Head for the Edge 07-08

Doing a couple unexpected presentations this week (filling in for an unwell friend) hasn't allowed me to respond to the kind people who wrote in with support, advice and compliments about the graduation speech I posted. My apologies. And a blanket - THANKS!

The talk seemed to go well yesterday a Nova Southeastern University. Length of talk was under 20 minutes, no ginormous gaffs, the expected number of laughs, lots of nice remarks after, and no sharp object thrown toward the stage.  (As I flew home, I tried to remember anything from any graduation speech I had ever heard. No luck.)

For some reason I always forget just how emotional commencement ceremonies are. Once on stage (wearing my slimming black graduation gown and cowl), my nervousness was quickly replaced by this huge lump in my throat at the joyousness of the day. For a few minutes I was a little worried my part of the ceremony would be just 10 minutes of blubbering in front of a microphone. And I didn't know a soul there. The recognition for the hard work and accomplishment of these masters, ed specialist and doctoral was truly a celebration and I was humbled to be a part of it.

And the event lasted exactly the planned two-hours. So the university officials were happy.

Anyway, I have had a chance to put my 07-08 Head for the Edge columns on my regular website. Here they are:

• Don’t Defend That Book, August/September 2007
• MUVE It, October 2007
• A Father-Son Chat (copyright for creators), November  2007
• BLB or PLC?, January  2008
• My Next Library Catalog Needs…, January  2008
• How to Destroy Any School Library Program, March  2008
• Perceptions, April/May  2008

Been writing this column since 1995! Good grief.

Back to work on my presentations of the Laptop Institute in Mitchell, South Dakota, tomorrow.

I hope the Corn Palace is as interesting as I remember it from last visit. Quite honestly, I was little disappointed to learn that the institute is being held at a local university, not at the Corn Palace itself.

It's always been my dream, after all, "to play the Palace." 

Corn Palace, Mitchell SD. I remember stopping here on a family trip to the Black Hills in the early 1960s. Built in 1892 to lure settlers to South Dakota, it's where Lawrence Welk got his start.

Comments

[Janice Robertson]

Doug,
With SO many tempting texts to read, I am not someone who usually ever rereads anything. I read it, decide how the information is useful, and then I move on. However - have to tell you I happily just spent a significant amount of time RE-READING your head for the edge posts. I truly enjoyed them for a couple reasons; in some cases, as a reminder of what I know and want to be doing and in other cases, as a nudge to try something new, learn something new, or consider an alternative viewpoint. For me your articles are like free PD - a library session without the signup costs and I just wanted to say, THANKS! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[Charlie A. Roy]

Doug,
Enjoy the corn palace. With prices for Dec Corn pushing the $7 barrier it might be worth scarping some corn off the walls and taking it with you.

[Doug Johnson]

@ Janice
You made my day with this comment. Funny how one blog post can scare up a dozen comments, but one is lucky to just a couple comments about a whole year's worth of magazine columns (or online columns for that matter).

I shared your remarks with the Linworth editors. Never hurts. Maybe I'll get a big fat raise. (And maybe Rush Limbaugh will come out in favor of gay marriage!)

All the best and thanks again,

Doug

@Charlie,
This high priced corn concerns me - having grown up a farm kid.

In the past, whenever you asked a farmer how he was doing, he had three standard responses: too wet, too dry or crop prices were too low.

Now they will need to find a new complaint!

All the best,

Doug