On This Date in 1998

Backing up to Thursday.

We had back-to-back thunderstorms during the early afternoon. During my lunch hour, I stopped at a nearby grocery store to buy a few items, mostly paper products as we had just about depleted our supply of toilet paper, Kleenex, and paper towels. The heavens opened up while I was in the checkout line. I stood under the canopy outside for 15 minutes waiting for the rain to let up. Because of the bulk of my purchases, I had four bags to load into the car. I would have got drenched making a dash to the car, let alone trying to get anything inside. I saw long bolts of lightning. The ear-splitting crack and roll of the thunder made me feel a little weak in the knees. Once the storm started to let up, I made my getaway. I unloaded the bags at the house and then returned to the library. On my way there, a second storm blew in. Literally. All of a sudden, I see the trees start to shake violently, and, a half block ahead of me, a sheet of rain moving almost sideways, as far-fetched as that may sound. It was a sight to behold.

Thursday evening I drove to Oshkosh just ahead of the day’s third storm. Actually, my destination was Waukau, a small community about 20 miles west of Oshkosh. I had made arrangements to visit LeRoy and Patsy Stahle. They live in a remodeled farmhouse, with three outbuildings on the property they purchased. One of them is the barn in which their two horses are kept. From 1970 to 1993, LeRoy drove the county bookmobile for the Oshkosh Public Library. He and Patsy used to host a library hayride every October during the early 1980s. A tractor would pull a hay
wagon along the mostly deserted country roads and we’d make periodic stops at a number of bars, then eat chili and enjoy the warmth of a huge bonfire. Those were fun times. Patsy worked at Speed Queen in Ripon. She retired four years ago. LeRoy is 64 and Patsy is 61, so they have plenty of years ahead of them. They are two wonderful people.

JoAnna and I were a little puzzled by Melanie’s remarks, especially being asked if she is a Christian. They just don’t ring true. First of all, are Christians the only people who are offended by the use of alcohol and drugs? Any devout person – Muslim, Jew, Buddhist – would likely find such behavior offensive. I’m sure that even some atheists would be offended. It wasn’t clear if Melanie’s visit included a job interview, but even in an informal situation, I can’t imagine someone saying, “We allow drinking and drugs on campus.” Beloit College is above the law? The drinking age is 21 and drugs are illegal, but of course that doesn’t stop students on most American campuses from experimenting. Maybe she misinterpreted something said to her. Nowadays, questions about religious affiliations (or sexual preference or health conditions) aren’t asked even casually during a job interview. As for the two women “making out”, that is certainly within the realm of possibility on a campus as tolerant and socially liberal as Beloit.

Eddie played baseball yesterday; Andy had the night off so he went swimming. The game was wild and woolly, lots of runs scored. Again, Eddie had a good night at the plate. He made a great play at third, fielding a groundball and tagging out the runner coming from second. It seemed like he instinctively knew what to do. Once again, the coach did not show up, so one of the dads volunteered to be an assistant coach took over, made out the lineup, moved the kids around the field on defense. The final score, you might be wondering. I have no idea. I think Eddie’s team won, something like 15-14. On the way home, I dropped off Eddie at the pool. (I had brought along his trunks and a towel.) He had twenty minutes to cool off and join his brother and Meaghan. The pool should get a lot of use this week, by the boys and many other people. We’re enjoying some hot, but not too hot, summertime weather. So far, it still cools off during the night, the temperature falling to the high 50s or low 60s. We have no problem sleeping.

December 16, 1979 (Movies @ the Library)

During the month of December, on consecutive Mondays, the Oshkosh Public Library has been sponsoring a Marx Brothers film festival: Animals Crackers, Horsefeathers, Duck Soup, and Monkey Business. Some extra money was left over in the programming budget so I decided to extend our usual Monday night movies another month with this miniseries. The attendance has been good but not as outstanding as I would have originally predicted. Oshkosh is not much of a movie town. It's even rubbed off on me. I haven't been to a recent theatrical release in over a year. Of course, much of that has to do with the poor quality of movies lately and the high cost of tickets. The Midwest has yet to hear of bargain matinees or of dollar movie theaters for second-and third-run features.

Yesterday's Marx Brothers offering was Duck Soup, my personal favorite of their ten or so films. Last week the audience roared its way through Horsefeathers; this week, although the audience appeared to enjoy the movie, the reaction was surprisingly subdued. Marx Brothers comedy relies heavily on the verbal interplay among the actors, especially in the scenes with Groucho. (The presence of Harpo allows the films to incorporate some inventive sight gags.) Perhaps the crowd was more in the mood for slapstick.

December 9, 1981

I sat down and looked Dick directly in the eye.

"Dick, how much longer do you plan to stay around?"

That led off a bizarrely interesting hour conversation, the conversation that I fantasized about dozens of times. We discussed the dress code incident, which I was introduced to at my first department head meeting, telling him his handling of that fiasco led to a damaging and irrevocable loss of trust and respect. We discussed his "chatterer" qualities. Dick confessed to being lonely: Genie works a different shift and most weekends to boot; Gregg is in his own apartment now; Thomas is extremely busy with his various high school activities. I can't really sympathize. Springfield provided me with all the loneliness I could handle, but I put the time to constructive use.

November 30, 1979 (Another Episode of the Dick Miller Show)

Yesterday Dick Miller and I had an interesting chat. My trip to the third floor administrative offices had originally been for the simple purpose of delivering to Julie the Youth Work Experience program evaluation forms for Robin. Julie wasn't at her desk so I peeked around the corner to see if Dick was in his office. He was on the phone but motioned me to take a seat. I remained standing until he concluded his phone conversation. He seemed eager to talk so I took one of the seats opposite his desk. After fifteen minutes of general conversation, he moved into territory he obviously wanted me to become familiar with.

Dick seemed to feel that he had become responsible for a rumor spreading quickly throughout the library. According to him, the hot topic of conversation arose during his recent extended weekend trip to Connecticut. Everyone thinks he's planning to move. Since I am not privy to most library gossip, this observation came as a complete surprise to me. As the flood gates were opened, the water roared down the spillway.

Dick confessed that he interviewed for the position of Connecticut State Librarian. He had previously discussed the matter with Bill, who naturally relayed the information to me.

Dick is obviously not happy in Oshkosh. Personally, I don't feel that he has become comfortable in the position of library director here. Since Connecticut is his home state, a move there would seem quite logical.

Now comes the big surprise. Dick is considering a return to Port Angeles at the request of the town's library board and many of the town's local citizens. At least that's hi's story. Two months ago he suggested that I apply for the same job. At first, the thought of moving to the west coast proved extremely tempting. Then I realized how content I was in Oshkosh. A move would be too disorienting at the present time. Better to enjoy the unexpected stability that has made my life so special this year.

November 29, 1979 (Bookmobile Service Under the Gun?)

While I'm waiting for library matters to be discussed again, I'll put the time to productive use.

Carl Schroeder made an excellent presentation in defense of the proposed 1980 library budget. Don Kutchera appears to be the council member with the machete. At least he's the only individual who has so far brandished one. Whether any specific line items will come up for discussion remains to be seen. Perhaps the final decision will be to cut out another arbitrary amount, say $25,000, of next year's budget. What happens then? Do we cut back on the book budget? Does the ax finally fall on city bookmobile service?

The latest issue of Library Journal contained a short article on the falling fortunes of bookmobile service in a variety of locations throughout the United States. King County in Washington has dropped its bookmobile service completely. Circulation statistics had been dropping steadily for five years. Sounds familiar.

Oshkosh Public Library's mobile services have suffered a similar drop. The highwater mark both for the city and county bookmobiles occurred in late 1975 and early 1976. That fact came to light after I constructed a chart of total bookmobile circulation on a month-by-month basis over the past ten years. Since the spring of 1976, use of both bookmobiles has dropped, precipitously so in the case of the city bookmobile. If no major cut occurs this evening, 1980 may prove to be the final year for bookmobile service to the city of Oshkosh.