Forgive Me For I Have Forsaken You

My family moved to Ventura when I was 6. I paid little attention to The Helen Powers Wright Library after I turned 15, yet for the next 26 years of my life it remained open to the public………until now.

For the past couple of years we’ve been getting books for Parker. Lately a visit to the library has been a lot of fun for the both of us. Once we walk through the door PJ madly rushes to the children’s section and manically pulls out children's books from the shelves. In a matter of 3 minutes there are 8-10 books on the table ready for checkout. If I didn’t stop her there would be 25 books on the table in 6 minutes. She would quickly scan the picture on the cover and make an instant decision if it’s worthy of checkout. It’s awfully cute to see.

I remember the field trips to the library when I went to Elmhurst Elementary School. We would take a walk to the library and on the way it’s where I was first turned on to Sour Grass. Unfortunately, I quickly bought into the rumor that the long skinny grass was sour because dogs urinated on it. My enjoyment of Sour Grass was short-lived.

I also recall checking out the Judy Blume book “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret” at the Wright Library. I was confused about the female anatomy for so long and this book didn’t help. The book should’ve included a disclaimer saying “This Book Is Intended to Be Read By Young Girls…Scott, Go Read The Hardy Boys Or Something Else That's More Gender-Appropriate...Loser!”.



Now I feel guilty. I ignored this prized civic possession for so long. Now it’s leaving…regardless of my support.

A couple of ideas to keep the library open…

1) Barnes and Nobles sponsors the library. I propose the name not be as jolting as “The Barnes and Nobles Library”, rather it be called…“The Helen Barnes Powers Noble Wright Library”. It’s a bit long and kinda sounds like an awful lawfirm but perhaps selling out with a corporation is the only way to save it.

2) HOLD THE VENTURA CITY COUNCIL ACCOUNTABLE. After this last election I got extremely tired of reading these generic, rhetorical campaign goals but none of them championed the library as part of their platform. Sure they love Ventura and have lived here all their life and have a high regard for fiscal integrity and all the other blah blah blah but who showed enough concern to include it in their platform?

3) HOLD THE COLLEGE ACCOUNTABLE. They could've issued a lease extension to the City thereby allowing for the city and county to throw some money after it. Right now I can't blame them for not throwing more money at the library due to the fact that the college will be taking over the property in 2015.

It saddens me to see this city follow the path it chose with regards to the most popular library in the city. I think I’ll take Parker and Georgia there this weekend before it closes. It'll be kinda like visiting someone before the die. I'm going to have a hard time explaining to PJ why our neighborhood library is closing.

The measure of a civilized society is in its priorities. Ronald Reagan’s notion of a “Shining Beacon On A Hill” is becoming dimmer as we speak.

Thousand Oaks has a nice library. Camarillo has a beautiful library. Ventura has the E.P. Foster library...ugh.