smoochbelly

Excerpt from the diary of main archeologist Ture J. Arne (pictured right on item #2), March 22 1905: “We found something strange today. It wasn't far from the other graves in the area, but it was buried deeper. The extraction was difficult since it had become encased in a hard piece of stone we had to break through. […] This… artifact, it doesn't look like anything we've seen from the old Norse. A piece of loot from one of their raids, perhaps?”

“The crew is quite disturbed by the artifact, and I've heard far-fetched speculation about its origins. As much as I hate to admit it, it makes me feel uneasy too. […] There's one more thing I'm hesitating to write down. When I touched its surface I felt a nearly imperceptible vibration inside. None of the others seemed to notice. […] Tomorrow we'll load it on the ship and take it to Copenhagen.”

Arne's diary, March 25: “The mood on the ship has been odd. Some men have grown obsessed with my artifact. They try to pry it open, free what's inside. The captain sent crewmen to watch over the cargo and stop the fights. I tried to sneak in to see it at night, but they saw me.”

Arne's diary, March 27: “They will not take it away from me. I am the head of this expedition. This finding will put my name on history books. I will not let these thugs see what's inside before me. […] They say a storm is coming. That may be my moment to take it. Free it.”

Undated entry in Arne's diary: “The storm is here. I hear the men fighting outside now. It is time.”

The remains of the ship Storaker were found in April 1905, drifting in the Kattegat area. The ship was heavily damaged and no living crew was found on board. Artifacts matching the images were never located, and are presumed lost at sea.

You might not see this which is just fine but I wanted to thank you for something. My dad and I did 'read-alouds' far later than other parents tend to, and he read many of your books to me well into me being a teenager. He did all the funny voices. He's going into heart surgery soon (should be very simple procedure!) and we were reminiscing on reading your books together and how we might read one at the same time now just for fun and I just want to say thank you so much for this way I can connect to my dad and all these memories I have.

I hope you have a lovely day!

I'm so glad. My heart broke a tiny bit about 17 years ago, the day, half way through reading The Golden Compass to my daughter Maddy, when she looked up brightly and said "I think I'll finish it on my own, dad." She was 12 and I had been reading to her every night since she was a little girl (even when I was traveling).

New York City has a proud, an iconic history of libraries, librarians, and of caring for the minds of the people in one of the largest cities in the world. An investment in a library is an investment in the future. Cutting libraries, cutting librarians, leads to the same place that those who would ban books and ideas would like to take us: to a wasteland of AI book summaries, to a place where knowledge is not valued, where truth is a casualty, where the imagination is stifled and crushed.

I hope the NYCMayor and the NYCCouncil can be persuaded to invest in the future and to protect and build on and invest in our libraries. They matter.  #NoCutsToLibraries.