VENDOR WRITING

Our Shangri La

BY JEN A.

“We love the things we love for what they are” - Robert Frost

I've been thinking a lot about that Frost quote over the past year and a half of the pandemic. There's probably a place we all love and miss more than any other that has been closed or is so far away we didn't dare travel there. The isolation has been tough. But the longing for that special spot has kept us warm and looking forward. It has been instrumental in our striving to learn how to safely navigate the health threat posed by the COVID-19 virus so that we might get back to our own personal Shangri La.

That place for me has been the Hadley Park Library. When I first moved into a room across the way from the HPL, conditions there were deplorable. But over the years, through a little bit of care and investment and a merry-go-round of staffing changes, it had become a sanctuary of respite and learning for our community. It was a place for me and my neighbors to seek answers to our questions, to be distracted from our sometimes difficult lives with a good book or a movie, a place to get another ridiculous government form copied. It was safe shelter from the storm called life — until it wasn't.

One of the hardest parts of being locked out of my library home away from home was that every time I looked out of my window — there it was. I could see it and pined for the sparks of life coming from its shelves of books. I just couldn't get to them. There were idle computers just waiting to be fired up to help us understand just what the heck was going on in the world. All the wonders of the universe lay just on the other side of a locked glass door. The longing for all that the library had to offer was excruciating at times.

But what I missed most about my library was the staff. After being closed for such a long time, I worried our extraordinary librarians would be whisked off to loftier posts. Jocelyn, who works with our young people and has been with us the longest, is a gem. She's the no-nonsense rock to which our library community is anchored. She caught on to us right away. But she really blossomed into full force when Lindsay came onboard. Lindsay, our branch manager, is a talented administrator with a winning smile and exceptional, capable charm.

They're a great team and any library would be lucky to have them. We aren't the easiest group of folks to wrangle, but they have done it with grace and a steady hand.

This week, they finally unlocked the door to my Shangi La and invited the community back inside. Our staff is intact and we have a newbie, Shandi. I'm sure she'll fit right in with Lindsay and Jocelyn as guides. I cried, of course, as the crest of this particular unrelenting COVID wave broke. I wonder how many waves are yet to come. That is impossible to know. I only know that I am grateful to the Nashville Public Library and their small army of workers who make all things operate smoothly. They took the time to breathe new life back into our little library. Thank you!

Hadley Park Library may not be the biggest or fanciest library in town and we may not have the trendiest patrons. But I can't think of another Nashville branch library that is more important. We love it for what it is — a rock of stability for our community and our window to a world where everything is possible.

It's our Shangri La — our paradise finally found.

LIZ CHENEY

BY TYRONE M., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Yes, hats off, congratulations to you Liz Cheney for not being in Trump’s cult. They got so damn mad when she didn’t go along with the (Big Lie), Donald Trump’s buddy. Matter of fact, they they demoted her and got someone else to take her position. I know dirty as hell! The GOP and their allies all are caught up in Donald’s (cult). Liz Cheney went on the (air) and told the nation Donald Trump has actually lost the election, something we all (knew).

The puppet master once again pulling strings and making people jump around. Liz, I admire you for standing up to this Big Liar (Donald Trump) and making those (cowards) and Senators and House Reps look like fools. You and I know the truth, and it will set you free. But Trump’s cult following don’t want to.