Libraries: temples of freedom!

Great story from On The Media today: Librarians vs. the Patriot Act

Many of you have heard that I firmly believe that literacy is a hallmark of a free, democratic society, and therefore by extension, libraries are temples of freedom, and librarians warriors for freedom. This wonderful story gives us yet another example of how true this is.

Damn, I love libraries, and I am so happy to support them, and sing their praises. Here are a few of my favorites:

• the cozy South Lake Tahoe branch of the El Dorado County Library, with its gorgeous views of the lake
• the breathtaking Beaux-Arts grandeur of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library
• the Salt Lake City main library with its five story wall of glass and huge atrium
• my small but bustling local branch in Sacramento, Belle Cooledge, named for the first female mayor of Sacramento, where many moons ago, I volunteered with someone's Eagle Scout project to move all of the books from a prior location. Even at age 12 or so, I was aware that I was part of something important (and it's not a small task to move all the books from one library to another, and not mess up their order.) I typed my college admissions essay at the then brand new branch, on an IBM Selectric II, an analysis of the role of the 1848 Gold Rush and its role and legacy in modern-day racism in California.  
• the library at my middle school where I volunteered for nothing other than the love of books. I had a reading contest with another student volunteer to see who could read more books in a school quarter. I crushed him, in part by tearing through almost the entire Louie L'Amour cannon of brain-candy Spaghetti Westerns. 
• the library at Hampshire College, where I spent many hours hanging out with the awesome College Archivist and talking about the history of Hampshire. 
• my law school library, where I had a work study job which made me realize that I could avoid buying super expensive textbooks, and just do my reading with the single reference copy every class had. 
• Honorable mentions to every library I've ever had a card for, from Alaska to Massachusetts. 

I love that so many librarians take their jobs so seriously, and yet are still generally so damn nice. I love that public libraries provide warmth and shelter and connectivity and bathrooms to some of our society's most vulnerable, unhoused, and homeless persons. I love that libraries work really hard to keep up with the times, even as I mourn how few people I see check out real paper books to read these days. I love that I can be something of a hypocrite and find almost any book I want to read on my tablet through one of three libraries I have a current card for. I love the librarians on the third floor of the Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library, one of the original Carnegie libraries, who immediately and loudly enforce the no cell phone ringing or talking rule. I love that almost every library in almost every US town has free wifi when you're traveling (and bathrooms, and drinking fountains.)

I LOVE LIBRARIES.

Leftover surprise!

A wrap I made a couple days ago in Cleveland, given new life in Sacramento.

R.I.P. Tamir Rice

I'm here handing out water and sunscreen. There are many beautiful folks doing beautiful things.

The wallshelves are in!

And the door is framed, made of 100% repurposed/scavenged/curbed wood. Downstairs, old palettes are being deconstructed and cleaned and sanded. This whole build a new bedroom in the attic project is coming together!

More on cargo bikes. And mean, nasty, aggressive people.

So, this started out as a pretty vanilla taking cans to the recycling center trip. I was amused that the photo showed the end of a (long disused) stretch of railroad track just down the street from my elementary school.

Then, less than a block after I took this photo, on a slow residential street, a very angry woman who was having a hard time keeping her mail on top of her car screamed at me (yes: screamed) "IF I WAS A COP, I'D BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A TICKET!!!"

I briefly considered my options, mostly stopping to ask "Um... what would you give me a ticket for?" since I genuinely wasn't doing anything wrong, much less anything worthy of a ticket. (Side note: the only thing I could even remotely think of is that she doesn't actually know what California Vehicle Code 23115 says about "rubbish vehicles", since it was absolutely covered and secured in such a way as to prevent anything from falling. I am guessing that she thinks anyone transporting aluminum cans by bicycle is a criminal.)

But I made an almost instantaneous decision to not interact: she struck me as the type of angry nasty aggressive person who might very well pack a personal sized pepper spray.

So I rode on. And went through various possible responses in my head. And tried hard to decide if this was a #driverwhohatescyclists or #driverwhohatespeoplewhomightbehomelesswhorecyclecans sort of thing. In the end, it probably was best to ignore her.

Made me sad for Sacramento, though. Especially since, if we could have had a reasoned conversation, I'm pretty sure I could have explained what I was doing, and why, and that I've lived here at least as long as her, likely longer (p.s. I went to elementary school less than a quarter mile away.)

Part One

No adorable nephews were harmed in the refinishing of this cutting board.

Bought six

But only needed five. So a return trip, also by bicycle!

Cutting board project part two!

Rubbing the silly expensive mineral oil in.

Who says Sacramento has no wildlife?

On my mom's front porch. Reader bonus: can anyone identify the species?

Broccolipalooza!

It's good, and good for you. Yum.

Flying out of Colorado Springs. Hopefully.

#adorablethingsoverheardinairports

"And that's why you love me, and I love you."

She looked up from her phone call then, and we had one of those strangers-never-going-to-interact-more mini smiles.

Another project!

A sunshine chicken run. Whee!

a classic(?) vegan hot dog

I started pulling out various leftovers to make a vegan hot dog for lunch, and then decided to dial it back, and go classic: sauerkraut and spicy mustard. Some might say New York style, some might say it's a relatively minimalist Pennsylvania style dog.

But is it really classic at all if it's vegan?

Vegan hot dog extravaganza!

Fancypants, right? Pasilla peppers, sauerkraut, smart dogs, and sauteed onions. Yum.

Onions. Lots. Of. Onions.

Green!

And a little bit of red - the prep for pasta sauce. From top left, clockwise:
Celery
Zucchini
Chives
Radish
Green onions
Broccoli (stem)
Broccoli (crowns)
Leeks
Carrots

Just how I roll

That's a four foot long raised bed garden. The bike cargo trailer rocked.

More vegan food porn

I'm just outdoing myself today! Sweating the onions with the parsnips and rosemary.

Watercress rocket!

Yeah, it's a rocket made out of greens. Specifically, arugula. Here's an explanation of the etymology of the word that is about equal parts interesting and boring:

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-word-arugula

This is my second prep-heavy soup in as many days. Yesterday was a big pot of black bean chipotle orange soup with tofu cilantro cream. Pretty tasty, and it was a big hit with the family: from about 12 quarts, there is less than a quart left.