Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Just read a CNN article this morning about the Aurora Borealis making an appearance. It reminded me of Northern Exposure and Chris the DJ. So, thought I would share a quote as I reminisce about the Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. The Northern Lights, which I saw my first year at the Farm in Massachusetts, which I actually saw on my 23rd birthday!--the best birthday present I ever got!! "There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We're talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can't hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!" ~ Chris, Northern Exposure, "Aurora Borealis (A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups).” It feel...

Today has been such a bizarre day at the library and I attribute that to the fact that there will be a full moon tomorrow night. In the midst of all this madness, I had to pause and reflect on a year ago today when my nephew, Monster A, was born. On my lunch break I called my sister, who put me on speaker phone so that I could sing “Happy Birthday,” to Monster A, who promptly hung up on me when I was finished-I kid you not. I think the full moon has gotten a hold of him too. Back at the desk I began to notice signs of edginess (all full moon related as far as I am concerned): People complaining to me about cell phones, irritable patrons, and snappish students. Now don’t get me wrong, these are normal signs from day to day, but today it seemed that there were more cases than normal. Did you know that crime rates for certain violent offensives rise around the time of the full moon? And it has been noted that dog bites sometimes increase as well around this lunar cycle. I really believe t...