Thank You Mayor Bloomberg!

In light of recent claims that Bloomberg bought the votes of New York Senators who would support gay marriage - something I have mixed feelings about because I support marriage equality for everyone, but I don't support political kickbacks or corruption - Mayor Bloomberg has made me rather happy today by working with the NYPL system to find $83 million to keep the libraries running in New York City.

In light of the economy there are plenty of things one could spend $83 million on, but in light of a underfunded and flailing education system, unemployment, and the community I think the library is a better choice than most people realise. Thankfully Mayor Bloomberg saw the light.

So one thumb up for rescuing the NYPL and well, let's see what comes out about the other thing because perhaps sadly today is not a two thumbs up day for the Mayor, though considering the amount of money spent by other individuals and organisations (all claiming non-profit status despite making insane amounts of money off their followers) to stop marriage equality (the Church of Latter Day Saints spent apparently $40 million fighting Prop 8 in California), a couple thousand doesn't seem so bad (and that in itself should be enough to revoke their non-profit status).

The big winner today of course are the people of New York and it's not so often that the people win anything, is it?

Read more >>

Books, Tea, Time, and The Droste Effect in Amsterdam

Day two in Amsterdam was recovery day. I did a little grocery shopping at the Albert Heijn, made sandwiches, and did a lot of napping. I blogged about finding a copy of The Olympia Reader and the famous scandal surrounding Lolita. Day three however after enough rest this wicked girl was ready to hit the town a little bit.

So I headed to Centraal Bibliotheek. It's located between Centraal Station and the NEMO Science Center in front of the massive floating Chinese pagoda restaurant. You can't miss it. It is afterall the biggest library in Europe.

Inside I managed to discreetly snap photos for the purpose of this blog. See the world's best reading/writing chairs are inside the Amsterdam central library. I tried to find online who designed them and how to get my hands on one, but so far nothing has turned up. Here are some pictures, if you know who made them or where to buy them I would be most thankful for the tip.

I headed up another level to take a look at some of the books in the Centraal Bibliotheek's "Amsterdam" collection and ended up finding a book (in Dutch, English, German, and French no less) about the pews of the Oudekerk (The Old Church, Red Light District) and learned a new word in the process.

miserichord: (sometimes named mercy seat, like the Biblical object) is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.

I also had a seat to enjoy the view, another reason besides books to visit the Centraal Bibliotheek.

One last snap of possibly Satanist magazines in the religious magazine section, and I was back out on the street.

I wandered around and fell upon this creepy, creepy thing I had made a note in my notebook to try and pass by again for the purposes of getting a photo for my blog. Isn't it horrible and yet quite amazing in it's own way? It's in the window of a Dutch restaurant on Zeedijk.

Another random Amsterdam window, this time instead of taxidermy there's a tiny world beyond the glass.

I had lunch again at Thaise Snackbar (Zeedijk) and it was as delicious yet again. I will eventually eat at another restaurant and possibly one day vacation in a different city. Until then, the pad thai was too good for words.

The plan was to first go to the Waterlooplein market to find an old Droste Dutch coccoa tin. I saw about seven the other day and could barely find one when I went back specifically to find the damn thing. I finally found one and a cute little milk jug and sugar bowl set. Total for everything was 5,00 euros.

I wandered back up towards Nieuwmarkt towards a secondhand bookstore called The Book Exchange because I wanted to browse for some books, but I found the passage of books again (on the same street at TBE, but before Ruusland street) and bought some there first. Then I went to The Book Exchange and bought some there too.

The new plan was to find an art store and buy the supplies necessary to make my Tardis themed notebook while having tea and Dutch brownies. I planned to make from scratch meatballs and spaghetti sauce for dinner. I found the supplies (less than 30,00 euros and will probably be enough materials to make several Tardis themed notebooks) and then it started to rain so I popped into The Bushdoctor Coffeeshop to have a smoke and wait it out.

Once home I did have tea and brownies and homemade spaghetti and meatballs with foccacia bread and I did watch Monty Python and The Holy Grail, but didn't get to the Tardis notebooks. Tonight I suppose will be leftovers and Tardis. Will have to watch some old episodes of my favourite Doctor (I guess it's probably David Tennant).

Enjoy some random A'dam photos:

Swans and bicycles on a bridge near Waterlooplein.

Near this bridge. (See above.)

Postcard I personalised for a friend.

My moleskin pages from yesterday with my spirograph.

Another postcard (Nirvana) to send to my neighbour's son.

This might be a bad translation, but "Bread has a point"? Please help if you speak Dutch!

From under my umbrella...

Yes Pizarro, what have you done??

Odd car.

Books bought. A few Tardis supplies.

Tea, books, Droste tin, tea set, Tardis supplies.

Yummy.

Read more >>

Causes I Care About

I care a lot about what's going on in the world, but certain things really get my blood boiling. Like cutting funding to public libraries, so when a friend sent me a link about the $40 million in proposed budget cuts, after already cutting $17 million from the budget for the New York Public Libary only a few short years ago, I got to writing.

When I was a teenager I was given an award for my volunteer work based on an essay I wrote about books. In the end my essay was given a lot of attention and I was invited to The White House to meet President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush. While I barely spoke to the President, I did have a lengthy discussion with the First Lady about the power books have to change lives. Maybe I was wiser than I realised at the age of 13, but this is something I still believe whole-heartedly today.

When I was down and out in New York and had very little money to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head the New York Public Library was my refuge. I was so broke back then I would walk from Brooklyn (Bed-Stuy) to Manhattan because I didn't have the money to pay my subway fare, but it didn't matter because once I saw those one or the other of those two famous lions nicknamed by former Mayor La Guardia "Patience" and "Fortitude" it felt like things weren't as bad as they actually were.

Most importantly what the New York Public Library gave to me was the possibility to have a new career. I read countless old fashion magazines, fashion books, and books on history and because of their helpful and knowledgeable staff who were always ready to point me into the right direction I learned everything I could about the history of fashion. It is the knowledge I acquired through books I borrowed from the New York Public Library that allowed me to start my own business and earned me the respect of some rather hard to please people in the industry.

I owe an enormous debt to the New York Public Library, but I am also indebted to every library I have ever stepped in. Once when leaving the Boston Public Library I overhead a young girl saying to her mother, "It's amazing Mommy they have everything!" That girl was hooked for life just like me. It made me wonder where the books she'd read in her life would take her.

This isn't just a small cut, it's massive. Ten libraries will be forced to close its doors permanently and the rest will only be able to keep their doors open four days a week. The result? 5.8 million visitors will be lost, of which 1.8 million will be children. 

Back when I lived in New York I read to and tutored children, volunteered to put books back on the shelves, and did whatever I was able to do to contribute back to the place that gave me so much. That this resource will no longer be available to New Yorkers is a catastrophe. With education budgets being simultaneously cut, it is up to every single person to find some way to give what they can to counteract the politics that are robbing children of the brightest possible future.

This isn't just happening in America either. Library budgets have been likewise cut in the United Kingdom and also here in France. Where will people go to educate themselves as educational programs become fewer and fewer and costs of secondary education become more and more solely for the rich? Even in Europe few countries offer a completely free education to their citizens aside from Denmark which has perhaps the best system, but this might be why Danish people claim to the happiest people on earth.

My library contains just 0.0002% (4,000 books) of the number of books readily available at the New York Public Library (20 million) and has cost me a small fortune to acquire. When I did so it was based on what I learned from the public libraries I love. Buy books, make them readly available, and never turn anyone away unless they stop bringing the books back. I consider it the greatest gift I give to my friends that they can stop by, have a meal, and borrow a book and I try to collect books in such a way that there is something for everyone. I even buy double copies when I find cheap ones to give away to my friends to get them started at building their own personal libraries.

A book is the greatest gift one can give because it represents something more than the tangible covers and pages. It can be a vacation, a refuge, a university, or simply give an immense amount of pleasure. It is something that can feed the spirit for a lifetime.

Please support public libraries and if you live in New York, write to Mayor Bloomberg and give him and his Executive Budget the hell they deserve. Bloomberg is one of the richest men in America and his fortune was made on the written word. If anyone should understand what a detriment it is to society to cut the funding of a public library like New York's it should be him.

You can find more information about how to write to Bloomberg or what affect the budget cuts will have on your New York Public Library here.

Fortitude.

Read more >>