Greeting the Future, Gingerly, With Mortarboards and Masks

John Branch and Campbell Robertson, "Greeting the Future, Gingerly, With Mortarboards and Masks." New York Times, May 31, 2020, p. 1

     Charlie Forster was at the library one afternoon in March when he ran into a friend from Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh
     "I was like, 'Do you want to come over to my house?'" he said, "So we took the bus home and made grilled cheeses and watched that movie 'Her'" which explores isolation and relationships nurtured via electronic devices.
     Little did he know that the coronavirus that was spreading accross the country would give him and his friends their own lesson in being along. 

COMMENT

In this library tale we don't know why Charlie went to the library, but we do know that it turned into a social encounter with a friend he might not have though to contact via social media.  The library functions as a physical community space where people can run into each other.

Ask Ann Cannon

Ann Cannon, "Ask Ann Cannon." Salt Lake Tribune, 5/31/2020 p. D6.

Dear Ann Cannon,
I find that during this time of social distancing, one of the activities I miss most is visiting the library. Any suggestions for borrowing books? Not e-books, not audio book, real books.

COMMENT 

I know advice columnist Ann Cannon is a book lover because last time I ran into her it was at the King's English bookshop.  I also miss the library.  We've had the same books checked out for 3 months now, and we've already read them.  During the pandemic I used the online New York Times at the public library and  some research databases at an academic library, but I've been buying books with my stimulus check because I can barely concentrate on reading at all these days, much less online reading. 

Wartime for Wodehouse

Rivka Galchen. "Wartime for Wodehouse," New Yorker. 6/1/2020 p. 60-63.

The Entry for November 14th begins, "I must make a note of this day as one of the absolutely flawless ones of my life."  Even if his private journal was a kind of performance-- for himself? for future readers?-- it was a very convincing one.  (The penciled journal pages can be read in the rare-books room of the British Library.)

COMMENT

    P.G. Wodehouse spent forty-eight weeks in a German internment camp in 1940 and 1941.  While he was there he kept a relentlessly cheerful diary which is he British Library rare books room. 

• P.G. Wodehouse Archive at the British Library: https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/12/pg-wodehouse-archive-at-the-british-library-.html