Monday, November 26, 2007

Come on girl, show me what you can do

I'm strangely excited that the Jackson 5 may tour again, as was reported on the BBC. I like them very much. I doubt Michael will be able to pull it together for the tour, but it's intriguing all the same.

There have been lots of strange, smelly people in the library today. It's the post-full moon syndrome, I think. Full moons seem to last longer than just the usual few days here. I call this celestial phenomenon the perpetual full moon. Our janitor commented to me that the people seem to be getting stranger and stranger this year. I sense it is due to our economy. People do not want to waste gas so they stick close to home, and since we are in walking distance to many neighborhoods they walk here. We have some homeless people, but these smelly people I have dealt with in particular are regulars and not homeless but socially challenged. I'm sorry if I don't seem compassionate. One man has been here over 3 hours, reading children's cookbooks. He usually sits upstairs in our reading room for copious amounts of time. I hope this isn't a new habit.

Our community was once the home of a large mental health facility, once housing thousands. Like many mental health institutions, de-institutionalization began in the 1970's. People formerly living in these settings entered the community, moving into group homes or on their own. Patient advocacy and increased outpatient mental health services were supposed to occur, but judging from our clientele it's clear that many fall through the cracks. Interestingly over 1,000 people are buried in unmarked graves on the site of the former hospital. I know that we are a second home to many of the people who once lived there. I sometimes wish that I had a degree in psychology when working with people, but the fact is that I don't and I cannot always help everyone. I think that's my downfall with this job. I have a hard time saying no, because I wish so much to please people. I suppose I've now been taken advantage of too many times and am losing that altruistic side of me.

5 comments:

Malathionman said...

You should always show more compassion for smelly people...bad girl!

So how much is a gallon of gas on the east coast? We are at $3.50.

Hyperher said...

I paid $3.15 last, so I have nothing to complain about. You have a larger vehicle too. Oil is really killing people here in Maine, since it is a prime heating source. It's getting cole out there. We pre-paid, but many other people are struggling to heat their old, New England homes.

Malathionman said...

Heating bills aren't a problem here. It's the A/C bill in the summer. $400 to $500 July through September.

Patty O said...

We're just under $3 in NH at $2.99. Ohh, the days when it was $1.30. I don't think I even drove back then.

It's funny you mentioned de-institutionalization, because with my job, the execs at our trainings are always talking about how we're a part of that de-institutionalization (that's a big friggin' word) when we work with our clients everyday, making them more independent. And I buy into that idea. People with disabilities, mental, physical, whatever, have a right to the same things we do.

Hyperher said...

It's cheapest in Saugus.

I agree with you that people with disabilities have a right to the same things we do. It reminds me of something a city official said about the current handicap access at our library. He said in a loud whisper, "How many handicapped people go there anyway?" WTF. Plenty do, but they don't complain about the difficulty they have trying to independently enter a public building. I also think it's sad what they used to consider worthy of institutionalization.