30 November 2008

Road Map:: New York and New Jersey

New York and New Jersey, back to back with the previous entry, except in different order.

This was a time for second chances. Remember the dark and grainy pix of the New York Public Library from the previous trip? I hated them when they were first taken but now I have to say... I'm a fan.

Still here are some of me doing my solo thang.

a) New York Public Library
New York, NY (05.26.08)

Re: second pic
So does my hair look like a duck's butt or what?

b) Brooklyn Public Library: Bushwick Branch
Brooklyn, NY (05.26.08)

A family member of mine lives relatively close to this branch so my husband and I had to come check it out. :D


c) Trenton Free Public Library: Main
Trenton, NJ (05.27.08)

Two very distinct buildings...

d) New Jersey State Library
Trenton, NJ (05.27.08)

We will say that this trip through NJ inspired us to definitely get a GPS...

Road Map:: New Jersey and New York

And so, now that it's November, it makes sense to wait no longer and post previous jumpy pictures-- these from May of this year.

a) Parsippany Troy Hills Public Library
Parsippany, NJ (05.24.08)

This library was very much closed and the day was almost done but that's never stopped me. I'm so super human even my hand moves at the speed of light. (See second picture).

b) Brooklyn Public Library-- Central Library
Brooklyn, NY (05.25.08)

Man, talk about feeling tiny in front of a ginormous landscape ...

c) Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY-- midtown Manhattan (05.26.08)

It's amazing how both ends of this library look so very, very different.

I have many more to post so the commentary here is pretty slim. I'm positive you won't mind...

Random:: Facebook status! Oooh!

Rules (for your new Facebook status)

* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence as status.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don't look for your favourite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

For me, it's my friend James Kennedy's book, The Order of Odd-Fish:
Everyone in heaven will snicker and make catty remarks about my shoes!

Man, I dig this!

28 November 2008

YA Lit Symposium '08:: Meeting a hero and keeping my dignity

Written November 9th at the Nashville Airport:

This was one of those weekends-- kinda like that "I Want To Hold Your Hand" movie I caught on TV when I was a teen-- where you're trying to meet someone... and they're consistently just out of your reach. This was no Beatles gathering, though. This was Gene Luen Yang in all his dorkilicious glory.

I loved "American Born Chinese" of course but I was really moved by "Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order." The whole reason I came to the YA Lit Symposium was because I wanted to see him do the preconference on graphic novels. Then I registered and discovered it had already been capped and I wouldn't be able to participate. Gyaaaaahhh! Bah humbug.

After the first day of the symposium, I occasionally ran into some preconference attendees who glowed about how deliciously funny he was. Meanwhile, I growled inside. I say that jokingly, and at the same time, not really...

So all I could really do is sit in the front row of his Meet the Author session and he wound up sitting there too, but not next to me, because I'd put my stack of papers and flyers in the chair to my right. I wound up realizing my mistake, taking the papers away, and Terry Trueman sat there instead. And he is a trip. And fun. But not Gene Yang. Ha.

The rest of the conference was wonderfully informational. I got to hang out with some old friends and meet some new ones. It can be hard to function like a human being at these things. It's, like, almost imperative to network even if you feel like you're one of the few out there who isn't a part of some clique.

Ah well. Before I knew it, it was time to go home. To beat the influx of librarians trying to get to the airport on time, I decided I would miss out on the closing session and just get out early. I got the last seat on the shuttle, only to realize that the guy in front of me...

That haircut... Those cheekbones...

My first sighting of authors at TLA~ God, I was an ardent obsessive bee-yotch who just wanted a picture with a writer, even if I didn't know who that person was. Now, behind Gene Yang in a small van on the way to the airport, I was able to I guess have a librarian moment with him, however short.

Once past security and at my gate, I spotted him walking, by himself, along the American Airlines concourse. He looked just like any guy carrying his luggage. There was no "I am a Printz Award Winner" glow. No "I have librarian groupies." Just a random guy. I thought, "Aw man I never asked him if he had a copy of his book on him that I could buy and get autographed." But I left him alone.

I didn't want to be the fanatic librarian who can't resist bugging an exhausted author. I'm not that much of a newbie anymore.