Will the Woodland Public Library Close?

There are few things in this world that touch me more personally than hearing about the possibility of a library closing, especially in a town that I love so much as Woodland. The shock I felt at hearing the Woodland Public Library might die was devastating.

My mother was a librarian, not only by vocation but by avocation. Books, to her, were a refuge. When she would read, it was nearly impossible to talk with her because she would be so lost in her story. She taught me to love books as well, as is in evidence on the shelves that line my office.

When she died, I cried the day a plaque in her honor went up on the Dunsmuir Library wall. It was beautiful, not only because my mother was recognized for her years of service, but because it was in her library where she loved going.

Woodland, California, is a wonderful town in which I spend a great deal of time. As the consulting music director for the Woodland Opera House, steps away from the Woodland Public Library, I understand the value of history, both my own and of incredible places like the Opera House and the public library.

Since the threat to this amazing source of education, literature, and enlightenment has burgeoned, everyone has learned that this facility has operated without exception since 1891 with a minimum of 40 1/2 hours per week of service, even through the Great Depression. This remarkable truth is significant because no other library in California can claim that tenacity. It was the citizens of Woodland who made that happen for these nearly 120 years.

We know, too, that it is the oldest Carnegie Library in California continuously operated as a public library. What does that mean?

A library was granted money by Scottish-American philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, of Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Steel (U.S. Steel) fame, if the library adhered to the Carnegie formula. This formula included very specific criteria, including that the city must:

• demonstrate a need for a public library;
• provide the building site;
• annually provide ten percent of the library’s construction to support its operation; and
• provide free service to all.

Woodland has been accomplishing this feat since Carnegie’s first grant was given to Woodland in 1903. Now, however, the collection of more than 100,000 books and other materials, valued at $5 million is at risk of going the way of the dinosaurs.

This is my greatest fear. With the advent of mass media, including television, movies, and the internet, we are seeing the relinquishment of our reading skills, and more importantly our love of reading, through neglect. Sadly, the closure of Woodland Public Library may be another reflection of our developing patterns of literary neglect in the United States.

Citizens of Woodland have an option, though. This coming Tuesday, June 8, 2010, residents will be able to vote on two measure to keep the library open. A Yes on S vote in tandem with a Yes on V vote will provide the action necessary to save our beloved library.

Yes, it’s a sales tax, but it’s a mere quarter per one hundred dollars. A quarter. 25¢. In this age of financial woes, it’s understandable that some may have their questions whether there should be another tax.

The real question is, to save those 25 cents, are the wonderful people of Woodland unable to help the library avoid:

• cutting the adult literacy program by 42 percent, displacing it from its current location?
• allowing their children to have their 7,200 homework assistance requests unanswered?
• shutting the door on the 800-1,000 daily visitors?
• discontinuing the 31,000 opportunities the community is provided to use the library computers?
• turning away from the library doors over half the population of Woodland who hold the 29,240 library cards ?
• not being available to serve the 5,000 attendees at 175 different library programs?

My brother was born in Woodland. I have felt like an honored guest here for over 12 years. This is my second home. I feel an obligation to speak up about this possibly sad end to a dynamic and honored institution.

On election day, please Vote Yes on S and Vote Yes on V to save the Woodland Public Library.

Honestly, it’s a quarter. Our community’s education is worth so much more than that.

For more information, please call the Friends of the Woodland Public Library at (530) 666-0545. You may contact them through their website: http://www.woodlandfol.org/ or by e-mail at woodlandfol@yahoo.com.

Thank you for sharing your voice on June 8 in support of the Woodland Public Library.

Author's Note:  Since the first posting of this blog, I discovered that another Carnegie Library in Port Angeles, Washington, and my mother's library in Dunsmuir, California, are both facing a similar threat as the Woodland Library.  Not a good day.

Update:  It appears that Measures S and V are passing in Woodland.  Bravo, Woodland!
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References:

(2010) Friends to Friends, Woodland Public Library.

(2010) Retrieved from http://www.carnegie-libraries.org/

(2010) Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library

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Sexuality vs. Love

As we continue having debates regarding rights, freedoms, and full citizenship for people in same-gender relationships, we may want to conserve our energy and make our discussions more efficient and accurately reflective of every type of relationship.

As I watched Current TV, the channel developed by former vice-president Al Gore, and Illinois senator, Al Franken (D), I heard a woman say that these debates, especially those going toward the U.S. Supreme Court, are made more challenging because the word sex is involved. The word to which she was referring was, "Homosexuality."

If it's really an issue, why not use a different word? The Latin word, "homo," means, "same." "Hetero," mean "different." The Latin root, "amor," means, "love."

Homoamorous means two people of the same gender love one another.

Heteroamorous means two people of different genders love one another.

So, why not change the word. It's not as though we're using ancient or sacred words to describe our relationships. "Homosexuality" was coined on May 6, 1869 by Karoly Maria Benkert, a 19th Century Hungarian physician, who first broke with traditional thinking when he suggested that people are born homosexual and that it is unchangeable. With that belief as his guide, he fought the Prussian legal code against homosexuality that he described as having "repressive laws and harsh punishments (Conrad and Angel, 2004)."

One would suspect that Dr. Benkert would appreciate this change in lexicon so that we change our focus in this debate from sex to love. John and Frank are not two people in sex. They are two people in love. Deborah and Sheila are not two women who spend their lives sexing each other, they are two women loving each other.  This is especially true because homosexuality has been demedicalized in so many ways.

If we're going to have to have this debate in the first place, let's speak accurately about the people involved. We are homoamorous people. We are two people of one gender who are in love. Those in opposite gender relationships are heteroamorous.

How complicated can that be? If I were to approach someone and ask them if they'd like a slice of bread, their first question is likely, "What kind is it?" As a people, we love clarity. Homosexuality and heterosexuality is simply not clear enough for the breadth of our relationship. Homoamorosity and heteroamorosity are clear winners when it comes to describing the gay relationships with which I am most familiar.

Sexuality is an important, if not terribly time consuming part of most marriage relationships. It helps motivate our interest in a particular person whose gender is consistent with what we prefer; however, that, too, is not always the case.

Is it unthinkable that two people can have a relationship that is purely emotional in form, without sex, who continue to love one another nonetheless? Ask many people who are of a certain age.

Homoamorosity and heteroamorosity are not only options for the terms homosexuality and heterosexuality, they might even be the preferred forms given their more emotionally inclusive qualities.

My mother used to say, when trying to get the direct truth out of me, "Jim, call a spade a spade." Although I never played bridge, from which this term comes, I knew what she meant. Name something as it is. I now get that message all the more clearly.

Thanks, Mom.

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References:

2010, Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/

Conrad, P., & Angell, A. (2004). HOMOSEXUALITY AND REMEDICALIZATION. Society, 41(5), 32-39. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.