As is my habit, I looked at the ISU Calendar of Events, but especially for this week of my Spring Break. Having a university just down the street is very nice for entertainment, usually free and open to the public. If need be, I ask my spouse (employee) or son (student) for help getting tickets for events.
As it happened, I noticed a little announcement about someone coming to speak about fiction for Young Adults. It was also on the newspaper website’s Calendar of Events.
Armed with a printout of the announcement
and a note written for the whereabouts of the building
I loaded my backpack and walked down the street
On the Quad, I found the building, stepped inside, and began studying a nearby map to find the room number.
A nice young man, also sporting a backpack, said “Excuse me, may I help you find something?”
I told him the room number and name of the event, and he said “come with me, it will be easier” so I followed him downstairs, around a corner into a different hall.
He stopped and said to go all the way to the end of that hall, turn left, then at the very end of that hall is a big room for lectures.
on my own, feeling a bit like a mouse in a maze, I took comfort in passing classrooms and could see students in desks through the little glass window of the doors.
Inside the big room, nearly half the seats were already occupied. I went down towards the front, and against the right wall. I like to sit my bag out of the way. It looked like almost everyone was there at 3 minutes until the start, so I claimed the folding table to my left, pulled out the sheet of paper to take notes on the back
the speaker was Mr. Michael Cart, a nationally recognized expert in children’s and young adult literature. I was able to find one BIO page for him, but the flickering advertisements refused to finish loading, so it’s a search out your own interests. He says he does not have his own website nor blog, nor Facebook.
He pretty much read from a prepared text, but it was an informative history of literature as it pertains to Young Adults, loosely known as the formative years from age 12 to 18, or recently, even 30.
Looking at faces around me, I recognized a Language Arts teacher from a junior high school, the Children’s Literature Instructor from the community college, and several college students who had signed a Page of Attendance to get bonus credit for a class. The speaker said he hadn’t realized there would be such a range of ages and diversity in the audience. I was glad I was there; not sure what I’ll do with the notes.
In front of me was a gal knitting a sock on 3 straight needles. Next to her was a friend knitting a dishcloth.
They were listening, no need for notes.
I was crocheting a potholder, this is as far as I got
the Q & A time was informative
I asked if there is a picture of him in his youth wearing his pink corduroy pants on his website
which is when I learned he does not have a website
Walking again down long hallways, I asked a professor just locking up a classroom which Exit would let me out on the Quad, so we left together. She said she would rather have been listening to a lecture than giving one.
the walk home was an easy 12 minutes true north
~~love and Huggs, Diane
