{"id":21701,"date":"2018-12-15T09:54:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T14:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=21701"},"modified":"2018-12-15T20:25:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T01:25:06","slug":"contemplating-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2018\/12\/15\/contemplating-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemplating the day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Paul Chapman<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

At the station holiday party last night at the Sauter family home, the usual good food and good time was tempered for me by thoughts of the big changes underway for NCPR. Among the brand-new faces of new hires and plus-ones were lots of older faces, including mine, and some station retirees who demonstrate that there actually is a life beyond our daily labors.<\/p>\n

In a few years it will be a different station, which is as it should be. But it got me thinking past that not-too-distant day when I will join the ranks of the formerly employed. And it brought to mind this poem from a few years ago, when being a library trustee put me in a good position to observe the denizens of a certain Saturday.<\/p>\n

\n

Men at the Library<\/h3>\n

The youngest man at the library makes war
\nwith unknown adversaries across the planet.
\nBehind the cubicle wall he flexes iron thews
\nof his imagination, making mutton of all comers.<\/p>\n

The next came a-jog behind a double-wide stroller,
\nto nursemaid towheads promised a good story.
\nSitting cross-legged on the carpet, he murmurs
\nbaritone replies to a steady stream of soprano inquiry.<\/p>\n

There is the unemployed man, who emails
\nresumes like candle lanterns set afloat, and
\nthe discontented man, who grinds his many axes
\nwith reluctant pen pals in elected office.<\/p>\n

An older man relaxes behind the paper, happy
\nto be out of the house, for whatever reason,
\nand despite the fact that the very same paper
\nwas on his own doorstep when he went out.<\/p>\n

Saturday in the library, one can be undisturbed
\namong company, a particular masculine pleasure –
\nlike holding court, but without the nuisance
\nof issuing orders or hearing pleas for judgment.<\/p>\n

Then there is me – a bookish man – basking
\nin the convivial presence of my peers
\n(as represented by the long rows of volumes)
\nwho spent their lifetimes scratching at the page.<\/p>\n

In time I may become like the eldest, who nods
\nin the best chair, absorbing an obscure tome
\n(through mental telepathy, apparently)
\nwhose friends have flown, whose labors are done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the station holiday party last night at the Sauter family home, the usual good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6128,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21701"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21708,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21701\/revisions\/21708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}