Humor: The Unexpurgated (and Illustrated) Version

As an actor sat having lunch in a restaurant, a waitress approached and asked, 

“Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” 

Trying to appear modest, the actor said, “Perhaps you’ve seen me in the movies.” 

“Could be,” she replied. “Where do you usually sit?”  

Source:  2012. "Wit and Humor." Supervision 73, no. 11: 27. Vocational and Career Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed January 2, 2013). [One of the subscription databases provided for our library cardholders through SC DISCUS].

Now that civilization has survived the countdown to the apocalypse of December 21^st, human beings can have a few laughs – and not feel guilty for having a bit of fun.

 

Source: Wikipedia

As readers familiar with this blog know, I am the special collections librarian and archivist who manages the Beaufort District Collection for the library system.  It is a serious job which I take seriously.  

 

Let’s get real: As a Capricorn, I would take any job seriously.  That’s part of my zodiacal DNA.   

 

Capricorns are “reliable, dependable, trustworthy, and serious.” Just access any of the bazillions of horoscope related websites and see whether or not any of them omit the word “serious” in their description of Capricornian traits. (You'll have to look really, really hard!)  Indeed, we Capricorns are so serious that our  basic weakness is often listed as a decidedly strong tendency for “too much work and not enough play.”

 

My knees are getting creakier and my back aches far more often than it used to.  As vigorous physical play seems out of the question, adaptation is necessary.  I am thankful that I still have enough flexible parts to be able to enjoy a hearty belly laugh when warranted.  Although I work in a serious place, doing serious work, which I approach in a serious manner, my numero uno 2013 New Year’s resolution is to laugh out loud - outside of work (I don’t want the Library’s Board of Trustees, the County Council, or my supervisor to think that I am having too much fun on the job!) – at least once a day – for the rest of my life.  Besides, research shows that laughing is an easy way to improve one’s health (and I won’t even have to break a “glisten” – which is a term that we polite GRITS girls use for “sweat.” "Sweat," EEW!)

 

As I hope to join the rising number of American centenarians, I have roughly 16,450 days worth of laughs ahead.

 

Research says that enthusiasm for one’s resolution wanes quickly, so before I lose mine, here are some of the “for grins and giggles” humor related materials the Library shares.  Perhaps you’re looking to have a chortling 2013, too.

Starting with those materials with which I am most accustomed, viz., the BDC and local history sections at the Branch Libraries.  There are some funny vignettes in Sheriff McTeer’s books Beaufort Now and Then, High Sheriff of the Low Country, and Adventure in the Woods and Waters of the Low Country and raconteur Pierre McGowan’s Gullah Mailman and Tales of the Barrier Islands (see Instant Crismus)

For sheer laugh out loud, husband-banning-you-from-night-time-reading-in-bed, the earliest volumes of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum number series are superior.  The last one, Notorious Nineteen, had a few chuckle moments but none of the gut-busting guffaws caused by the shenanigans of Grandma Mazur in the One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, etc. By this stage, odds are even Evanovich is getting tired of the series.  It’s time for some fresh blood.

I used our Novelist database to identify other authors of funny, upbeat contemporary fiction similar to those penned by Evanovich.  Now Tim Cockey’s Murder in the Hearse Degree and Hearse of a Different Color and books and audio-books by Sarah Strohmeyer and Lori Wilde are on my list.

http://bit.ly/ULsNpN

If you haven’t used our “My Next Book” service yet, you may want to give it a try.  This personalized and private service puts you in touch with a librarian who makes a “Picked Just for You” list of materials on topics of your choice.  “My Next Book” list on humor was prepared by Halle Eisenman of Hilton Head Branch Library.  She added Bossypants, the Thursday Next books, Good Omens, Lisa Lutz (who is “especially good for fans of Janet Evanovich”), the novels of Jane Austen, and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson to my reading list. 

“Good Reads,” a BCL recommended website, has a “Humor and Comedy” category with lots of funny books to devour.  

You can find links to the “My Next Book,” Novelist database, and “Good Reads” on our Library website at http://beaufortcountylibrary.org/booklovers. 

Everyone’s sense of humor is unique and personalized.  My sense of humor tends toward the Southern, outrageous, and redneck varieties. (My name is Grace, because two of my grandmothers were (“Bless Mimi’s and Little Mommie’s hearts”) and I am a Cordial by marriage.  If one were to take my character traits and customary behavior into consideration, I am probably the last person on the earth whose name should be “Grace Cordial.”) 

I searched our online catalog for comedians I enjoy (Jerry Clower, Lewis Grizzard, Jeff Foxworthy, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, etc.) and followed where I was led by subject headings such as “Wit and humor,” Humorous stories,” “Satire,” “Black humor (Literature), - (which BTW doesn’t mean “funny material from African American authors writing hardback books”) - and “Humorous fiction” to identify even more library materials that will make me laugh - (away from work, of course.  Remember: I have a serious job taking being a good steward of the wonderful historical, cultural, archaeological and genealogical treasures we have in the Beaufort District Collection.) 

I discovered that Jerry Clower CDs are available through another SCLENDS library.  BCL’s collection of comedian DVDs and audio-books is more mainstream and traditional: Redd Foxx, Groucho Marx, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Danny Thomas, Bob Newhart, and Tina Fey are on offer.  Oldies but goodies are fine with me.  

Our library has strong holdings of television comedy series: Dick Van Dyke, Everybody Hates Chris, Wodehouse Playhouse, and My Name is Earl among a score of other series.  Likewise, we have a number of “Comedy Films” including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Legend of Awesomest Maximus, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

For all of you who got an e-Reader for Christmas (Alas! I did not.  Kids, I think that I’m ready now), there are even a few options on our 3M e-book service: Babyhood and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. Find more information about our e-book services at http://beaufortcountylibrary.org/ebooks.   

It appears that this old mountain goat has access to plenty of library materials for my 16,449 chortles to go!  

Please note:  For the published on January 13, 2013 in the Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet version of this Beacon article click here. 

Local Poets: William John Grayson

William John Grayson

Born: November 12, 1788, Beaufort, SC
Congressman: March 4, 1833 - March 3, 1837
Died: October 4, 1863, Newberry, SC

According to Literary South Carolina by Edwin Epps (2004), Grayson is best remembered for his pro-slavery verse, The Hireling and the Slave (1854), "where the plight of the Northern factory worker is portrayed as worse than that of the Southern slave…. Most Southerners saw Grayson’s poem as reasonably argued, mostly accurate and persuasive; Northerners … mostly ignored the poem intended as a rebuttal" to Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  

Google Books has posted The Hireling and the Slave online for anyone to read it.  You can also get to the narrative poem via the "Literature Resources from Gale" database within DISCUS. 

A quick search in the DISCUS database choosing "Literature" resources and then searching on "Hireling and the Slave" secures 4 hits of literary criticism about the poem:

1) Calhoun, Richard J. "William John Grayson." American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1850-1880. Ed. John Wilbert Rathbun and Monica M. Grecu. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 64. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

2) Wilkinson, C. P. Seabrook. "William John Grayson." Antebellum Writers in the South: Second Series. Ed. Kent P. Ljungquist. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 248. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

3) Wimsatt, Mary Ann. "Witness to Sorrow: The Antebellum Autobiography of William J. Grayson." The Mississippi Quarterly 46.2 (1993): 317+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

4)"William John Grayson." Antebellum Writers in New York and the South. Ed. Joel Myerson. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 3. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.

Try using DISCUS from your home or office to further your discovery of our local poet, William John Grayson or a poet of your choice in honor of National Poetry Month. You just might be surprised by the depth and breadth of the resources that the State Library provides for its residents! 

I Belong @ My Library

In honor of National Library Week, here's another personal "Library story" I would like to share.  

My mother has been quite ill since early November.  The doctors were puzzled by her array of symptoms.  Their earliest diagnoses and treatments did not make her feel any better.  My family was puzzled, too.  More than once, we've sighed and said "Where is Dr. House when you need him?" 


After each diagnosis, I would access our Library website (from home) to locate the latest news and information about that particular medical issue. It's hard to know what to ask when you are struggling to absorb what the doctor, nurse, physical therapist, etc. just said. I ask that the diagnosis be written down - legibly - so I can use it as a search term as I go after additional information.  Armed with the diagnosis,  I then use specific databases inside both DISCUS and EBSCO to educate myself.  

Because it may well be that someone reading this needs additional information about medical and health issues they are facing, here's a step-by-step guide on how to find health and wellness information on the Library's website.   


Please note:  The material contained in any of the databases I mention below is intended for informational purposes only. The databases do not give medical advice, nor should any information contained therein be considered a replacement for medical advice given by licensed health care professionals. 

Step 1:  Go to the BCL homepage at www.beaufortcountylibrary.org.
Step 2:  Choose the 2nd tab "Online Resources."
Step 3:  Open the drop-down box.
Step 4:  Choose "Research Resources." 

You'll see a series of icons: DISCUS, EBSCO Host, Learning Express, Reference USA, La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, OneClick Digital, BYKI, and Ancestry Library Edition.

Let's start with the closest icon, the one for DISCUS.


Step 5: Choose DISCUS.
Step 6: Put in the diagnosis as the "Search Terms"
Step 7: Choose "Health & Medical" as the subject choice.
Step 8: Explore your hits.
Step 9: Jot down any questions you want answered by your health care professional.


Because I have no health care or medical training in my background, I find that the "Health and Wellness Resource Center" inside DISCUS is sometimes too clinical for me to absorb what is being discussed.  It's weighted towards nursing and allied health journals.  You might fare better using it because your background may be different than mine.

I prefer to start with the health and medical sources inside EBSCO Host. You go through the first 4 steps as above. 


Step 1:  Go to the BCL homepage at www.beaufortcountylibrary.org.
Step 2:  Choose the 2nd tab "Online Resources."
Step 3:  Open the drop-down box.
Step 4:  Choose "Research Resources." 

As before, you'll see a series of icons: DISCUS, EBSCO Host, Learning Express, Reference USA, La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, OneClick Digital, BYKI, and Ancestry Library Edition.  This time, choose the circle icon that says "EBSCO Host."
  
Step 5: Choose EBSCO Host.
Step 6: Choose your means of access:  Library or "Home/Office" 
Step 7: In the Library you won't need to put in your BCL library card number.  If you are using the database outside the library, put in your BCL library card number when prompted to do so. 
Step 8: Select the "Consumer Health Complete" database.
Step 9:  Enter the condition or diagnosis in the "Find" box. 
Step 10:  Explore your hits.  
Step 11:  Jot down any questions you'd like answered by your health care professional.


While we can't have Dr. House - Hugh Laurie just plays a doctor on TV (Wonder if he sleeps at Holiday Inn Express?)- and libraries will not and cannot  provide medical advice -- library cardholders do have access to wonderful library resources on health, wellness, and medical topics that can help us inform ourselves to ask better questions of our health care professionals!

Yet again, and at another stage of my life, the resources of my library are helping my family and me cope with a stressful life situation by providing solidly researched, vetted, and accessible information to help our family make the best choices we can given the circumstances. Beaufort County Library cardholders are so lucky that the State Library can still afford to purchase several databases of vetted health and medical information for its citizens.

Perhaps you have a library story, too.  If you'd like to share it, send me an e-mail at gracec@bcgov.net. 


Please remember that "You Belong @ Your Library" just as much as I do.  We'll be happy to see and share our array of materials, programs and services with you either in person or online!