The library is the new mall

Hey guys,

Do you remember when you begged your mom or dad to drop you off at the mall so you could cruise the stores(and boys girls)with your friends. You'd look for the latest pair of Jordache jeans or try to find some new jelly bracelets or banana yellow fingernail polish to go with your banana hair clips. Guys would spend their weekly allowance trying to conquer space invaders or PAC man or donkey Kong. You'd go to the food court and bond with your friends over an Orange Julius and talk about who did what to whom. Everything was totally rad or awesome and you always wanted someone to gag you with a spoon. Well kids today have branched out. The mall is still a popular social gathering place. Malls have put in place curfews and the like to deter roaming bands of kids from window shopping heaven. So the kids had to find a new meeting place. Where can you go if you want to meet a secret crush and your parents won't be suspicious? Where can you go to create your own myspace page without your parents scrutinizing your every move? You guessed it the library is the new mall. It's like junior high all over again. Instead of battling it out with teachers-you're battling it out with library staff or trying to create your own west side story moment in the teen area. (cue the violins)"Rayshon, I just met a guy named Rayshon. And I know he's seventeen but he likes my applebottom jeans." The library turns into teen clickville around 2:30. You have your "I'm to cute to talk to you" gang "mean mugging"(this term means to give someone attitude with your expressions) the "let's take it outside"gang. It's quite hilarious-it makes work interesting to say the least. What happened to the good old days when the library was for studying and dare I say it ...READING. We used to be an institution of learning and resources. That is still our mission but we are now also taking the place of recreations centers that are closing due to budget cuts. We're also economical. Where else can you get free day care? What happened to after school specials and the Dare program. I've been thinking of starting my own Dare program. Here's a few slogans I've come up with "Dare to be quiet" "Dare to be normal" "Dare to use your brain" "Shut your mouth and open your mind" "A library card is a terrible thing to waste". This is not to say that every teen that comes into the library is inherently bad-just most of them(just kidding). I've had some really nice kids who come in and remind me that they are not all bad. Okay I've gotten that out of my system now. Tomorrow's post will be of lighter fare I promise. You'll see the softer side of des.