It turned out that Kent State offered the only American Library Association-approved Master’s in Library Science in the state, which was a gift to me. I lived with my mother and saved a ton of money.
The best time to be at Kent was after about 30,000 students left the campus and the town in May, so that we summer students could find parking. Kent is a pretty little town, with parks and a river, coffee shops and eateries. And a twelve-story library; on the third floor was the school of library science, where all our classes were. “You need to get the degree,” my boss said. “You won’t learn anything (a reference I thought to my experience, not to my mental capacity), but I need the piece of paper to promote you.” Since I’d left high school, I had been almost completely wrapped in a conservative Christian environment. No cigarette smoke, no drinking at lunch (or any other time), no profanity. I thought I would be okay, but I didn’t expect to make friends, which I did, beginning the first day. My fear of people has lessened with age, but at that point, I was still choosing end seats so that I would have a person only on one side of me. One less person to make conversation with, to share space. I chose a seat on the far side of the room by the window. (I wasn’t worried about getting out of the room, only about being bracketed with people I didn’t know and about not being able to see outside.) By the end of that first class in reference I had begun to make a friend, because we both agreed that there was such a thing as a stupid reference question. The professor did not think so, but we were somewhat experienced in libraryland, and we had heard some really silly and unnecessary questions. I didn’t wrap myself in my Christianity, but neither did I squelch that aspect of my life. I invited a new friend to church. One evening as we left class around sunset, the sky was simply gorgeous, and I asked a friend, “Doesn’t God do good work?” To which he responded, “Well, he certainly has a marvelous sense of color.” These people were fun, and they liked me. I knew I was liked back in my Christian world, but I thought that was because those people had to like me. My self-esteem was so low at that point that I didn’t see anything in me worth befriending. (Therapy, years later, helped.)
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Baptist GirlI was a conservative Baptist girl who grew up to become a career Christian, working first in a Baptist school and then in a Baptist college. For about three decades, it was very good until it wasn’t, and I had to leave. But the Baptists formed me. This is my homage to the good times and good people of the world I left, finally, at forty-three, when I became an Episcopalian. These are my memories; others might disagree with my recollections. So be it. Archives
January 2024
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