Marilyn Johnson

“Maybe it begins the day you pledge allegiance,face the flag and suddenly clutch your left claviclebecause you find a tender puff of breastwhere yesterday your heart wasOr maybe it happens later when you're walking homefrom school and they rush you on the street--those boys who reach out fast, disgrace your blousewith rubs of dirt, their laughterstinging hot against your face.And you bite your rage, swallow your tearsbecause the fact is, your territory's up for grabsand somehow it's your own damned fault.And one day you stand at your mirrorarmed with jars and razor blades against the scentsand grasses of your shameless bleeding body,and you see what you've become--a freakmanufactured to disguise the real one,the one who sometimes still recalls your innocence,the time before you became a dirty joke.And maybe it begins to end the dayyou try against the odds to love yourself again.Even though you know the worst thingyou can call someone is cunt,you try to love the flesh and fur you are,that convoluted, prehistoric flower,petals dripping weeds and echoingvaguely fragrant odors of the sea.”

“It’s almost impossible to teach that sort of writing except by pointing students to a stack of clips and telling them, 'Inhale these.”

“In tight economic times, with libraries sliding farther and farther down the list of priorities, we risk the loss of their ideals, intelligence, and knowledge, not to mention their commitment to access for all—librarians consider free access to information the foundation of democracy, and they’re right. Librarians are essential players in the information revolution because they level that field. They enable those without money or education to read and learn the same things as the billionaire and the Ph.D…In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste.”

“Librarians are essential players in the information revolution because they level that field. They enable those without money or education to read and learn the same things as the billionaire and the PhD.”

“Librarians consider free access to information the foundation of democracy.”

“Libraries have always been there for me. Of course I'll stand up for them.”

“I was under the librarians' protection. Civil servants and servants of civility, they had my back. They would be whatever they needed to be that day: information professionals, teachers, police, community organizers, computer technicians, historians, confidantes, clerks, social workers, storytellers, or, in this case, guardians of my peace.”

“We'll always need printed books that don't mutate the way digital books do; we'll always need places to display books, auditoriums for book talks, circles for story time; we'll always need brick-and-mortar libraries.”

“Yes, librarians use punctuation marks to make little emoticons, smiley and frowny faces in their correspondence, but if there were one for an ironic wink, or a sarcastic lip curl, they'd wear it out.”

“They seemed to be quiet types, the women and men in rubber-soled shoes. Their favorite word, after literacy, was privacy--for their patrons and themselves.”

“We are all living history, and it’s hard to say now what will be important in the future. One thing’s certain, though: if we throw it away, it’s gone.”

“Good librarians are natural intelligence operatives. They possess all of the skills and characteristics required for that work: curiosity, wide-ranging knowledge, good memories, organization and analytical aptitude, and discretion.”

“Bibliomancy: "Divination by jolly well Looking It Up.”

“In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste.”