Field Trip!
October 12th, 2006 by eisha
One of the coolest things about doing what I do, where I do it, is that I occasionally get to see real, live, awesome authors and illustrators in person. One such time is the Boston Globe-Hornbook Awards ceremony at the lovely Boston Atheneum, to which all Boston-area children’s librarians are invited every October (at least, I think that’s the deal – maybe we just get invited because our Head of Children’s Services has been on the selection committee in years past… I should investigate). I’ll be attending this evening, along with a few of my fellow child-libs from the other branches. This year, I’m not just going to listen to the speeches and then try to accumulate as many autographed books as possible – I have some very specific goals in mind:
1. I will not embarrass myself in front of Roger. I did this once, when our library brought Katherine Paterson to town and he hosted a panel discussion with her and a couple of local literature and/or religion experts. The wound is still too fresh for me to describe what I did in such a public forum as this. Maybe someday…
2. I will avoid any contact with Kate DiCamillo that might reveal my identity, just on the off chance that she or someone she knows has read the little, er, critique Jules and I did on the bunny book. Which means, I will probably have my friends call me by a code name for the duration of the evening. Hmm… “Eisha-O”?
3. I will carefully monitor my cheese-to-wine intake ratio, to ensure that I avoid sloppyness. I have about the same body mass as an average 10-year-old, and roughly the same tolerance. So I don’t fare well at these wine-and-cheese affairs – somehow I have the impression that it’s undignified to grab the entire wheel of cheddar off the buffet table, but fail to recognize the potential for undignified-ness if I have that second glass of chardonnay on an almost-empty stomach. I have another embarrassing story about a reception at the BPL during the PLA conference in March. Again, I won’t go into detail, but I believe that when my friends decided to take me home I was trying to find the on-switch for the outdoor fountain. Repeat: I will not embarrass myself in front of Roger.
4. I will dress like a grown-up. I can’t explain it, but even after 33 years on this planet I cannot get the hang of dressing up. I’m pretty safe in jeans, but when I try to dress up I get caught between my conflicting love of all things crocheted/embroidered/buttony and all things studded/grommeted/lug-soled, and end up looking like Kim Gordon dressed like Stevie Nicks for Halloween. I’ll see if I can find something suitable. Repeat: I will not embarrass myself in front of Roger.
5. I’ll take excellent notes and tell you all about it this weekend.
Wish me luck, and if any of you readers/fellow bloggers happen to be attending too, give me a shout-out. Maybe we can meet under one of the statues or something… I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes.
Have a great time, Eisha. Don’t worry about the bunny…I have a feeling it’s okay to feel “iffy” about him 🙂
33 is young! Buy some great clothes and impress.
Hoping for a full report of the field trip…and attire. Will there be pictures?
Okay, and as long as we are talking awards, what did you think of the finalist for the NBA???
KT
Ooo! Ooo! I want a report!
jules
by the way, you MUST ‘fess up to #1. and also i have to add, as one of your best friends, that you’re being too hard on yourself, sartorially speaking. you dress well. anyone who sends me a ‘fight club’-themed story time tee shirt dresses well in my book.
Katherine: pictures? Well, not of me if I can help it. Maybe I’ll try to sneak one of Lois Ehlert or something.
Jules: I have already shared too much with the BPL near-incident. I’ll e-mail you later. And I think my ownership of a fight-club/book club t-shirt only further illustrates my problem.
Oh, and sorry, Katherine, I totally forgot to answer the second part of your comment. I haven’t actually read any of the NBA finalists yet. Octavian Nothing is high on my current to-read list, though – I’ve loved absolutely everything by M.T. Anderson except Game of Sunken Places. I’d like to read American-born Chinese, too. But the others I probably won’t – even though they probably have a lot of literary merit – because they sound so utterly depressing in the kind of way that I find hard to shake after I put the book down.
How about you? What do you think?
P.S. Kelly, you are sooo sweet.