Ballad in Plain E

I guess I knew this day would come, but surprisingly, I’m not sad about it.

With lots of exciting but time-consuming things happening in my life lately, and a moderately successful new group blogging endeavour underway, I’m just not committed to this blog the way I used to be…and I’m okay with that.

So, I’m putting Ballad in Plain E into back-burner mode for the foreseeable future. While I may write about my adventures at SLA in DC this year, I’m giving myself permission to not feel bad about not blogging here with any regularity. If something catches my attention or I feel really strongly about something, I’ll probably write about it. But for now it’s not a big priority.

Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on this blog over the years, and to all those who encouraged me. I have made lots of connections because of the blog, and I value them all!

Over and out (for now),

Emma

It’s a weird feeling to see my generation being described over and over again in the current business and library literature.

Net Generation, Gen Y, Millennials, Echo Boom…there are a million names and the birth-year range is up for debate, but generally accepted to be anyone born about 1980 or after.

The people writing these articles are always at least a generation ahead of me or more, and it’s pretty disconcerting. As much as they try to understand “us”, they never quite get it. And it’s also sort of annoying to be pigeonholed and stereotyped with these strange backhanded compliments (”They’re amazingly creative! They’re incredibly innovative! But they don’t want to do any hard work! They have an inflated sense of entitlement!”) I don’t need to link to any of them. You know the articles I’m talking about.

These articles invariably describe the characteristics of this generation, then offer suggestions or warnings on what to do or what not to do to keep these people happy and productive. Now, I am probably quite different from someone who is ten years younger than me, but I’m tired of all these trite, generalized accounts. Similarly, a friend of mine (who’s one of the hardest-working people I know) told me she’s tired of being lumped into a generation that’s accused of not having a work ethic.

Here’s what I propose: stop worrying about whether we watch commercials on TV or read newspapers anymore. Don’t waste your time trying to identify and reinvent new marketing rules. Start considering your potential staff and future clients as people with varying skill sets and personalities, instead of demographical categories to be neatly plunked into. I know that the nature of market research is to generalize and identify trends, but I just can’t believe that all these assertions about Gen Y are all that useful.

I know plenty of people my age who couldn’t do up a basic Powerpoint presentation to save their life. Likewise, I know fifty-somethings who know that when they’re having a problem with a piece of software, they can Google it, and chances are, someone will tell them how to solve their problem.

I don’t know. Maybe I fall somewhere in limbo between two generations. Maybe I am mistakenly categorizing myself as a GenYer when I’m actually part of Gen X. I certainly don’t feel like a digital native. Anyway, these are just a bunch of things I’ve been thinking about for a while, and wanted to get off my chest.

It’s always neat to learn about the personalities behind the books we spend half our lives filing updates into, shelving, and reshelving. I was fascinated by this Lancaster House interview with Innis Christie, who is an original author of Employment Law in Canada, and the winner of the 2008 U of T Bora Laskin Award.

Christie had some really interesting points on his practice and his career in law, mediation, and arbitration, but it was his comments on off-topic things that really struck me. For instance:

On the upcoming US elections:

“I think that this Sarah Palin thing is just appalling. I think it’s just absolutely appalling that she would appeal to a large part of the electorate. Because she’s unqualified, because she’s a believer in what I think to be absurd things, and because she has no sense of her own limitations. I don’t condemn the woman for that, but I condemn an electorate that is so ignorant that they think that the ideal person to run the government is somebody who is like them.”

On advice he gave his children:

“My youngest, when he had come back from an academic year in France and was looking for a job in Nova Scotia, said to me that he had read that there were very few jobs and people were having a great deal of trouble getting them. I said to him, and it wasn’t the first time I said it, or the last time, as he reminds me, I said “You’re not a statistic”. … He got a job. Has ever since. A good one. My children are more than just mere statistics. They’re individuals and they don’t have to be governed by the times and tides. They can take control.”

And on advice to students who want to follow in his footsteps:

“I don’t know. I guess, don’t try to outsmart anybody, just do your work, and call it like you see it.”

Seems like a guy who’s not just legal-smart but life-smart, too. I like the line about not being a statistic. It’s a good way to look at things.

…but I like how he thinks.

On the bright side: Election Party on Oct 14th!

Dinosaur Comics over at Quantz.com has been really good lately. This one struck a chord, though, because I noticed the same thing a little while ago. Now that we’re completely desensitized to the usual ultra-explicit subject lines in spam, spammers are getting personal.

I’ve probably gotten one with the subject line “What a Stupid Face You Have, [my name here]” several dozen times. And strangely enough, I feel a barb of hurt (or at least, offence) every time, no matter that I’ve seen it before.

I’m relieved that T-Rex (er, Ryan North) and I aren’t the only ones who’ve had this experience. It was widespread enough for the New York Times Bits Blog to post about it back in June (see “What’s behind the stupid face spam scourge?“).

The experts explain:

“It makes the mail personal, because it is a direct insult using the recipient’s name.”

“Is it successful? It’s successful enough for them to keep trying it.”

Ugh. I haven’t had one of these in a while. But no doubt they’ll replace it with something worse–it’s only a matter of time.

Yes, it’s true. And no, I’m not crazy. I’ve moved to Winnipeg!

After five fantastic years with Alexander Holburn, I decided that I was up for a new challenge. Winnipeg has always been near and dear to me, so I took the plunge and moved out here. I’ve got two jobs and they’re both going well so far. More details about that later.

What’s really exciting for me–since I’m not in Vancouver anymore–is that the Vancouver Association of Law Libraries (VALL), the organization that provided so many opportunities to me both personally and professionally while I was in BC, has just launched a brand-new website built on Drupal. Mega props to Steve, Rob, Andy (my successor at AHBL), and Susannah (my former co-editor extraordinaire) for all their hard work. Now I just have to renew my membership so that I can easily stay in touch with my dear friends and colleagues!

Also, news to me: The Edmonton Law Libraries Association is now blogging.  That group does so much cool stuff. Methinks it’s time for a formal group in Winnipeg!

This past December, Courtney sent an e-mail around to a group of fellow library techs and/or book lovers in Vancouver, asking if any of us were interested in forming a book club in the new year. A bunch of us said yes and we held our first get-together on Saturday afternoon chez Court & Andrew.

The first book we chose to read was “The Accidental” by Ali Smith. While we had about a month to read it, of course I didn’t actually finish until a hour before leaving for Court’s. I had trouble getting into it at first; Smith’s writing style is very different from anything else I’ve read. Nevertheless, when I finished the book, I realised that I’d really enjoyed it and was glad that I’d finished it. In April of 2006, the Daily Mail’s book club selection was “The Accidental”, so we based our meeting on those discussion questions. I’ve had occasion to mention the book club to a few people, who have all been suitably impressed that we actually talked about the book – apparently, in most book clubs people just drink and gossip about other stuff!

Next up is “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold, which I’ve already read but liked a lot and will be happy to talk about. And then we arrive at my selection, “The Golden Spruce” by John Vaillant. I started reading this book a couple of months ago but had trouble getting past the first chapter. I’ve heard others say they had the same problem, but at the same time, I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s an amazing book, so I hope reading it for book club will motivate me to power though the…er…drier bits and get to the good stuff.

It felt really good to have a good talk with my friends about literature and get the ol’ critical thinking going. Even though I’m sure we’ll lapse a little more into the eating/talking book club MO over time, I hope we’ll manage to maintain a group of nine or ten, and keep the good discussions coming. A great start to 2007!

A while ago, I got tagged by Rob Golbeck to do the “5 things” “meme”. So here’re five things you probably didn’t know about me.

1. I could watch TLC Daytime (A Wedding Story, Makeover Story, What Not To Wear, etc.) all day, every day. Seriously. But only the shows about people, not the ones about home renovations.

2. I got dean’s vacation two times before I got my act together, school-wise. The first time was from U of L and the second was at LCC (affectionately remembered as the U of Hell and Last Chance College). Fortunately it wasn’t my last chance; I went to SAIT and maintainted a 4.0 GPA during all four semesters of my LIT program.

3. I had a pixie haircut for about 3 years. Yep. Shorter than Twiggy’s! I had it for three years because growing it out was such a pain. Fortunately there is no digital photo evidence.

4. I am learning to play the mandolin! My late father was a somewhat accomplished bluegrass musician (by accomplished I mean, “his band was popular on the folk fest circuits”), and I realised a couple of months ago that my life just wasn’t complete without some fine mandolin pickin’. Mind you, I can only play about five chords, but it’s all about the effort, right?

5. I think creamed corn is the fruit vegetable of the devil.

I’m supposed to tag five people to do this, but most of my blogger friends have been tagged and completed it already (waa waa). So… how’s about Laurel and Gels over at 12 Hours of Power and Kels at a Life & Times of a Lipstick Librarian?

I’ve really been neglecting the ol’ blog over the last few weeks. While there is no shortage of things I could be ranting about (i.e, New Quicklaw, my renewed disdain for the verbification of “Google”, etc.) or raving about (i.e., our fun VALL holiday lunch, my new Nano, etc.), it’s just been too busy to get much of anything done, including blogging. In a few hours I’m off to Alberta to the internet-connectionless void of my mum’s house for Christmas, so I’ll be incommunicado for the next little while.

Hope the geek and tech elves are good to you this Christmas, and best wishes for an excellent 2007!

Something is seriously wrong with the way the site is displaying. Bear with me!