Authority Essay
College Composition
by Danielle Vine
Walking through the front door can
be a trick. The wind is all too happy to
take the door from you, so a firm grasp is necessary. Only one of the two large oak doors opens,
and if you aren’t careful, then you’ll kindly have your face smashed in by
someone leaving. Time is a great
teacher, and I’ve learned the trick.
Swing the door open and stay on the outside of it. Peer around the corner, and if all is clear, only
then can you enter.
If you chose to enter the library
through the children’s department then the doors would be glass – much more
helpful. However, I want to drop off my
returns before I go looking for my new books.
If I chose to drop them off after I had accumulated my new treasures,
then I’d have to tote them around with me the whole time, and that can really
wear on the shoulders.
If I stop to talk with the man at
the returns desk, then I will add at least another ten minutes to my time
there. So unless I have little to do,
then I duck out of his way and avoid eye-contact. I know better.
Once in, I have forty-five minutes
until closing time. Perfect. Although doing my business at the end of the
day annoys some of the librarians, it always gets done faster and more
effectively. With less crowds, I don’t
have to worry about squeezing around people in the aisles or waiting for a
computer.
If I chose to use the computers at
the library, there is always the chance that I will have to wait in line. Or that the old computers will crash, or
freeze up. That’s why I always do my
computer work at home. I find any and
all books that I will want through the online URSUS system, and copy down their
local call numbers. I bring that slip of
paper with me and find them accordingly.
Only if I think of something last minute do I use their computers. And if they don’t have something I want? Then I order it and wait for the email that
confirms that it is waiting for me at the front desk.
The elevator is always a bad
idea. In the time it takes for it to
come to you, you could be halfway up the stairs. By the time the doors finally close behind
you, you could be on the floor you want to be on. By the time the door reopen on your expected
floor, you could be cracking that looked for book open and smelling its
pages. Unless you have a hard time with
stairs, the elevator is a bad idea.
Once I’ve gathered all of my books,
I head to the front desk and show my I.D. card.
Much faster than my actual library card.
The scanning strip on the library card always gives them trouble, and it
often takes several tries. One look at my name on my I.D. card and they are all
set.
I request my items from their hold
shelf, and take my new books out of my bag for them to scan. I make a bit of small talk with the librarian
while she scans my books – just to pass the time while she scans my books (not
because I’m actually interested in her cats).
Then I head back to the front door, check outside for anyone hiding on
the other side of the door, and descend the steps.
All within 15 minutes so that I
don’t have to pay the parking meter.
Amazing how much expertise, knowledge, and memory are used in just making simple things even simpler and more efficient. That certainly is what I was after in my English walking piece, and you follow the same line here: elevator or stairs, chat or not, oak door or glass door, computer or no computer, etc. As I've said to you before, that ability to shine the light on things no one else thinks worthy of notice is writer's gold--and not just for this course. For all your writing forever.
ReplyDeleteAfter all there are only three--possibly four-- plots in the world, and everything after the premise is chosen comes down to 'God is in the details.' Those details are the writer's stock in trade and the writer's glory too.
So, this was a pleasure to read, and I imagine a pleasure to write too, since your memory provided you the material in a neat and orderly way as you mentally went about getting into and out of the library. No agonies of organization, right? No doubts about what to include?
So this is an 'outside' piece, as opposed to your more opaque and poetic inside pieces. Nice to be able to score with both, as you are demonstrating with this one, on the one side, and with--to take one example--prompt 62 on the other. Both very good, and, even better, both very different from each other.
I did enjoy writing this piece, it came out easily. But then, most of the time I enjoy all my writing - whether my piece is light or heavy, melancholy or upbeat.
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