So Emma's doing a report on high schools in the 50s and 60s compared to high schools today. This occasioned a trip to the UM library . . .

Our first stop was the circulation desk: I got my UM library card. (Heh, heh . . . I still had my old account, and hey, wouldn't you know? I have a book out!! Moral Politics by George Lakoff; I'm staring right at it as I type . . . the nice guy at the desk renewed it for me . . . )

Then it was off to the reference section, which always necessitates a stop at the Reading Room on the second floor, a sweeping, grand room that's at least two stories high, with giant frescoes on the end walls and huge windows on the other wall . . . long, long library tables with low lights, comfy chairs in the middle of the room, and blessed silence within . . . It is one of the most amazing spaces on this campus that is filled with amazing spaces. (When we first started teaching online, I used to wish there was a way to convey the atmosphere in that room over the internet.) Emma's reaction was gratifying. She gasped.

Then we went on to the computers by the reference area. She found the book she was looking for - The American High School Today, by James B. Conant. So, we went to the stacks (a multi-step operation; we had to figure out which floor to go to, after all), only to discover that the book wasn't shelved where it ought to have been . . . but she found another called, Perspectives on the Conant Report. Then she found another called The Comprehensive High School Today, published in 2004: It was a collection of essays in response to Conant, who apparently came up with the whole notion of comprehensive high schools anyway . . . What really amazed me was Em's reaction; she sat down in the stacks, captivated by the essays she was reading, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just selected volumes off the shelf of the graduate library of one of the premier public research institutions in the country . . . at one point she exclaimed, "Wow, this Conant guy was important!"

Ach, ach, ach. That's my girl . . .

And of course, the fact that those additional two books were so completely, perfectly on topic and right where they were was the kind of serendipitous luck she'll soon know not to expect every time she darkens the door, but oh well . . . some days will be even better!

Oh - Em wants to be a high school English teacher, by the way. We've got to make sure she gets a chance to talk to Aunt Cheryl this summer!!

I'm pleased. Been a good day, after all.