Director’s Blog: August 2021

The month of August always finds me longing for a return to school.  Yes, even after all these years, I still  want the excitement of going to school after the summer is over. 

When I was a student, August was the time of the year when new possibilities seemed so close.  The weather was still good; it was exciting to see returning school mates; and to find out who my teachers would be for the year. 

I always knew school got harder each year; but I did not mind it.  I loved it all the way through graduate school.

As a child, it was fun to go out to buy new school clothes; get my new books and book covers; and to ride the bus.  New experiences seemed to be around each corner, every day; and I still long for that simpler time. 

Many kids want to grow up fast; but I really fell for parental advice that included the idea that “childhood is a great time because  adulthood lasts forever.”  It was fun to extend my day by walking to the nearby public library

afterschool to checkout my favorite fiction titles.  I always went quickly to the romance  books by Victoria Holt.   However, as I got older, I sought out other genres to read; and by undergraduate school I’d read  a sizable amount of the full spectrum of fiction and non-fiction. 

It was the public library and  school media center, along with my favorite high school English teacher, that all shaped my reading; and in so doing, informed my view of the world.  I learned to be an independent thinker; but to respect the thoughts of others.

I got to see the world,  although unable to travel to explore it in person, by reading.  The world of the written word opened so many doors of imagination and assisted, and enhanced,  my learning and knowledge beyond the subjects taught in school.   

Some people think of reading as having too much idle time on your hands.  I beg to differ with that mindset.  A chair and a book are what I return to now and again, because of the possibilities that reside, all by themselves, on each page.

Time with a book brings back familiar feelings;  is subliminal; and it becomes mine for the moment.  I hope you experience August each year, in the same or similar way that I do.  August, for me, sees a return to reading; learning; and to being open to new ideas and things. 

Please come into your favorite library, checkout a book, and get home quickly to your favorite chair.  The new and different;  and sometimes the old and the surprising, await you within those pages!  See you at the library.