Knowledge is cool.

The Collapse of Public Education in America (Infographic)

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

This infographic hit really close to home because of the poor condition Detroit Public Schools are in. For a university like Wayne State, I think it's important to understand WHY kids aren't coming into higher education prepared.

The Collapse of Public Education in America (Infographic):
And this post is not just because building books and digital services for education pays my bills. It just makes (all too rare) common sense to invest in your future through education through schools and libraries.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/collapse-of-public-education

Stephen

Youth's mistakes: online venting about the workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Memoir writing makes one reflect on youth. My latest thoughts have been on what I call my "adult youth," the twenties, and specifically my journey through the workplace at this age. In 2012, I will leave my twenties behind. While it was an interesting age, it is one that I am eager to transition out of. I'm not certain if this happens to everyone that gets older, but now all the mistakes of youth become more clear and vivid. Just as I scoffed at adults when they told me inevitable truths, now I am scoffed at when I try to give young people a heads up. It is particularly disheartening when I offer advice about behavior in and about the workplace, because young people nowadays think that none of it matters. But it does. It totally does matter and anyone that tells you otherwise is a clown.

The inspiration for this post was an episode of Louie, the comedian Louie C. K.'s show. This was the episode that Louie's sister dropped off her niece and ducked out to Philly. The show began with a bit about 20-year-olds and how they have nothing to offer and yet they think they should be entitled to more than they've earned. It was so funny and so true. It really made me understand the perspective on the millennial generation in terms of work. My generation has been infested with rampant laziness, misplaced entitlement, and, frankly, a lack of simple tact and respect for their elder colleagues.

This is not to say that this generation is void of greatness. There are multiple groups I've come across that give me belief in young people - my memoir group and young librarians primarily. These are keen observers and sharp thinkers. They do not fall into the millennial mold and after a single conversation with any one of them you realize that you are speaking to someone amazing. However, those are but tiny segments of a larger group with all sorts of problems.

The problem I'm focusing on here is understanding why young people spout off online about their employment or lack thereof when it's an employers market. Employers get to pick from the best nowadays and they're not going to pick the arrogant little shit with a big mouth, tiny resume and online profile riddled with employer-bashing and "woe is me" junk. No employer wants to see that you are lazy, entitled and have a bad attitude. Speaking as an employer myself, I'm thankful for those that shoot their mouth off and make the bad apples easy to spot and weed from the candidate pool. So, if you are a young person, do yourself a favor and keep your sniveling in the privacy of your own home. If you post that nonsense all over the internet, you are just digging yourself a deeper hole in a situation that was already bad for you to start. What do I mean?

According to a November 2010 Foreign Policy article, there are 81 million people worldwide under the age of 24 without work. In the United States alone, the article says, 19.1% of people under 24 are unemployed - the highest percentage since the US started tracking this information. In Europe, that number is higher, except in Germany, cause they're awesome. The young are last to get hired and first to get fired because they do not have the experience and skills that make them indispensable to an employer. Even now companies have openings, but the youth coming out of college do not have what it takes to get the job done.

Based on these grim facts, you would think that young people were more diligent at hiding their weaker characteristics. They are not. They love to broadcast their shortcomings loudly, without shame and to anyone that will listen. And that won't help them get hired.

The sad reality is that my advice nor the advice of any other adult will be heeded. Young people will continue their whiney rhetoric and continue destroying their chance of being taken seriously by employers. When you are young, you think you are invincible. Unfortunately, that attitude will only lead down the road of irrelevance. Life's tough. Grow up and stop publicizing that you are a bad hire.

Related story: “I Thought We Were Friends!” Can Nonprofits Terminate Employees for  Their Social Media Posts? Nonprofit Quarterly, December 22, 2011.

5 Things I'm Grateful For - The Year 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I haven't done one of these in a long time and realized this was one of the craziest years of my life and certainly one of the most significant.

Our Wedding. This was hands down the greatest day ever. My husband is my best friend and we made it official in a beautiful garden on a day blessed with bountiful sunshine. Then we partied with our dear friends and family with plenty of Bell's Oberon on tap. It was perfect.
My Job. In the midst of all the wedding madness/happiness, my place of work went through a hefty reduction in force. The dust has sort of settled and I appear to still be employed. Score!
Great books. I haven't read a lot this year, but I read some doozies: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Outliers, The Art of Racing in the Rain and I'm going to start the expanded version of The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.
Music. Something's gotten into me this year and I'm happening across a lot of new music that I really love - Portugal the Man, The Black Keys, Lupe Fiasco and others. I've just been fortunate in hearing tunes that make me happy this year!
Anonymous. It sort of seems like the world is going to hell in a hand basket. What comforts me is that in this sea of fools, politicians, advertisements, reality TV and everything else distracting our awareness, Anonymous is has the power to keep troublemakers in check and demons at bay. Anonymous has changed the game. In a time of such turmoil, it's good to know someone this powerful has your back. I'm grateful.

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:50:00 +0000

The Art of Racing in the Rain
By Garth Stein

This novel came off my "Want to Read" list because it had strong reviews. The main attraction for me was the narrator, a dog named Enzo. This is a great book for males and it was all about auto racing. While I'm neither male or a race car enthusiast, I still loved this book. In the end, the story pulled at all my heartstrings. It made me weep like a baby on more than one occasion. It made me miss my dog tremendously. It even made me appreciate racing in a way I never thought I could.

The story is about a family that suffers through a terrible illness, then death. After Eve, the mother, dies, her husband Denny has pretty serious legal struggles with his in-laws. The story is told only through what Enzo hears in conversation or sees on his own. You can hear the unconditional love that he exhibits to his master, Denny, and to Denny's daughter, Zoe. I remember FEELING his frustration as he saw something that he cannot verbalize. This book made me feel strangely privileged to be a human.

It is not often I come across a great book for men, but this one definitely falls under that category. It's not dragged down by complex story lines or characters. It reads quickly, but still has substance, as you'll see in my notes below. While I don't actually think men would cry too much, I'd be surprised if it didn't stir emotions in any reader. I cried at least three different times. I finished the book at the gym, something I'd advise against. Nothing looks sillier than someone tearing up while reading on a stationary bike.

For as fast as I zipped through this book, I was still able to mark some passages to share. Rereading them I realized that the most profound thoughts all came from Enzo, who is a fantastic character and one of my favorites in fiction. I loved the perspective of this story! Very different and very refreshing.

Notes:

That which you manifest is before you. (p. 46 and others - a theme)

Often things happen to race cars in the heat of the race. A square-toothed gear in a transmission may break, suddenly leaving the driver without all of his gears. Or perhaps a clutch fails. Brakes go soft from overheating. Suspensions break. When faced with one of these problems, the poor driver crashes. The average driver gives up. The great drivers drive through the problem. They figure out a way to continue racing. Like in the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1989, when the Irish racer Kevin Finnerty York finished the race victoriously and later revealed that he had driven the final twenty laps of the race with only two gears! To be able to possess a machine in such a way is the ultimate show of determination and awareness. It makes one realize that the physicality of our world is a boundary to us only if our will is weak; a true champion can accomplish things that a normal person would think impossible. (p. 64-65 and the emphasis added)

I couldn't read their body language because I couldn't see them, but there are some things a dog can sense. Tension. Fear. Anxiety. These states of being are the result of a chemical release inside the human body. They are totally physiological, in other words, involuntary. People like to think they have evolved beyond instinct, but in fact, they still have fight-or-flight responses to stimuli. And when they respond, I can smell the chemical release from their pituitary glands. For instance, adrenaline has a very specific odor, which is not so much smelled but tasted. (p. 78)

People, like dogs, love repetition. Chasing a ball, lapping a course in a race car, sliding down a slide. Because as much as each incident is similar, so it is different. (p. 96)

Who is Achilles without his tendon? Who is Samson without Delilah? Who is Oedipus without his clubfoot? Mute by design, I have been able to study the art of rhetoric unfettered by ego and self-interest, and so I know the answers to these questions.

The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles - preferably of his own making - in order to triumph. A hero without a flaw is of no interest to an audience or to the universe, which, after all, is based on conflict and opposition, the irresistible force meeting the unmovable object. (p. 135)

There is nothing like it. The sensation of speed. Nothing in the world can compare. (p. 154)

Many of us have convinced ourselves that compromise is necessary to achieve our goals, that all of our goals are not attainable so we should eliminate the extraneous, prioritize our desires, and accept less than the moon. (p. 246)

Book Review: Outliers

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Outliers
By Malcolm Gladwell

I have totally fallen for the writings and thoughts of Malcolm Gladwell just as I had for Ray Bradbury at one point. It's fun to get lost in an author that you LOVE, but my favorite authors to read over and over are generally fiction writers. Blink and now Outliers are two works that really have changed how I think. Outliers talks about an interesting set of characteristics and idiosyncrasies that lead successful people through their lives.

It's about perspective for me. It's not necessarily that I agree with all of Gladwell's observations. Sometimes I don't even fully understand them. That's one of my favorite things about Gladwell. He makes me want to understand and want to discover new things by observing the mundane in a different light. And truth be told, sometimes the things he presents are a little unnerving, as many new and mind-blowing ideas are. In the end, the discomfort is worth the knowledge.

The people that Gladwell chose to explore in Outliers are truly remarkable and make for gripping stories: Bill Joy, Bill Gates, Christopher Langan, the Beatles and more. Gladwell goes over the "10,000 hour" rule, where to truly master something, you must have practiced it for over 10,000 hours. Gladwell wraps up by saying that society should be able to provide the same opportunities for more people, not just those that are privileged or are in the right place at the right time with all the stars aligned. I suppose I'm not sold on the fact that is possible. Seems a little overly idealistic.

A short time ago I had to explain to a library patron what the difference between fiction and non-fiction was and how both were arranged in the building. She ended up needing a best selling non-fiction book and so we popped over to the New York Times Best Sellers list. I really talked Outliers up and she was excited when I picked it off the shelf. I don't think I was halfway through the book at that time and I was already recommending it. After finishing it, I would stand behind my recommendation.

Being part of the 1% is not a choice.

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:24:00 +0000

You are delusional if you feel differently.

Sunday Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:21:00 +0000

We must struggle while we are young. We will not be able to finish the journey if we leave our hardest work for our most fragile years. We will have plenty time to rest when we are dead.

Book Review: Cat's Cradle

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

After my wedding over a month ago, I found myself with lots of newly freed time to read. I quickly blasted through The Ask and then decided to rock another Kurt Vonnegut book, Cat's Cradle. Admittedly, I flew through both books and didn't really commit to taking notes. I was just happy to read for pleasure again.

Vonnegut has a very interesting writing style. It's mildly humorous, but totally weird. It's dark, but for some reason comes off lighthearted. He has an interesting way of being satirical without being too obnoxious.

This story was narrated by the main character, John (or Jonah), who was collecting material for his book, which explored what people were doing the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The fictional co-creator of the bomb, Felix Hoenikker, was making a cat's cradle to show his children. The children are the main characters that John interacts with and it's a very strange and surreal novel.

A funny side note was that my husband was recently playing the game Portal 2 and it sort of reminded me of this book. The point of Portal 2 is testing for science and of course there's a big ole human-killing apocalypse and science proves to be the demise of humanity. I thought it was interesting that dudes like Vonnegut were already exploring that kind of sentiment back in 1963.

Bottom line: It was good, but it really served as a jump start for my reading more so than the social commentary that it was intended for when it was published in 1963. I still respected it for that purpose, though.

Adventures in baseball 2007-2011

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:12:00 +0000

The last scorecard - Sept. 4, 2011

Last night was one of my favorite nights at Comerica Park. My husband had plans, so decided to venture into the city on my own. If the Detroit Tigers were going to sweep the Chicago White Sox - I wanted to be there. And boy, did the Tigers put the hurting on 'em - 18-2! I stopped taking score in the sixth inning when they scored SEVEN times. It was a lot of fun to sit back and enjoy though.

A couple thoughts crossed my mind as I reflected on the evening. The first was that I thought the Tigers were looking TOUGH. The bats are hot, hot, hot. Last Saturday the Tigers came back from a 8-1 deficit to beat Chicago 9-8 with a barrage of home run bombs. The pitchers are hurling great stuff. I'm listening to Doug Fister's 13 strikeout show on the radio right now. I'm finally ready to get comfortable with the idea of Detroit baseball extending into October.

It was the last night of summer. Last night was absolutely the most perfect night for baseball - a clear, 70 degree night, with a gentle summer breeze. It might not be the VERY LAST night of that nature, but there really is no stopping the fall now. Put the white clothes away and get your schoolbooks out. Today, Labor Day 2011, is 61 degrees and cloudy. And now start the Midwest prayers for an Indian summer, a warm harvest time.

I found friends were all around me. Some were getting hammered and trying to start the wave behind me. Others I was yet to meet. Ray, for example, was a very cool guy that had season tickets and brought his neighbor, Robert. They were absolutely amazed that I, a young, wise-cracking, newly-wed woman, would venture into Detroit alone to come to a ballgame. And on top of that, take score. It was the last scorecard in my book.

Rain delay in the 4th

The last scorecard resembled many before it. I scored many games against our Central rivals - Minnesota, Chicago White Sox and the Indians. I rarely finished a game. Often things were derailed because of a beer/food/bathroom break. Sometimes I just wanted to relax or get into the excitement more. Sometimes we left a bit early to beat the traffic. Sometimes Mother nature didn't cooperate.

The neighbor, Robert, asked me a question that for some reason I never considered and was a bit stumped when he asked: "So why do you take score?" He had wondered if I had season tickets because my score book was full. I realize now that it was my baseball diaries. It's not all of my memories because I started taking score long before I was keeping the book. My favorite baseball memory was Spring Training in 2006. I scored none of those games, but remember the experience fondly. But that was why, because I've always kept a journal and I'm obsessed with records. Also, my memory is bad, so I have to write.

Here's a gallery of some of my favorite memories I found in my scorebook.


Old Yankee Stadium

My first Mudhens game

The blown call, the perfect game that wasn't.

The Nasty, OH

Sitting is killing us

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:53:00 +0000

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Help support the “Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries Act” (SKILLs Act)

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:49:00 +0000

From the American Library Association:

Please call both of your U.S. senators at the capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121, and ask them to co-sponsor S. 1328 the “Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries Act” or the SKILLs Act.

The SKILLs Act was introduced on July 6 by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and will amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by:

Ensuring that funds will serve school libraries in elementary, middle, and high schools;
Improving literacy and college and career readiness through effective school library programs;
Encouraging coordination and shared planning time among school librarians and classroom teachers;
Expanding professional development to include digital literacy instruction that is appropriate for all grade levels, an assessment of student literacy needs, the coordination of reading and writing instruction across content areas, and training in literacy strategies in all content areas;
Requiring books and materials to be appropriate for students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners;
Providing grants on a competitive basis for a period of three years;
Targeting funding to school districts with 20% or greater levels of students in poverty;
Ensuring an equitable distribution of funds among the different geographic regions of the country and among urban and rural areas; and
Requiring greater coordination among other literacy, technology, and professional development funds and activities.

This legislation is very important for the future of school libraries within the federal government. So please call today and encourage your colleagues, neighbors, friends, family, and others to do the same.

To find out who your two senators are please refer to the ALA Legislation Action Center http://capwiz.com/ala/home/.

Be sure to post a comment to your member’s Facebook page and/or Twitter account (if they have them) asking them to co-sponsor the SKILLs Act.

Know thy library...Public v. Academic

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Libraries are not created equal. What you find in a public library will not be the same materials you find in an academic library. Sometimes, of course, there is cross over, but here are a couple things to keep in mind when going to these two types of libraries.

Public Library - This is where you can find popular titles, novels, newspapers and magazines, tax forms, children's materials, etc. We help you get started with things like job applications, homework assignments, genealogy and all kinds of other stuff, but we cannot devote the type of time a tutor, consultant or private researcher would devote to your project. You get about 15 minutes and then the librarian needs to help others. That's an approximation, but it's different everywhere. Public libraries do not carry stuff like scholarly journals, entire physical sets of legislative papers, laws, bills, technical papers, etc. You know what else they do not have: TEXTBOOKS. Public libraries do not buy textbooks. The only exception, and it's a rare one, is K-12 textbooks and that's really only when the school in question doesn't have it's own little student library.

Academic Library - Are you a student at a college or university? If so, BEFORE you head to the public library thinking they have everything you need (they don't), check your school's resources, ESPECIALLY online. Seriously, go to your school's homepage, type "library" in the search box and become familiar with how to use your institution's library. You pay a LOT of tuition and you need to be aware that you have premium resources available to you. This type of library will have the scholarly, peer-reviewed stuff that professors' dreams are made of. They will also have textbooks for check out. You can also use interlibrary loan services. It's the best. If your academic library doesn't have a book or article, generally they'll order it for you. Score. Give it a shot, you owe it to yourself.

Book Review: The Ask

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:57:00 +0000

The Ask
By Sam Lipsyt

This was one of my wildcard books. Sometimes I pick a book by its cover, the location of the story, the genre, but this one was picked by a subject near and dear to me - philanthropy in higher education. I thought it was a bonus that the story took place in New York and I was hoping for the best. Thing is, wildcard picks rarely go well.

This book was pretty lame. The protagonist is the king of all tools mixed into a story jammed tight with other terrible characters. He's a sleazy, pile of crap that I have no sympathy for. Even this guy's 4-year-old is a tool. The dialogue is frustrating, because you are subjected to a bunch of conversations that total douche bags are having. These hopeless, saps, losers are slogging through their sad lives, being bitter that others have it better, but they want to do a mediocre job in a mediocre life. They hate those that have succeeded. Perhaps that's a personal frustration of mine. That didn't help my opinion of this book anyway.

It's not that the writing was horrible, but it was scattered at least 3-4 times for a couple pages at a time. Those moments in the book reminded me of the Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test, which I didn't get through.

The Ask is a very quick read, but that's cause there's not a lot of substance.

Bottom line: pass.

How was your meeting?

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

One day I asked a colleague: "How was your meeting?" A shrug was followed by a single word: "Routine." We chatted a moment longer and then I headed home, but that word, "routine," really stuck in my mind. Meeting for meeting's sake is one of my ultimate pet peeves. If there's a hell, it's a long meeting with no agenda, time frame, or purpose. On the drive home I thought about when I call meetings. Here's what I came up:

A decision needed to be made, especially a decision that effected the entire team and their workload. I heard this first on the Manager Tools podcast, which is absolutely first rate and should be MANDATORY LISTENING for managers at all levels. The Manager Tools blog is totally sweet also.
Complex projects. Sometimes all the detail in an email can't stand up to a good ol' conversation with colleagues armed with paper, pencils, dry erase boards, drawings and ideas. My team always has good, productive discussions that enable us to go into a big project with the right approach.
Collaboration with other departments. Though I supplement all of my meetings with other departments with heavy notes and agendas, sometimes this is another case in which verbal communication is better than digital communication. However, I'm really trying to follow up after meetings at least by writing the minutes in my work journal - but GEEZ that's a whole ton of work! In the end it's worth it, but still.
One-on-one meetings. This is another awesome tip from the Manager Tools folks. It's great to sit down and just hear what the employees need to talk about. I haven't done that in a while, but look forward to scheduling some of those throughout summer.

Don't let your meetings be routine. Make them count. Make them important. Make them something we CAN'T do without. Make them so that people are excited or intrigued by what's happening at them.

And if we can do without a meeting, than by all means cancel it!

Detroit Bike City

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:39:00 +0000

I bike Detroit. This is a great video I found on the blog Hello, My name is Detroit. This documentary short is sweet. It's rather exciting to see the bike culture grow in the city. The blog post says:

It has been said more than once that one of modern Detroit's finest features is all the extra space on the road for cyclists. This is a true thing. Check out this charming documentary short by Alex Gallegos that highlights the Motor City's growing bike culture.

Detroit Bike City from Alex Gallegos on Vimeo

Book Review: One Hundred Years of Solitude

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

One Hundred Years of Solitude
By Gabriel García Márquez

This book was hard work, but it was great in the end. It took me a few months to really zero in and give it the attention it needed. The story is essentially the history of the fictional Colombian town Macondo and it's told through about 5-6 generations of the Buendía family. And, man, were they a train wreck! The bottom line on the book: it's great, but not for the casual reader. This is some hardcore magical realism literature.

The book is tragic in many ways and tragedy always appeals to my reading tastes. Yet the tragedy is lightened by the fact that Márquez writes in the style of magical realism. Essentially, the mundane is made supernatural and vice versa. Although it is very dense and makes for heavy reading, it is beautifully narrated and wrapped in a poetic, dreamlike form. I suppose that is something I both loved and hated about the book, which is a very similar sentiment I had after reading and reviewing Love in the Time of Cholera. At the end of reading both, I almost felt wounded from war and yet happy that I made the effort.

Márquez has this strange way of making me fall in love with his work, all whilst inserting themes that I despise in literature - incest, sex in general, and long lines of characters with the same names. The names in this one were especially maddening. After finishing Márquez's books, I have trouble describing why I love the writing so much. I am in awe. This novel was chock full of those unsavory reading elements, but when I finished the last page and finding out about the end of the family line, I was deeply satisfied. I guess that's what bad ass novelists do, eh?

Márquez made me feel close to the characters, but this book made my head spin. The whole damn family has the same 2-3 names. It was very difficult to keep them straight, but time, family and space all merge into into the same themes and repetitions. I was reminded of the fukú, a curse, that was on the protagonist's family in the generational tale Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The repetitious nature of these family stories is fascinating.

There are many novels that took less time to read and had fewer unfavorable elements, but they did not speak to my mind and soul the way that Márquez does. Magical realism puts a spell on me, as it should. Before I know it, there is a massacre, a rape, a civil war and in the next instant, it's over. The real and the mythical are mixed and that produces a story setting in a memory, a dream, sometimes a nightmare.

After I was done with One Hundred Years of Solitude, I read about the author more and found that Márquez really liked Franz Kafka - which made total sense. The dreamlike state of One Hundred Year of Solitude and the zigzag through time took me right back to my first class on The Trial. Márquez, however, leaves out the heavy dose of paranoia. He purposefully suppresses the paranoia in a place that clearly had tons of it historically. It's so freaking weird how he does that, but I love it! I'd like to read a biography on Márquez.

With a book of this length and magnitude, I found it difficult to break my focus on the story to take notes. Hence, of over 400 dense pages, I only have a few tidbits for you:

Page unknown

Since Aureliano at that time had very confused notions about the difference between Conservatives and Liberals, his father-in-law gave him some schematic lessons. The Liberals, he said, were Freemasons, bad people, wanting to hang priests, to institute civil marriage and divorce, to recognize the rights of illegitimate children as equal to those of legitimate ones, and to cut the country up into a federal system that would take power away from the supreme authority. The Conservatives, on the other hand, who had received their power directly from God, proposed the establishment of public order and family morality. They were the defenders of Christ, of the principle of authority, and were not prepared to permit the country to be broken down into autonomous entities. Because of his humanitarian feelings Aureliano sympathized with the Liberal attitude with respect to the rights of natural children, but in any case, he could not understand how people arrived at the extreme of waging war over things that could not be touched with the hand.

p. 363

Her heart of compressed ash, which had resisted the most telling blows of daily reality without strain, fell apart with the first waves of nostalgia. The need to feel sad was becoming a vice as the years eroded her. She became human in her solitude.

P 396

There was no mystery in the heart of a Buendia that was impenetrable for her because a century of cards and experience had taught her that the history of the family was a machine with unavoidable repetitions, a turning wheel that would have gone spilling into eternity were it not for the progressive and irremediable wearing of the axle.

Related link: Some things never change

Student Caller Reception at Wayne State University

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Usually I'm a bit ambiguous about my work places. Anyone with the ability to read could figure it out. In today's post, however, there is no ambiguity necessary. I am happy to say that Wayne State University is one of the absolute greatest places in the world. Allow me to share.

Last week, I had the honor of sitting in a room with some of the coolest and hardest working kids at Wayne State - the student callers for our annual giving program. Now, quick explanation - I'm in philanthropy and these young men and women are the FRONT LINE fundraisers. They are the people that call you, asking you for money on behalf of your alma mater. Some of us, the alumni, are super rad and give a fatty gift. Others are cool and don't mind that we called them twice in the same week because of not-so-great data. Heck, they give twice! Some of us require negotiation and extra convincing. And then some of us are total assholes.

But these students will give ALL of us a call and I loved getting to know them. I sat with them and I heard their stories. In my mind's eye it felt like the sun was rising on Detroit's future. I saw all these young people developing relationships, sharing experiences, delivering presentations (to the Board of Governors no less), enjoying intellectual banter, supporting each other, cheering for each other, laughing with each other. I joked to my colleague, "Why don't we have this much fun?" Which, of course, we do, but we all had a laugh.

I looked around the room and saw such potential, solidarity, diversity, enthusiasm and straight up smarts. These kids were sharp. All of them are obviously going to change the world in some way. I hope they chose to do it through philanthropy. A colleague told me how she runs into former student callers at professional conferences all the time. I'm not surprised. Shoot, I'd like to get a couple of those kids into Beecher House ASAP. It's time Wayne State University keeps some of that talent where it's needed most: home, Detroit, Michigan.

My experience gave me more clarity about why I love higher education: the students. They were all enthusiastic, high performers. My buddy and I sat at the ballers table. I seriously considered whether we were cool enough to be there. I felt like the freshman at the cool kids' table, but they made us feel welcome. Our table was a loud and fun bunch, but the whole room felt like a group of buddies. It was great. These students are what make Wayne State University the best place in the world, for learning, for friends, for life.

Baseball Poetry

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:14:00 +0000

Originally posted 6/18/08. Re-posted for my buddies that like softball and/or poetry. Enjoy.

I'm still on a heck of a baseball kick. Just the other week I heard this great poem on one of my favorite podcasts: Writer's Almanac. There's just one thing - it's a poem about softball. And I don't mean competitive softball, like those women playing on university teams. Oh no. I'm talking about out of shape, beer-soaked softball. The poem is quite descriptive, engaging, entertaining and then has an unexpected ending. I thought it had a feel similar to that of The Natural.

Read the poem: City of Tonawanda Softball Championship.

What did you think?

April is National Poetry Month: Wu-Tang Clan

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:54:00 +0000

I have been thinking about how to contribute to National Poetry Month and here it is: Wu-Tang Clan and Ghostface Killah. I've been listening to a lot of New York hip hop lately and it is amazing. Turns out the Wu-Tang Clan will be in Grand Rapids, MI in January 2012, which will require a road trip. Well worth it. These are great artists.

Ghostface Killah's "I'll die for you" is totally bad ass.

A couple related links:

The Wu-Tang Clan: http://www.wutang-corp.com/artists/wu-tang-clan.php
Ghostface Killah on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ghostfacekillah

More brain work please...and make it difficult!

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 16:40:00 +0000

"One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one's greatest efforts." —Albert Einstein

Weeks ago, I read this Scientific American guest article in bed and then drifted to sleep. The article was all about making the mind work and since that night it's been working on my mind. The author, behavioral therapist and autism expert Andrea Kuszewski, began by sharing a fantastic story about increasing IQ in kids with autism by over 20 points! Then, the article went into different ways of putting your neurons to work. Finally, I was dazzled by her works cited. I'm a geek, but so what?

I loved this article because it explored the mind, one of my favorite topics, and the article also made me a little uncomfortable. It was the same kind of discomfort caused by that The Atlantic article about Google's effect on the mind called "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" I don't think Google makes us stupider, but it does make us more complacent by making everything easier. Kuszewski would argue that makes your mind a lazy sh*t (my words, not hers.) I also experienced a similar type of discomfort after reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink.

Kuszewski's article touches on a couple things that hit very close to home for me. For example, I will forever curse the invention of Autocorrect and blame it for my atrocious spelling (truth be told - I misspelled "atrocious" AND "misspelled" during the creation of this blog post). My buddy Carlie once told me she would always backspace and retry to spell those words with the little red squiggles under them. I wish I would've had the smarts to have done the same. It would have saved me a lot of grief.

This article covered so many parts of my interest about the mind and the human abilities to think, remember and learn. I've read, reread and recommended this article to many. I STRONGLY urge you to enjoy this article and learn a couple of great ways to make your brain do work!

Read: You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential

Some things never change.

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:42:00 +0000

Some things never change and that is what incredible authors can capture in their writing. One of my absolute favorite authors is the Colombian-born Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read and reviewed Love in the Time of Cholera and now I am in the midst of 100 Years of Solitude. I wanted to share an excerpt which shows that it doesn't matter where you are or what time you live in, the human constructs of politics and religion are the same regurgitated concepts that surface time and time again. This book was published in 1967; the story of the family is many decades older than that. Yet, this excerpt appears to still be relevant today.

Since Aureliano at that time had very confused notions about the difference between Conservatives and Liberals, his father-in-law gave him some schematic lessons. The Liberals, he said, were Freemasons, bad people, wanting to hang priests, to institute civil marriage and divorce, to recognize the rights of illegitimate children as equal to those of legitimate ones, and to cut the country up into a federal system that would take power away from the supreme authority. The Conservatives, on the other hand, who had received their power directly from God, proposed the establishment of public order and family morality. They were the defenders of Christ, of the principle of authority, and were not prepared to permit the country to be broken down into autonomous entities. Because of his humanitarian feelings Aureliano sympathized with the Liberal attitude with respect to the rights of natural children, but in any case, he could not understand how people arrived at the extreme of waging war over things that could not be touched with the hand.

This is poetry disguised as prose. It is beautiful writing, which is why I will likely read every one of Marquez's books in my lifetime.

One president steps aside, another steps up

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Yesterday was a pretty intense day and it had to do with two presidents: former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Wayne State University's 11th President, Allan Gilmour.

Around noon on my way back to the office, a young man passed me holding the Egyptian flag above his head, smiling. It was 8 degrees out, but this young man was elated in the frigid sunshine. When I sat down to my computer, I heard the news that Mubarak stepped down. I watched the celebration live. Before my very eyes, history unfolded. The people of Egypt spoke as one, powerful voice and accomplished something epic together. Reading the New York Times coverage today has been amazing, as was watching the Al Jazeera coverage all yesterday. It was truly one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. We will see what the future holds for Egypt.

A couple hours later, my entire division got to hear from President Allan Gilmour. This man is incredible. He's already the talk of the campus and especially Beecher House. Just the other day he came up to our office and introduced himself to EVERY SINGLE PERSON on our staff. What a guy! After he spoke yesterday, I felt really confident in having the university in his hands. So did others. People told me later they had to hold back cheers as the president went from point to point. There was no battle cry at yesterday's meeting, but I still felt that everyone in that room could rally around the president. He spoke so eloquently and honestly. He clearly stated he knew nothing of Wayne State back in August and he sees something here. He has vision and he's for keeps. With his guidance, I think he's going to help us do incredible things.

Later at the bar, someone asked me "Do you think things will ever change?" I pondered that, because it's a very real question. The game here is exhausting to play sometimes. I've been on campus since 2005 in multiple positions. I've been in academia since 2000 and these kinds of institutions aren't exactly known for lightspeed improvements and progress. But about a year ago I had a sense that things were changing at Wayne State. There's no question that this ship's already turning around now. We will see what the future holds for Wayne State University.

Librarian Origins survey

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Thought this was interesting and would love to share with all my library and information professionals out there. I'm also looking forward to receiving a summary of results.

Survey's at: http://sol-plus.net/origin.php

How did you get your start?

Adventures in Management - Winter 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 01:00:00 +0000

In the realm of management, I am starting to really become interested in more complex research projects and how to effectively divide the work. Projects with a number of moving parts and a lot of cooks in the kitchen require a certain amount of direction, review and reporting and I think I'm still searching for that mix right now. I think I have a knack for delegating, but I would like to get into the literature a little more and see what I'm missing.

Reading has been a big focus of mine, but I haven't seemed to be able to capture enough time to sit down and absorb heavier stuff, like professional literature. I picked up two books by Scott Adams, the creator of the comic Dilbert and author of The Dilbert Principle and The Joy of Work. Admittedly, they're not the greatest books for positive managerial reading, but I've found a slightly different perspective on them. They are indeed hilarious, but The Dilbert Principle was written in 1996 and some of it still holds. I'm happy that Dilbert only reminds me of past jobs and not much relates to the present.

My job gets cooler as it gets more challenging. My department has been helping the entire division use information in a whole new way. We are reaching out and becoming more proactive. I think people are still getting used to our availability. We are using a variety of new and different tools. Our efficiency and productivity have increased. We just got an official new president, Allan Gilmour, for the next two years. It's definitely a time of growing at Wayne State. It's time for some healing in Detroit, finally.

Lost Library Haiku

noreply@blogger.com (Eva Gogola) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The other day I cleaned off my desk, which is always a tricky task because I always end up losing something (insert irony here). In the midst of the mess, I came across these three haiku poems. I don't know when I wrote them or in what context they were created, but I do know they were inspired by my public library work. Nothing special, likely nothing very good, but definitely a part of my life's archive. So, there.

Goodbye dearest friend.
My heart will ache with sorrow
forever trapped.

Angry bald guy ban
Good call, city attorney
Save the drama, son.

I speak no English
Need your collection for help
Oh, me so happy.