Catching Up Part 1

I know I have been neglecting my blog lately; and to those who read and enjoy it, I apologize. Time has been running away from me with all due haste, and it is with no little amazement that I find myself already well into July.

A lot has been happening since my last post--a few metaphorical fires at work that I've had to help solve, a Swedish holiday that resulted in much merriment and the usual traditional skoll, my bother visiting from the East Coast, and my adventures during this last weekend to celebrate Independence Day--not to mention any library-related events/topics/issues/etc. I'm going to try to post consistently over the next few days in an effort to catch up. I will also try and post a couple of recipes (including the apple pie I made Monday). Today will focus on Midsummer.

Midsummer is a Swedish holiday that celebrates the longest day of the year. Ironically, the official day for Midsummer is not on the Summer Solstice, but rather a few days after on June 25. Sil, or herring, is always part of the menu. This year, because my family was not celebrating alone, we added some other Swedish foods as well: hard-boiled eggs, Swedish cheese, Kalas caviar, homemade rye bread, smoked salmon to stand in for the gravlax, and four kinds of sil. For those who are not used to Swedish food or don't like it, the menu can understandably be a bit of a turn-off. For those in attendance, however, it was all very delicious. Dessert was coffee and fresh strawberries, another very traditional part of the holiday.

I had the pleasure to be in Sweden for Midsummer in 2000 and had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with the Swedish relatives. My cousin took me just outside of the town he lives in and had me pick a bouquet of seven wildflowers on Midsummer's Eve. Tradition says that any unwed girl who does this and places her bouquet under her pillow on Midsummer's Eve will dream of the man she will marry that night. My bouquet did indeed rest under my pillow that night, but I woke up the next morning sadly with no recollection of any dreams. To this day, I still don't know if I dreamed of my future husband that night.

Another Swedish tradition that I was able to enjoy was the dancing around the May pole (I have no idea why it's called a May pole when the holiday is in June). Where my cousins live, the celebration is held just outside of town in a big field with a small grassy mound that gives a perfect view of the dancing. The dancers wear a traditional costume; each Swedish province has its own traditional dress. Live music is played, and everyone watches and has a good time--sometimes even joining in with the dancing. Reminiscing now makes me want to go back and see it all again.

Below are a couple of pictures of our Midsummer dinner table. Tomorrow I'll post again about 4th of July weekend (and the apple pie recipe) before returning to the topic of libraries over the weekend.



An overview of the Midsummer table. Can't tell it's a Swedish celebration, can you? ;)



A close-up of one of the Swedish figurines my mom uses to decorate the table.

An indication of the times

For millions of people, the often-comforting, sometimes-frustrating presence of the Internet is one that we can no longer imagine being without. The near-infinite amount of information that is now at our fingertips boggles the mind. In many ways, our lives are easier; shopping, keeping in touch with long-lost friends and family, and looking up the process for changing oil in your specific make/model of car are only a very few examples of things that the Internet has made almost effortless. However, there have been some fallout from our willingness to integrate this beast so completely into our lives. The idea of a right to information is butting heads constantly with the right of an individual's privacy in many forms. It also doesn't help that people don't realize a very important truth about the Internet: nothing posted online can ever be guaranteed privacy. Someone somewhere will be able to access it, read/view/listen to it, and distribute it to anyone he/she pleases.

But I'm deviating from the focus of this post: our access to the Internet. It has by far become the norm. Even people in countries we would not necessarily associate with technology are hooking up to the Internet via computers and mobile devices. Our world is truly developing into a global community, one where all the best and worst of humanity is laid bare for all to see. Well, almost all--there are still areas of the world where the government has a say in what their citizens get to view online.

I think that the best indicator of our continued reliance on the Internet and how much an individual's worth can be measured by their online presence is a recent declaration by the United Nations. The UN's report, dated May 16, explains the importance of the Internet for many various reasons relating to other human rights and the means of human progress. According to the UN, blocking people from the Internet is a human rights violation. The report goes on to say that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is applicable to the forms of information exchange that take place on the Internet, thereby protecting them and access to them as it would other forms of information exchange. One interesting part of the report explains the very specific circumstances in which a restriction of the Internet would not constitute such a violation. Simply because the government is "trying to keep the peace" is not reason enough. It put me in mind of the Egyptian government's attempt to block the online coordination of rebels a few months ago when the old government was (relatively peacefully) overthrown.

"What does this have to do with libraries?" I hear you ask. Well, perhaps not much overtly, but at the heart of the purpose of public libraries is a free exchange of ideas. Libraries are perhaps the best physical embodiment of the First Amendment in the US Constitution and the right of free speech and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They provide the forum for us, the people, to find any information on any topic that we want. They provide the resources for us to explore any idea, no matter how controversial, so that we can make our own informed opinion of what we believe. And now with the rise of the Internet that I've been talking about during this whole post, libraries have included access to the online world and all the resources that it can provide as well. Libraries have continued to advocate by example the free exchange of ideas on all platforms--digital and otherwise--something that the UN has officially come to recognize as well.

Okay, on to a lighter topic, I do have another recipe to post: mocha pudding cake. This is a slow-cooker recipe, which makes me think that it may not take much tweaking to adapt the recipe to a dutch-oven heated over a campfire or with barbecue coals.

What you'll need:
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter--melted
4 eggs--lightly beaten
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/4 c. chopped pecans
2 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract

What you'll need to do:
1. In a large bowl, add the sugar, flour, cocoa, instant coffee, ground cinnamon, and salt. In a smaller bowl, mix together the eggs and vanilla extract.
2. Add the egg mixture to the large bowl along with the melted butter and pecans. Mix everything together until well-blended.
3. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 3-quart slow cooker. Add the batter and cover.
4. Cook on the low setting for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until set around the edges but still soft and slightly gooey in the center. Let stand for 30 minutes (still covered) and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

There's no such thing as a summer off

I don't remember my undergraduate years being as constant a thought/worry/etc when I wasn't going to class. Even when I was going to class, I didn't feel so much "pressure." Graduate school seems to have completely changed that. School finished over three weeks ago, and it's still something uppermost in my mind. I thought that by not taking classes this summer, I would have some time to relax and "forget" about school. That's true to a point, except I register for classes for the Fall 2011 semester next week which means I have to 1) figure out which classes I want to take since I'm almost done with my required courses, 2) complete my FAFSA to make sure I'll have funding for the fall, and 3) pull together and submit all the paperwork for my employer for tuition reimbursement. I may not be in class this summer, but I will still be taking care of stuff for school.

This brings me to my next piece of advice for anyone looking to go back to school and/or already back in school: get required paperwork/tasks done early! It would be so easy to just put things off, but in the end this would do more harm than good. Waiting to register for classes would mean I likely would not be able to take the classes and sections that I want. Procrastinating on the FAFSA would have serious financial ramifications and my best friend K would certainly have something to say about it with her experience as a financial aid officer (I hear many stories). No, it would be much better all around for me to get everything done as early as possible.

On a more positive note, my summer project--my garden--is coming along quite well. The local weather had me worried, as we were experiencing more rain and cold weather a lot later in the year than is normal. For a vegetable garden, this isn't always a good thing--especially if you are trying to grow plants that thrive in sunshine and warmer weather. Which of course comprises most of the garden. I'm sure the local farmers were also sharing my anxiety. Luckily, the sun has come out and is expected to stay out and the days are warming up. My garden seems to have responded almost overnight to this "change in the air." I've already been able to use the herbs in a fresh pasta sauce I made on Memorial Day weekend, and Scooter has harvested the strawberries that have been coming in. I'm looking forward to the squash and zucchini blossoms that I've finally seen just barely beginning to form. Some of those will be sacrificed for stuffed blossoms--a recipe that I will post when I make them.



The picture above is what the garden looked like a couple of weeks ago. It's quite a difference from what the garden looks like now.



This is what the garden looks like now. Everything is "coming up roses!" :)

 More to be posted later. In the meantime, it's back to "taking care of business."