Cafe Hitch-hike

2004-03-31

In perspective

I was doing an inventory for the reference books we have in our library. I reached a couple reference books on breeds of dog, and must admit they were in bad shape. The spine was damaged and some pages were about to hang out. This is a very popular book for the users of our community access terminals (computers that the general public can use as opposed to only students of the univ.).

The CAT terminals are next to our reference collection. The users of the CAT terminals, known as The CAT people, fall in the following categories:

1. Kids who are skipping classes at the nearby Crispus Attuck High School

2. Homeless people who stay warm in our library.

3. Homeless people who watch porn.

4. Unemployed people who play chess and watch porn.

5. Unemployed people with special needs who are actually looking for jobs and are posting their resume on job seeker databases.

Martha, one of the librarians, had her house broken into. Her dog, a german shepard, just peed all of the floor out of fear and her TVs were stolen.

So with these events fresh in my mind, I said to my co-workers after my inventory:

"The reference book on dogs is dog-eared. It is a popular read among The CAT People. They like the book because they want be able to identify breeds of dog to see which are docile and which are vicious, and then they will be able to choose which homes with dogs they want to break into."

Everyone laughed sort of low, adding, "ooh, you stop!" or comments like that. They still laughed.

One of my undergrad assistants knew which book I was talking about right away. She added, "ugh, that book is grouse! I never touch it!"

My first real library pun of the week, with satire.

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I was reading A Boy Called 'IT' by David Pelzer and my insides were just wrenching. 'It' is a true story about a boy who was tortured by his mother. Pelzer describes the changes in his parents' behavior and how his mother just turned from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. I can't describe the terrible things she did to her son, but literally know that the Geneva War Crimes Convention actually banned some of them. His family was helpless because the mother just ruled the home with fear.

This book reminds me of the mindset of explaining. Whenever a person acts a certain way, it is just assumed something bad happened and they are acting out of that experience. He was abused as a child, her father was a drunk. Hillary Clinton even excused her husband's womanizing by saying something along the lines that Bill was in the middle of power struggles between his mother and grandmother and that is the purpose for his problematic relationships with women.

I suppose some of the ways I explained my mother's ways was that she came from a broken home, and that her mother set terrible examples (seriously). I love my grandmother, but she did some pretty weird things and that sent a dangerous message to my family that behavior like hers was acceptable. It was easy to find why my mother drank and used: she never did until she met my step-father and his bizarre, abusive behavior drove her over the edge. Yeah, I've done alot of explaining or trying to figure out the "why".

Pelzer's book didn't explain much of his mother's behavior. Was she abused? Were her parents alcoholics (she was)? Or, was she just plain sadistic? Was she just plain evil?

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