{"id":42355,"date":"2024-01-24T07:23:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T12:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=42355"},"modified":"2024-01-24T07:23:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T12:23:11","slug":"school-days-the-angry-librarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/01\/24\/school-days-the-angry-librarian\/","title":{"rendered":"School Days – The Angry Librarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I’ve become bored with the handful of web sites I’ve been checking out so I’ve been firing up Affinity Designer<\/em> and playing with shapes and colors. I was hoping to cook up some more Halloween Heads<\/em><\/a> 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<\/em><\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

The angry librarian insisted on absolute, tomb-like silence as if Karl Wallenda<\/em> 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Despicable kids!<\/em><\/p>\n

QUIET!!!<\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,5790],"tags":[233,27,3494,43,3661,5,4986,4658,5791,480],"class_list":["post-42355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-illustration","category-vector-illustration","tag-1970s","tag-digital-illustration","tag-high-school","tag-humor","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-librarian","tag-library","tag-school-days","tag-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-b19","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42370,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/01\/21\/school-days-the-cool-substitute-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":0},"title":"School Days – The Cool Substitute Teacher","author":"Joe","date":"January 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cool Substitute Teacher circa 1974 is an illustration that fell together as I was playing with shapes in the superlative vector art program Affinity Designer. I was hoping to come up with another monster for my collection of Halloween Heads, but instead I seem to be stuck in grades\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Illustration"","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cool-substitute-teacher-det.jpg?fit=1000%2C718&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cool-substitute-teacher-det.jpg?fit=1000%2C718&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cool-substitute-teacher-det.jpg?fit=1000%2C718&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cool-substitute-teacher-det.jpg?fit=1000%2C718&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42436,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/02\/01\/school-days-the-swinging-algebra-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":1},"title":"School Days – The Swinging Algebra Teacher","author":"Joe","date":"February 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"School days, school days, dear old golden rule days, Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic... Yeah, right. We've arrived at 'rithmetic with The Swinging Algebra Teacher. The Swinging Algebra Teacher was a low stakes Jekyll and Hyde whose life was split between his milquetoast professional persona of mathematics teacher by day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Illustration"","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/swinging-algebra-teacher-AD2-flipped-01-31.jpg?fit=840%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/swinging-algebra-teacher-AD2-flipped-01-31.jpg?fit=840%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/swinging-algebra-teacher-AD2-flipped-01-31.jpg?fit=840%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/swinging-algebra-teacher-AD2-flipped-01-31.jpg?fit=840%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45005,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/04\/30\/halloween-heads-the-mummy\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":2},"title":"Halloween Heads \u2022 The Mummy","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I know Halloween is 184 days away, but being a dyed-in-the-wool horror movie fan, I always seem to be in the Halloween Spirit! I started doing my series of Halloween Head vector illustrations almost 20 years ago with a simplified Frankenstein Monster done in Adobe Illustrator. I really started to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23312,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/02\/14\/the-cat-people-valentine-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":3},"title":"The Cat People Valentine Special","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Rather than bury one another under a mountain of clutter, Tina and I make cards for each other. I think I have run the course of angry or ironic Cupids so I decided to go weird for this Valentine.","rel":"","context":"In "Drawer Cards"","block_context":{"text":"Drawer Cards","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/drawer-cards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Cat-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Cat-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Cat-people.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16677,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2014\/06\/17\/the-7th-floor-on-an-evening-in-85\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":4},"title":"Up on the 7th Floor on an Evening in ’85","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One evening back in April of 1985 rather than do work that was due for one of our classes at the Philadelphia College of Art a group of guys up on the Illustration Floor decided to procrastinate by doing some real art. That entailed grabbing somebody who didn't feel like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/ted-whitehead.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/ted-whitehead.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/ted-whitehead.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35139,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2020\/09\/08\/tuesday-doodle-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":42355,"position":5},"title":"Tuesday Doodle","author":"Joe","date":"September 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Librarian.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/shadow-angry-librarian.jpg?fit=800%2C517&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}