National Poetry Month

March 31, 2007 at 11:28 pm | In literature | 1 Comment

Since April is National Poetry Month, I’ve decided to do my part and post, every Friday in April, either a poem with accompanying essay or an essay about a poet. Since my knowledge of poetry is pretty limited, I’m going to stick to that which I know best: modern Irish poetry. If you have any requests, let me know in the comments. There will probably be a post about Seamus Heaney since I have a couple of idiotic anecdotes to share (ditto for Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill), but I might change my mind as I re-read things. I apologize if this doesn’t seem like a particularly history librarianish thing to do, but I was never a very good historian anyway.

Shakespeare and Politics

March 29, 2007 at 8:57 pm | In history, literature | Leave a Comment

The next installment of Open Source will feature Stephen Greenblatt discussing Shakespeare and Power. There are a lot of “extra credit” readings listed, so get busy!

For those of you who aren’t already aware, the last Open Source show (The First Neo-Cons and “The Last Mughal”) featured William Dalrymple discussing his book The Last Mughal (which has gotten at least one good review) with Ram Manikkalingam and Manan Ahmed.

In the WTF Category

March 23, 2007 at 3:21 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

From beSpacific:

CRS Director Daniel P. Mullohan issued a memo to all CRS staff, entitled Distribution of CRS Products to Non-Congressionals [PDF], stating that “prior approval should now be required at the division or office level before products are distributed to members of the public…effectively immediately.”

There’s context for this at Secrecy News:

With some frequency, CRS analysts contact FAS with requests for information or documents. [...] We haven’t been shy about requesting information or documents in return. And both sides seem to have benefitted.

“More important, Congress has benefitted,” a staffer said. But now such working relationships may be jeopardized.

Streakers @ Your Library

March 15, 2007 at 6:50 pm | In libraries | 3 Comments

Oregon is on the quarter system, so it’s finals week right now and lots of students are tucked in at the library doing their studying. Last night two young gentlemen let off some steam and entertained their peers by streaking down our spiral staircase and out the front of the building. I happened to be walking past the stairs at the moment they came down, so I had a front row seat for the action. To commemorate this special moment, I have composed a haiku:

Cupping your naughties
O, Knight Library streaker?
How modest you are!

UPDATE: while I like the randy tone and utter absurdity of “cupping your naughties,” others have felt differently. So, another stab at it:

Why is your sword sheathed
O, Knight Library streaker?
How modest you are!

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