oh Saturdays.

Oh Saturdays, you are so wonderful during the school year - a day free from classes! But this summer, Saturdays mean eight hour workdays. Bah. I love my job, but I could use a little more sleep (like most of us, right?)

If you are a Grinnellian, I want to thank you deeply for making my life so terribly interesting. Last night was actually the first 21st birthday celebration that I've attended with friends, and I had a spectacular time. I'm sorry for the difficulties with cover charges, 21-only restrictions, unfortunate schedules for the next day, and of course the copious rain, but hopefully everyone had a decent enough time. We'll get together again soon enough, I hope.

Today's LIS topic: YA literature. I'm reading Westerfield's Peeps right now, and the label just does not matter. It's a really well-written, humorous, thought-provoking book. Although I do enjoy delving into the literary canon, being intellectually pretentious is no substitute for a good story. And I'd like to think that reading the same things as high school students keeps me young at heart and connected to future pop culture trends. What social issues are important to the next generation, and how will those young adults communicate about them? I'm really interested in how new web-mediated technologies are shaping students' social lives. Facebook existed when I was in high school, but was still limited to college students. Now we are truly in the thick of the Web 2.0 revolution...I don't think that YA lit answers these questions very directly, but it's an easily accessible beginning for me (not to mention fun~!)

My thoughts on YA lit today were provoked by a NYTimes article on the porous boundary between YA and adult lit...and the stigma around YA lit. How dumb! Personally, I have always had great respect for authors of YA lit. I think creating an authentic voice is a huge accomplishment. Here's the article, if you're at all interested: I'm Y.A., and I'm O.K.

I really enjoy working in the health sciences, as it represents a distinct change from my liberal arts routine at Grinnell. Even so, being involved with high school students is a good community service challenge for me. Here is our Media Center, which admittedly needs a much better Web presence. I wonder how I will schedule my hours there during the school year? I'm pretty certain I will make too many commitments as soon as I get back. I'm doing a 2 days/week internship at the public library + 2-3 courses, and some sort of campus employment? Not to mention music ensembles, maybe some campus groups, and occasionally finding time to relax in the apartment. Ah well, I'll figure it out somehow - hopefully with a little help from you!

When I'm not busy cogitating about nerdy stuff (see next paragraph - and cogitate? Seriously, MD, your word choices are awful...), I've been playing like mad. We had another Wii Sports event at work today. The picture above was taken by yours truly at the first event that took place July 3rd. I love seeing "grown-ups" having a good time over the lunch hour. I have no pictures of myself playing, but maybe my brother and I can "have a session" (his term for playing video games with friends/family) in the near future. I'm not great at any of the games, but I'm getting better.

So now for some serious stuff. I'd like to think that my online world is fairly expansive, but let's face it - I spend a significant chunk of time on Google and Facebook. So what? A recent post on Libraryman is forcing me to take a closer look. We should definitely remember that Google and Facebook are for-profit companies. I still love their services and will continue to use them avidly, but certainly not exclusively. Whereas companies operating in the information field have the primary obligation of their bottom line, librarians are somewhat more neutral. Furthermore, they take great pride in being staunch advocates for open access. I like being an activist (e.g. past student leader for Amnesty International), so I look forward to integrating such a role into my professional life.

Back to fun stuff - I had the opportunity to watch a short clip from What About Bob? as part of my class' lecture on behavioral assessment today. I haven't seen the whole movie, but perhaps I will soon.

Ode to a lifelong friend: Deidre

Hello again! All seems pretty quiet in library land, so I think I'll take advantage of this moment and tell you how much I *love* Deidre.

Friends are one of life's great joys. I hope that the bustle of daily activities doesn't draw me too far away from such nourishing relationships! There is at least anecdotal evidence that as women approach middle age, their family and work obligations lead to a drop off in close friends. I, for one, intend to NEVER give up on hanging out. Easy enough to say at age 21, I know...so you all have to keep me to my word!

I do have autobiographical memories before knowing Deidre, but life got a heckuva lot more interesting once we met. Deidre and I met at Ernest Horn Elementary School. She still has kindergarten pictures of us playing together :) I've had lots of great buddies, but Deidre really stuck around throughout the years. We did Girl Scouts together, orchestra, rowing, Colors, AnimeIowa - you name it, we probably did it together. We've both grown and changed a lot, but you know what? We recently went over to the playground to enjoy the swings and the jungle gym, and it was absolutely wonderful. Some things never change.

Deidre has been getting me hooked on the remake of Dr. Who and Torchwood. She definitely likes to bring out my inner sci-fi/fantasy nerd. We finished watching the first season last night. It was a bit hard to get up in time for church this morning, but definitely worthwhile.

Post 4th of July gadgets and movies

A whole week of July has gone by. First of all, many thanks to Liz, Alex, Marci, Becky, and Amanada for making my 4th of July weekend very awesome indeed. I didn't see any fireworks, but I played a whole lot of POP, walked around Lake Calhoun (pictured above) in the sunshine, and met Liz's kitties and Amanda's doggies + family. Those are all highly valuable activities that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Back at work/school/home, and I've gotta say that I'm totally itching for a new cell phone now. We recently received an advertisement for Samsung's Instinct in the mail. I didn't get too excited about the iPhone hype, but the idea of a touch phone, especially with the prospect of mobile wireless, is more and more appealing every day. I talked about the technology briefly with my dad, and he isn't promising anything at this point. However, we are going to need new contracts in December, and he just loves to negotiate these sorts of big purchases. Guess it makes him feel manly or something. In any case, I would be one of the beneficiaries of his efforts, so rock on! Do any of you have mobile internet experiences that you'd like to share? All I can think of is my aunt who checks her work e-mail at stop lights. I kid you not on this one.

I'm at work for another two hours as I write this, but I won't get to post this until later. I plan on editing my clinical psych paper some more (due on Friday!) and perhaps take in a movie. My parents rented The Bucket List and recommended it to me. We all know that the film's depiction of cancer patients is highly unrealistic, but then again - who doesn't like a little adventure fantasy about the end of life? Check out Ebert's review here, if you're interested. The review mentions Mike Nichols' Wit, starring Emma Thompson, as an excellent movie portrayal of cancer. I remember watching it in AP English. The references to John Donne's poetry are of course enjoyable, but the moving portrayal of cancer - harsh as could be, but with humor - is amazing.

Meet Jeremiah!

Here is the result of Jeremiah's very first photo shoot! He joined my inner circle on June 22 and will be coming to live in the Cowles apartment for 2008-2009. He's a very active little fishie and seems to be acclimating to his new home well. You should all stop by and meet him.

Today has been an interesting day, to say the least. I had a fairly productive appointment with my dentist. She works at the UI College of Dentistry. This building is a familiar landmark in my life - my dad has been faculty there for twenty years, and it's just a stone's throw away from where I am right now - Hardin Library for the Health Sciences!. My oral health seems fine, but I have occasional issues that warrant some behavioral changes. I'm cutting back on coffee starting tomorrow as well as severely limiting the tea and diet colas. I am afraid, however, that maintaining such changes will be nearly impossible come fall semester. Midsems and finals workloads necessitate some sort of stimulant to deal with the sleep deprivation...especially if I have additional commitments like music performances, work study hours, etc. How would you approach this dilemma?

I also enjoyed a free concert on the ped mall by the University of Iowa's Pan-American Steel Band today. My dad bought lunch for us at the Cottage, and the abundant sunshine made for a nice break between study and work sessions. I have to admit, I'm more than a little agitated about the upcoming exam and paper. Studying at home is extremely challenging, as my room isn't big enough to support a serious work stations (e.g. a desk and chair). Additionally, working at the kitchen table is fraught with constant interruption from certain feline family members. So guess what I do? Haha, of course you know - head to the library!

Blogging without photos, libraries and flood 2008

Well, here I am again. I figured out another reason why I wasn't updating during the flooding. I really wanted each and every post to have an accompanying photograph. My current technology situation for photos is less than ideal. I have a card reader at home, but I'd rather do my blogging while at work. After all, I update the Hardin Library blog
here. User services are, of course, my top priority during my hours at Hardin, but when I'm stationed at the first floor circulation desk - which occasionally means complete solitude for an hour or so...really, it's okay. Sarah, our Access Services Supervisor, does tell student employees such as me that homework at the desk is okay. So I'm not slacking off, really! :)

So anyway, enough with that digression. I prefer updating this blog at work, but I don't have a card reader at the first floor desk. Perhaps I should start a regular routine with respect to uploading my photos to Flickr, then put them up there. Personally, I think the blog reading experience is much enhanced by visuals. What do you think? Do your favorite blogs feature photographs?

Also, a humorous part of my day: this awesome t-shirt about libraries and flooding. UI's Main Library is still closed (you can check out their latest news here). During Main's closure, Hardin is proud to offer office space and materials for their refugee staff. We haven't received any news recently regarding the Music and Art libraries, but I'm sure every effort is being made to preserve their collections.

Oops.

So, hey loyal readers...probably all two of you out there, at this point :) I made a very stupid first-time blogger mistake - not updating content frequently! As you might have noticed in my first post, I was planning on updating 3-4x per week. Alas, a community crisis warranted my attention much more than this new project: Flood 2008.

My first observation about this event that I would like to note: everyone was affected, but each in his/her own way. I didn't lose any personal belongings, and besides having a week off from work and class (but no lost pay, might I add), there were no particular schedule changes for me. My parents couldn't go on their regular walks on the foot bridges around the Iowa River (haha, what a surprise), and taking in certain theatre shows was impossible. As a family, the Drakes prepared for a loss of utilities at home, but none of our regular services were interrupted. So you might ask, what's the big deal for Meredith? Why not just a minor inconvenience? On a personal level, it was the devastation of the UI Arts Campus. Until this event, I hadn't realized how important those institutions are to my identity. I am not pursuing musical activities as voraciously as I did when I was in high school, but I still can't imagine a day without music in some form. Thinking of all those weekly lessons in Beth's studio, those music camp rehearsals and hanging out, those awful but very necessary practice room sessions...and that's just Voxman. I think the number of concerts that I've attended in Clapp is probably in the triple digits, and Hancher - where does one even begin when talking about Hancher? I

I take a great deal of comfort in the fact that Iowa City is a community that values the arts. Arts students and faculty/staff will not simply be let go. And although I sadly haven't played much in the last day or two, I'm definitely getting into a better practice routine with systematic scale and interval studies, etudes, and a variety of repertoire. My favorites are still Bach, Brahms, and Hindemith.

Also - check me out on Twitter! I'm rapidly developing skills with microblogging as well. I think I will enjoy the service much better after I get a new cell phone service contract that includes unlimited text messaging.

And in the beginning...

...there was my very first blog post. As an aspiring LIS student/professional, I'm rather embarrassed to admit that this is my first attempt to carve a niche for myself in the blogosphere. After all, didn't Business Week announce the significance of blogging over three years ago? Until now, my creative internet activities have been centered around Livejournal, Grinnell's very own [plans] and, of course, the infamous Facebook. How perfectly juvenile of me.

I don't have a solid vision for this blog yet, which I know puts me in danger of role confusion - especially in terms of privacy. Should this blog be a professional development tool? An outlet for creative expression? I don't want this to be a bad case of TMI (too much information) - for example, you'll probably tune out my updates if I write nothing but quirky updates about what I ate for breakfast or thought about the weather today. (Perhaps this is why Twitter does not particularly appeal to me.) On the other hand, I want to save the formal essay writing for class work. I'm much more interested in thoughtful interactions with friends, family, and colleagues than anything else.

Right now I'm thinking about updating 3-4x per week - a reasonable frequency, I hope. I'm also planning to upload a photo with each post for you visual learners out there. And now the explanation of today's post: Edgar! He is one of the two fine felines who reside with my family of origin. In the picture above, he is "helping" me read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Charming, isn't he?