OCTOBER 10, 1980
Library Has Disadvantages And Advantages To Study
If you are like most people, you hate study halls. Sitting in them and being silent is too much to handle, so you go to the library.
Although the library has its disadvantages, it is also an interesting place. Take the temperature, for instance. If it is six degrees below zero outside, it is always, at the maximum, three degrees above zero in the library. On those hot smoldering summer days, guess who has the heat on? You've got it, the Maine West library!
Study hall permits no talking, but don't think that you can get away with talking to your friend who is three bookshelves away either. It's true, one can get away with more in the library, but not much more.
If you're not on the lookout while talking to the person right next to you, you're in for a big surprise. She weights about 480 pounds and carries a wooden club in one hand and an ID card puncher in the other. So, either shut-up or prepare to die!
Scouting around the library, she sneaks about so that no one will know she's around, and just when you open your mouth to say something about Sue Jones ...whammo
Your ID card has a terrifyingly perfect hole in it.
For those who have ever been in the library, you all know that you have to fill out the pink slip that goes to your study hall teacher and to your dean. A word of warning: Have it completely filled out by the time the librarian comes to collect them and have your ID out! They hate to wait. They stand there and just wait and stare; and their faces become very red, their eyes bulge out, and steam hisses from their ears.
After being silent for the 40 minutes that you thought were lasting forever, the bell rings. You pick up your books and start to shake the pressures of silence off your shoulders.
As you walk out the doors, the librarian checks to see if you have books that you might have "forgotten" to check out. They eye you suspiciously and you smile cautiously.