storytelling

Maryrose asked if there was any chance of a novel that tells the story of Hannah's ten years in the west with Strikes-the-Sky.

I'm sorry, Maryrose. Nope.

But her question did make me think about WHY this isn't a possibility, and the answer is important. You have to understand that it wouldn't be just Hannah's story. it's Tecumseh's story and the story of that last desperate effort to pull the tribes together.

I've read a lot about Tecumseh and his life and times, what he tried to accomplish, how it all went wrong. It's a tragic story -- for Hannah and for Tecumseh and everyone involved -- and I simply am not equal to telling it.

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I am easily amused, this is true. But really, this is cool. There's no other word for it.

John Blyberg is a librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library. He's clearly somebody with imagination and technical skills both, because he programmed a special feature for the AADL online catalog. With the click of a button you can generate a catalog card for the book you've looked up. Like this one, here. Of Homestead. Here's the link to this card's page -- and you'll note that you can add your own marginalia. In handwriting. I am such a geek, but I love this.

If you're a more talented geek than I am, he's made the code available for people to work with. It's a good thing I don't know how to program, because I'd never get any writing done at all if I could customize this for myself.

Along the same lines, library people in various places are trying to preserve some of the old catalog cards for their own sake. This takes me right back to the Lincoln Avenue branch of the Chicago Public Library.

Posted by at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (1)