Thursday was the last day for checking out books. The library is closed now. All checked out media is to be returned to the drop box by April 25.
There was a
rumor going around that a film crew would be there interviewing patrons as they
have at many other libraries across the nation.
Nobody knew what time.
Jenna and I
left the house just after 12:00 and headed to the library with books and games
in hand. Someone sat at our regular
table; she was using the Wi-Fi - I think. The mayor had come with his wife and
had taken several pictures before the film crew arrived.
As volume in
the library seemed to increase, Jenna and I decided to move outside. The sun was shining in our face as we neared
the bench between the parking lot and front door. I suggested we move across the street from
the parking lot and read while sitting on a bench over there. Quite a gamble as the element switch had been
tampered with all day: pouring rain, no
- sun, no - rain, no - sun . . .
Jenna saw
the camera crew from Serendipity Films pull up and we went back inside.
It was just after 3:00. Meanwhile,
Carisa Cegavske, a reporter from "The News Review" had come to interview the librarian
and patrons as well. She started with
our librarian before the film crew was fully set up. Jenna spotted a man with a glowing blue stick
over his belt.
"That's
a blue mike," she announced. The technician
was quite impressed that she knew that and asked her if she was planning on
getting into film.
Turns out
the "mike" he held looked more like a dust mop that had seen its fair
share of cleaning.
After her
conversation with our librarian, Carisa moved on to the mayor's wife. We were sitting at the table nearby and I
could see Jenna's wheels turning. I
literally had to h0ld onto her. Jenna
and I are friends with the mayor and his wife and I was not willing to lose
that due to Jenna's silliness and disrespect.
"Absolutely
no photo bombs!" I loudly
whispered.
The mayor's
wife had tons of information. She has been
through this before when Redding closed down its library. She wasn't going to move to another location
unless there was a library. After she
had fulfilled her years being on the library board, I filled out an application
and took her place - well sort of. She's
a pro and I'm still trying to get my feet wet.
I found it amusing that those who were filming
decided to incorporate Carisa's interviews into their film. Perhaps it had been pre-arranged, but it
didn't sound like it had. When Jenna
started answering Carisa's questions, the camera immediately turned on us. Jenna was thrilled.
It hadn't
been my intention to stay at the library all day. I had to return at 6:00 for the last board
meeting - which evidently the film crew knew about and asked to be a part of it
- although I had not known that at the time.
Jenna and I
returned to the car. Just before I was
about to pull away, I told Jenna that we had to go back into the library as we
had not signed a release form. (I hope Serendipity got a release form from Carisa as well, as I think she was in all the patron shots - or at least her voice was) After we
got that taken care of, we returned home to eat.
The vehicle in which film crew had
arrived was still in the parking lot.
Jenna asked if they would be at the meeting too. I didn't think they would, but they were -
along with an additional amount of public which actually doubled our usual attendance.
That was kind of different.
After the
meeting had ended, everyone went outside so the film crew could take one final
shot of the librarian closing the doors.
Once we were all outside, we found a rainbow right over the library. Instead of fading (as rainbows often do) the
colors became more vibrant. It looked to
us as though our library was "the pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. We all stood outside the parking lot to get
pictures. Unfortunately my camera wasn't
able to capture the awe.
The Serendipity
cameraman was out there filming. I made
a comment that it would make a great ending to their documentary, as for me,
the rainbow represented hope. He then
turned the camera on me. I wasn't
expecting that. I wish I had made the
same profound comment. It was cool to
have such an awesome ending to the tears we all felt for that day.
I came home to find Jenna also taking pictures of the rainbow and the sunset - her pictures came out way better than mine
Here is the article found in News Review.
