APS & ALLIC Welcome Vartan Gregorian to SoCal

If you are a student with valid, current school ID, you are urged to participate in this rare opportunity to have your voice heard directly by Dr. Gregorian, who will carry your concerns regarding U.S. public education to the White House! Contact me regarding your attendance and/or details at hyesearch@hotmail.com by November 1~~~

Picasa Web Albums - Hyesearch - LAPL Welcome Brochure

Picasa Web Albums - Hyesearch - LAPL Welcome Brochure

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY

Total frustration when cyber-communication is in glitch. Some url's connect, and others (most of them indicate the link is broken). And I was almost in the mood to write a positive post!

ԱՅՍՕՐ ԿԱՐՈՂ ԵՄ ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ՏՊԱԳՐԵԼ

Այսօր կարող եմ Հայերէն տպագրել: Հետեւեալը առաջին անգամն է որ օրագրութիւնս հայատառ է:

2009 LAZEROW LECTURE @ UCLA GSEIS

Nicholas H. Basbanes, author of A Gentle Madness and Patience & Fortitude, as well as one of my favorites in this "trilogy of bibliophilic efforts", A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World, delivered the 2009 Lazerow Lecture, "Fruits of a Gentle Madness", at UCLA's Department of Information Studies last Thursday afternoon. It was an entertaining, enlightening, and inspiring talk, to a most receptive group of bibliophiles and bibliomanes -- the passionate lovers of books and the obsessive collectors of the printed word in all its forms.

Basbanes is an engaging writer, and his narrative in print is matched by his captivating storytelling ability. I, for one, couldn't stop smiling (especially when he said he reads what he's written aloud to his wife, since I'm accustomed to reading my writings to my husband in the middle of the night - usually when he'd much rather be sleeping).

At the end of the talk, our speaker entertained questions from the audience. I felt like the eager 4th grader I once was (many decades ago!), and asked whether or not there would be future editions of A Gentle Madness (1995), in which he inaugurated the lively, richly anecdotal exploration of book people, places, and culture for which he has become well-known and -loved. This allowed me to recount an unforgettable moment in the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library's 1986 attempted bibliocide at the hands of an arsonist on April 26, 1986.

At the aftermath of the fire, which consumed some 750,000 books and water-damaged some 400,000 more in the third largest public library in the country, the staff was called back to begin the sinister task of biblio-triage and packing the survivors of this cataclysm. As the manager of the then Foreign Languages Department (mercifully renamed International Languages Department in 1994), I was responsible for the well-being of its multi-language collections. During the harrowing 72 hours that ensued, the brittle, charred remains of a book came tumbling the stairs next to the Department. I gently picked it up, noting that it had fallen open to the title page. The title--Dieu te juge-- startled me. "God is judging you," it said. Was that warning a prophecy from the Almighty? I pondered. The book had to be saved, and by none other than me. Twenty three years have elapsed since that fateful day. Edouard Peisson's novel, Dieu te juge, (Paris: Grasset, 1955), has been under my tender care in a Ziploc gallon-size baggie, and only yesterday did it emerge from its protective encasement to have its title page be digitally photographed for the ages. I will have to borrow a copy to read, since the one in my possession is too fragile to have its pages turned.

The period of mourning for the City's great loss has long passed. Like the proverbial phoenix, rising from the ashes, the requiem for and rebuilding of one of the world's great "universities of the people" has brought solace and relief to the citizens of Los Angeles.

My profound thanks to Nicholas Basbanes for autographing my copy of A Splendor of Letters, and especially for allowing me to relive that "can this be happening to me?" moment as I continue my journey within the world of books, libraries, and life-long learning. BTW: I now have a Basbanes collection, having purchased 5 other of his books. I must now make time to read them!

FINDING THINGS CONTINUES...

~~~~~~~There's some strange things going on these days~~~~~

I was trying to fit a large tome on a shelf above my work area (can't really call it a desk), when I found a sheet protector with a flyer announcing my "retirement" from Los Angeles Public Library, and an accompanying "ode", authorship unknown, dated 3/15/99.

So, I read both over, got a little teary-eyed, and am sharing them here, before they get lost again in the dust and clutter of time.

THIS IS NO JOKE!!!

Things are starting to turn around, and it couldn't have happened at a better time! Lost items, which had gone missing, have started turning up in the most improbable places--there must be something in the air...good karma...whatever it is, I hope it keeps going for a while.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN SINCE MY LAST POST?

Where have I been? Where am I? Where am I going? Sounds really existentialist to me, particularly the second and third questions of this tri-partite self-examination query. BUSY sounds like a non-committal, semi-diplomatic answer. During last summer, I spent one afternoon a week meeting with my classmates and our advisor, trying to make headway with our dissertations in a collegial, critical environment. It helped a lot, but also raised more questions than it answered. I was hoping to focus on producing a review draft of the completed document, but other issues and my penchant for adding more to my plate have caused me frequent bouts of mental indigestion.

The Armenian adage, "There's good in all evil," applies here, for everything in which I have been engaged has taught me new things which are applicable to my aspirations. So I can move on. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, thank goodness,but there also is much work yet to be done!!!

Current projects (aside from the dissertation): ARMENIAN STUDIES AT A THRESHOLD, Society for Armenian 35th anniversary conference, March 26-29, 2009, at UCLA. I am responsible for the program booklet, which is at the printer's. Reviewed the galleys-in-progress and had to add to one page, with only 4 days to go. ARMENIAN PROFESSIONALS NETWORK, Report of 2008 activities, and Web site development. Just finished with a meeting of our admin committee. CLEANING MY DESK(S). That should be a fun, kind of archeological dig. Will post some pictures of progress with the latter. CHECKING E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, LINKedIN, DOING ON-LINE CROSSWORD PUZZLES, and STAYING UP ALL NIGHT.

The good thing is, I haven't totally lost my sense of humor, patience, enthusiasm,...or my mind, YET!!! I wish I could also lose a few lbs. of unwanted fat.