andave's place

My Dad had a vacation all this week, so yesterday my Dad, Mom, sister and I drove to Berkely, California. We went to a museum first and saw a bundle of art. They had some special Asian art exhibits from Tibet, but the majority of art was by local artists. They had a Pollock, a Cezanne, a Gauguin, and I was elated to recognize a Calder mobile.

My Mom and I love museums, but my Dad and sister get bored pretty quickly.

After the museum, we walked around town for a while. Have any of you heard of Berkely? It's famed for being supremely liberal, hence the name "Berserkely." They absolutely DETEST President Bush. I know he is hated, but not until yesterday did I realize how much. You know the movie "Meet the Fockers?" Well, there was a guy selling t-shirts that said "Meet the -------" (just changing one letter) with a picture of the First Family beneath. A T-SHIRT! You don't get more blatant than that. There were mugs, mousepads, hats, and other stuff with horrendously offensive stuff written on it. All, of course, referring to President Bush.

Generally, I'm not into politics. I'll form opinions but rarely speak them (unless it's about something so awfully un-bookish like Senator Craig's and O.J. Simpson's IDIOTIC antics .) My family isn't exactly political; we support the President but it's not dinner-table talk. Anyhow, I felt really bad for Mr. President. It's one thing to be disagreed with; it's another entirely to be hated far above and beyond the call of duty.

This kind of ties in to something that's been bugging me for a while. People don't take me seriously. Not you people -- you know what it's like to be bookish. But if I had gone to someone I know in real life and tell them about Berkely, they would be surprised to find that I have a brain that can understand stuff like that. It's not that they think me so sheltered(believe it or not, my family has a reputation for being fairly free-thinking in our church) but that the only side of me they see is a sweet and polite side. The fact that I'm bookish makes people consider me naive. It's not their fault; it's just that they don't understand bookish types.

Especially my cousin. I think my real tiff is with him. He's much older than me and still sees me as an effervescent toddler. I've CHANGED since then; become quiet and bookish and a writer-type. He lives in Canada, so I don't see him very often. He's very cynical (though he IS loving, he just doesn't know how to show it.) and if he doesn't criticise something, it means he likes it. He also likes to tease me. When I was very little I didn't take teasing well, and you could usually get me to cry if you went at it a while. So, last time we were in Canada he started teasing me about Lord of the Rings and about books. He said he couldn't understand why people were crazy about LOTR and that Frodo and Sam were children, none of this hobbit nonsense. I was fine with that. No biggie. There aren't that many LOTR geeks. Then we got to talking about books. He's an engineer, and when I told him I was thinking about becoming a librarian he said that books are becoming obsolete; soon there will be electronic books and that there will be no need for books in ten years.

I don't consider myself especially smart. I'm not intellectual, and I know next to nothing about fashions and styles and fads of today. But I do know what I love, and I know how to defend it to the best of my ability. Books are one of those things, and I refuse to give up dreams simply because they're becoming obsolete. So I told him why I want to study REAL books. Electronic books are purely impersonal. They have no inviting musty smell. There are no pages to flip; you can't hear that rustling noise. You can't daydream about all the other people who have held that book and what they thought of it. There is no charm to electronic books!

I scared him. He didn't do anything but to stare at me, amused, and muss my hair. For my cousin, that is very unusual. He has something to say about everything. I think it was a bit of a shock for him to realize that I actually had something to say, and if not proof, plenty of spirit and faith to back it up.

But in spite of the months that have passed, I can't get his words out of his mind. He's right. We're a dying people. There aren't many book purists in the world anymore.

I know this isn't something major or world-changing, but when paper-and-ink books become old-fashioned something dear and friendly will be lost to mankind.

Ugh. Well, my next entry will be cheerier. Promise!

Andya.