Here's a photo from the NYT ("Are Economic Woes Pushing Up Library Circulation?" by Sewell Chan; Photo: Daniel Barry).
The story has an almost gleeful tone when it describes how bad times increase library use:
"Queens Library saw a 16 percent jump in circulation and attendance immediately following Sept. 11, for instance."
Woo-hoo! Terrorist mayhem increases library use!
But that's not what interests me about this story. Look at the picture of the old guy reading with his busted single lens glasses. Look at that; he has one lens from a pair of glasses in part of a frame without a temple arm or any other parts of a complete pair of glasses. It's the most depressing picture I've seen all week. This poor old guy with less than a half-pair of glasses.
I guess there are worse signs of a poor economy than a guy with a half-pair of glasses, but I'm struggling to think of some. Like maybe if he had only one shoe or if he was wearing the jacket from a 1977 prom tuxedo, one of those green ones with the white piping on the lapels. Really, I don't know. We get lots of crazy or odd people in the library, but I rarely see someone who just looks so damn destitute. It makes me sad to look at it. So I'll just look away. Ooh, look! Brangelina baby pictures!
