Omaha, NE --The W. Dale Clark Public Library -- August 2, 2007

I had the pleasure of speaking with the community service specialist--thanks for taking the time to talk to me! ...contrary to what the picture looks like below, I think she had work to do!

She couldn't say enough nice things about their library or their director who can be summed up in one word--ambitious. She recently turned down an offer in Berkeley because her mission in Omaha was not accomplished—to put the Omaha Public Library on the map as a reason why Omaha is a great city. The library works to bring the community closer together.

The library is getting ready to launch their third “One Book, One Community” and has placed voting boxes in all of the libraries and other places around the community so that a vote can be made. In the running are: Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini; The Lady and the Panda, by Vicki Croke; the Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett; Peace Like A River, by Leif Enger; Singing and Dancing Daughters of God, by Timothy Schaffert; and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. (Last year the book was To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Also, for the first time, Omaha will be doing a book for children! The books will be revealed at the Omaha Lit Fest on September 14th.)

Right now she’s reading Devils in the Sugar Shop, by local author, Timothy Schaffert. She just started it. It’s a pretty wild book, describing Omaha’s underground sex scene and locations around town. Names of places, etc. are changed. The author is the founder of the Omaha Lit Fest.

Her favorite book of all time--Of Human Bondage, by William Somerset Maugham. It’s just amazing, she said. Other books that have grabbed her: The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel ; Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini; Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, by Bebe Moore Campbell and A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mystry, which she said are stunning and help the reader to get acquainted with different cultures.

She gave me their annual report to look at—pretty amazing. By dressing up as Yoda and doing an imitation, one of the teen librarians got George Lucas to allow the library to show Star Wars; Ice-T came to talk to kids as the result of some donor money and, I could go on...check out their library online.

Her final words--I love this library!

Omaha, NE -- August 2, 2007

I always find it awkward arriving somewhere in the early hours of the morning when I’m not quite with it.

A woman at the Kansas City bus terminal, who was returning home to Omaha after visiting her sister in Texas, suggested I get off at the first Omaha stop and offered to draw me a map of the area we’d be disembarking at 5:30am-- the Old Market, a quaint part of town with cobbled brick streets. The bus terminal was in another part of town a few blocks away.

I couldn’t bear to get off at the Old Market and deal with real "outside the bus" people who expect "normal". I needed a little time between the hours of night and day to become a "normal" again. I needed the Greyhound station—sink, toilet, place to spill out my pack to put the guidebook on top, consolidate papers, stuff back the long underwear, gloves, hat, and sweatshirt that I needed for the air conditioned bus.

As we pulled away from the first Omaha stop, with me still trying to open my eyes, my friend, a few rows up, pointed at my map. “It’s okay,” she said, “I drew you two. One for each place.” I love people.

About a month and a day earlier, at my sticky note the a map of the United States dinner, before most of the guests arrived, my friend Jenny had bound my head up so I couldn’t see, turned me in circles, handed me a sticky note and faced me in front of the map. The sticky went on Omaha.

That morning, between stop one and stop two, as the bus groaned through in its geared down, beginning to rev up pace through the giant streets, spaced out big buildings that this country is full of, and I imagined a giant thumb descending onto the streets, sticking on a mammoth, fluttery yellow sticky note.

But there was no thumb-print spiral or sticky note showing me where to go to lay my head, even with my beautiful maps. I'd forgotten to ask my friend where to stay! After finding the cheapest hotel in the area--an Econo Lodge with an early check-in (which actually would have been full if I'd waited any longer--American Idol was in town), I took a hot shower, set my alarm for noon, when my friend said I'd be most likely to find readers, and conked out in the queen sized bed. Luxury. I hadn't slept horizontally since the night of the 28th.

I spent most of my time in Omaha in the Old Market area, barely making it to downtown, and didn't even get close to the Barnes and Nobles where the front desk clerk at the Econo Lodge told me I'd be sure to find readers. I just found the neighborhood comforting and I was trying to relax. Here's a picture of me (above) with a woman I found kinship with. I'm guessing, though that, Greyhound is more comfortable.

Omaha, NE -- August 2, 2007

Reading Lean Mean Thirteen, by Janet Evanovitch. She’s read all her books. Why has it taken her so long to getting around to reading this one (it came out a month ago)? She was reading a biography about Cleopatra, which was 964 pages. It chronicles Cleopatra's life and confronts the misconceptions people have about her. It’s written in diary format and is the product of a lot of research. Through reading it she was struck by how little has changed about humanity though technology and the world has changed.

Some of her favorite authors—Elizabeth Peters, Rex Stout, James Patterson and Clive Cussler.

She has written short stories and children’s stories. She started writing a fantasy type book, which she will finish... when she retires!

Omaha, NE -- August 2, 2007

Reading Star Wars, Dark Saber, by Kevin J. Anderson. Recntly he read the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. What’s his favorite book? Good lord. What haven’t I read, he said.

He reads at an average speed of 100 pages an hour and has been reading since the age of four. One summer when he was bored he read a set of twelve encyclopedias.

His favorite book of all time--I, Jedi, by Michael A. Stackpole . The character is one that is rather dynamic and adds a different light to the Jedi thing, struggling with the different identities of cop, pilot and jedi and what means most to him. He’s read it six times.

He’s also a fan of Tom Clancy.

He writes fan fiction, that is, fiction in response to other work, which he can’t publish because of copyright. For instance, he wrote a sequel to Final Fantasy Ten. He would like to, at some point, work for a video game company as a writer. He is studying Japanese, as some of the largest gaming companies are in Japan. For right now? He drives a school bus, which he says, is great. It gives him time to read in the waiting periods.

Omaha, NE -- August 3, 2007

At my Econo Lodge checkout--

I love it when I don't even have to go out of my way to look for readers! Reading Divine Evil, by Nora Roberts. She likes V.C. Andrews, Victoria Holt and the Left Behind series, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

Thanks!

Omaha, NE -- August 2, 2007

Reading Genevieve, by Eric Jerome Dickey. Her favorite book of all time, Madea's Don’t Make a Black Woman Take off Her Earrings, by Tyler Perry. He’s a playwright and she’s read all of his plays.

She had to run and catch her ride....thanks for your conversation!

Omaha, NE --Jackson Street Books -- August 2, 2007

Manning the desk at Jackson Street books, though she wished the owners could have been there--they're from San Francisco! The store’s patrons, she said, feel as though it’s the best bookstore in the Midwest....and I just happened to stumble upon it. Would you believe that, just before I came in she sold a book by Faulkner for $2,000. (that's not why she's laughing though....)

Recently she read Blindness, by Jose Scaramago. It’s about blindness becoming contagious and everyone, except for one woman, becomes blind. People become like animals. The book was made into a play, she said, but thought it’d be better as a horror movie.

Right now she’s reading Seven Mysteries of Life, by Guy Murchie , which she likes because you can just open it up and read it, it doesn’t have to be read sequentially. It’s about the interconnectedness of life.

Her favorite books are art books. She’s a painter and works with acrylic and oil and goes to art school in town.

Omaha, NE -- August 2, 2007

Reading Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. She's reading this because she got scared off reading Handmaid’s Tale--her mom thought it was awful and so she’s never had the nerve to pick it up.

Usually she reads Asimov. Her fave--Nightfall and Other Stories. Other good books--The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury and Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux. She reads everything. Reading for her is about taking mini vacations.

If she were to write her own book....she’d actually write two—one would be sci fi the other an autobiography of sorts.