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Registration has opened for the first ever national youth library leadership conference for youth staff and managers: Power Up: A Conference on Leadership for Youth Services Managers and Staff.

Scheduled for March 30-31, 2017 and sponsored by UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education Dept, the conference brings together speakers from throughout the country to address aspects of leadership and management for youth librarians at all stages of their careers.

The conference kicks off with Gretchen Caserotti's keynote and concludes with an address by Deborah Taylor. Also featured is a reception and tour at the Cooperative Children's Book Center, a short 15 minute walk from the conference center.

Seventeen sessions packed with information from multiple perspectives and voices include: Reflective Leadership
Considering How Managing Your Collections Affects People
Determining if Management is for You
Benefits of Finding Your Programming Style
Developing Leadership Through Book Discussion
Leading a Multigenerational Team to Success
Channeling Passion into Leadership
Unconventional Outreach; Discovering Your Power
Addressing the Need for Confrontation
Leadership for Unofficial Leaders
Reaching Underserved at Small Libraries
Start Anywhere on Your Leadership Path
Managing Media Mentors

If you are a Wisconsin library staffer, ten scholarship s are available for registration.

It looks like a great conference and I hope to see and meet lots of colleagues there!

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Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, Youth Services Manager at George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul MN, and I presented a session on passive programming at the Minnesota Library Association this week. The following links can lead readers to more information about the programs we talked about - and introduce you to some great bloggers!!



1000 Books Before Kindergarten (origins, facts, research, planning tips and more!)

Craft Cart and Scavenger Hunt 1 (ideas from St. Paul libraries)

Check-Out Clubs (tried and true hits from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Tabletop Prompts 1  (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Tabletop Prompts 2 (from Gretna Public Library, NE)

Exploration Station (from Monroe Public Library, WI)

Scavanger Hunt 2 (from Gretna Public Library, NE)

Scavenger Hunt 3 (from Texas)

Scavenger Hunt 4 (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Letter of the Week (from La Crosse Public Library, WI)

Pinterest Passive Program Board (a plethora of ideas from...everywhere!)

Book - DIY Programming and Book Displays - Amanda Struckmeyer and Svetha Hetzler

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There was a bit of chat on Twitter recently about whether a conference can really be good enough to afford investing a couple of $K to get there. Many are.

But when your library can't support your attendance financially, how do you find the funds to make an extra special conference fit in your budget?

Except for a brief stint in my career while at my most recent job (where I negotiated support for my national and state conference attendance as a condition of my employment), I have paid my way to conferences.  When the library CE budget ran out one year and I needed to attend a national conference, it was easy to find an inexpensive way to attend on my own dime. And now that I'm retired, I'm back to funding me.

I've learned some tricks over the years to make things easier on the wallet. Let me share my tips (and I hope you share yours).

Conference registration and cost of transportation are about the only two pieces of the formula that you can't do a great deal about. Some conferences give you a free or partial registration rate if you speak but most want you to present for the love of the association.

Housing
If you can't stay with friends/relatives and thus a short commute, room with as many people as you can. That can significantly lower costs. I still jam in pretty heavily. A thought: if you do make a commitment to share a room with people and have to cancel at the last minute, consider paying your share of the cost to the group; when people are counting on you as they make their budget, it's tough on them to make up the loss of your share.

Really look at the hotels and see what is included. You may find a slightly higher priced hotel has a continental breakfast and in-room coffee that makes that extra amount a cinch to justify.

My roomies and I scour home rentals and find reasonable and reasonably close apartments and homes that make conferences so much better (everyone who loves living in hotel rooms for five straight days, raise your hand). We invite friends to join us to keep costs down...which brings me to

Food 
A few conferences, symposiums and institutes include some meals. That may help you get over the high (gulp) cost you see. If not, consider what you can easily bring that is sturdy enough to travel well and will feed your body and soul. Nuts, soup mixes, instant coffees and teas, energy bars and instant hot cereals are a few of my go-tos. You can always find hot water at the conference and have something tasty and good.

Look for nearby grocery stores in your conference city. Purchase fresh fruit and veggies to supplement your bring-alongs. If your hotel/apt has a fridge, you can get more refrigerated food. Again, apartments with kitchens mean you can spend a fraction on food since you can make and take salads and sandwiches (I always bring sandwich bags and plastic container to put lunches in).

I pick one or two meals to eat out with friends or budget for more if it's going to be super social. Otherwise, my goal is no more than $10-15 per day. When I'm out for adult beverages I add on an extra $10. Your budget for food and drinks depends on your needs and priorities. You can go cheaply though!

At many conferences, if you don't buy a meal ticket for a speaker, you can come in and still listen to the speeches (think Caldecott/Newbery/Wilder banquet here or many state association conferences). You still get to enjoy the content of the speeches and can make your conference budget stretch.

Transportation
Some conferences provide shuttle or trolley transportation. While it may take awhile, the price (free) is always right. Public transportation - buses, subways, trains, els - all can get you where you're going for a song. Most conferences give you guidance on how to best use them and provide websites for you to research.

For me, if anything is within a mile walk and is safe, I am all about getting those steps in. I will also budget for cabs if I am in a really walker-unfriendly city and think I'll be out late. I often share cabs with other conference folks, and sometimes - one of my cabmates who has a per diem - will spring for the tab!

Attendance Grants/Stipends
Check within your library, your system and your state and your national associations for one-time grants and stipends that may help you attend a special conference. While this doesn't often go beyond a one time or one year commitment, it can help you for a special conference.

Some conferences ask for volunteers and will waive registration so also keep an eye out for that. Volunteering is a great way to meet alot of people and really put some time into the guts work of the organization.

Overall
To make it all work, I created a conference savings account and socked away some money each month so I could afford the conference(s). I figured out other budget cuts (less gas, more walking; make my own coffee - no outside buys there; making most of our own food rather than going out; etc) and got the numbers to work,

Once I had financial support from the library, I pretty much still did conferences on the cheap. I figure the less money I spent, the more money other staff would have available to attend other conferences and CE with library support. And really, isn't that what it's all about?

What are your tips to keeping costs down? Please share!

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I'm just back from our WI state library conference.

I find all conferences valuable but I especially love our state conference. Like ALA, it brings together librarians from all sizes and types of libraries. But it's a more intimate atmosphere (800 attendees) that lends itself to deeper and yet wider networking and learning.

The impromptu hallway conversations, before and after hour meet-ups and catching up; and the promptu fun group activities like battledecks, cards (for and) against librarianship, gaming, dances and trivia make conferences a warm and inviting place to connect and laugh. On a small scale you get to meet and re-meet people for a couple of days of library-celebration.

Programs are often the meat - or tofu - around which the whole conference sandwich is made up. They attract non-members, sustain members and give us food for thought or content that spurs us to action.

Since the state conference is put on by a phalanx of volunteers that changes annually, you never know exactly what shape the programs will ultimately take. Not enough youth programs; too much technology; not enough academic library content - each year the winds of content shift.

And why? Because, like many conferences, outside of keynoters that the conference committee engages, programs are us. Content is dependent on those who come up with a plan and submit an idea. Anywhere from 95-100% of proposed programs get accepted.

This year, we had a boatload of youth content, from babies to teens, technology to hands-on. In terms of content, some of this stuff was as good as or better than what I see at national conferences (go WI!).

I always find panels of librarians from different sized libraries my favorites. Rather than an individual or a couple of people from one institution discussing "how I run my library good", panels from multiple library-size/library-type perspectives suggest how all libraries can find a pathway to change or better service, regardless of size or type.  It helps library staffers think, "How do I bring this back to my library?" and I think overcomes the feeling of "My library could never afford staff/budget/time of the speaker's library to do this marvelous thing."

I love hearing new voices too. Encouraging people who have never presented to be on a panel or join on a panel gives everyone a chance to lead and bring their insight to the table. We were so fortunate to have many many new voices join conversations and presentations this year (thank you iLead and DPI especially).

I also like perspectives from outside our state. I appreciate program planners who invite a colleague from MN, IA, MI or IL to border cross and share their passion and expertise. Our Youth Services Section is looking to do more of this. This year, IL's Jenna Nemec-Loise shared ALSC's Everyday Advocacy message and it was wowza!

For those of us who think about proposing programs for a national audience at PLA, ALA, symposiums and institutes, I hope we also propose great programs for our local and regional conferences. And I hope we look for new voices in our states and invite them to present with us - or instead of us. Everyone needs great CE and sometimes the gift of a great program is no farther than our own backyard.

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The last few weeks have given me a chance to celebrate and network with librarians working in small libraries at two special events that reminded me again of my abiding respect and enthusiasm for those working in libraries serving small communities.

In September, I was one of the teaching facilitators for an intensive three day Wisconsin Youth Services Leadership Institute. Twenty-five library staffers involved with youth work, almost all from small libraries, were selected from over sixty applicants.

At the beginning, many felt that they didn't deserve to be called librarians because they lacked a master's degree. Over the course of the three days, through workshops on history, advocacy, leadership and more; through many individual and group conversations and expressions of mutual support for each other; and through some eye-opening goal setting, all the participants claimed their title as librarians and leaders doing great things for their communities in libraries.

Then I attended the recent Association of Rural and Small Libraries conference. I had long heard that this was one of the best library conferences out there and I can't disagree. Fifty-nine break-out session presentations; five major speakers at meals throughout the 2.5 day conference; and plenty of support for everyone to network and talk together during breaks, dine-arounds and receptions. The organizers made sure everyone felt welcomed.

I heard over and over people talking about colleagues they met from all over the country with similar situations (both triumphs and tears) and how great it was to touch base and connect. The focus on issues and concerns specific to the those working in small libraries had alot of meat for people from larger libraries and I found myself tugged between many great sessions scheduled opposite each other (eight programs per time slot!!).

Perhaps my favorite part was how many presenters were from small libraries sharing their expertise. It was great to hear new voices and ideas and perspectives and worth the price of admission. When I go to conferences, I love to hear from people working in many different library situations and my favorite panels are those that are made up of voices from multiple libraries of various sizes and regions.

As a longtime freelance storyteller in my state, I had the opportunity to go to many, very small libraries over the years. Each time I learned some new cool idea, some tip or trick, an arrangement of collections or services that was, well, completely brilliant. The creative librarians at many of these libraries became my role models, my go-to inspiration and pals.

Their work was echoed again in these two conferences and reinforces one of my deep and abiding beliefs. We are all librarians - regardless of education, all community advocates, all dedicated altruists who believe in the power of reading to change lives and that librarians from medium and large libraries have a TON to learn from our colleagues in small libraries.

Small is beautiful!

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Library conferences often come to mind as the best places to put our bang-for-buck in-person attendance. But state and national library conferences are just the tip of the iceberg for great networking and learning experiences.  There are many opportunities to learn a ton if we step outside the library world and discover what else is out there.

Just within this month here in our state, we have had/are having three great statewide conferences that are perfect for public youth librarians to attend. One is with our library media peers in WEMTA; one with the WI Afterschool Association and one an early childhood conference full of great sessions. We made sure we could get a staffer to each.

Attending conferences outside the library world opens us up to new experiences, new ideas, new colleagues and new ways to approach our work. It's a great way to fill up our toolboxes and give even better service to our communities!

What are your favorite "out-of-the-library" box conferences (national or local)? I'd love to hear about them!

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We are just wrapping up our state library conference today. Again, what an extraordinary conference and what an extraordinary year. I counted 24 separate programs over the three days with content perfect for children's and teen librarians: school partnerships; book cycles to deliver books to kids in the summer; leadership paths; apps; refreshing field trips; bad girls in YA lit; learning to tame the sensory overload to help kids using the library; what boys like; keynotes by Kevin Henkes, Karen Jensen and Avi; Guerilla Storytime; ideas for school agers and more, more, MORE. We had an outstanding Teen Services preconference that connected our heretofore (hella word!!) unidentified teen advocates in the state.

During the Awards and Honors no less than three of our star youth librarians in the state were honored: Tessa Michaelson Schmidt received the Librarian of the Year award; Megan Schliesman won the Intellectual Freedom Award and Terry Ehle of the Lester Public Library won the Paralibrarian of the Year Award. Terry is an extraordinarily creative and active children's librarian who is generous with her time and talents and a leader in our state. This award is co-sponsored by our SOIS grad school in Milwaukee and includes a year of free tuition in their MLIS program. Terry has already begun her first semester.

Youth librarian leaders were everywhere in evidence over the past few days - introducing programs; serving on the WLA board of directors and the Youth Services Section board; sharing ideas, stories; challenges and laughs in hallways and restaurants and mingling and working with librarians from every type of library and library discipline. We brought in our colleague Cate Levinson from Niles IL to be part of a panel to share her amazing Armchair Astronomy program ideas and she stayed the whole conference.

We need healthy associations supported by librarians from all types of libraries and at all position levels for the learning and networking at conferences like this. We also need healthy associations to support our legislative agendas to protect and enhance library services and the public's access to them, intellectual freedom, everyday diversity, and to lead the way in sharing excellent library practice.

Please join your state association. Put in not just your money but your time and become a strong leader to support all our libraries. It's not what you get (although it's safe to say you get incredible networks, learn leadership skills and become smarter and wiser - and laugh more) but what you give in sweat equity that makes associations so strong and so profound. You share your passion with your colleagues. Your leadership in helping the association shine and be mighty through your volunteer work makes all the difference.

As I always say: together we ARE stronger!

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I've been conferencing a loooonnnng time at ALA.  I agree with colleagues posting and tweeting, this conference was a win in every way for youth librarians.

Maybe because this is the first newly compressed conferences - fewer days and fewer sessions sponsored by units and almost all programs held at the conference center itself. This seems to make it possible to attend more events than ever before.

Maybe the addition and continued support for member-driven content (ignite sessions, uncommons, conversation starters) that resulted in great youth presentations. The unit-supported content was pretty amazing as well.

Maybe because groups of librarians connected through blogs, the twitterverse and groups like EL, ALATT and Flannel Friday reached the perfect storm of connectivity creating kismet meet-up moments and IRL chat.

So, despite substantial time spent fulfilling my responsibilities as ALA chapter councilor for my state, I have to say that this conference was an amazing, robust and energetic one for youth librarians.

A few highlights:

• Caldecott 75th Anniversary Celebration with astounding speeches and delightful pre- and post- banquet fun thanks to the hard working planning committee 
• ALSC Caldecott Preconference!
• Guerrilla Storytime!
• Declaration on the Right to Libraries! 
• Youth Librarian Meet-ups  including Kid Lit Drinks Nite on Friday and Karaoke on Saturday!
• Home-made-pitched-by-individuals-and-voted-on Conversation Starters filled with Youth content!

This doesn't even begin to address the ALSC and YALSA supported programs, the exhibits, committee work, the auditorium speaker series...and just everything.

There was energy and innovation and excitement - not just to see each other but to strategize what else we can do to be uber superhero librarians back in our communities and looking at the future. I talked about this kind of collaborative energy here and here.

And while I celebrate attending conferences, I also think we do so much outside of conferences to stay fabulous and tuned in and inventive. So whether you were at ALA or not, the doors are open for you to walk through!

Mel from Mel's Desk gets at the core of what I LOVE about this at-conference-and-not-at-conference paradigm in what I believe will be THE blog post on personal learning, connecting with those who share your passion and empowerment for the next decade. Conferences like ALA are one way to connect and learn - but there are so many other ways too that happen everyday when we reach outside our workplace and connect.  Let's go and let's do it.

WIN!!!

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Materials ready for one of our small branch libraries

The time is nearly here. The supplies are laid in, the publicity out, the school promo visits just about complete, the database ready, contacts made with groups who come with kids-in-care to get them oriented and staff keen-eyed (or steely-eyed as the case may be). But as prepared as we are, I still like to see what's out there that you all are doing.
As I was reading my feeds (here we pause for the image and book that inevitably pops into my head when I think about my RSS feeds), I came across a colleague's description of her summer reading programs. While it was pretty darn nice to see that she had adapted two of the formats we have been using over the years there was a better bonus for me: she shared two other designs for programs (daycares and super readers) that were new to me and that I like quite a bit.

I really appreciate hearing and reading about what other librarians are doing to make summer fun for kids - and staff! Besides reading blog posts, I am lucky enough to travel widely when wearing my hat as an itinerate workshop presenter around my state and region*. And while I share ideas we have tried, I also pick up ideas others have used to make their summer reading or library programs better and more effective.

And how do we get at effectiveness - especially during summer when our days are filled with families, kids, daycares, slp and programs, programs, programs?

I look for posts or listen to people who tell me about how:

• a decision has resulted in more participation by the kids
• registration has been simplified or tossed out and the result
• how prizes have been considered and the results of any change
• strategies that have providing staffing relief really worked
• active programming has been de-emphasized in favor of a true stealth program: SLP
• they include transliteracy into their SLP format
• they innovate in any way and what happens
• new audiences have been reached 
• value has been added to a program through a simple innovation

You, my friends, are my guides to change and making SLP more fun and less onerous. These 8-12 weeks should not over-run our thoughts, energies, and ability to create powerful children's and teen services magic year-round. When we share our stuff, we make it easier to keep summer in perspective and bring great joy to the process.

Here's hoping you summer is joy-filled, kid-filled and a time to rise above the chaos to see just what good work you are doing for your communities. Now let's dig in!


*In the spirit of May's 30 Days of Awesome posts started by Sophie Brookover, Kelly Jensen and Liz Burns, I share that I present half and full day workshops and presentations for systems and at conferences that include Rethinking Summer Reading; Programming Mojo; The Big Link: Successful School Public Library Partnerships; Stealth Programming; Everyday Advocacy; Creating Amazing Youth Services; Undoing Dewey and anything else that helps me guide participants in the Marge-way of delving deep into why we do what we do and how to do it better.

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I am always amazed and humbled when I attend conferences. I go to meetings and programs...and then I attend what I consider to be the "real" conference. The part where I sit down or stand in the hall or share an appetizer or a drink or a laugh or a chat with a friend, or a colleague or new acquaintance. I might be talking to a young  librarian or a coworker or a friend I've known since...I don't know ...forever. Or maybe someone I've only known online, now here, IRL.

Whomever I meet, whomever I reconnect with, whomever I talk to, these are the people who enliven me, who sustain me, who challenge me, who humble me. Maybe they are new MLIS folks who, without a thought or maybe a realization, push the envelope beyond where it's been.  It might be doc students who are fresh eyed but steely and battling forward in research and library awesomeness. It might be my old compadres - those who have have worked in the field and worked for the association and broken so many barriers we can barely remember them all. It might be those in mid-career who are stepping out and up as leaders in the association.

We talk smack. We talk libraries. We talk the future. We talk nurturance and support.  We talk about our seasons and our power - when it waxes and when it wanes. We push and push and push and lift the veil of the possible and make it inevitable and probable and then, like magic, reality.

These are my colleagues. These are my friends. These are my companions on the road to excellence in library service. Whether we feel mighty or in need of rest, here we are. Together, focused. In a band. My tribe.

This rhythm is is the one that generates ideas statewide or nationally. This is the spark, the ignition and the push that generates new ideas and efforts. And I get to part of the gestalt and the celebration.

So if you ever wonder what is the use or the purpose of going to conferences or whether we can do it all online, I urge you to attend regional, state and/or national meetings. You'll grow a little or alot.  And after all, isn't that  why we are really in this?

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Today George and I presented "Keeping Your Head While Serving the Community" at the Association for Small and Rural Libraries Conference in Gatlinburg, TN. Play our slides if you'd like, though they may lose some context without the audio.

This conference has been a big boost for my spirits. I've been serving on the ARSL board since February as an ex-officio member from WebJunction, and even that didn't prepare me for this wonderful conference. I learned that Kansas librarians arrived by bus, having driven the 16 hours to Gatlinburg from their home state (I'm sure some of them traveled longer). Further, I have to say, Kansas really represented the social networking scene by being the biggest contributors to the #ARSL2009 hash tag! I forgot to add the tag most of the time I was there, so, that was sort of lame of me, but Go Kansas!

It was also really good for me to have the opportunity to present with George; an honor. I think it's fair to say that I was a little bit slammed with work-related things before this conference and so I didn't have the time to collaborate as much as I would have liked before the presentation. But I thought our content went together very well and I really enjoyed doing the presentation overall. If you by chance saw us, please tell me what you thought of our talk (a dose of my own "evaluation" medicine, so to speak ... so that I too can iterate!).

My favorite presentation of the day introduced me to Give Em the Pickle a customer service slogan from Mr. Farrell (of Farrell's restaurants -- it may look totally cheesy, but this guy is hilarous and has great advice for serving our patrons well). My favorite interactive session of the day was from the State Library of North Carolina on "getting your community back to work". I have more to say about that, but it will have to wait for another day...

Finally, I had amazing conversations with colleagues all weekend either working in small and rural libraries, or working in state libraries to support small and rural libraries. It has been too long since I've been out and about. Cindi Hickey, thank you for giving me the encouragement I needed about the presentation! I tell ya, it really helps me to remember why we do the things we do back at the office.

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A shout out to those of you at London Online this week. Not a whole lot of chatter about it yet around here...I am sure that will change soon enough.

Saw a Jimmy photo on Flickr. He was the keynote. There's a Q and A in the Guardian insert (PDF). The article starts on page 10.

Here's the most interesting bit, from the perspective of the world's largest library cooperative:

Where do you see Wikipedia in ten
years?
JW: When I think about Wikipedia in ten years I
mostly have been focussing my attention on the
growth of the languages of the developing world.
So I’ve been to South Africa twice this year so far.
I’m going again in November and again in March.
I’m really trying to promote the growth in the
languages of Africa because right now we don’t
have a lot of content there. One of the things I
look at when I look at long term trends is there’s
about a billion people online now and we expect
to see another billion coming online in the next 10
years or so. Not from the US or Japan or places like
that- we’re already online for the most part. It’s
coming from the next stage- South America, India,
Africa. All joining the global conversation.

But it's also important, for that matter, to the neighborhood branch librarian. That's the beauty of what you (we) do, as librarians: you bring the world to people!!

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If you're headed to Denver next week, you're in luck!

Al Gore opens the general session on Sunday, and Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert) closes it on Wednesday. (Watch the Al Gore video from TED on SLA's site for a warm-up.) Lots of great sessions and conversations planned for in between those presentations too, I am sure.
The marketing and advertising division has events going on through Wednesday, as well. Check them out--it makes me wish I was going.

Speaking of conference events, make sure you've got the Blog Salon at Annual on your dance card for DC! Remember, it's at the Congressional Suite at the Grand Hyatt on Sunday, June 24, 2007 , right after Robert F. Kennedy (5:45pm - 8pm).

With all these political names appearing at library conferences of late--at least in the US, you'd think there was a movement afoot to align the profession with some powerful forces for national change...same movement going on globally?

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I just read an interesting article in the online Chronicle about childcare at academic/industry conferences. I must admit, the thought of this issue has never crossed my mind before. Even though I have plenty of colleagues and librarian friends with children. So let me ask the floor--> Is there a big need for onsite childcare at large library conferences, such as ALA or ALA MW? (What about small ones, like OCLC Members Council meetings?)

I guess I had always assumed that if you had young kids, you left them with a trusted spouse, parent, family member, etc. and came anyway. With today's phone conferencing, video and podcasting options, you can worst case attend remotely if the conference organizers know you are interested and they're willing to work with you.

Still, I'd be curious to know what libraryland thinks of this issue. Do we as an industry need to consider childcare at our conferences?

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Indulge me. This message isn't about libraries or information overload or perceptions of anything but sadness. Molly Ivins died tonight.

I only met her twice: once at a book signing in Chicago, once when she spoke at a Public Library Association national conference (more on that later). But she was a national treasure, and I think of a lot of us who knew her mainly through her work are grieving tonight.

She wrote with wit and love, delightfully skewering the rich and providing solace (and the occasional kick in the butt) to the less fortunate. She was our most acute observer of George W. Bush, at least from the president's left; she had known him for decades and understood him well. If we missed her for nothing else, we would miss her insights into the man she dubbed "Shrub."

About that PLA conference: I was director of PLA in the mid-1990s, the guy who kept the seat warm between Joey Rodger and Greta Southard. At our conference in Atlanta in 1996, Molly was the closing speaker. She was supposed to fly in that Saturday morning on an early flight from Austin. A car and driver would meet her at the airport and bring her to the convention center where she'd meet a few of us for coffee, and then speak at noon. Now remember, almost no one had cell phones then. We waited and waited. No Molly, no car, no way to find out what the hell had happened. By 11:30, I was nearly comatose---there were 2000 people in the room already, and I had no one to speak. My friend Jim McPeak, who was keeping vigil with me, offered to find me a size 26 dress and a wig so that I could do the talk in drag. At 11:50, the driver showed up, full of apologies. The flight had arrived, he was at the gate with his little "Ivins" sign, but no one approached him. My heart sunk. Had she missed the plane?

Traffic was backed up for blocks around the convention center. Jim took off for Lane Bryant. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a taxi pulled up, and out jumped the unmistakable figure of Molly Ivins. "Do y'all know where the librarians are meetin'?" she drawled. "Ms. Ivins, please come with me," I answered through clenched teeth. She had some half-baked excuse for why she didn't make connections with her driver, and she had only one question: "Where can I grab a smoke before this shindig starts?" We found a lounge, she wiped out a cigarette, and we made it into the ballroom with minutes to spare. And then she delivered an absolutely flawless address.

Y'know, in August 1977, Groucho Marx died three days after Elvis Presley. Dick Cavett said that it was the only time in his life that Groucho's timing had been bad. I feel the same way about Molly Ivins' passing: we only have 720 days of the Bush administration left. How are we going to really understand them without Molly there to interpret for us?

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