Roy Exum: This Library Comes Alive

  • Monday, March 27, 2017
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

I am pretty positive that I haven’t stepped foot in a library in the last 50 years. Between the ever-widening Internet, with all of its search engines and infinite resources, I have got about as much use for a library as I would if I read a book about a transgender person. I have neither the time or inclination. Be like trying to teach a pig to sing – the pig always get bored.

Yet I read constantly and, after finding a tremendous story last week, I want to “check out” a transgender person at the library. There are a lot of other subjects that befuddle me, too. The longer I live the less I know. But I am also certain of this; after half a decade of interviewing people almost every day, I can promise almost every living soul has more in common than we do differences.

I want to go to The Human Library.

It is there that you don’t check out a book – you check out a person. Oh, we come in every subject and you have a one-on-one talk that is open, honest, and absolutely delightful. You ask questions any questions you want, both to your Living Book and to yourself. After 30 minutes, you return the ‘book’ to the front desk because there are people waiting for their own ‘read.’

Believe it or not, there are now Human Libraries all over the world. In the year 2000, a visionary named Ronni Abergel launched the first Human Library at the Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen. Both festival organizers and festival goers were flabbergasted. People waited in long lines to talk to people about things people don’t talk about. How cool is that?

"The policeman sitting there speaking with the graffiti writer. The politician in discussions with the youth activist and the football fan in a deep chat with the feminist. It was a win-win situation and has been ever since," Ronni said on the Human Library's site.

How, in a world that is increasingly flourishing on hate and fear, would you like to sigh and gasp and laugh and cry and think with a Muslim? Imagine the conversation a Rabbi might have in an effort to know, to understand, to appreciate. How about a domestic violence victim? She (or he) might have some words for another who has never told a soul of what’s it like at home. As a matter of fact, the victim may have the exact words the “reader” needs to hear.

Body modification (tattoos and pierce lips), an autism struggler, a bi-polar girl, a veteran with PTSD, or a dominatrix (what does pain have to do with pleasure? I never have figured that out.) Let’s find a homeless guy who has a master’s degree. A heroin addict. Others? Someone in a polyamorous relationship. A validated gang member. A sex worker. A welfare recipient. Chattanooga’s most flaming liberal. Chattanooga’s most hopeless conservative.

The Human Library website tells us, “We live in an increasingly polarized world. It's time to face our fears and confront our stereotypes. To embrace the diversity of this world will allow us to feel more secure in it.

"When you meet our books, no matter who you are and where you are from or which book you will be reading, in the end, inside every person, the result will say: we are different from each other, we see things differently and we live life differently. But there are more things that we have in common than are keeping us apart."

Obviously we would really need to screen the ‘books.’ This isn’t about protests, public spectacles, fireworks. Libraries are where the sole purpose is to learn. No doubt this could be a fabulous fund-raiser … I’d make a donation gladly, buy a bowl of Mayfield’s ice cream or hand my ‘book’ a cup of coffee.

I woke up during the night, asking why the idea of checking out a person instead of a book. I have interviewed thousands but this would be a chance for me to specifically ask someone like the late Jumoke Johnson why a guy who could have really been somebody killed other blacks instead of encouraging them.

I’m told “naturists” – people who walk about in the nude – are a big hit. This isn’t because they are naked, but because they have conquered their inhibitions and will freely explain why most “nekkids” voted for Clinton. I mean, what did Hillary have for somebody in the nude Trump didn’t?

How about a kid’s section with a policeman, a nurse, a firetruck and – yes – some of our Little Theater actors doing a segment from “The Cat in the Hat” and then sitting in the grass and teaching the kids how to act out the same segment. I know there is some 12-year-old who would love to talk to a UTC basketball player about what it takes to get where the hero is. The possibilities are endless.

Can you imagine the lessons any living book could teach? I just want to talk to the dominatrix – getting tied up in knots and spanked ain’t part of my deal.

royexum@aol.com

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