Three Good Things

I won a knitted-item naming contest! I suggested the name Gretel for this pattern, designed by the lovely Ysolda Teague and won a free copy of the pattern. This is exciting as I rarely win anything, especially anything that requires creativity. Let's hope this isn't as close as I get to designing knitwear. Be sure to check out Ysolda's other patterns, as she is quite talented. She is also possibly the cutest knitting designer ever.

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Also, I just had a letter published in the Somerville News. The paper ran a rather insulting cartoon about a librarian from Tufts University who is running for mayor. My letter isn't on the paper's website, so here it is:

In his cartoon in the July 18 issue, Matt Stone asks "Does Somerville need a librarian as mayor?" The cartoon depicts the overdone stereotype of a librarian – a stern-looking bespectacled woman with her hair in a bun, surrounded by shelves of books, stamping a book with the word "LATE." I suspect that Stone is trying to imply that librarians are somehow antiquated and irrelevant to our modern lives. Instead he is only showing how uninformed he is, and that he clearly hasn't visited a library in a good long time.

Modern libraries are vital community centers, filled not only with books, but with computers, DVDs, CDs, and practically every format that can hold information. They provide meeting spaces, storytimes for children, movie nights, English classes, and workshops. Mr. Stone should visit his local library - he might be surprised at all it has to offer.

Librarians are educated, organized, detail-oriented and devoted to public service. We help people find what they need, learn new technologies, and try to squeeze necessary resources out of strained budgets. We welcome everyone who walks through our doors, regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, level of education, and socioeconomic background. I'll turn the question back to you, Mr. Stone: Aren't those qualities we want in a mayor?

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The third good thing is that on Saturday I'm leaving for a 9-day vacation! So, no blog posts next week but I'll be sure to have something interesting when I return. Woohoo! Vacation!