December

Welcome...

mash — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:16:29 -0600

I have been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1987.

For 3 years, it ran in the Greeley Tribune. Since then, it has run in various subsidiaries of the Douglas County News Press. I still have most of my columns in digital format.

For many years, I only gave myself one rule: try to work the word "library" into every piece. My intent was to think in public about just what librarianship means at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st.

December 4, 2008 - back up to move forward

Jamie LaRue — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:55:14 -0700

Back in my early twenties, I had an unusually vivid dream. I was driving a car, when suddenly, a big concrete wall loomed up in front of me. Crash!

For a moment, I was stunned, stopped, horrified. Then, I gradually realized that I wasn't bleeding. Nothing was broken. I put the car in reverse, and slowly backed up. Everything seemed to be working. I pulled forward around the blockade. And woke up.

The meaning was clear enough. Back then, I had a gift for making spectacularly bad romantic choices. The dream was about another breakup ... that I survived.

I find the image apt for the 2008 library election. Crash! - 52.6% of the county voted down a mill levy increase.

Castle Pines North voted for the mill levy increase at 62%. Parker approved it at 51%. Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree came in at 48%; Castle Rock at 43%, and Roxborough at 38%. But despite regional differences, the total is what matters.

The library was on the road to keeping pace with growth and demand. And after two attempts to make that case to the voters, I think we have to assume that the community has spoken. That road is blocked.

December 27, 2007

spyder — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 -0600

So You Want to be a Trustee?

The players have changed but the game remains the same." - Harrison Ford, "Working Girl."

As we approach 2008, the Library Board of Trustees finds itself with two vacancies. Leaving us at the end of December is Steve Roper, who was appointed back in 1996. His term expires in January of 2010; his replacement will fill that out. Candidates must currently reside in Douglas County Commissioner District III, meaning Highlands Ranch.

December 7, 2006 - We Store it for You

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:15 -0600

I'm at a point in my life where "stuff" is starting to catch up with me.

On the one hand, there are boxes. I'm not just talking clothes, but those mysterious boxes that somehow survived three moves and ten years in the basement. Many of them are books, of course.

Some of those boxes are stuffed with my own writings. I have notebooks, I kid you not, from 6th grade. I have a couple of my incredibly naive and amateurish attempts at novels from high school. I do not, I promise you, spend my evenings reviewing this debris.

December 14, 2006 - Pay Attention!

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:15 -0600

So here's my 12 year old son, Max, talking on our cordless telephone to his sister, Maddy. She's calling from Germany.

He's also online, engaged in an Instant Message session, complete with video, with his friend, also named Max. This other Max is also a tween, only he lives in London. The two Maxes met on youtube.com, where both of them post their homemade claymation videos.

December 21, 2006 - Give the Perfect Gift

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:15 -0600

Back in 1992, I reprised a column I'd written even earlier. I find that I still don't have much to add. So here it is again. Happy holidays!

What we really need is an all-purpose gift that will satisfy everybody. It should be suitable for all ages. It should require no assembly. It shouldn't need batteries. You shouldn't have to feed it. It should last forever. It should be constantly entertaining. The more the recipient uses it, the more he or she should like it.

And of course, it should be free.

December 29, 2006 - Toward a National Library Agenda

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:15 -0600

A couple of weeks ago, the American Library Association flew me out to Washington, D.C. to participate in "setting a national agenda for public libraries."

To some people, an "agenda" has sinister overtones. Our enemies have agendas; our friends just have plans.

But the idea of a "national agenda" does have political overtones, particularly when held in our nation's capital.

So what kinds of things are librarians wanting to push?

I think most folks would be pleased. I hope so.

December 15, 2005 - Cultivate an Inner Life

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:11 -0600

There are many things parents would agree they want for their children. Health. Love. Family and friends. Success, defined as "a respectable job that pays well enough to provide all of the essentials, and some of the luxuries, of life."

But you know what I most want for each of my kids? I want them to have a rich inner life.

You can lose your health, your lover, even your family and friends. You can lose your job and your home. In disasters, you can lose your ability to put food on the table.

December 22, 2005 - Give the Perfect Gift

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:11 -0600

Back in 1992, I reprised a column I'd written even earlier. I find that I still don't have much to add. So here it is again. Happy holidays!

And of course, it should be free.

December 29, 2005 - Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Jamie LaRue — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:34:11 -0600

The last couple weeks of the year are precious to me.

The library's budget has been adopted for the next year. The meetings tend to be put off till January, because lots of people have taken time off.

The frenzy of shopping is done. The parties are over. Now comes one of the true gifts of the year: time to think.

So much of our lives is conducted as if we were in some kind of speed trial. Or as I read in "The World is Flat," by Thomas Friedman,

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.