Libraries, Beads, and Democracy

So I found out just before that shitty election, that my beloved local bead store will be closing at the end of the month. Big time bummer. I have been making jewelry for years and years, pretty much for the last 17 years or so, now that I think about it. When the bead store opened, I was elated, because I could finally find quality beads, semi-precious stones, and pearls, and real silver findings. Right in my neighborhood. Otherwise I usually ended up buying beads when I would go on vacation. Not only will I have nowhere decent to buy my jewels, but my little neighborhood hangout is closing. I used to go in there and hang out with my friend Donna and with her boss, who is also now a friend. We'd get coffee or lunch or whatever. Sigh...and now Donna won't have a job. It sucks completely (though D is one of the most talented women I know, and she has potential to do much more than just work in that store---which she knows). Anyway, I just spent a ton of money in there, buying up pearls and strands of other stuff I know I will be wanting in a few months when the weather gets really shitty. Sad... :(

Not only that, but the library system in this county, for whom I worked for two years, is going to have to SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY as of January 1. I also have a number of friends working at the libraries. Now this one is completely unbelieveable to me. I cannot fathom that all the resources of our excellent (one of the best in the country) system will be unavailable to anyone. That essentially means that those resources no longer exist. If you have no access, then they don't exist. It's a horrible situation in which the best run government organization in the county will have to close because of the costs of Medicaid. All the money needed for other services has to go to cover Medicaid, so the library would be cut 75% which means it would lose other funding and whatever's left would have to go to pay for unemployment, retirements, sick time, etc. If this happens, it will be shocking. The branch I worked at for two years was busy at all times. Full of people and programs for children and adults every single day. Circulation and use of other services has only been on the increase. Anyone who says that books or libraries are becoming obsolete are completely wrong. If anything, access to information is even more imperative in the current political climate, as well as in the worsening economic situation. If this happens, it means that the second largest metropolitan area in New York State will no longer provide freedom to information to all segments of the population, rich or poor. That is what the library does in the bigger picture. It is democracy in action. It allows ANYONE, regardless of race, creed, color, orientation, disabled, etc. access to a huge amount of information, that they otherwise may never be able to access. There is no conspiracy to keep information away from certain patrons due to cultural background, there is no policy of secret checking of records of suspicious patrons, there is no disparity in treatment based on one's income. In the library, in theory and in reality, everyone is equal. If these huge cuts happen, it will be yet another move away from the freedoms and democracy our founding fathers envisioned.

Shame on the US goverment for not coming up with a better plan for healthcare for all. So now, not only will people not have adequate healthcare (because, as we know, Medicaid is only for the indigent, not the working poor), but they won't have free access to information in order to learn what's happening or how to do something about it.

Draw your own conclusions...