How the Marysville Public Library Saved My Life

[ccfinlay]

(This is the talk I gave to the Friends of the Marysville Public Library on February 15, 2011, at the Veterans Auditorium.)

I promised to tell the story of how the Marysville Public Library saved my life, but first I want to tell the story about how the Marysville Public Library nearly killed me.

Comments

[bogwitch64]

Charlie...when you get home tonight, have Rae give you a huge hug for me. I don't know what else to say, except thank you for sharing this.

[ccfinlay]

You're welcome. I've told bits and pieces of these stories over the years, but the invitation to speak in my hometown gave me an opportunity to pull it all together.

[bogwitch64]

I want to say, "FABULOUS" and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but...that just doesn't sound very nice, considering.

[ccfinlay]

I'd feel worse if you didn't enjoy reading it...

[janradder]

For me, it was punk rock but I think for a lot of the same reasons -- that it made me feel less alone and it gave me the courage to go on. This was fantastic. Thanks for posting it.

[ccfinlay]

Thanks, Jan.

[ccfinlay]

You're welcome.

[charmingbillie]

Thanks for sharing that, Charlie. I laughed and cried (hopefully in the appropriate places).

We had what I would now consider a tiny library, but there were always books there that I hadn't read yet so its size didn't really matter to me.

Dorothy Allison has a really good essay on how science fiction saved her. I don't have it in front of me right now but it's wonderful if you can find it.

And I was totally a clean your own wounds kind of kid so your kid logic would have made perfect sense to my younger self. Even if it probably was pretty stupid.

And that's probably enough random bits of response for now.

[ccfinlay]

"I laughed and cried (hopefully in the appropriate places)."

Wait... what? There weren't any jokes in this!

I'll have to go looking for the Dorothy Allison essay sometime.

[mabfan]

Wow.