Movie Review...

Well, Sunday afternoon's motorcycle ride had me meeting my ideal romantic interest at about eighty miles an hour, she in black leather on a black Japanese street racer, and I on my Trusty Triumph, she was young, slender and brunette and so lucky I am so old and very married. She waved and I answered, she was going South and I was headed North and I won't tell you what road we were on, she might be a reader of this blog (yes, I still have illusions of greatness). She did fit my pattern of women I pay attention to, but then I went to the movies today with the woman that was and still is all I ever need to pay attention to...

The movie is Fighting and I thought it was a great date movie, but then my date is usually sleeping in SciFi movies or ones with long dialogue and Elizabethan English. My date was once one of the most dangerous women I knew, but only in the most gentle manner - not one to wield blades nor blast bullets but certainly a bone breaking bruiser of improper unlady-like refinement. The story-line is a fairy tale, nice views of the grime of New York where the tourists aren't going, where people are probably carrying illegal guns but that wasn't in the story too much. Anyway, she liked the movie and all the story and all the action and that is high recommendation from her side. I loved the movie, don't know any of the actors and could care less about the director and camera guy --- except this was the first movie that by the last fight had my body twitching in response to the fight on the screen - and when I caught myself on the second block and combination I started laughing at myself - but really appreciated how difficult that was to achieve - I am not the kind of guy that gets reacting to movies like I was there - I can read to that level but not just watch, until today. If you never fought upclose and terribly personal since school yard bullying - well, you might not get it, but this movie dragged me onto the floor better than most. So if you can catch the matinee, get a military or Senior discount and aren't out getting the fields planted while the sun shines and the rains hold off a bit - it is worth the look. I will be buying it in DVD one day, just that kind of a movie that I will want to see again.

ILS Quarterly Training Conference...

Close the library for two days, go to Federal Way, Palisades Retreat and meet with all the other Library Keepers and the Gang of Three (Go3). Budget boredom, no money maybe less, keep the library open even if we can't buy more books, keep the libraries open - once the doors close it is over, they don't re-open. Policies and procedures in the afternoon session, and a tearful farewell from one retiring Library Keeper, Virginia. She said good things about all of us that have been working with her - mostly so far away - she used to call me and tell me she supported some of my more foolish risky statements of discord with the establishment - when I am wrong is it easiest to see when I am leading others astray. She is good people and won't be replaced easily.

Final session was of a DVD from the surveillance cameras in the library at the West Complex of the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla. Tough guy heaven, new buildings for the old Concrete Mama stuff... The temporary fill was Joyce, coming down from Airway Heights to keep the library open, she did and while distracted by a reference question about five of the twenty some patrons worked on an attack on another patron. The attacker walked across the entire library, put a book down on a shelf, and wound up and struck the victim from behind. The blow was for shock (worked) couldn't have done more than dislocate the jaw - but didn't. The attacker then wrapped the victim up in his t-shirt put him in a headlock and then beat on him for two minutes in the corner of the library. One of the attacker's partners, perhaps in more ways than one, sat in a chair facing the whole thing, not missing a blow. One other was close to a filled book cart and moving a little to maintain some blocking of the staff member's view of the library, where the fight was quietly going on. The fifteen or so patrons and two inmate workers kept quietly doing the library thing while glancing once in a while to the struggle. Suddenly two inmates come in from outside the library, all the patrons shift far from the fight in one corner and the first two officers show up and start giving orders to the fighters. The attacker lets victim go, victim starts beating up the attacker, more officers arrive, book shelves are being pushed over and around and books are hitting the floor, victim is hitting the attacker. More officers arrive, restraining and cuffing attacker then victim and walking them out and off to segregation cells. The remaining officers pat search all the inmate patrons and workers, clear them out, look for weapons and get statements from the staff about the fight. She saw only the last thirty seconds of the fight, missing the first two minutes (long enough that a deadly attack would have worked) and thinking the response team was quick during those last thirty seconds of fight. There are two cameras in that library, a panic button in the staff office she knew nothing about, and we watched the attack over and over and discussed what could be done to improve security in the library - better view, staying in the library not in office or workrooms, and of course more staff (which isn't going to happen during penny pinching seasons). Valuable training, very valuable.

I got out of my Earl is a loner mode, went for a motorcycle ride and filled my tank up, the Sun is out and it is cool and so is the Trusty Triumph and I. I ride back and stay for dinner at the Retreat (not normal conduct - Earl is a home boy and never stays - but Virginia doesn't notice). After I help move a table, set some stuff around and look at the preparations. You don't think we were going to allow Virginia to quietly slip into that fabled land of Retirement without embarrassing her. Invited old co-workers, gathered presents, letters from the Secretary of State and the Governor, a great scrapbook made by Joyce, pictures by Earl and Doug over the years, and others. About seven, Jeannie cons (prison reference!) Virginia into coming to the Library to play a board game and the Game is On! Surprise Party, three daughters and a grand-daughter have traveled miles in Virginia's van to attend and all of us and the tears start again, the jokes and tales of the troubles told. Jeannie is her old jolly self and cutting up, Doug has brought some decent drinking whiskey, and there is wine and Lemonaide for me. A cake doesn't last after appropriate picture taking and this social stuff isn't bad (says the guy hiding in the corner) but then it is in honor of Virginia, twenty-four years of institutional library service and she has done a fine job. The governor should have come, but then it wouldn't have been as much fun, would it?

Gee, what were they thinkin'? Superior Scribbler?

I have been nominated and that is different, but I seem to be a write in so I can live with that, thank y'all very much.

Old NFO (Naval Flight Officer?) of Nobody Asked Me (and he shoots so well) thought I was worthy of a Superior Scribbler Award.

So to keep the magic moment going I need to find five to nominate:

The Armed Canadian who is a fine writer and shoots lots of strange old stuff and can look at Americans with clear eyes.

Frank W. James, of Corn, beans spent brass... who writes for love and money, but I read him because he writes about work, the land and it rings with the truth of traditional values.

MC, an old guy on a skateboard, Hopeless Old Men on Skateboards is where he scribbles artistically and he hits me in several levels, being hopelessly old myself and my son the Skater so far away.

Jeffro, of The Poor Farm , writes from his truck driving and sometimes the homestead, and drops off pictures and political cartoons and such to share.

BT, known as Big Tobacco, from The War on Big Tobacco , warning and disclaimer - he writes like a foul mouthed adult with stuff on his mostly military mind and a bit of an attitude. But I read him regularly. I once knew fellows like him, and all he ever alludes to about women isn't the half of it...

Now, according to the rules….
Every Superior Scribbler will name 5 other Super Scribblers.If you are named you must link to the author & the name of the blog that gave you the award. Then you must display the adorable award and link to THIS POST, which explains the award. The same post also allows you to add your link. Then they will have a record of all the people who are Super Scribblers!

There are several bloggers like Tam, Breda, Brigid, Jerry Pournelle, Kim du Toit, Chris Byrne that are too good to trouble much, but I love to follow their thoughts and stories.

Don't you know I would get so excited I forgot to publish the post?

Work Alone in a Prison? What kind of fool am I?

I mentioned wanting to look into other employment since I feel alone at work, but then I am a loner so what am I looking for? I did take a test for a job in one Public Library and was called to schedule an interview session with another Public Library System, so I am working at seeing what is out there, but my wife reminded me of what my problem was with the Public Library before, aside from the part-time positions I was working (evenings and weekends, of course). Seems that I had forgotten how bored I was there - you know the times that there isn't a patron in sight, all the work seems done but you dasn't get caught doing nothing by the management - ah, the times when you can only think and check books for status, or start shelf reading. Boring, after all - the excitement is inside the books, on the tapes and cassettes and as staff on tax payer money I only get to use the materials on my time at home. So I went for the full time employment in a prison library and boring it never has been.

http://wastatelib.wordpress.com/ That link is the Washington State Library blog, directly from the State Library building in Tumwater, Washington, and it is boring. I actually worked there in Collections and Media sharing (ILL) once and nice enough people but in the end it was boring, too much time to do so little. When the chance came to return to a prison library I jumped on it and have been very well employed ever since. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/employment.aspx is the WSL employment link and you could paste it and visit and look at the offerings, they just don't describe the eight hour days and the mad rush of impatient patrons, all certain the universe revolves around them and only them first... and always. That might scare most gentle library types away...

I expect that if you haven't worked inside a prison that you think there are too many terrible people around and it is dangerous, and that might be almost true. But I have about seven years in prison libraries and only one half-hearted fight the entire time I have been working, the real fights are held elsewhere so they can't be interrupted by staff and the Emergency Response Team (Goon squad to the inmates). The more dangerous problem is staff being influenced to break the rules for an inmate - name the rule and they will try to get a staff member to break it, there are almost as many illegal activities inside a prison as outside. When they put tobacco off limits inside the facility the inmates say it just changed the price of the tobacco - since a heavy smoker still smells like stale smoke, I would have to agree that someone is still smoking.


Still like the world outside the fence, most prisoners (inmates, felons and violators) inside the fence are going about behaving well and getting along. They do demand that staff obey the rules and regulations (although they are sure they are okay to break the ones they need to) and there is a long list of customs and polite manners that other inmates know and dare not break without paying the penalty for crossing the line. Everyone makes choices and stands on what they have chosen to do. I watch, work and talk about this and other things with the questioning patrons and penalized, every work day. One never needs count the minutes and the hours for the days fly full.