A blog "bench" in mom's honor?

I've been thinking of my mom today and while this shot isn't exactly a best portrait, she is doing the thing that has caused me to think about her today.  She's reading.  And she's reading a library book to her grandson.  On her front porch; in the midst of a summer that she'd mostly like to forget, she's reading. And sharing her love of reading.  And with all the books we own, she's reading a library book. 

My mom emailed me today and requested a few photos of the library opening.  I directed her to my friend's blog, the wife of the architect who designed UCU's new library.  (Kris, if you read this and could also attach a few photos via email, my mom would be thrilled).  But let me give a little more background. 

From the time I (and any Noll kid) can remember, reading was the thing.   You basically could never pull the "i'm bored" card at our house.  How could anyone who could read be bored?  A part of the package that came via a UCU visitor was a collection of a few missing books that I'd left in Sewickley this summer-- A National Gallery of Art activity book for kids, a memoir by a Kenyan author (I ordered it for myself!:), a favorite collection of children's stories (which Grandpa read to the girls tonight), and another art book that I'd left.  If you are picking up on an art theme, it is there.  But that is part of it, books give us a glimpse into so many of our interests, lead us to meet the people we'll never get to meet in person, give us that look into other lives and perspectives.  

But more specific to this blog entry; a library is a mediator of all that bookishness-- it is a repository of all those books, all those interests, all those intersections of an individual and the "content" that lies within the written word.   One of the major projects that my dad took on in his last years as a Vice Chancellor at UCU was the building of a new library.   And yesterday was the culmination of those efforts of so many people.  But I can't help but think that a large part of why that was his final project was due to the woman he married.   While my dad is also very academic and loves the written word, there is something in my mom and her very visceral love of the page, the book, and all the places those books come from that lead me to believe that in fact the finished library is in part a culmination of her years of belief in the power of reading, and specifically reading a paper book.  

For various reasons my mom couldn't be at the official opening but I'm sure she'll tour the library in full kilt sometime soon. And mom, if no plaque or piece of art, or bench has your name emblazoned on it as part of the inspiration of the UCU library, let this blog and my sureness of heart, assure you that I know you are  part of the reason that thousands of college students in Uganda will read and study in a well-designed library. 

A few library quotations for mom:

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.  Lady Bird Johnson

It is, however, not to the museum, or the lecture-room, or the drawing-school, but to the library, that we must go for the completion of our humanity. It is books that bear from age to age the intellectual wealth of the world.  Owen Meredith

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.  Carl T. Rowan