Meds or a New Awareness

This week I have been reading The Body by Bill Bryson.  He is a must read, he writes non-fiction and his books are pretty dense, but read so easy.  His books are available on OverDrive and we have 3 titles in our physical collection.  His books read like my brain on a good day, kind of random and easily distracted by cats, dogs, or a pretty sunset, etc., kind of a constant good hum.  You will drive the people in your circle crazy, the books are packed with interesting facts and it is just darn near impossible not to share them.  Example: “…a professor and surgeon named Ben Ollivere … gently incised and peeled back a sliver of skin about a millimeter thick from the arm of a cadaver. It was so thin as to be translucent. “That,” he said, “is where all your skin color is. That’s all that race is—a sliver of epidermis.” Another example: The cure for baldness, castration.  What? 

There, I plugged our collection and hopefully left you wanting more of Bill Bryson.  Now on to the next thing that stimulated my brain.  I will be honest; I am not sure if I am just having a moment of awareness or enjoying the effect of changing medications, but I feel exactly like I said, “stimulated.”  My brain and emotions are fully on and if you want to really get into a deep conversation then come find me.  On Monday I “attended/participated” in Library Journal’s virtual summit and the first webcast I watched was full on fuel for me.  The Just Transition with Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Executive Director at Mid-Hudson Library System had this description: If the pandemic had any silver lining, it brought systemic economic, societal, and environmental inequities into focus, and the time for change is long overdrive…discuss the opportunities library leaders have to build community resilience in light of recent events and co-create a new future for their library and their community using regenerative thinking.

I am going to share some of the information she shared on her slides:

  • Urgency drives change.
  • These things were listed as Exacerbated & Accelerated (during COVID/2020) – Racial Injustice, Food Insecurity, Digital Inequity, Poverty, Access to Quality Education, Gender Inequality
  • Transition is inevitable. Justice is not.
  • What the world needs now… local matters, working together, recognize and value diversity, help all to be heard.

I am sure we are all guilty of saying, “I wish things would just go back to normal.”  But is that what we really want?  “Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change.  When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.” – Milton Friedman 

I have mentioned the idea of a reset button, maybe this is it.  This is the time for change, for a transition, the concern being not if it will happen, but if it will be just.  On 12-22-20 the Brookings Institute shared, “Jeff Bezos and the Walmart Heirs have grown $116 billion richer during the pandemic-35 times the total hazard pay given to more than 2.5 million Amazon and Walmart workers. Things are changing.  Aldrich mentioned Greyston Bakery.  “Every year, we (Greyston Bakery) generate $11.5 million in positive economic impact in southwest Yonkers.” If you’ve ever enjoyed Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie or Half-Baked ice cream flavors you have tasted brownies by Greyston.  Greyston: “We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire people.” Like Ben & Jerry’s, founder Bernie Glassman believes that business success and social progress go hand in hand.  Hmm, things are changing.  I am not saying Bezos is evil or that Wal-Mart does not do things to help their community, I am saying that ice cream and brownies are great.  Insert winky face.  

I don’t have enough room to wrap this up.  I hopefully am leaving your brain stimulated enough that you want to know more or you realize that our old normal might not be the best.  Maybe you can just stop by and we can enjoy a much larger discussion about all the things.  Yep, it might be the meds, a new awareness or a diagnosis not yet given, but seriously, don’t you want more. 

Upcoming Events: 3/3 Story Time in the Community room (masks required for adults) at 10am