Same Movie, Different Cast

Welcome to (with apologies to Bob Dylan) My Back Pages. Eight years ago, to this very day, to the dismay of all those around me who could not believe I would refuse to shut up, I posted my first blog on my own site, Tilting at Windmills. Ah, such memories, but also vaguely familiar. 

The hot button issue in the run-up to that City Council election was choosing a side over the Commercial Overlay Zone. If you lived here then, that was probably a grimace rather than a smile of recollection you just flashed. And if you are of more recent vintage, it’s reassuring to realize how little things change. With apologies to my haberdasher, often it’s the same shirt, just a different day.

I number myself in that wardrobe as eight years of daily on-line rants (to include two leap years!) can make one really cranky. I can’t even imagine how it is for you having to read them every Wednesday right here for the last almost six years. But onward and upward if not backward (sometimes seems to be a popular direction around here).

Let’s have an adventure without leaving the city limits but takes in the whole world, courtesy of the Friends of the Otis Library.

We can enjoy the world of books by the bagful or the bushel as their Semi-annual Book Sale kicks off this Friday morning at ten through Sunday afternoon. There’s an Early Bird preview that starts at nine; ten dollars gets you first crack at some delectables and collectibles; it’s always mobbed by the way.

Whenever I visit the Otis Library website I check out their events calendar not only because I am afraid the Book Sale will sneak up on me (it won’t) but because I enjoy a reminder of the scale and scope of community activities Otis hosts year-round. Otis is a terrific resource and destination to have practically in the exact center of a downtown still working hard to regain and retain relevance and vibrancy. And every little bit helps.

Aside from the Early Bird opening on Friday, the entire three days is free and you name it, it’s probably in the Otis basement (what a great name, no?). What’s your fancy? Sports, history, biography, gardening, the arts, mystery, classics of traditional and modern literature with everything sorted and stacked at bargain basement prices.

And it's not just books; there are CD's, DVD's, vinyl record collections with prices so low you'll buy twice as much as you planned on for next to nothing. On any of the days you stop by, and free admission is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday and from noon to 3 on Sunday, you'll find there's free parking nearby and great places to grab a bite and do a little people watching after you buy a book. 

If you’re waiting for a reason to visit downtown Norwich, you have it this weekend: Friends of Otis Library Book Sale.

-bill kenny