Paper Chase and a Night Out - May 17

Never let it be forgotten that the orderliness one see's in a library is due largely to the constant attention of human agents (staff and assistants) to put things in their place.  Despite my having been on a distribution list for the weekly Chronicle of Higher Education at work over the past four years, we also get a subscription at home.

Somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory I recall a lampoon about someone who collected National Geographic magazines and one day the poor collector expired when an enormous stack of those yellow-bordered magazines collapsed on top of him.  It was a satire, not worthy of an urban legend.  But the point of the matter is that the Chronicle of Higher Education arrives every week, and like the fabled National Geographic guy, they can easily do you in.

So I decided to tackle a stack of the COHEs -- tearing out the occasional article of interest for archiving.  I parked myself on our living room floor, in front of our fireplace, nice cup of hot white tea brewed to perfection nearby.  Wasn't too long before one of our denizens joined me on the floor to "help."  This is Samwise.

His partner in crime is Mr. Frodo.  We've owned the two criminals for about 2 1/2 years now, having rescued them from an uncertain future at the Mount Pleasant animal shelter (HATS).

At some future point I'll allude to the articles I've been selecting, but for now, give some credit to those stalwart guardians of print (and digital!) resources who keep them neat and organized!

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Our evening out was to attend a fundraiser for our local art gallery (ArtWorks) in Big Rapids.  

 It was a well-attended event with many Ferris State University persons there with whom I spoke, announcing news of my retirement from CMU.

 

In addition to eating, viewing and bidding on items for sale by silent and live auction, several artists were present demonstrating their work.  I spent some time talking with Kym Nicolas, a potter who has been working in clay since she was 17.  It was fascinating to see her work.  One of my many retirement fantasies is to learn how to throw a good pot!