Head Tale

Saturday Snap – A Brief Rain Whilst Camping

¶ Posted 16 June 2018 § Randomness ‡ Comments (0) °

Friday Fun Link – Drag Queen Storytime @officialrpl #yqr

A Poster Created By One of the Participants

This idea is increasingly common in other public libraries across Canada but it’s very cool that that Regent Place where I work was the first public library branch in Regina to offer a Drag Queen Storytime as part of the Pride Festival.

The idea isn’t without controversy in some circles but I was pleasantly surprised that the vast majority of comments I saw on social media and that I heard elsewhere were inclusive and positive.

For example, as I write this, the CTV News story on FB has 178 reactions – 107 Likes, 41 Loves, 24 Mads (whom I assume are mad because they couldn’t attend!) ;-), 3 Laughing, 3 Sads (again, probably because they had other plans that day) and 28 shares.

Out of 31 comments on the FB story, the one that got the biggest reaction (numerous Likes & Loves) was as follows:

That an article about people reading to others at a library can inspire such hate and bigotry is beyond me.

This is one of the few uplifting pieces of news, it would be nice if everyone could keep their negative/bordering on disgusting comments to themselves.

On a related note, I was also excited to see on social media that RPL was named “Ally of the Year” by the Pride Festival for this event and RPL’s many other actions – from our programs to our policies to our hiring practices – not just during the Pride Festival but throughout the year.

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Ferris Wheel Smile (June 2013)

It’s become a bit of a family tradition to take the kid (and now “kids”) to a small parking lot fair that sets up every June at the Northgate Mall, close to our house, instead of the bigger, busier, more expensive Queen City Ex later in the summer.

Here’s a pic from when Pace was younger on the Ferris Wheel. In comparison, last night, I couldn’t get him off The Fireball, the scariest, most intense ride they have!

¶ Posted 14 June 2018 § Family § MemoryLane § Pace § Photo § Saskatchewan § ThrowbackThursday ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: saskatchewan

#yqr Toilet A Top Tourist Attraction

Original Photo via Regina Leader Post

There was a time, shortly after I graduated from my MLIS program, where I seriously thought about putting together a presentation about the importance of the public washrooms in libraries – from making the entire library as a welcoming space for the widest variety of people to being a great way to promote programs to a captive audience, to including cutting edge technologies and innovations.

I never did pull it all together but I ended up bookmarking a lot of sites and downloading a lot of photos that would form a solid foundation for my presentation (which are still out there on the Internet if you know where to look – and no, I’m not going to provide links!)

The news that Regina’s Science Centre has been recognized for transforming one set of washrooms to give the sense of being in a traditional Saskatchewan outhouse is another story that would’ve gone on my bookmark list for sure!

(No word if a crescent moon is cut into the doors of the stalls or if people are required to use old Sears catalogues as TP though!) 🙂

¶ Posted 13 June 2018 § Humour § Library § LibrarySchool § MemoryLane § News § Randomness § Saskatchewan ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: economics, education, health, saskatchewan, science

Music Monday – “Seeing traces/Of the stars that came before/Hitting the pavement/Still asking for more”

I’ve got a bit of an informal Americana “camping music” theme going this month with Jason Isbell last week and now Son Volt this week…

“Tear Stained Eye” – Son Volt

¶ Posted 11 June 2018 § MemoryLane § MusicMonday § PopCulture § Saskatchewan § Video ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: camping, music

(Sunday) Snap – Sasha and Grandma

I missed posting yesterday since we were camping and my cell data was close to going over so I was trying to minimize anything I did online (er, some would point out that’s probably a good approach to camping in general!) 😉

Anyhow, by not posting a Saturday Snap, I ended up taking a great photo this morning of Grandma and Sasha leaving our camp site which I’m going to post as a rare “Sunday Snap” instead!

¶ Posted 10 June 2018 § Family § Sasha § Saskatchewan § SaturdaySnap ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: camping, cute, parents, saskatchewan

Friday Fun Link – What Are Some Albums That Are Great For Camping?

Reddit, which has just undergone its first redesign in a decade, recently passed Facebook as the third most trafficked site in the United States.

Being able to find any kind of timely information you want – for example, ideas for some new music to listen to at your campsite – is a big part of why Reddit is so successful.

¶ Posted 08 June 2018 § FridayFunLink § MemoryLane § Photo § PopCulture § Saskatchewan ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: camping, music, reddit, saskatchewan

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – My Only Ontario Vote (November 2006) #ElectionDay #OntarioVotes2018 #onpooli

With the Ontario provincial election happening today, I’m reminded of the time I unexpectedly got to vote in that province.

It was while I was at Western completing my Master’s of Library Science degree and it happened during a federal byelection in London North-Centre which featured Elizabeth May parachuting in to try to win the Green party’s first seat.

I have a memory that I almost pulled the lever for her, just on the basis that I like the idea of more parties and more viewpoints having representation. But in the voting booth (in the lobby of our apartment building if I remember correctly), I balked and put my mark beside the NDP candidate’s name (little good that it did.)

But let’s hope a wide swath of Ontarians are also willing to put an X beside the name of their NDP candidate today and the results are very different! 🙂