I like to read, and I know two people who have been on the board and liked it.<\/p>\n
I wondered, \u201cWill the school board ask me what books I\u2019m reading?\u201d (The school board oversees the library board.)<\/p>\n
In 1967<\/strong><\/span> at Johns Hopkins’ admissions office, I talked about my Holocaust reading. The Holocaust wasn\u2019t yet the \u201cHolocaust.\u201d\u00a0 I made a good impression in Baltimore, I think. (I was pre-med.)<\/p>\n Re: the<\/span> library board interview. I recently read How Music Works<\/em> by David Byrne and Shit my Dad Says<\/em> by Justin Halpern. I have also read to page 100 in Malamud\u2019s A New Life<\/em>, a novel about a college instructor. For the first fifty pages, I was interested in the goings-on of a 1950s college English department. Then less so.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, \u201cI\u2019m reading Malamud\u201d might be the ticket.<\/p>\n The members<\/strong><\/span> of the school board sat on a dais at the board of education building, and I took the \u201cwitness stand\u201d in the center of the room. Only three school board members — out of five — showed up. One MIA board member was a playwright; the other, a guy from my synagogue. My A-team was absent!<\/p>\n Question 1: How would you make the library better for students?<\/p>\n Students?<\/em>\u00a0 They are the species who play computer games and horse around in the teen room? I\u2019ve been in that room, like, never. \u201cI would maintain the library as a first-class multicultural, multimedia center,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n Question 2:<\/strong><\/span> What do you do at the library besides take out books?<\/p>\n Question 3: What would you do to help the library\u2019s finances?<\/p>\n \u201cI vote for the levies.\u201d What about Malamud?<\/em><\/p>\n Question 4:<\/strong><\/span> Are you willing to commit to a seven-year position?<\/p>\n \u201cYes, but actuarially speaking, who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n A chemist beat me out for the job. In an email, the library director thanked me for applying and encouraged me to apply again.<\/p>\n First I <\/strong><\/span> need to walk through the teen room and get a better feel for the young adults’ needs. I\u2019ll do that right after I finish Malamud’s A New Life<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Side B<\/strong><\/span><\/big><\/p>\n MR. OO<\/strong><\/big><\/big><\/p>\n I got a<\/strong><\/span> call from Oo (rhymes with “boo”), looking to open an Asian food market.<\/p>\n I said, \u201cHow do you spell that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cO, O.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cO, O, 7?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span> Hah-hah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs Oo your first name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, that\u2019s Kyawswar.\u201d<\/p>\n “You Chinese?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I’m<\/strong><\/span> from Burma.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cClose enough,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, very close.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs this going to be an American mini-market or an Asian market?\u201d I said. \u201cI don\u2019t want 40-ounce malt liquor and cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAsian market,<\/strong><\/span> sir.\u00a0 Our people like rice, the vegetables, avocados.\u00a0 Maybe cigarettes. The high school boys from the school [across the street] buy the fruit juices.\u201d<\/p>\n I told<\/strong><\/span> my wife, \u201cOo had a nail salon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOo.\u201d<\/p>\n — I interviewed for a position on the library board. I like to read, and I know two people who have been on the board and liked it. I wondered, \u201cWill the school board ask me what books I\u2019m reading?\u201d (The school board oversees the library board.) In 1967 at Johns Hopkins’ admissions office, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landlord-biz","category-miscellaneous","category-pekar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13556"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15691,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13556\/revisions\/15691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Pekar-says-BERT.jpg\" "\\"Pekar")
<\/a>Not much!<\/em> \u201cI was at the dedication of the Harvey Pekar statue,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<\/a>Oo rented the store. He\u2019s\u00a0 industrious. \u00a0He owns two sushi stands at Giant Eagles.\u00a0 That\u2019s not all . . .<\/p>\n
\nFootnote: Consider “U Thant,” the former UN secretary general from Burma. Thanks to Ted Stratton for this\u00a0 U\/Oo connection.<\/em><\/small>
\n
\n—<\/span><\/em><\/small>
\nByliner<\/a> chose my essay “The Landlord’s Tale” (City Journal) as one of the top 102 nonfiction journalism pieces\u00a0 of 2012.\u00a0 Read the essay here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"