Our Willard Library Ghost Encounter?

UPDATE MAY 5, 2021:  Willard Public Library once again has its ghost cams up and running, so maybe you'll spot the elusive "grey lady."

Spookersnout Encroachment and Dinner Endangerment

Since I'm a roving reporter, Kindly Couple keep my supper dish outside and filled at all times.  They never know when I'll be dropping by to deliver a story or visit with library colleagues, patrons, and my fans.  It is common knowledge in the neighborhood that this particular dinner dish belongs exclusively to moi, so I didn't see any reason to post signs or security slobberdogs.  Most of my fellow felines and slobberdogs respect this and give my supper dish a wide berth.

You can imagine my horror when Scowl-Face reported to me that, not once but twice during the last 72 hours, he has seen a spookersnout chowing down my dinner!  Can you believe the insolence?  Wild animals think they can go anywhere, eat anything, and just generally do as they please.  Not so, spookersnout.  There are limits, and you're about to learn just what price encroachment upon my personal rights will mean.

I can't imagine it, but, just in case you don't know, here are a couple pictures of spookersnouts.

 Dinner-Thieving, Tree-Climbing Spookersnout

Watch yourself:  Those razor-sharp teeth will slice you up a treat

Scowl-Face mushed the spookersnout away from my supper on both occasions, but it clearly has not gotten the message if it has returned.  Perhaps the presence of three of my slobberdog enforcer pals (yes, I have canine friends, and why not?) will send that spookersnout packing.  I'm perfectly willing to share my din-dins if I am asked politely first.  That's only common courtesy.

Heavy Plastic Outdoor Storage Container

(Referenced Below) 

Now I must digress momentarily to relate another of those Scowl-Face stories that have become part of the neighborhood folklore.  One Fall day a couple of years ago, Scowl-Face was cutting wood for the winter (imagine Monty Python's lumberjack sketch without Michael Palin's physical fitness).  When he (Scowl-Face, not Michael Palin) opened one of those heavy-plastic outdoor storage containers (sort of like the one pictured above), in which he intended to place the freshly-cut kindling, he came nose-to-snout with a ferocious spookersnout.  It may have looked something like this:

Surprised Spookersnouts WILL defend themselves, and who can blame them?

Long-time readers of this blog may recall Scowl-Face's defensive reaction to wild animal encounters.  Well, on this occasion, he did not disappoint.  There was little-girl-like squealing and some pretty amazing reverse motion for such an old guy.  But nobody was injured, thankfully; spookersnout and Scowl-Face fled the scene without incident.  Seeing Scowl-Face up that close would scare any animal, whether it is ferae naturae or ferae domitae (sometimes referred to as ferae domesticae) (click here for online legal definitions; you could also look it up in Black's Law Dictionary, if your library has a copy; ours does.  You could also look up Indiana law on the subject in this book, available at the Indiana State Library and in the Evergreen Indiana catalog.  For a more general legal discussion, try chapter nine (I think) from this book.).

Perhaps a sign might ward off those pesky spookersnouts.  Let's see . . . hmmmmm . . .

Word to the Wise, Spookersnouts--You've Been Warned

Not playing possum here,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Marsupial Mammal News Beat

Scowl-Face is Walking Tall Today

March 12 is International Fanny Pack Day.  (You can look it up.)  It is a cause célèbre for fashion faux pas frequenters everywhere.

No one could deny the overall utility of the fanny pack for humans.  Unlike spookersnouts, which haul things (such as their babies) in a homegrown marsupial pouch, people types don't have such built-in accoutrements.  Instead, they must rely upon purses, backpacks, brief cases, fanny packs, trouser and coat pockets, and such like to carry around their paraphernalia.

Classic Leather Fanny Pack 

But nobody, or at least nobody with a modicum of fashion sense, wears fanny packs anymore.  Cue Scowl-Face.  He has one, and (get this!) he wears it everyday in public--including work.  I ask you, can we at the Library ever live down the shame?

This is what Scowl-Face imagines he looks like wearing a fanny pack:

Actor Ian Ziering, as Steve Sanders, in the TV Series 90210

(Episode:  "Windstruck" [1993])

Laugh, and he WILL kick your butt!

 

 Hulk Hogan sporting a fanny back (backwards)

Dig those cool shorts (eye-roll)

(If these guys are going to wear fanny packs that way, maybe they should be called . . .  Wait, let's not go there.  Just don't.  Okay?  'Nuff said.)

Now see how Scowl-Face actually looks wearing a fanny pack.  (The FTC or Homeland Security or whoever is in charge of the Internet requires me to include the following warning label.)

Ready?  Remember, you've been warned.

Captain Morgan, he's not

Honestly, could anything be more stupid looking?

Oh, for Pete's sake!

 

I stand corrected.

Scowl-Face calls his fanny pack a "Batman utility belt."  I think we may safely say that that is the misnomer of the month.

Nothing Like Scowl-Face's Fanny Pack

Other super-heroes, however, wore fanny packs.

 DC Comics' Hawkman (with fanny pack)

I hope Scowl-Face (and anyone else that uncool) enjoys the International Fanny Pack Day celebrations.  If there's any cake left, which I doubt (it is Scowl-Face, after all), save me a piece with the fancy frosting doodads.

 On moi, this looks good.  Stylish AND functional!

 Watching Out for the Fashion Police,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Action Wear News Beat

P.S.  Lady people wear fanny packs, too.  Goofy knows no gender barriers.

Get to Know ... Biker Babe & Scowl-Face (G.T.K. MPL Staff Series)

MPL Staffers Biker Babe and Scowl-Face answered our questionnaire awhile back, so let's get to know them better.

Why I call her Biker Babe

Minions, cue the Steppenwolf.

"Born to be Wild," by Steppenwolf (1968), used in the

soundtrack to the movie Easy Rider (1969).

Actually, "Born to be Wild" is not about bikers per se; rather, it is about hot rods (automobiles, for anyone under age 20) street-racing.  After Easy Rider, however, the song became synonymous with motorcycling.

Want to hear a cool biker ballad from Easy Rider?  We've got time.

"Ballad of Easy Rider," by the Byrds (1969)

from the album by the same title

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds wrote "Ballad of Easy Rider," but purportedly Bob Dylan was co-composer, although he was not officially credited on the single or album.

Biker Babe is one of our all-purpose staffers.  She works in practically every patron service department.  She may be found working on the circulation team; as an adult or youth services reference librarian; adding or deleting items from the catalog; and arranging displays in the public glass display cases.  You name it; she does it.  In public libraries of our size, an employee needs to be well-rounded.  Biker Babe covers the spectrum of library services quite effectively.  She has worked at MPL for nearly nine years.

Scowl-Face from his college professorship days

(23 years ago, in this photo)

Long-time readers know Scowl-Face as my comic foil.  By comparison, he makes moi look truly magnificent.  His title is somewhat in flux at the moment, but he has historically (no pun intended) been known as the MPL Indiana Room historian.  (He used to be called the Indiana Room librarian, but that was changed last year, if memory serves.  No clue why.)  He was also called the reference coordinator for awhile, but that title seems to have gone by the wayside.  Ol' Scowlly has worked at the Library for almost five years.

Biker Babe's favorite childhood library memory was "the quiet atmosphere."  She grew up in a household with six kids, so peace and quiet was at a premium.  Scowl-Face chose to share a college memory as his favorite "childhood" library recollection.  If you read his treasure trove blog, you may have already seen it.  If not, then you should click here.

For Biker Babe, what makes working at MPL fun is that "no day is the same."  That's understandable when you're working practically everywhere at any time.  For Scowl-Face, it's a combination of local history and social media.  He uses both extensively in his library work.

Favorite colors (lavender for Biker Babe; blue for 'Ol Scowlly) is straightforward enough.  What about favorite music?  Biker Babe votes for "Nothing But Strings," which we presume refers to Nuttin But Stringz.

Nuttin But Stringz performing live on the

TV show Americas Got Talent (2008)

Scowl-Face's favorite musician/composer is The Music Man, who is the Library's composer.  If you've watched any videos from the MPL YouTube Channel, then you've heard his original music.  But he is also a stellar guitarist and plays excellent piano.  He also has his own YouTube channel.

Danny Buckley playing classical guitar at

Thursday Night Recital, Millikin University

(Oct. 15, 2009)

Dream Big, Little Pig, by Kristi Yamaguchi

(Book trailer by Janet E. Buckley;

music soundtrack by Daniel E. Buckley)

Biker Babe moved to Monrovia, Indiana 24 years ago, so she is just a few miles west of MPL.  Scowl-Face moved to Mooresville in 1995 but has been occasionally hanging around the town since 1977.  Neither was born in town--Biker Babe was born in Beech Grove at the now-defunct St. Francis branch hospital, and Scowl-Face was born in Lafayette--but we won't hold that against them.

As we have gotten to know the MPL staff, the one common denominator has been their earnest desire to provide quality patron services and their commitment to doing the best job possible.  That may sound like a cliche, but, here, it is actually true.

Take Moi For a Ride, Biker Babe,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

MPL Staff News Beat

P.S.  The Millikin University student composers' forum III performed "Starmap to Orion" (2009), by Danny Buckley, on February 18, 2010, at Kaeuper Hall in the MU School of Music.

 

P.P.S.  On February 23, 2014, the Millikin University Percussion Ensemble (directed by Brian Justison).performed several original compositions from Danny Buckley's The Persistence of Memory (2011).

 

 

Steadicam -- Just Saying

Due to a schedule change, Wild Thang and Toucan Sammy's regular videographer was unavailable to shoot this week's segment for their blog, Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun.  Due to a minion shortage at my Library, Broadway Gal was forced to ask Scowl-Face to operate the digital video camera.  This had catastrophe written all over it.

At a critical juncture in the presentation, Sammy the Toucan showed Wild Thang her buttons to celebrate the Letter J, which, as we all know, stands for Wild Thang (i.e., Miss Jaymi).  Scowl-Face was supposed to zoom the camera to see Sammy's buttons, but, unbeknownst to him, the zoom feature is locked out in the camera's videography mode.  But Scowl-Face persevered, pressing the zoom button so vigorously that the camera went flailing about like we were having an earthquake or something.  This produced less than optimal results.  See for yourselves.

Neither Wild Thang nor Sammy had time to reshoot the sequence, and so there was nothing for it but to have Scowl-Face attempt some editing magic using Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker.  Sadly, magic is not among Scowl-Face's limited arsenal of skill sets.

Fortunately, the video was usable, thanks entirely to the impressive professional oratorical abilities of our literacy video stars.  Do you know that both Wild Thang and Sammy extemporize these videos? (Elements of improvisation are also clearly discernable.)  As one who once competed in extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking in the National Forensic League, Scowl-Face can verify that these speech styles, complete with ad-libs, are much tougher than they look, especially when done as well as Wild Thang and Sammy perform.

I have only one recommendation for Scowl-Face.

Steadicam

Just saying.

Next Time, Ask Moi, Broadway Gal,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Videography News Beat

It Must Have Been Hysterical

Really careful readers of this blog may remember a digression I made in a posting long ago about Scowl-Face's goose encounter.   It happened ten years ago this month, so it's time for some serious "decade ago" reminiscing.

To reprise my previous posting (2011):

Now let me digress and reveal a really funny story about Scowl-Face and ganders.  Back in April, 2008, Scowl-Face was sneaking off to have lunch by himself at Smokey Bones, without bringing anything back for moi (although, admittedly, I didn't know him then; but Stumpy did).  There was a goose sitting upon eggs in a nest outside the restaurant, and her gander (mate) was chasing employees and customers around the parking lot to protect his family.  Scowl-Face dashed toward the entrance, but the Gander took flight and commenced a strafing run.  Papa Goose landed on Scowl-Face's shoulders, biting and pulling his hair.  According to press reports, Scowl-Face ran around in circles, "squealing like a little girl," according to several witnesses.  Having made his point, the Gander launched himself from his quarry's shoulders and flew at a waitress holding a broom, who also quickly fled.  Ganders, then, are not to be trifled with.  Let that be a lesson to us predators.  Large flying feasts are best left to lions, tigers, and bears, oh, my!

Giving Geese a Goodly Distance Since 1994,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Wide Berth News Bureau

Not sure why I signed my tag-line "since 1994," since I wasn't even alive way back then. I blame my minion editors.

It must have been a hysterical sight. Too bad we don't have any video. It would have gone viral, and Scowl-Face would now be nearly as famous as moi. Fortunately, there are lots of similar videos of such encounters on YouTube, which will give us an approximation of what happened.  Just use YouTube's search function.  I'll wait.

These geese are just acting naturally to protect their mates and young.  You'd do the same if some goofy human came stumbling toward your nest.  So cut these dudes some major slack.  Steer clear, peeps.  Word to the wise, I'll venture.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Dewey Readmore Books (for Young Reading People, Ages 9-12)

Surely you all know Dewey Readmore Books (1988-2006), late feline-in-residence at Spencer (Iowa) Public Library.  Dewey the Library Cat: a True Story, by Vicki Myron, with Bret Witter (1st ed., New York: Little, Brown & Co., 2010), is a children's book recounting his library life and adventures. There are several books about Dewey, from titles targeted toward preschoolers to grown-up people editions.  There is a Dewey book out there just right for someone in your family!

Take a gander (but watch out--geese can bite!  Just ask Scowl-Face) at our book trailer below to learn more about this wonderful book about a cat among cats.

Iron Frog had a website devoted to library cats (and their interesting histories) from around the world.  If you like felines (and who doesn't?), then you will enjoy searching to see if libraries near you have resident kitties.  Around these parts, of course, Tober the Thorntown (Ind.) Library Cat is a celebrity, and deservedly so.

Back to Dewey Readmore Books.  You will enjoy reading this book (or the many others) about Dewey.  He brought much happiness to many people patrons at Spencer (Iowa) Public Library.  We live to serve.  Wait--that's obviously backwards.  When I say we, I naturally meant you.  Also, add us felines to the end of that sentence.  There!  Much better.  Scowl-Face is right.  Editing does improve one's writing.  (See if he practices what he preaches by reading his blog about this Dewey book.)

Now let me digress and reveal a really funny story about Scowl-Face and ganders.  Back in April, 2008, Scowl-Face was sneaking off to have lunch by himself at Smokey Bones, without bringing anything back for moi (although, admittedly, I didn't know him then; but Stumpy did).  There was a goose sitting upon eggs in a nest outside the restaurant, and her gander (mate) was chasing employees and customers around the parking lot to protect his family.  Scowl-Face dashed toward the entrance, but the Gander took flight and commenced a strafing run.  Papa Goose landed on Scowl-Face's shoulders, biting and pulling his hair.  According to press reports, Scowl-Face ran around in circles, "squealing like a little girl," according to several witnesses.  Having made his point, the Gander launched himself from his quarry's shoulders and flew at a waitress holding a broom, who also quickly fled.  Ganders, then, are not to be trifled with.  Let that be a lesson to us predators.  Large flying feasts are best left to lions, tigers, and bears, oh, my!

Giving Geese a Goodly Distance Since 1994,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Wide Berth News Bureau

Parachuting Penguins?

Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan posted their latest early literacy blog. This installment covers the letter Pp.  That stands for parachutes and penguins.  So where's the video, Wild Thang and Sammy?  I saw you filming it the other day.  Still in editing?  I can imagine it was tough to videograph some parachuting penguins.  Isn't that what digitization is for?  You could just include some animations in the live video clip.  Like so:

Click Graphic Above to Play Video Clip

I found that video on YouTube.  It's amazing what one can find there.

What do I think of when I think of penguins?  Penguins.  That was sort of obvious.

Oh, I get it.  I'm supposed to say I think of our book trailer about penguins.

Click Graphic Above to Play Video Clip

(For some reason, Scowl-Face feels compelled to include playback instructions beneath the video clips. He didn't used to.  I guess since he needs to be told exactly what to do at all times, he thinks everybody is similarly situated.  Give my readers some credit, Scowl-Face.  They know how videos work.)

Speaking of Scowl-Face and parachutes, when he was a little lad, his favorite syndicated television program (for a couple of years, anyway) was Ripcord! (1961-1963), starring Larry Pennell (as Ted McKeever) and Ken Curtis (as Jim Buckley).  McKeever and Buckley operated a skydiving service called Ripcord!  They were parachuters-for-hire.  If you needed someone to reach some inaccessible place fast, these dudes were your go-to guys.  This plot device afforded a variety of weekly adventures in which our heroes chased criminals and rescued hapless victims of the screenwriters.  The skydiving sequences were just utterly way-cool.

A word about Ken Curtis.  Scowl-Face didn't realize until he was researching this for moi that Ken Curtis played the part of Jim Buckley. (To better appreciate Scowl-Face's fascination with this program, you need to know his real surname is the same as Curtis' character.)  You older readers may remember Curtis from the long-running TV series, Gunsmoke (1955-1975).  Curtis played Marshall Dillon's deputy, Festus (1964-1975).  Dennis Weaver played Chester, another of the marshall's deputies (1955-1964).  If, by virtue of your relative youth, you are unfamiliar with these characters (or the actors who performed them), check out a copy of Gunsmoke from your local library or video store.  You could do a whole lot worse for an hour's entertainment.  Your grandparents enjoyed the show, anyway.

You probably won't find Ripcord! at your favorite video rental establishment or public library, but you're welcome to look.  The show was fairly low-budget--it went directly into syndication--so it's possibly much cheesier than Scowl-Face remembers.  Maybe we should search YouTube for a clip.

I'm hoping Wild Thang and Sammy the Toucan (remember that this posting is actually about their letter Pp blog posting) finish and upload their Pp video soon.  Otherwise, I'll have to show more parachuting penguins.  Nobody wants that.

Maybe P stands for Philly cheese steak sandwiches, like Wild Thang mentioned in her PLA video.

Just Saying,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S.  Episode 609 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 lampooned the abysmal movie, The Skydivers (1963), written and directed by Coleman Francis (a director worse than Ed Wood, if you can imagine).  Here is the original minute-and-a-half movie trailer, which might make the film appear palatable.  By itself, it isn't.  If you must watch it, see the MST3K version. You'll thank moi later.

Memories From the Mitten State

by "Flat" Cauli I

MPL Flat Feline Roving Reporter

When Scowl-Face was a little boy, he learned the different names of the 50 American states.  It was an exciting time, because, not too long before, there had only been 48 states when Scowl-Face was born.  Fifty seemed like a really large number to remember, so his kindergarden teacher told him to try distinguishing the states by shape.  "Remember that certain states look like things," she suggested.  So Scowl-Face gave it a try.  Most of the states looked like boxes to him, so that didn't really help much. Still, there were the distinctive shapes of Michigan, New York, Florida, and Texas.  As best as he can remember, here are the things Scowl-Face associated with these states' shapes.

• Michigan looked like a mitten.  (Well, the bottom part, anyway.)  The top part looked like the paper hats the cooks wore at the Frisch's Restaurant to which his parents occasionally took his brother and him to eat, about eight blocks from his house.  (The "Big Boy" sandwich is still his favorite hamburger, ever.)

• Florida looked like a pirate's peg leg.  Specifically, Long John Silver's, in the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, which Scowl-Face read much later in elementary school, and for which my Library has made a book trailer.

• New York looked like a pork chop.  Ooooo-kay.

• Texas looked like a T-Bone in a T-Bone steak.  (Looks like somebody spent a lot of his childhood thinking about food.)

Whatever he may have thought the other states looked like is lost to history.

Map of Michigan

This Michigan memory thing was pretty straightforward.  Definitely, the lower peninsula looks like a mitten.  Left or right hand?  Doesn't it depend upon which way the hand is facing (front or back)?  Anyway, the mitten memory trick worked, because he always got Michigan correct when he had to do geography worksheets in First Grade.

I remembered all this when the Crumbacher family, who participate in my Library's Homeschool Group, took moi along on their trip to Michigan.  Four Great Lakes touch Michigan--Lake Michigan, of course, is on the mitten's westerly side, while Lake Superior is north of the upper peninsula (Frisch's cook's hat), with Lakes Huron and Erie touching the mitten's easterly borders--but the beautiful lakes and forests inside the state are often stronger attractions for tourists looking for a peaceful weekend destination.  There is much to enjoy there, so I was quite excited about our trip.

My favorite part of the journey, however, was swimming at the hotel pool where we were staying.  (The Lady With the Red Hair says that her children always enjoyed the hotel pools more than anything else on their vacations.  Ask Scowl-Face what he remembers about his family's vacation to Colorado when he was six years old, and he will tell you swimming in a motel pool someplace in Kansas.)

Swimming is super-fun and wonderful exercise, and I got to use these amazingly cool goggles.  I could see underwater without getting my eyes wet!  It was just like being a fish (or, as Cauli would say, a "swimming dinner").  My Crumbacher special correspondents and their cousins (remember, we omit first names to preserve family privacy) helped moi put-on the goggles.

My Crumbacher Special Correspondents

Put On the Goggles For Moi

"Flat" Cauli I, Deep Sea Diver

 My Hat Always Stays On

Ready to Swim Some Laps

Another highlight of the trip was the hot tub.  This was sooooooo relaxing!  The water was wonderfully warm, and it swirled around, which loosened our muscles while it simultaneously invigorated us.  It was perfect after swimming in the pool.

We all had a terrific time!  Many thanks to the Crumbacher family for taking moi along on their Michigan adventure.

Reporting for Cauli Le Chat,

"Flat" Cauli I

MPL Flat Feline Roving Reporter

Homeschool News Beat

P.S.  I really wanted to include "Michigan Blackhawk," composed by Michael Nesmith, but I can't find a share-alike, royalty-free copy of the song on the Internet.  So we'll go with another nice Michigan tune from the the Monkees "rarity" CD Missing Links, Volume Two (1990), "If I Ever Get to Saginaw Again," with Nesmith singing lead.

P.P.S.  Wait, I found one!  This video (above) says it's the Monkees "Michigan Blackhawk."  Let's give a listen.

P.P.P.S.  "Down the Highway," composed by Carole King and Toni Stern and produced by Michael Nesmith, was recorded on June 5, 1969 but never made it onto a Monkees LP until Missing Links, Volume Two (1990), on which Rhino Records mislabeled it as "Michigan Blackhawk," a completely different song written by Michael Nesmith (and recorded on June 10, 1969).  For the definitive discussion of this song title confusion, see pp. 238-240 of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees:  the Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation (London:  Backbeat Books, 1st edition, 2005).

P.P.P.P.S.  Want to watch my Library's book trailer for Treasure Island?  Sure you do.

A New Breed of Librarian

Modern librarians must wield many simultaneous skills to deliver informational resources to those in need.  Increasingly, this requires sophisticated acumen in Internet research, website management, online social media, ebooks (or other emedia), database maintenance, digitization, and metadata coding.  Such librarians could be called webrarians, given their frequent use of web-based technologies.

My Library now has one of these librarian types.  Can you guess who it is? Allow moi to give a hint.

That Trademark Scowl

Five years ago (almost to the day), Scowl-Face was hired at MPL as the Indiana Room Librarian.  A couple of years later, he also became the Adult Reference Coordinator.  Then, sometime last year, his first title morphed into Indiana Room Historian.  Then the second title (but not the workload) sort of disappeared.  A month ago, he became the new Website & Online Media Manager.  Now he wants to call himself a Webrarian. Suits moi.  I was never much for titles anyway.  One of my minions by any other name, I'd venture.

Ol' Scowlly still oversees the Indiana Room collections, pokes around in collection development, handles our digital camera work (videography and photography), stumbles over reference questions, and does odd bits at circulation.  Plus he is one of my many minions.  That last job duty is most important, surely.

Actually, Scowl-Face would never had undertaken any of this web-based stuff if it hadn't been for Broadway Gal's initiatives begun in late 2009 and early 2010.  She was the driving force launching our presence on YouTube, Blogger, Twitter, Flickr, and other online social media nearly three years ago.  Scowl-Face did a lot of the grunt work, but that's only to be expected.  He grunts an awful lot anyway, no matter what work he's doing.

Broadway Gal also led the charge at our Library into live-action videography.  Everybody knows about her music parody video, Librarians Do Taio Cruz (2010).  Never seen it?  What planet have you been on?

So perhaps Broadway Gal should have been called a webrarian first. Well, she already has a much more important title:  Head of MPL Youth Services.  That's like the number two job (behind Boss Lady) around here. It's like being associate director of the library without more pay.

So ol' Scowlly gets the webrarian moniker.  No new business cards, however.  That costs money, and, frankly, nobody cares what we call him.



Whatever You're Called, Get To Work, Scowl-Face,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Staff New

P.S.  Cybrarian is another term used to describe web- or technology-oriented librarians.  Marilyn Johnson wrote a book about them (in part), as our book trailer above elaborates.

P.P.S.  Title Update:  Scowl-Face's official title (as of the end of January, 2013) is information director for adult services.  He's not allowed to use the term librarian in his title because he lacks a Master of Library Science (M.L.S.) degree.  (He has a doctorate, though.)  The title police are really strict in this state!

Now He Wears TWO of Them

International Fanny Pack Day is March 10 (last year it was March 12, as I mentioned in a previous blog posting).  It is celebrated each year on the second Saturday in March.  They even observe it in Idaho.

Mixing Chic With the Ridiculous

(Never a Good Fashion Statement)

Bet This Dude Has a Pocket Protector

in His Shirt Pocket

Wearing one of these things is embarrassing enough for anyone.  But two?  Really--who wants twice the humiliation?  Scowl-Face, apparently.

Angelina Jolie, He's Not

(Thanks, Broadway Gal, for the photo and the great pose suggestion.  I didn't think ol' Scowlly could look any dorkier than usual, but this rachets up nerdy several notches.

Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscars

What is the deal with fanny packs?  Isn't that why people wear cargo pants?

Plenty of Pocket Room

(Cargo Pants For Men)

For Ladies--Not So Much

I'm not sure that fanny packs make much sense when you're carrying valuables.  Thieves would go right for them faster than you can open a can of tuna-in-oil for moi.  Of course, some versions come with enhanced security options.

What's So Valuable In There?

This whole lock business is making fanny packs dangerously analogous to non-gender, or "unigender" (i.e., unisex), chastity belts.  (You'll have to find your own picture of that.)

So what's next for the whole fanny pack scene?  What may we expect Scowl-Face to be wearing next year?

The Cap-Sac

I had to ask.

Hey, Put Some Extra Brains in There, While You're At It

If cranial storage capacity is not your style, how about an over-the-shoulder, backstrapping utility belt?  You can look like this gal.

This reminded moi of those fighter dudes who wore ammunition belts over their shoulders.

"We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!"

(Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

DC Comics' Sergeant Rock

Nice cargo pants, sergeant.  Plus the ammo belt is kind of like a fanny pack (but don't tell him that.)  Those .50 calibre ammo belts Sgt. Rock had slung over both shoulders must have been for Easy Company's machine gunner, because the cartridges wouldn't fit into either his Thompson submachine gun or his automatic pistol, both of which took .45 caliber shells.

Forget that, however.  Scowl-Face could never pull-off the ammo belt look, even using fanny packs.  His family has some cool military relics, though.  Scowly's maternal grandfather served as a captain in the U.S. Cavalry that hunted for Pancho Villa in 1916-1917, and, as was traditional for cavalry officers during the time, he kept his Browning Model 1911 .45 caliber Army pistol (his particular firearm was made in 1913).  On Scowl-Face's father's side of the family, a relative served in the Spanish-American war and kept a Colt U.S. Model 1894 .45-caliber Army revolver.

Browning Model 1911

.45 Calibre Army Pistol

Colt U.S. Model 1894

.45 Caliber Army Revolver

Well, let's just hope that Scowl-Face doesn't escalate this whole fanny pack nonsense any further.  There are limits to absurdity, surely.

Apparently not.



The Only Good Fanny Pack Carries Canned Tuna For Moi,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Clothing Accessory News Beat

P.S.  Want to hear/see "Fanny Pack," by Owen Benjamin (2008)?  You asked for it.  Try YouTube.