Spring 99

every year Holland Hall School in Tulsa has a huge book sale. I went for the first time in Feb 99. Junius, Beth, and I girl I hadn't ever met got there at 7:30 am. It didn't start until 9 and we were quite a ways back in the line. There were police around because there had been some type of fight the previous year.

After it was over Junius and I were discussing the music that was played. They started out with nice baroque music. After about 20 minutes they switched to some new age instrumental music with lots of flutes and synth pads. This wasn't quite as good as the baroque, but it still wasn't bad. But then someone got the bright idea that what we really needed was country music. I'm really curious why this seemed like a good idea to them. Maybe it was just one of the kids who helps you carry your boxes of books out, that might be understandable. I just can't imagine anyone thinking, "Maybe the sounds of someone playing a twangy guitar and singing through his nose would be a good backdrop for these people as they look for Plato's Republic or Virgil's Aneid." But then again one thing I've discovered is that not everyone thinks like me.

The thing I remember most about that shopping experience was what I overheard a mother tell her 5-year-old. The girl had asked her mom what she was looking for and the mom replied, "Honey, this is a used book sale. That means you don't know what you're looking for until you find it."