Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Every time we try to identify God, we are sure to identify what he is — what she is certainly not. And the genius of God to dwell where we would least likely look, within the depths of our own being, our own shallowness, our own darkness, our own humanity. --Martin Sheen My friend Pamerama was kind enough to share this great, On Being, podcast interview of Martin Sheen. I chose to read the podcast interview transcript instead, to I might better process Sheen's statements. I too am Catholic, but you don't need to be to enjoy. Sheen examines his return journey to faith and spirituality, and it's just wonderful. A great read before New Years revelry. Happiest New Years' Eve to you and yours! Be safe, be merry, be young tonight!

This weekend Mom (who's visiting with us until next weekend) and I drove up to Michigan for a family gathering--my Uncle, my Mom's oldest brother is in the midst of chemo--which wound up being an amazing time spent visiting family, many who I haven't seen in ages; laughing and telling stories; catching up on our "grown up" lives. My Uncle, who just a few weeks back could barely walk, seemed his spry, normal, always laughing self; aside from his shaved head, he was the uncle I remember. At one point during our gathering, I looked up and realized that there were 4 generations of our family at the table, eating pizza. Amazing. Weekends like this past one make me long to be back home, closer to the people I come from, closer to the source of our stories. On our way to the family gathering, Mom and I stopped at the Father Solanus Casey Center in Detroit to say prayers. Raised very Catholic I find that even as an adult, and...

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter (or Passover, or whatever else people may have celebrated.) Growing up a Catholic I have always hated Lent--the 40 day period leading up to Easter--for many reasons: we always gave something up for the 40 days as a personal sacrifice; besides church on Sunday there are many other non-Sunday days that require church attendance (i.e. Ash Wednesday, Penance services); no meat on Fridays. So this Lenten season I tried to be more mindful of the fact that I really struggle with Lent, and decided to focus instead on the world around me (by world I mean my small community). I decided to be very aware of the changing of nature into spring: the green blades of grass, forcing their way up and like a wildfire slowly sweeping across a yard until it became a vision in green; the thickening of trees and bushes as they yawn and strech off their winter sleepiness and prepare to be clothed in leaves and berries; listened to the rushing of the brook that wends its way th...

Heading off from Café 59, I walked about a mile down the street, walking through the trendy Theater District , full of nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and (obviously) theaters of every kinds: Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Lancaster Opera House, Marcella’s Drag Show, and The Classic Irish Theater Company, to name a few. It was hard to imagine this hip-a-trendy side of town as such, as I walked through in the bright of day on virtually empty streets. I imagine this side of town as some sort of Moulin Rouge-empty, desolate streets during the day; packed, noisy avenues at dusk, full of people wishing to forget their troubles and embark on a bit of voyeurism for a few drink filled, sodden hours. I headed to the Main Branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library , which I had learned much about in a paper that I wrote for one of my winter semester classes. I was taken aback at how well laid out the library was, covered in signage, materials labeled down to the very simplest understa...