This is a complete work avoidance post: I need to walk into the back room to get an envelope and a list out of my mailbox, and I don't want to do it yet. Isn't that pathetic?
The class is in its second week. I've pretty much abandoned its blog, but I may resurrect it for an upcoming research project. There were a couple rough spots in the first week (a lack of students, disappearing readings, my co-teacher dropping out due to the small class size). While I do enjoy presenting, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with doing it 4 hours / week. It already felt like I was improvising wildly on Monday (and I was, since that was the disappearing reading day and I had to lecture when I was supposed to be doing a reading discussion). Everyone took off when it became an open session to work on an assignment. But that's ok: it got me home early. We've been in the basement working till midnight the past 3 nights. The plumber comes tomorrow morning. After that, light proofing and electricity are all that stands between us and a working, totally custom, darkroom.
Someone up in Portland is doing a Patriot Act talk. It's being advertised like it's a civil liberties talk, but the speaker is an author of the bill. What's he gonna say? "Yes, we have to curtail liberties in order to save ourselves." It made me wonder: A while back Asscroft placated the 'shrill librarians' (I can't remember exactly what he called us, and I'm not going to look it up right now [see first paragraph above]) by saying that the provision that allows the government to get our lending records without probably cause has never been exercised. Has anyone spoken up (thereby breaking the gag rule) and said that he has? After all,
one study showed that 4% of Illinois libraries were approached by "authorities" demanding patron information. Is the government lying to us?
