![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Carnegie Libraries
mood: 
thoughtful
thoughtfulOn the car pool in this morning, my neighbor reminisced about a childhood camping trip gone awry. In the middle of nowhere, Wyoming their car broke down leaving mom, dad and seven children stuck in a desolate town with a tiny campground. The town had two things that saved mom and dad from utter misery. A swimming pool, and a Carnegie library. Neighbor told us the first thing mom did was march all seven children down to the library and sign them up for cards. They read books by the pool for days until the car was fixed.
If there is a heaven, Andrew Carnegie is in it for providing 2,500 public libraries. By 1919, more than half the public libraries in the US were built by Carnegie. But you know that. You probably went to one.
Carnegie built public libraries in the US, in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Fiji and Serbia.
The Carnegie library in my hometown was the home of my heart. My mother provided (on file) written permission for me to take out any book I wanted in both the adult and children’s sections so she didn’t need to go with me to sign out the grown-up books.
Andrew Carnegie was a hard man and by all accounts, a bastard of the first order. But he’s changed more lives than he knew, and I’m eternally grateful to him. It was philanthropy on a grand scale and of the best kind.
Here’s what my library looked like. It still looks like this because the additions have all been added on to the back, to preserve the grandeur of the Beaux-Arts architecture.
I love you, Andrew Carnegie. Patron of Librarians!
An interesting man, truly
"In his Bostan', Saadi of Shiraz stated an important truth when he told this miniature tale:
A man me another, who was handsome, intelligent, and elegant. He asked him who he was. The other said: 'I am the Devil.'
'But you cannot be,' said the first man, 'for the Devil is evil and ugly.'
'My friend,' said Satan, 'you have been listening to my detractors.'"
--Idries Shah, "Reflections"
I found that in probably the most important unread book of the end of the 20th century, and ever since then, I haven't been quite able to see the world as most others do.