Miss Scarlett in the Library
I was lucky enough to spend my Saturday night in the circulating library at the state library. It's a high ceilinged room with a mezzanine level filled with old hard cover books collected from various lending library collections around the state. All pre WW2 stuff, very much the sort of books I could imagine a young George Meredith reading in "My Brother Jack". Some of the titles were great, I should have photographed them because I can't remember them. Crazy nuns, sailors, captains, governesses and the like. Grown up versions of Enid Blyton.
Being there reminded me of Cluedo as a kid. The novelty never wore off of trying to establish whodunnit. I played this game with my flatmate in Hobart and discovered that if you take it seriously, it is possible to win every game (Kirsten had a steely trap mind and kept mental lists of who asked for what. What a competitor).
State Library in Sydney is good, has long rows of tables where you can plug in your laptop and write a novel and feel immensely productive. State Library in Hobart was open until at least 8pm most evenings, which was great and one of the most likely places to bump into someone you knew. Certainly, Hobart is a small place and fortuitous bump ins aren't that rare, but the quality of a person is confirmed when they frequent a reading room, and all positive suspicions about acquaintances could be confirmed whenever I saw them at the library borrowing a swag.
I also have a soft spot for my childhood library . Childrens collection was on the left and adults section on the right and my friend and I worked our way through Cleo Magazines at the precocious age of 12. I can't remember every borrowing any adult fiction there, just books about U2 and the diaries of Andy Warhol and Australian poetry books that I used for Year 12 English.
The reading room library was photogenic. It made everyone look good in their cocktail dress attire, it was the perfect space for 40 guests, and I hope there is another occasion there in the future. I chatted to a casual friend who gave me vast quantities of detail about her life. Sometimes that happens-you know someone in a limited way, but for a long time and you are curious and finally they tell you a big long story. What most impressed me was the way she described her 6 year old's school. She and her fiance are both private educated types and they've sent their son to a local school with a high proportion of students on health care cards, a high number of indigenous students, a high number of students from public housing, and students from 48 different nationalities. It's exactly the sort of school you'd worry about sending your child to, but it attracts motivated staff, their son is learning and happy and has no desire to go and play at the houses of children whose parents have substance abuse problems.
Being there reminded me of Cluedo as a kid. The novelty never wore off of trying to establish whodunnit. I played this game with my flatmate in Hobart and discovered that if you take it seriously, it is possible to win every game (Kirsten had a steely trap mind and kept mental lists of who asked for what. What a competitor).
State Library in Sydney is good, has long rows of tables where you can plug in your laptop and write a novel and feel immensely productive. State Library in Hobart was open until at least 8pm most evenings, which was great and one of the most likely places to bump into someone you knew. Certainly, Hobart is a small place and fortuitous bump ins aren't that rare, but the quality of a person is confirmed when they frequent a reading room, and all positive suspicions about acquaintances could be confirmed whenever I saw them at the library borrowing a swag.
I also have a soft spot for my childhood library . Childrens collection was on the left and adults section on the right and my friend and I worked our way through Cleo Magazines at the precocious age of 12. I can't remember every borrowing any adult fiction there, just books about U2 and the diaries of Andy Warhol and Australian poetry books that I used for Year 12 English.
The reading room library was photogenic. It made everyone look good in their cocktail dress attire, it was the perfect space for 40 guests, and I hope there is another occasion there in the future. I chatted to a casual friend who gave me vast quantities of detail about her life. Sometimes that happens-you know someone in a limited way, but for a long time and you are curious and finally they tell you a big long story. What most impressed me was the way she described her 6 year old's school. She and her fiance are both private educated types and they've sent their son to a local school with a high proportion of students on health care cards, a high number of indigenous students, a high number of students from public housing, and students from 48 different nationalities. It's exactly the sort of school you'd worry about sending your child to, but it attracts motivated staff, their son is learning and happy and has no desire to go and play at the houses of children whose parents have substance abuse problems.
I was telling my mother about how my nephews think that my 89 year old grandfather is something special, because he is so old.. She filled me in on a recent oral history project he participated in, piecing together the 1920s and 1930s history of St Andrews. It was heartbreaking, because he told her some details of his abandonment by his parents that was new to her. He said that from the age of 5 (when he was placed in the orphanage) to the age of 8, his mother used to visit him every few months. When he was 8, she said to him "I don't think you appreciate me coming to visit you" and that was the last time he saw her, until he left to serve in WW2. She said his eyes welled up and he wasn't able to keep speaking-this is my stoic grandfather who would never give in to sentiment. But 80 years later, he still can recall this scene, and quote word for word, his mother putting the blame on him for why he was abandoned. I find it so sad and angry that she made what she did (giving him up) worse, by emotionally blackmailing a child. After that, things improved somewhat: a new matron improved the conditions for children, and in his mid teens, he was taken in by the parents of his old schoolmate, who told him to call them Mum and Dad and never let him down.
This really gets to me, its' why I get fired up about childrens education and childrens care and although I've never wanted to go down the foster care route, I do feel as though there is something more that I should do in the future to help the children who get abandoned. Because children can have an appropriate adult life if they are fed and educated and have access to stable role models.
This really gets to me, its' why I get fired up about childrens education and childrens care and although I've never wanted to go down the foster care route, I do feel as though there is something more that I should do in the future to help the children who get abandoned. Because children can have an appropriate adult life if they are fed and educated and have access to stable role models.
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