Libraries, Cut Backs, Budget Hearings, Fundraising
July 2nd, 2009The day after I attended a public hearing for a local library’s budget and the cuts it’s facing, Eric sent me this New York Times article about Ray Bradbury’s support of libraries. A library enthusiast, Bradbury, famous for science fiction works like The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and, of course, Fahrenheit 451, occasionally gives talks and makes appearances in order to raise money for libraries.
“Yahoo called me eight weeks ago. They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? ‘To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.’
“It’s distracting. It’s meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere.”
“The children ask me, ‘How can I live forever, too?’ I tell them do what you love and love what you do. That’s the story on my life.”
Eric didn’t realize I’m a Bradbury fan. I read many of his works while volunteering at my high school’s library. I believe There Will Come Soft Rain was my introduction to his writing. I think my brother handed me his school literature textbook and told me I should read it before I read Fahrenheit 451 as a high school assignment.





