One of the joys of being a librarian is working with patrons who are intellectually curious and vibrant, interested and interesting, and who bring me news ideas and concepts.
This is such a case: a woman came in this Saturday, around 10.30, and told me about an exhibit she had recently seen at the Jewish Heritage Museum. It was about Sosúa: A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic - Sosúa: Un Refugio de Judíos en la República Dominicana.
I have never heard of this piece of history. I learned something. After telling me of this, and elucidating on the exhibit, the meaning of it, the historical details of Jews escaping Nazism and being given a haven (one they did not find in the US), we discussed the issue. I told her of the book I'm reading, Burnt bread and chutney: growing up between cultures -- a memoir of an Indian Jewish girl. She told me about her own family being in the jewelry business and doing business with Indians.
As we talked I noticed she was an attractive woman. Her face was made up, her lipstick perfectly drawn. her hair a weird shade of orange. In her sixties, surely. Her neck and hands said so. Yet clearly when younger she must have been quite pretty, even beautiful.
I see people all day long, many seniors, some teens, and all ages in between. Many people look sloppy in their dress, almost dirty. Some are dirty, and some reach the point of being disgusting. People cough and sneeze without covering their face -- and some that do then put those hands on the computer keyboard or the newspapers they are reading and that we in the staff will have to handle.
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