It's All Happening

I’m not waiting for Black Sabbath like these girls from Almost Famous, but I’m just as excited. It IS all happening! Unbelievably, exhaustingly, and FAST…it most assuredly is all happening. But as it turns out, this happening requires a lot of work…A.LOT.OF.WORK. and no one’s doing it with quite the flare as Kate Hudson and friends. In case you’ve ever wondered what goes into the undoing of a school library, here’s a glimpse of the it...happening.

We even put our kids to work!

And in the spirit of outing with the old, I’d like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS and a super big THANK YOU to some very special seniors…ahem…graduates…that served as a big part of this year’s library staff.

Alondra; Nayeli; Cierra and Ashley; Bridget, Jocelyn, and Adrian; Adam and Noe; Selena; Brian; Courtney and Laurin:

You guys were a great help to Ms. McCrary and me this year! From welcoming patrons to the CHS Library where you were happy to serve to running errands, delivering fine notices, processing books, and packing boxes, we could not have done this year without you. I wish you all the best and hope you’ll look fondly on your time at the CHS Library.

To Hannah (babysitter extraordinaire), Judy, and Tony: 

You guys are still my go-to guys. I don’t know how they’ll do StuCo without you next year. You are amazing leaders, and I look forward to hearing about all your future successes.

As a child, my mom insisted on purchasing graduation cards with the poem If by Rudyard Kipling. In our small town with one pharmacy (I use the term loosely as it also served as our town’s clothing store, toy department, and wedding registry—complete with fine china), we were limited on card options, but she held out and drove at least an hour if necessary to find the few cards offering Kipling’s words of advice. I grew to love that poem, and I still find it greatly apropos for graduates. Sadly, I haven’t seen it offered on cards in years, and I’m afraid it’s nearly obsolete. To my graduates…all of them…I offer it now as my wish and prayer for you. 

IF

By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Out with the Old...Old...OLD

“I’m pretty sure these chairs were the same chairs that were here when I was in high school in the ‘60s,” she mused, lost somewhere in her own glory days. “You know, you can’t even buy replacement chairs for these,” the furniture salesman cringed, looking at me as if I’d recently personally selected the current library furnishings. Needless to say, the Castleberry High School Library has needed an extreme makeover the likes of which Ty Pennington wouldn’t even believe to bring it into the last three decades…ahem…I mean the 21^st century. Even though it’s not quite time to MOVE THAT BUS, at least the bus has moved into the district and taken up residence.

In the coming weeks, the books will be packed away, the ‘60s furnishings hauled somewhere into deep…deep…DEEP storage, and the CHS 20^th century library will begin its journey into the 21^st century as the new CHS Library Learning Commons. We’re not sure when, but sometime in the 2014-2015 school year, the ribbon will be cut, and students will be enjoying learning…commons style. Complete with a coffee bar, couches, and a plethora of collaboration spaces, the CHS LLC will be a place where students feel at home, enjoy coming, fall in love with learning, and discover the joy of reading…together…with their friends. Keep your eyes out and your ears open, and in the not-so-distant future, you just might hear the echoes of “Mr. Jones….MOVE THAT BUS!”