The Clerk Manifesto

The library thrums with energy as I write. The people of my metropolis are in preparatory mode; a giant snowstorm is confidently predi...

Dear Inappropriate Publisher: The first rule one learns about approaching prospective publishers is that one must do one's...

For two months I lost the thread of reading. Surely it must happen to any reader, and you are here, so you are a reader. Is it so?...

There is no working person in the world who does not have failings. Not personal failings, though they too are the burden of every h...

As you most likely know, this address on the Internet mostly concerns itself with weighty issues. Heavy issues. Issues of theologica...

I was on my accustomed morning walk, just north of Lake Street, when the little orange tabby cat, with its wee collar bell ringing, ...

Here we are excitedly combing the Internet for reliable sources on where to go for the best coffee in Rome. And boy, are we getting ...

For some days I thought my opening salvo on all things Rome would begin with art. After all, for me it is the big three that set the s...

I was on the periphery of the events. On a busy Saturday, at closing time at my library, I was taking the mighty check in machine to i...

Dozens of people ask me everyday "What kind of blog do you write?" And I like to answer "You must read it to under...

Dear Editor, Pioneer Press Newspaper: I take no joy in being the bearer of bad news, but, alas, you are about to be scooped by...

You have probably heard of the runner's high. I don't run, but sometimes when I am on my walk, and I am very late, I sort of...

Dear God, I know you hate being contacted in any way whatsoever, and that you routinely deny enhancements to your created firmame...

Dear Neighbor, I could not help but notice what a lovely house you have. Not only is it beautiful, but it is so well kept up. Tha...

Some of my most powerful formative reading experiences took place deep inside the Peanuts arcana. It is hard to know what strange in...

A library patron comes to me with a problem. It's his second visit in a short period of time so we are now on familiar terms. In t...

A patron came to me at the front desk of the library. She had been sent over by a librarian in the children's room. This p...

Upon arriving at my library just past noon I saw the library director near the employee entrance talking with the property manager. ...

  The end of reading arrived at a nondescript, large suburban library in Minnesota on the night of December 9, 2015, at 7:42 i...

Dear Editor, Star Tribune Newspaper: I would like to present myself as your new daily columnist. Every morning you go into work a...