Saturday morning I was in the
library, trying to wring information on John Yates Beall, Cascade’s Civil War
“spy” (commando is far better) out of a couple volumes of Carl Sandburg’s
biography Abraham Lincoln.
The library was full, as usual, of
pre-teen Hispanic boys jockeying to play computer games. A tiff ensued and the
exasperated librarian had to referee. One of the losers, loudly bouncing a
soccer ball, as if he didn’t realize what gives in a library, assembled other
losers and disappeared. The boy, who had been playing with a mobile device
while two others looked over his shoulder, was one of the “winners.”
Kudos to Librarian Melissa Kane and
her staff who must cater to this amazing range: a researcher looking for
esoteric texts on Civil War privateers, a legion of fiction readers, a raft of young
parents with toddlers in tow, a coffee klatch, and on-going spat mediation.
While national leaders squabble
over unaccompanied minors and immigration, we local taxpayers provide services,
without much say in the matter. While I
am never rude, as being poor in this country no picnic whatever your ethnicity,
I feel like a patsy.
Make no mistake minimum wage has
remained at $7.25 because of this endless parade of indigents, likewise depressing
the local “prevailing wage.” This is the magic formula that has dismantled the
American Middle class and gorgeously enriched the 1%.
What I don’t see among the Hispanic boys in the library is equally
problematic: girls. Feminists have fought a hard/long for equal treatment and
this guarantees we will have to fight the same battles over again.
I quizzed the librarian about what
these boys read—“Nothing!” “Abs-solutely nothing!!!”
So
here is a policy solution that will aid everybody: To earn computer time: kids must write a book report at or near grade level, typed and illustrated.
No comments:
Post a Comment