I don't normally get into politics in this blog...but E.J. Dionne's opinion piece today highlights the wonderful former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) and his call for political civility. Jim Leach is a moderate, and for most things, so am I. He's a Republican like they used to be when they actually were a Grand Old Party...
The shrill of the harpies on either extreme of the political spectrum would do well to take a lesson in civility from Rep. Leach... in my humble opinion....
(Okay, I admit. I am a politics wonk. In fact, I spent four years of blood, sweat, and tears, at the University of Iowa studying political science and psychology as my major... It's taken Jim Leach for me to write about politics in this blog.)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Wow! What a Library!
If you are lucky enough to be in Grinnell, Iowa right now, stop what you are doing IMMEDIATELY and go directly to the new Drake Community Library. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
My kids and I walked in late Friday morning last week when the kiddos were off school for conferences.
Honestly, I nearly cried when I walked in. And I wasn't alone. I visited with a gentleman, a beloved retired Grinnell College faculty member, whose voice was trembling like mine. Space! Room! Sunlight! The children's department is probably three times the size of my house.
Everywhere you looked, there were people looking at books, children, TEENS, and adults. There are places to sit and read. I envisioned many winter Sunday afternoons spent there. Each member of my family doing their own thing.
In an era when we wonder if the electronic word is replacing the printed word, the Drake Community Library shows how wonderfully these two can co-exist.
"Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest." ~ Lady Bird Johnson.
My kids and I walked in late Friday morning last week when the kiddos were off school for conferences.
Honestly, I nearly cried when I walked in. And I wasn't alone. I visited with a gentleman, a beloved retired Grinnell College faculty member, whose voice was trembling like mine. Space! Room! Sunlight! The children's department is probably three times the size of my house.
Everywhere you looked, there were people looking at books, children, TEENS, and adults. There are places to sit and read. I envisioned many winter Sunday afternoons spent there. Each member of my family doing their own thing.
In an era when we wonder if the electronic word is replacing the printed word, the Drake Community Library shows how wonderfully these two can co-exist.
"Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest." ~ Lady Bird Johnson.
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