7.28.08 ‘brary blog

Category: dribblings

i had to work the ‘brary on saturday. it was mostly uneventful because saturdays in the summer in AL are for swimming and other outdoor shenanigans. but that doesn’t keep everyone away it just makes for slow saturdays at the ‘brary. however, we did have one character show up.

this lady comes in maybe once every two months. and what makes her a character is that she’s jewish. normally this wouldn’t be a “thing”, but this lady, she makes it a “thing”. she will ONLY check out books written by jews or nonfiction on the holocaust. talk about pidgeon-holing.

and she’s ALWAYS complaining that we don’t have many books on the holocaust. and lemme just say, for a small town public liberry in alabama? we’ve our share.

so on saturday she comes in and pokes around for a bit. eventually she comes up to the desk in a huff.

“i can’t believe this library doesn’t even have the Diary of Anne Frank!”

“this library does have the Diary of Anne Frank.”

“not according to your catalogue!”

“do you need the movie or the book?”

“the book, but you don’t have it.”

“oh, is it checked out?”

“no! it’s not in your catalogue!”

“what did you search for?”

“the Diary of Anne Frank!”

“oh, well, it’s not actually called The Diary of Anne Frank-”

“SINCE WHEN?!”

“it’s called Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. but everyone just calls it the Diary of Anne Frank, i think maybe because of the movie?”

“well not in germany it isn’t!”

“…okay.”

“in germany it’s The Diary of Anne Frank!”

“well, it’s the same book. it’s written by Anne Frank.”

“well, where is it?”

“it’s in the biography section.” obviously. “under FRA… for Frank.”

and if her attitude hadn’t been so accusatory i wouldn’t mind, but she’s always acting like we hide the jewish books. like we’re hiding anne frank’s diary. right. that’s our favorite thing to do, rename books and hide them. sure.

then she says she’s going to read it to her students because she said that her students saw a movie that showed christians being persecuted and she wants to prove to them that the jews were persecuted much worse.

what the hell kind of teacher is this?

yes, the holocaust was terrible and evil. but all religious groups have been persecuted at one time or another, right? the Inquisition comes to mind. people have been stoned, burned at the stake, and worse since the beginning of time for their religious beliefs.
but since when does persecution = bragging rights?

if you’re going to teach the holocaust then teach the holocaust. but don’t use it as a measuring stick. use it as a “we can’t let something like this happen ever again.” but not as a “my people had it worse than your people.”
really? cos while i respect your people? i can’t stand you, lady.

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