A guide to walking in public

Annie's Log, 11/15/15:

I have been walking since I was about 10 months old. As such, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the subject. Walking may seem like a singular, individual action. This is not necessarily so. When there is at least one other person around, you are walking in public. This is one of many misconceptions about walking that I would like to address in this, "A Guide to Walking in Public."

Firstly, when walking in public, there are certain unspoken courtesies that are apparently no longer considered the norm. This presents problems when walking around in crowded places such as, say, a college campus. I have witnessed firsthand many ambulatory faux pas, and am taking to the internet to address them.

1. Walking in public alone:

When you are in a public place and walking alone (ie., not with another person or a group of people), it is easy to fall prey to the tiny human-trap in your pocket. This human-trap is more commonly known as a "cell phone," and college-aged persons are particularly susceptible to its wiles. While walking in a public place, avoid the desire to become completely and utterly sucked into your human-trap and keep your wits about you. Avoid WWD ("Walking While Distracted") at all costs.

WWD can lead to any number of Public Walking Infractions, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Creating a Social Divide:

• This Public Walking Infraction happens when a person splits a group of people (or worse, a pair of people) by walking between them when they are attempting to have a conversation. This is incredibly rude, but does provide the people you've just divided with a new topic of conversation (how rude you were).
• Becoming a Personal Space Invader:

• WWD is, by definition (which I just made up), the act of walking around without knowing what's happening around you. This can lead to one of the most awkward walking infractions, which occurs almost exclusively when looking down at one's palm, typically at the screen residing there. Unbeknownst to the walker, someone in front of him has slowed or stopped completely, because that person was paying attention to his or her surroundings. The Walker, whose continuing momentum moves him forward, will get right on up in another person's business, effectively popping their personal bubble. This is incredible inappropriate and uncomfortable for everyone involved. Don't be responsible for Personal Space Invasion. Every time you do, a puppy is less willing to cuddle with its owner.
• Tailgating:

• This rule is named after following too closely behind someone while in a car, not getting drunk in a parking lot before a football game. You may be thinking that this seems eerily similar to Becoming a Personal Space Invader. You would be wrong. Tailgating happens while in motion, and is infinitely worse than Personal Space Invasion because the Walker subconsciously adjusts his speed to match that of the person in front of him, despite the efforts of the person in front of him to shake the Tailgater. Tailgating often results in Personal Space Invasion, which sucks, yo.

2. Walking in public in a pair:

• All of the faux pas committed by a single Walker can be committed by a pair of walkers, but are made worse because there are two Walkers and they should know better, darnit.
• Walking in the Middle of the Road:

• While it may be a good idea to walk down the middle of the road in a metaphorical sense, as in "don't rock the boat" or "don't make waves" or "stop being stupid, you're ruining the group project for everyone." For Walkers, it's a terrible thing. It results in problems for groups of Walkers who are following the Rules of the Walk by breaking them up, causing them to split up and needlessly interrupting their lives.

3. Walking in public in a group:

• All of the above infractions are multiplied tenfold when committed by a group of Walkers. They're the worst kind of Walkers, and deserve to have foot cramps and to just miss the crosswalk and have to wait for the next one.
• Boxing Out:

• While boxing out is encouraged in basketball players and moving companies, it is highly discouraged when walking in public. Taking up more room than anyone else on the sidewalk and forcing others to go "offroad" or to step aside and wait for your horde to pass is inexcusable, even if you find yourself caught up in the thrill of conversing with your group. Don't do it.
• Boxing Out One of Your Own:

(This is a dramatization of Boxing Out One of Your Own)

• The most heinous of crimes, this typically occurs in groups of 4 Walkers, and results in one member of the group having to walk behind the other three because there's no more room for them across the sidewalk. Not only is this rude to the person in your group who is now forced to walk alone, but it is discourteous to others who not only have to take the time out of their day to move out of your way, but now also must judge you for your poor treatment of your Walking-Mates.

I hope that this brief guide to Walking Etiquette has helped shed some light on your strolling patterns and has perhaps even made you consider your own walking patterns. Tune in next time for my Guide on Appropriate Interactions with Pets.

End Log. 

Shel Silverstein

Annie's Log, 11/10/15

There was a book at the library
Called Everything on Top,
And it caught my eye
As I walked by,
And it made me sigh,
So of course I picked it up to see.

I flipped it through and smiled at the pages,
The words by Shel Silverstein.
It was like others I'd read before,
With fantastical beasts and more,
And ideas spilled onto the floor,
Not bound by silly book-cages.

This one brought me to another time,
When I had flipped through the drawings,
Read words that have brought so many joy,
Some simple, some heartfelt, and some coy,
With a tree that loved a little boy,
All written with wit and near-perfect rhyme.

I'd read some like it often before
With fantastical beasts and more,
And ideas spilled onto the floor,
Breaking out of their simple book-cages,
Like this book at the library.

***************************************************************
I saw Shel Silverstein's 2011 release, Everything On It, at work yesterday and read through the 200-page book full of silly poems feverishly. It reminded me of sitting in my first grade class when my teacher read us poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends (my favorite was always "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me, Too"). And of course, A Light In the Attic and Falling Up and The Missing Piece and Runny Babbit. And one of the greatest children's books ever, The Giving Tree.

It was a nostalgia trip that I wasn't prepared for when I started going back to find some of these old poems that I remembered. There was one about a young prince who only ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and one day the peanut butter glued his mouth shut. And another about wearing masks and polishing the stars and a "Hug-O-War" and so many others that all came rushing back to me when I did some digging.

Just thought I'd share.

End log.

Annie's Log, 11/03/15:

This week in my Introduction to Information and Library Professionals class, we finished up a project in which we were instructed to make something. That was it. Just "make something." The point of the project was to get rid of the stigma surrounding librarians-you know, that old stereotype of the old lady with the severe look and pursed lips and thick glasses who shushes you.

My classmates and I took this challenge and ran with it in every direction imaginable. We had a "fair" today in place of class where we were able to share our creations. Among many other things were the following creations: home-brewed beer, a family tree, hand-made runes, an impromptu ukulele performance, a children's book about librarians (that I swear is going to go viral soon), wood etching, paintings, a "choose-you're-own-adventure" book, a number of crocheted, knitted, cross-stitched, and needle-pointed projects, a hand-made long-board, videos, blogs, websites, self-published books, and more. It was truly a sight to behold, and the one random underclassman girl present who was working in the cafe we were taking over really seemed impressed.

For my project, I chose to teach myself how to use Photoshop. Below you can read about my experience (I posted the following on the class website):

"Like many of my classmates (I'm sure), I don't usually do well with vague instructions when it comes to schoolwork. I like to know exactly what is expected of me so that I can do exactly what is expected of me exactly as it is listed. As you can imagine, taking 511 has helped me to get over that mindset.

When we were assigned the Maker project, I was at a loss. We were supposed to make something. What? Make what? Make something how? Where is our rubric? Where's the rest of the prompt? Is that really it? Fortunately, when discussing the vagueness of the assignment in class, I had a spark. We were supposed to make something, or create something to share, or cultivate some skill. I had been wanting to learn how to use Photoshop for a while, and had been planning on using the iSchool's computers to do so, but hadn't had the time. Learning Photoshop for the purposes of a project, however, was doable. I started devoting an hour or two to Photoshop after classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I knew I didn't have anything else to do. It was in these "precious" few hours that I worked on what was simultaneously the most frustrating and most enjoyable school project I've had in a while.

Photoshop is not intuitive. It's not user friendly. My human interaction with the computer was not the most enjoyable experience. And yet it was still something I looked forward to every week. With "The Mowgli's" playing on my iPod and several tabs open to tutorials on Google Chrome, I got work done. I ended up with about 8 projects that I completed start to finish. They ranged from whatever struck my fancy to the things that popped up when I Googled"Cool things to do in Photoshop." The most challenging and time consuming projects were, of course, the most ambitious: the landscape fold and the watercolor paint effect. Each of these pieces took about two and hours to complete (though they would probably only take 20 minutes for someone who really knew what they were doing). Of course, the first projects I did also took a ridiculously long time because I was learning the ins and outs by pressing random buttons to see what would happen. Some things I picked up on pretty quickly but, I swear, there were times when I think the program was messing with me for fun.

Overall I ended up enjoying this project, in spite of the hair-pulling issues that I sometimes had. Before I go, I'd like to thank all of the random Photoshop wizards who live on the Internet, solving people's problems on message boards with step-by-step tutorials and example videos and patience. Thank you."

As you can imagine (and as I've stated above), this project wasn't easy. Yet in spite of it all, I'm proud of myself, and my finished products. In case you're curious, here they are:

My very first attempt at Photoshop, this picture was the first stupid idea that popped into my head, and I ran with it. I was learning the basics of isolating figures, putting in text, manipulating objects, and using layers, among other things.

I wanted to try my hand at making a movie poster, and since it was pretty close to Halloween, I picked CLUE. I had a much grander idea in my head that I put together, and then quickly realized that it didn't look very good. It was too busy, so I took a more minimalist approach.

I created this watercolor effect using only Photoshop, and I'm very proud of it. I took a black-and-white picture and used Photoshop to turn it into a watercolor picture. Pretty cool.

This typographic was actually a lot of fun to make once I picked a topic for the text. I ended up writing about UNC because the Heels were playing Wake Forest the next day.

I call this picture "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Camper." Using a bunch of stock photos, I created a tiny camping trip, complete with a lighter and tiny tents and a little dog. I don't know why.

Color isolation was one of the things I wanted to learn as soon as I started using Photoshop. Fortunately, it turns out that it's actually remarkably easy.

Recently, this trend ("folded landscapes") came about because of a picture of a panorama photo that glitched out and created the effect you see below. Not to be outdone, a bunch of PS wizards decided to recreate the effect with the program. My version is far from perfect, but I still think it's really cool.

I wanted to practice manipulating a green screen, so I found a picture of a news anchor sitting in front of one and decided to put her in space. Then, my imagination ran away with me and it turned into QUSR Alien News at 9:00.

The last project I ended up working on was a photo manipulating black and white and color. Not too shabby.

End log.