-Return December-

The following is a letter sent to an old friend from college, one week before Christmas. It isn't truncated; I commonly begin less formal letters as if I were answering a question in the middle of a conversation.

Gosh, so much has happened.
In true Pittsburghese: Yinz is a Librarian, an’ ‘at.
Officially a librarian. And I have a cat. I’m a single guy living with a cat, Sappho, can you believe it? Some kind of male spinster, I am.

Truly, I hope married life continues to agree with you. Me, I’ll have to deal with the stigma reserved for those thin, single men who follow the arts rather than sports, chatting and smiling on a regular basis, and falling just shy of fabulous with creative interior decorations.

I am referring, of course, to the male librarian, a creature often confused with our brothers on the far end of the Kinsey scale. I’ll speak of those misconceptions later, for now professional development is the order of the day.

Politics, politics, politics, politics, politics, politics,

As an unregistered green/libertarian, I have long shied away from leadership roles, for fear that it could taint my oh-so-pure soul, and also cut into my ability to complain about the ruling class.

(the latter, I am convinced, is the Democratic party strategy. Ever get the feeling that they actually enjoy being out of power, for the purpose of ribbing office holders from the moral high ground? I’ve always thought so.)

In any case, I have decided to be disenfranchised no longer. In preparation, leadership classes. Calisthenics. Practice ordering the cat around.

And soon enough,
When I was ready,
I made my move.

I became the head of the local ALA chapter.

Oh, the power! The glory of it all! Everyone knew me, and soon, they knew me and my loyal minions to be the harbingers of a new age in Library Science, an age characterized by activity and creativity, PAX Libris, the era of good bookish feelings.

Sigh. It was wonderful. I only hope they will do so well without my command.

So now I seek your counsel. Should a happenin’ library cat like myself work at VCU if such a job comes up? Is it safe for me to return to Richmond without an armed guard? Can one really get hepatitis from green onions?

No easy answers, lady Sappho, not even with a library of resources to choose from.

Much love to you and yours,

Benedict