Adnan's Story - by Rabia Chaudry

 

I was vaguely aware of the Serial podcast when it first aired in 2014 but I didn't listen to it until about a year later after an old friend told me that the story was about people who had attended the same high school (Woodlawn High in Baltimore County) that we had. Although the events described in the first season of Serial took place many years after we graduated it still made listening to the podcast especially riveting for me. 

Woodlawn High has always had a tough reputation among the Baltimore County high schools. One of my most vivid memories is of walking into the girl's restroom in the immediate aftermath of a botched self-abortion. During my time there in the late 70s and early 80s, collectively we experienced a cross burning on campus, and the (off-campus) shooting death of a fellow student by another student. Unlike the students who attended Woodlawn in 1999, there were no counselors brought in to help us process either of these events. We were simply told not to discuss them (especially not with the press, who was all over). I saw the murdered boy's girlfriend in school the next day. It didn't even surprise me. My parents would have also told me to get my butt to school if my boyfriend had been killed.

Rabia Chaudry is a friend of Adnan Syed's family and in this book provides more information about Syed's trial for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Li. Although convicted, Syed has always maintained his innocence and last year was released after over 20 years in prison when additional evidence of his innocence was provided.

The Woodlawn branch of the Baltimore County Public Library was featured in the first episode of the podcast. Located adjacent to the campus of the high school it is an easy place to get to after school. Li's murder took place on the afternoon of January 13. Syed could not remember exactly where he was that day, but a fellow student (Asia McClain) remembered seeing him at the public library after school which would have provided the alibi that Syed needed. Unfortunately his lawyer never followed up on this information. Chaudry (herself a lawyer) explains more about how this crucial evidence was ignored, and tells of her own conversations with McClain.

Adnan's Story mentions the prison library in two different contexts: for legal research and also as a workplace.

Once, while he was assisting the prison librarian, she asked him to go drop off some books in her car. She handed him her keys and he walked out to the lot where the car stood. He was outside the prison, free and clear, in the employee parking lot. If he had wanted, he could have gotten in her car and driven away.

I selected this book as part of the University of Maryland Baltimore County's  (UMBC) Retriever's Read Bingo which includes a space to read a book by a UMBC author. While Syed and I are both Woodlawn High Alums; Chaudry and I are both UMBC alums.

Rabia Chaudry is co-host of the Undisclosed podcast.

Foul Play - the movie

 

When divorced librarian Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) becomes unwittingly involved in a murder, Detective Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase) is assigned to protect her. Hilarity ensues.

Set in San Francisco this screwball comedy wouldn't be complete without a car chase scene involving steep hills. Also included at no extra charge: a domino-type collapse of bookshelves. I will say that the librarians in the film (all women) were serious about research, and I believe the film does actually pass the Bechdel test (albeit just barely).

I remember seeing this film in theaters back in 1978. I remembered virtually nothing about it except the opening scene featuring Hawn driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with the lilting tones of Barry Manilow singing "Ready to Take a Chance Again" as a soundtrack. 

The murder plot involves a group called The Tax the Churches league who plan to assassinate the Pope. While I would not advocate murder, I have to agree that it is past time to tax churches. As we see the Religious Right (and, frankly, left) trying to influence laws, and elections the IRS should seriously be looking into revoking some 501(c)(3) exemptions.

One of my husband's rowing friends mentioned that this film was what interested him in getting a houseboat (something he still dreams about).  Tony certainly has a nice one - a real '70s chick magnet with spiral staircase, dark paneling, and a bar. How could a young librarian resist?

When we decided to watch this we discovered it wasn't available on any of our streaming services (even for a fee). Our local public library to the rescue! Thanks to the Millicent Public Library in Fairhaven we were able to procure this on DVD - for free!

Summer Reading - by Jenn McKinlay

 

August is Read-a-Romance month! 

Romance is a genre I don't read a lot of, although I don't dislike it. There were no big surprises in this standard boy-meets-girl tale, except perhaps the simple twist that the librarian is Ben who is trying to woo Samantha (Sam). A quick perusal of my previous "Romance" posts indicate that in all other romances with a male librarian, the love interest was also male. In hetero romances the woman is the librarian. Of course since most librarians are women, it makes some sense. Male librarians are not quite as unusual as Samantha thinks - "Those had to be rare in the female-dominated library world, mythical even, like unicorns".

What Sam probably doesn't realize is that a man in a leadership role at a library is de riguer. Interestingly there is no real social commentary in this work about the fact that a woman did the work of the former (male) director without pay while he played on his computer. Likewise, when Ben takes off suddenly Em does his work (without additional compensation). In the end Ben returns, takes back his job, and (hooray!) all is well and right in libraryland with the man in his rightful leadership role.😏

Ben is in fact the interim director of the public library. He is able to take the job because he has the summer off from his "academic research library position at MIT". Really? if I had the summer off from my academic library position I sure as hell wouldn't step into a temporary position. I would simply enjoy my time off. 

Sam's best friend Emily (Em) is also a librarian. According to Sam she looks "very much the professional librarian" in 

a cute sleeveless sage green dress with a lightweight white cardigan over it...Her wavy red hair...tied at the nape of her neck...glasses...perched on the end of her nose as she peered...over the computer monitor.

One reason I don't read a lot of standard romance (or other chick lit) is I tire of the endless descriptions of what people are wearing, what their hair looks like, and other details such as how fabulous their kitchens are, that do nothing to move the narrative along. 

A dyslexic, Samantha has never enjoyed reading. She takes special joy in telling her bookish friends that "the movie was better than the book". Ben introduces her to the joy of audiobooks in the best way possible - he begins to read aloud to her. I must take this opportunity to say reading together is one of the things with which I credit my 36-year marriage. My husband (James) and I have been reading to each other since our earliest days together. It always gives us something to talk about, and sometimes gives us something to laugh about, too.

Our story takes place on Martha's Vineyard, a lovely place for a summer romance. Sam has been asked by her father and step-mother to stay with her half-brother Tyler (14 years her junior) while they (her parents) go on a tour of Europe. I am always excited to read a book about a library I've been to. James gave a coffee lecture there in February of 2020. Probably the last trip we took together before the pandemic shut down.

The library in our story is a busy place with programming that includes robotics camp and Samantha teaching a cooking class.

All in all, this was a fun summer read - standard plot points along with a lot of librarian stuff to critique

There's Something for Everyone at the Library

!Barbie Spoiler Alert!

My husband returned from a two-week trip to the Amazon last week so I took a few days off of work for us to spend together. When he asked what I'd like to do on Wednesday I told him I wanted to see the Barbie movie. Sporting his pink oxford shirt he purchased the tickets online and we set off our local theater (which thankfully is never crowded). We both thoroughly enjoyed the film.

I am always happy to see someone use a library in a film and Ken wasted no time finding one in The Real World to do research about the patriarchy. He then used the information to brainwash the Barbies to turn  Barbieland into an unrecognizable dystopia. 

The same week that I saw the Barbie movie I revisited a favorite book from my childhood - Fuzzies: A Folk Fable for All Ages. First published in 1971 this hippie-dip book tells of a beautiful valley where everyone is happy all the time (because they have Fuzzies). Their beautiful utopia is disrupted by the evil Juanita the witch who, after doing some research at the library, comes up with a plan to convince the people of the valley that there is a shortage of Fuzzies. The sharing stops and the hoarding begins.

If a person based their opinions of libraries only on these two works, they might believe that libraries are bad things. But never forget, libraries are for everyone. Ken took advantage of what he learned at the library, but  there was nothing stopping Barbie from accessing the same information. I would argue that it would have been to her advantage to read the same things Ken did. Knowing what you are fighting against provides a strong advantage. As for the people of the valley, I expect that keeping strictly to themselves and never learning about what else was going on in the world worked to their disadvantage. Books can be mirrors or windows.