On Friday, November 2,
2012, I was the lunchtime entertainment for the Tampa Bay Library Consortium’s Annual Meeting. I had never
performed for a lunch before and the thought of competing with tossed salad and
grilled chicken made me slightly uneasy, not to mention extremely hungry since
I normally don’t eat before performances due to the fear of vomiting on my
audiences out of sheer nervousness.
Plus you never really know if a person is red in the face due to the hilarity
of your story time joke or because they are actually choking on a sliver of
bone and need help.
I was also performing for
most of libraries I had applied to work for at one time or another so the
performance also felt like sort of an audition/job interview, which really
makes things tough either way because when you are looking to get hired, you
can’t really make fun of anybody and secretly that’s what people really want
from comics – to say the things that everybody else is thinking & humiliate
the jerks in the room. For
example, before I went on, a librarian came over and said that she wished I
knew more of the personalities in the audience because if I could ‘roast them,’
that would have made her day. I
didn’t want to admit that I had my own list of people to roast – all across
America - but due to having something called integrity and respect for myself,
I wasn’t going to share any of my precious stage time talking about those sad
individuals. Besides, I am writing
a book and wouldn’t it be better to save those juicy details for “The Today
Show” interview with Matt Lauer?
Anyway, I also had the date
of November 2nd hanging over my head reminding me that it was
exactly a year ago that my life would take a giant U-turn thanks to an article
in the LA Times. People who say there is no such thing
as bad press aren’t trying to get a job in the very competitive and highly
conservative library field. Think
you have an incredible resume?
Excellent references? Make
a great impression on job interviews?
None of that matters when there is a full-page story about you in one of
the top papers in the country to create doubt in your abilities and
intentions…to the entire industry!
At the end of the hour-long
performance, I couldn’t help but to shed a tear. I was so happy to be still standing at the microphone
regardless of the obstacles put in my way. To look out at an audience full of the librarians I long
admired, most smiling and clapping, gave me hope that my unusual path, while
always in development and exploration, unpaved and rugged, was always full of
inspiration and adventure!
It has been an incredible
year of self-discovery and creativity for me in so many ways. Launching Stand-Up Librarian Designs
and sewing literary purses, constructing fun literary costumes with matching
hats and headbands has absolutely been one of the highlights of this year. A hobby I once gave up on, I decided to
try once again and as a result, has found an audience of patrons who purchase
them. It still makes me laugh that
I actually make my own outfits and have a merchandise stand full of things I
created! Now that is cool.
I cannot thank the TBLC
enough for showing their support to me on such a day that sparked so many
memories and allowed me to triumph!
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| Standing with my book cart before the show. |
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| Performing literary jokes for the TBLC. |
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| With Jessica Riggins of the TBLC. |
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| ALWAYS Ask a Librarian! |
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| Working at my merchandise stand. |
