Month: April 2006

Beyond that, though, is the very real problem facing the remaining three librarians. We were having problems keeping up with the reference pile with the four of us. For three of us, it’ll be that much harder.

Adding to the mix are these factors:
1) we’re all going to a three-day program-wide conference next month, for which we’re doing a presentation that still needs to be done
2) I’m going to a three-day conference next month, for which I’m doing a presentation that still needs to be done
3) The Move

The Move will get its own post mighty soon. Let’s just say for now that I’m NOT happy.

It occurred to me that this will be the fourth major move in less than 14 years on this job.

The first place I worked was on the fifth floor of the old Delaware and Hudson building, commonly referred to as the Castle, the headquarters of SUNY Systems Administration, still usually referred to as SUNY Central, on Broadway in downtown Albany. When I first arrived there, I was in an entranceway, sharing a phone line with the fax, so that when I answered the phone, I wasn’t sure whether I would hear a human voice or an electronically-induced painmaker. Eventually, though, I got an office, shared with one colleague for a year, and another for four. That wasn’t bad, although someone did a building study, which indicated that our organization had the greatest number of people per square foot in the building.

Then we moved around the corner to 41 State Street, the mezzanine, which was awful, at least for me, due to someone’s design that made my (shared) office a passageway between one set of offices and another. Difficult to get work done. I was there for about three years.

But then we moved up to the 7th floor of the same building, and it was great! My own office. No window, but that was OK. It’s been quite civilized for the past three for four years.

Fred wished me good luck in my read.

So, what does James Overmyer, author of “Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles”, have to say about these issues?

First off, I don’t know that whether her sex life is a relevant issue, but I’ll get back to that shortly.

On the other topic:

Late in her life…Effa claimed she was not only the illegitimate offspring of a liaison between a seamstress named Bertha Ford Brooks, and a man at whose house she worked, financier John M. Bishop. And since both were Caucasian, Effa in fact was a genetically white person who nevertheless spent her entire life living, without regret, in a black world.
In 1977 she said, “My mother was a white woman. Her first husband was a Negro by whom she had four children. In the course of her sewing, she met my father, who was a wealthy white man…and I was born as a result.” Her mother’s husband, sued the white financier for alienation of Mrs. Brooks’ affection and won a $10,000 settlement.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooks parted company over the affair, and Effa’s mother married another black, B.A. Cole. The family included seven childen, six whose black fathers made them definitely regarded as Negroes, plus Effa, about whom questions were frequently raised…
She could never offer a real reason for choosing to live as a black, even when the truth told to her in her teens [by her mother] might have caused her to abandon a life that would clearly subject her to bias, no matter how subtle…In her old age…she mused: “I’ve often wondered what it would be like to associate with white people.”

So, she was “biologically white”, whatever that means. But she passed for black, something one doesn’t often find. Back at the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. government had very specific terms for mixed race people: mulatto, octoroon, and quadroon, and the Census enumerators were instructed to pay close attention to these distinctions.

Whereas, if she were filling out a Census form in 2000, or indeed for the past few decades, she would be able to determine what race she is. Regarding racial statistics, according to the Census Bureau: “They generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They do not conform to any biological, anthropological, or genetic criteria.” So, if Effa Manley wanted to identify as black, then she should have been able to do so.

As for her sexual proclivities, Overmyer writes:

Recollections of Effa include accounts of her attraction to some of the Eagles, particularly the irrepressible Terris “the Great” McDuffie. Effa, [her husband] Abe [pictured above with Effa], and McDuffie took the facts of this alleged triangle to their graves…

In any case, whether someone had had an affair generally doesn’t matter in terms of their suitability for baseball’s Hall of Fame, although I believe there is at least one currently HoF-eligible player that has been kept out for that very reason.

Pure Nerd
73 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 43% Dork

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the “dork.” No-longer. Being smart isn’t as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! — THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Friday morning, I get the paper and go directly to the Life section; no story there. Then to the local section; nothing. It wouldn’t be in sports, would it? No. Finally, I take the first section, starting from the back. So it was rather amusing to discover that, on the front page, is a not small picture of me singing. Not surprisingly, my mouth is wide open.

Carol and I went out to breakfast that morning. There was a woman sitting at the next table reading the paper, apparently from the back to the front. At some point, she sees the front page, sees me, looks back at the paper, and then back at me like a bobblehead doll. She asked, and I confirmed, that I was the subject of the photo. I was hoping to have the photo, but alas, it is not to be, at least not yet.

This week, our church choir will be singing the Requiem by Anton Bruckner on Good Friday. Nothing like a good requiem to take away the blues. For me, that’s actually true. I like requiems; I’ve sung the Faure, Mozart, Rutter, probably others. Also “How Lovely Is thy Dwelling Place” from the Brahms Requiem.

I’ve been largely absent from church the last few weeks, partly due to things beyond my control, partly due to stuff in my own head. But there’s something about singing during Holy Week that gets a singer’s adrenalin rushing. Yet, it’s also exhausting, and it’s even worse for musicians who might have gigs with churches and synagogues this time of year – I know a couple of them.
***

And while I’m plugging things, local-boy-makes-good Gregory Maguire, author of “Wicked”, is going to be at the main branch of the Albany Public Library Tuesday, April 24 at 7 pm. “Wicked”, based on “The Wizard of Oz”, but from the witch’s perspective, was turned into a Tony-winning Broadway musical. The talk is sponsored by the Friends of the APL. Since I’m a member of the Friends board, I’m happy to note it.