be alarmed, but I'm kind of a weird guy.  I was weird then, too.  I loved, and still love, vegetables.  Every day at lunch, I would eat my vegetables.  Other kids wouldn't, and they would offer them to me.  I would eat theirs, too, because veggies are awesome (though I will NEVER be a vegetarian).  They got a clean tray and could go back for seconds.  I would fill up on veggies and miss my second piece of pizza.

Then it hit me!  If I didn't eat their vegetables, they couldn't go back, and I could!  So I stopped eating other people's vegetables and went back for more pizza.  As I ate it in front of them, a smirk would form between bites.  Smug.

The End

I am *NOT* doing theatre for a while

Willy Wonka is over!  It's always bittersweet to be done with a show.  It will definitely be nice to have some free time again.  I'm not going to do a show until next year.  I know that that is going to be a first for me, but I've got to focus on finishing grad school.  I even signed up for Quintiles to get the money I need, $2200.  If I can get it before the semester starts this Fall, it would be great, but I'm not holding my breath.  I would love to go into detail about how I'm stuck in my program, but it's better not to have a written account of it before I'm done.  That way, there won't be anything keeping them from conferring my degree (just in case).  So, maybe things will work out?

Impact

This year's Summer Reading Program is a departure from previous years.  Instead of evaluating success by the number of library books checked out and read, MCPL switched to a less restricting format: children and teens can read books from anywhere, not just the library.  This shift is important because the aim of SRP should never be circulation boosts; it should be improved literacy.

Improved literacy is not exactly easy to measure.  It's not a quantitative factor; it's qualitative.  In this way, it is harder to measure the success of an outreach program, our recent outreach program to the area school district.  I did anyway.

The numbers are in, and it was an overwhelming success!  We signed up 104 students for library cards.  116 kids signed up for Summer Reading.  111 SRP prizes were awarded.  And just because we brought the library to their school, I counted the books circulated too: 508.

You know the best part?  The real way that I measured success?  Without us, these kids may not have had this opportunity to read or win prizes.  Plus, it's pretty cool when students recognize me at the library and tell me about the book they're reading.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning.  Not bad for a month's work!

Wonka Time

Whoa, Willy Wonka is just a week away... rehearsals are grueling, and sleep is hard to come by.  I hope it's worth it.

Cheer Up, Charlie is fantastic, though.  It will melt your heart.