Tuesday 6.8: A Library Full of Books

I spent much of my childhood in libraries. I started at around age 2, listening to books on tape, and soon graduated to chapter books, spending most of my free time reading. [What a nerdlet!!] Those were the days when I could consume four or five books at once, when I could still work at something for more than five minutes at a time, when my attention span exceeded that of a cactus. Gradually, I grew up and things like homework and social activities started to take priority; with the spread of the internet, I came to find interests in flash games and AIM, and spent less time reading at home. I still spent my afternoons in libraries though, as my mom would often work late and not be able to pick me up. And I would still read until there really weren't any more books for me to read. I breezed through the Brentwood Public Library, took a little longer at the Studio City Public Library, and finally ended up at the North Hollywood Public Library. But by this time, I was in high school and I spent a lot more time hitting the school books and a lot less time reading for pleasure. And my tastes were changing. No longer could I justify reading teenybopper fluff novels because they usually ended up too mushy for me, but I didn't have enough brainpower to spend on the must-reads for the impending college student. I didn't want to spend all my time reading textbooks, yet...

When I started Science Bowl and Science Olympiad in earnest, I stopped going to the library after school, if only because meetings ran so late and so often. And I missed it. I missed losing myself in books for a little while. And most of all, I missed reading good books. I had either lost all of my attention span, or my tastes had become that much more discerning because my short list of favorite books wasn't getting any longer.

So, when Dionysis invited us all to an art exhibition at the Gennadius Library, it was right up my alley. I was excited to see a Greek library. But it wasn't anything like what I expected.

The library was huge, with columns, and looked like a museum, or a mansion. It had gardens, a patio, and was apparently, one of those special libraries that people go on special occasions to see things like art exhibitions.

The title of this exhibition was "Johannes Gennadius and His World." The inspiration was apparently books, because most of the pieces were multimedium creations that centered around the book or the written word. Some of my favorite pieces are shown below. (Sorry about the lights; they were all encased in glass.)

Afterwards, there was refreshments and we got to meet John Hale, the professor fielding the archaeology internships. He seemed to know everything about everything ancient/modern/future Greece and the way he talked about his passions was an interesting and inspiring thing to see. I also got to meet former-Dean Cabolis of JE. I have to say: he is SO COOL. High-fiving, JE SUXing cool. Basically, a cool guy all around. :)

It was a good night to end a lazy day. Next week, I'm planning out what I'm doing on Tuesday and Thursday and I'm going to do them! Yes. That is the plan.

BookLove,

Angela