Now I will show off, so get ready. (Or just move on, I know it can be tiresome.)
See, it has come to my attention that a bunch of my readers are actually librarians. Not to mention all the other readers, who are very clearly book-loving sorts. All of which makes me feel ultra-cool, in a geeky sort of way.
Add to this, the extremely pleasant sorts of comments people leave here. You guys have been oh so helpful on the many, many We Recommends that we post here, and every nice comment that comes just makes me feel like the world is that much less of a cesspool than I thought.
And I somehow put those two thoughts together and came up with the idea that this blog, for me at least, is sort of like the library, if we can say that the internet as a whole is, let's say, middle school. The library/blog for me is a small safe place where the nerdy people are talking about Caddie Woodlawn and being quiet, while outside it people are raucously yelling at each other and dipping each others' heads in the toilet. You know, metaphorically.
I realize this is a very self-serving vision, but it feels true to me, and it's because of you readers, and I am endlessly grateful for it. So thank you for letting me be, at least in my mind, the metaphorical librarian, sitting at the table in the middle, while you guys sit quietly at the tables and share books.
marcialerner.com 
Oh, I just love this metaphor. And I love your “library” and I love the ULTRA cool librarian as well. xo
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I love your metaphor! This might sound kind of weird, but some time ago I experimented with improving my very slow running by imagining that I was running toward a meeting or place that I was really looking forward to. And it turned out that what I really wanted to run toward was a nice cozy library.
And please flatter us more, I could use it today 😉
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There was a time when every single time I stepped into a library or a bookstore, I suddenly had to go to the bathroom, desperately. I would crouch down by the books so as not to have an accident and wait it out. How nerdy is that? I’m so happy that I can come here and just run off to my little bathroom a few steps away when things get too exciting.
How’s that for a middle school comment?
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Thanks so much Diamond for being the virtual librarian (although some people might call that a cybrarian, and we don’t want that). I’m an archivist, but my kids think I’m a librarian, because they understand what that means (and benefit from so many awesome children’s librarians), and they don’t get (yet) why reading other people’s letters and diaries is another link to alternate realities/narratives.
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Well said!
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Oh that is a wonderful analogy! Bless you.
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Yes- you have captured “our tribe” well.
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