Metro Pulse/Guest Column/Red Ale & Kangaroos

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There are incongruities that are appropriate

by L. J. Frank

A kangaroo walks into a local microbrewery pub and orders a pint of Uptown Red Ale. The bartender, eyebrows raised, nods and replies, “That’ll be five dollars.” The kangaroo shakes her head but then pulls a five out of her pouch and lays it on the counter. The bartender slides the pint of red ale across the counter to the kangaroo and waits on other customers, watching the kangaroo out of the corner of his eye. Finally, the bartender approaches the kangaroo again and observes, “You know, we don’t get many kangaroos coming in here for a pint of Uptown Red.” The kangaroo nods and replies, “No wonder, for five dollars, what do you expect?”

The story is allegedly true, though not accurate in detail. One might think of it as illustration of an appropriate incongruity. A talking kangaroo should surprise the bartender, but he instead is more interested in the kangaroo’s choice of drink. Our lives are filled with experiences that seem not to fit the context; yet, we accept them. Perhaps the red ales in our lives are simply easier to deal with than the talking kangaroos.

Incongruities abound, appropriate or not. Have you ever noticed that as our technology increases in sophistication there is a corresponding increase in these incongruities that we experience? The more information we receive, the less we seem to understand. We then may realize that our social constructs, philosophies and theologies are behind our sciences and technologies. So in response, we defend values that are incongruous, though they seem to be appropriate.

Let’s take the example further. A friend of mine once said that in these times metaphors are necessary to make sense of our experiences, especially when technical folks try to communicate with non-technical folks. The technical term “public domain” is an example. What is public domain? Literally speaking, domain is where something resides; it is home, a dwelling, an address, belonging to that thing. Add the word public, and now the conversation is about other things, ideas or spaces belonging to the public and to which the public comes to belong.

Let’s continue with this line of thinking and suggest that a public library building is a physical facility that contains the material resources, the recorded words, sights, sounds and images that support and nourish culture, society, and the individuals to whom we collectively refer to as the “public”—that is, all of us in terms of our individual growth, human connections, and cultural evolution. It is our chief memory source.

And, to build a library, we must first create a shared imagination of what a library is, what it can be, and what we choose to make it. We can understand it in terms of its parts: the physical structure, the land it sits on, the books and non-print resources inside, the people who work there, the people who use the library, the information systems that must be maintained, the organizational structure, the community that it is embedded in, and the tasks that are set from outside or from within that it strives to fulfill. We can also attempt to understand it in terms of the whole—the way in which the parts are related and function given the particulars of the location.

In 2004, we are at the beginnings of a new project. A seed is being planted. This seed is a shared metaphor or image of a place, a building, a deposit of resources, a network of connections, and a cultural institution that is integrated and whole within itself, yet still a part of the public domain. This image is also integrative in its capacity to nourish and sustain a process that creates community—a process that occurs when we read a book, share a conversation, learn something new, make a connection, birth an idea and pass on a bit of information—a process that is synonymous with life.

Whether we serve as midwife (architect, planner, designer), parent (mayor, commissioner, director, staff), or sibling (book lover, information seeker, researcher), the birth of a public library can be considered an act of co-creation. It is an integrative process.

It may remind us of the “butterfly effect.” A butterfly slowly spreads its wings in Africa and sets off on an air current that becomes a hurricane in Florida. Creation requires a holistic view of things.

The integrative, creative process is part of a still larger picture. The county mayor has four very significant initiatives focusing on the economy, education, government and seniors. Each of these initiatives is integrated into the process of what we do at the library in the form of partnerships with schools, senior programs, and helping citizens through the acquisition of knowledge necessary to make more effective decisions, among other things.

We are currently engaged in building relationships between people and ideas. It is an integrative process. Remember the words “appropriate incongruity,” even if the meaning is unclear. There will come a time in your life in which there will be no other explanation. And if you see a kangaroo at the local pub, buy him red ale and strike up a conversation.