School Days – The Angry Librarian

I’ve become bored with the handful of web sites I’ve been checking out so I’ve been firing up Affinity Designer and playing with shapes and colors. I was hoping to cook up some more Halloween Heads to add to my collection, but I’ve been dredging up my ancient school years instead. After I cooked up The Cool Substitute Teacher Circa 1974, I had a notion of illustrating a member of school staff that wasn’t as beloved as a substitute teacher. Maybe I would work on one of the least loved members of the school staff. The school librarian came to mind.

The angry librarian insisted on absolute, tomb-like silence as if Karl Wallenda was traversing a tightrope above a Bengal tiger trap in the middle of the library and absolute concentration was vital to the aerialist’s survival. It wasn’t about giving patrons of the library an isolation tank type of experience so they could utterly immerse themselves in the printed word. It was about respecting the librarian’s authority. This was her domain. She was guardian and caretaker of the printed word. Without her, the very world would descend into barbarism and depravity. She was due some respect! This was her kingdom silent save for the buzz of fluorescent fixtures and the occasional turn of a page here and there.

It was different when she started in 1957. Kids were polite. They had a sense of decorum. They had respect for themselves and for their library. Something happened along the way. Was it those dirty hippies and their awful music? Maybe it was awful parents spoiling their children rotten. Was it something in the water? Whatever the case may be, she couldn’t imagine making it to retirement? How could she last until 1987? Maybe 1982.

Despicable kids!

QUIET!!!

This is more of a composite of a few people rather than any one person I may have known. It’s partially an unhappy librarian, a particularly miserable grade school teacher and a female passenger on the R3 regional rail line who took it upon herself to enforce the quiet car rules by haranguing her fellow passengers.