Residency

LIS 567--Our teacherman is an honest-to-goodness full time youth services librarian at SPL. "Seat of your Pants Library". He said so.

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a blur today. Perhaps I'm sleepy. Perhaps I'm reluctant to start a new quarter. The summer off has been perfect.

It was weird how we had to change classrooms at lunch. We couldn't they find us a classroom that was open all day? How hard is that on a Saturday?

Lunch time sorrow: I've been waiting for months for my residency, so I could get a bowl of borscht and a piroshky. I've gotten that at every residency so far. At lunch, I tried to find some one to come with me. Lisa wanted sushi, and I didn't want sushi, I wanted borscht. Margaret wanted to go to a seminar, so she needed something quick on campus. So I went alone. Just as well, SIGH. When I got there, the tiny little restaurant looked unchanged. Same furniture and case and all. but it was now a SUSHI JOINT!!! I was devastated. I remain devastated. I loved that place! I've looked forward to it for months! The place at Pike's Market doesn't have as good of borscht.

Marjorie and Teressa came and picked me up and we had lunch at a pastaria. I've never eaten at a pastaria before. I had a mozza panini and CANNOLI. I've heard it referenced on tv many times but never actually ate one. It was dreamy. We all had bites.

Tonight I wound up yarn shopping. I nearly bought some Lorna's Laces, but the colour repeats weren't large enough for my current tastes. I don't particularly relish the messy look of short repeats. The lady offered a class of how-to-dye-self-striping-sock-yarn. I wanna go! I have plans to dye my own anyway, but a class would be fun.

I bought several treats at Trader Joe's. I got some green ice cream nuggets. They were larger than I expected and not nearly as tasty as I'd hoped.

In-class knitting

Trekker XXL yarn. Size 2 Crystal Palace Bamboo Circular Needle. Basketweave rib. It's very cool!

Residency

LIS 550. At times I can be so negative, and when I'm so positive I surprise myself. I started the class immediately adoring our instructor. I hope that opinion holds! She had us each mention an ethical concern as we introduced ourselves, which made for a really interesting start to class. It was a very lengthy set of introductions. I brought up my concern of choosing age-appropriate materials for kids vs censoring children's reading, and also my worries about the difference between selecting materials and censoring materials. As one can never select everything, the very act of selecting is going to entail some censorship.

The method of choosing a group was entirely insanse. We had to get a partner and spend 2 minutes staring at them and writing our impressions, and another 2 minutes writing what they must think of us. Catherine and I were pretty tepid in our writing about each other. It was way outta comfort zone for me. After that, we had to sort ourselves into coloured hats. I sorted myself into white hat, which meant I dig figures and facts. Then we had to assign our partners to the hat we thought they belonged in. She sorted me into green, which meant creative. Hey, I'd been knitting (and wearing) green socks. I sorted her right back into red, which meant emotional. Then we had to find a group of three of all different colours. I wound up with Catherine and Lesla. Having not worked with them before, it's cool to have a chance to work with them. Group work can be such a challenge if no one gets bossy. It's rarely me that gets bossy!

The afternoon was content-rich. She lectured on ethical streams. Then we had cases to discuss, and to justify according to various streams.

At one point, as an example of an something that is legal but not ethical, I brought up the nuclear bomb tests in Nevada. Legal, I assume, but with all the downwinders wasting away from terrible diseases, hardly could be considered ethical. She said that she personally agreed (which I thought was a triumph! She said she'd never give her own opinion!) but then tried to give the other side. She spoke of national security and the safety of the masses, and how these downwinders were a long way from New York, and it would be easy at that distance to put national security ahead of those few people. I wonder if it's easy, in New York City, to dismiss the downwinders as just a few people. Two students from Utah, one former and one present, were both nodding, and I spoke with them afterwards about cultural differences. The downwinders issue is very pertinent to Utah but just not relevant to people in Washington. Well, quite possibly relevant, but not immediate. It's good for me to be reminded that what is immediate in Salt Lake City is not immediate everywhere.

In-class knitting

Size 4 clover bamboo needles. The points are getting all ragged and may start snagging. Nature Spun yarn in olive and pine green. Knitted in baby cable. Baby cable looks way cool! I wish I could show it better.

I only took bamboo needles with me because I wanted the needles to not trigger any problems with the x-ray machine at the airport.

Needle Fairy!

At lunch, I sat down at a table outside in the warm autumn afternoon. The sun was out, the shade streaked the tables with light and dark, and the temperature was just perfect for sitting and enjoying a lunch. I didn't even knit, just sat. And then when I got up, I found an Inox circular needle lying on the ground! A size 1, 32" Inox circular! I had wondered where that puppy had got to, but had expected it was somewhere in the house. And I hadn't eaten lunch there, due to inclement weather, for over a week! Ember asked if I was sure that it wasn't a gift from the needle fairies, but I know that was my very own size one needle. She was also cracking me up. I told her that something had chewed up the cable and she was painting word pictures of hungry raccoons and rapid squirrels.

Why I wear cargo pants

I love it when I'm knitting something small enough that I don't need to carry a knitting bag around. Okay, I have a bazillion knitting bags, many of which that I adore, but I really like being able to stuff the yarn in one pocket, the knitting in another, and pull it out at any possible moment.