FFAPL Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Mail delivery still sucks

Book reviews for March 2026 at the APL on Washington Avenue

Yes, my mail delivery still sucks. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I saw a mail truck on our street. She started to feel elated. I said there was little correlation between seeing the vehicle and our receiving mail; sure enough, nothing in our mailbox. A couple of days earlier, I saw a mail truck on my block, actually three doors down, and a package was delivered there. Indeed, I received a package recently, on a day when we received no other mail.

My wife recently spoke to a postal worker who knows about this problem, and the worker feels terrible about it. They are not allowed to work sufficient overtime to rectify the problem. So it is not a problem just in my neighborhood, but in several locations.

I received mail on Thursday, Feb 12, then on Thursday, the 19th, and, shockingly, on Saturday, the 21st.

A Facebook buddy of mine writes: Join me, if you wish, in raising the alarm. When someone asks, “Is anyone getting mail?” respond with the following:

+++ They’re trying to break the Postal Service and sell it off to private corporations.

I also believe they are making it harder to have mail ballots counted in elections.

Here’s a complaint letter that you can copy and send to the Postmaster. Postal carriers (mailmen) are asking us to raise the issue so they can continue delivering mail! +++ https://tinyurl.com/where-is-my-mail

Oh, and here’s a piece from WNYT, Channel 13, from Tuesday, February 17, on the topic, featuring, er, me.

FFAPL

The Tuesday book reviews are at the 161 Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library at 2 pm in the large auditorium.

March 3 | Book Review | Emmy Noether — Mathematician Extraordinaire, a biography by David E. Rowe. Reviewer: Jonathan Skinner, PhD, amateur classicist & mathematician.

March 10 |Book Review | Coney Island: The People’s Playground by Michael Immerso. Reviewer: Donald “The Soul Man” Hyman, teacher, actor, singer. writer, TV host/producer, & veteran.

March 17 | Book Review | The Sisters, a novel by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Reviewer: Elissa Kane, a seeker, an organizer, a teacher, & an artist, who has worked in libraries & our state & city governments.

March 24 | Book Review | The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz. Reviewer: Ezra Scott, Jr., MA, MBE, is a native of Niagara Falls, NY, a public servant, an educator, & the proud father of Khari C. Scott & Ezra P. Scott III. (Rescheduled from December because of a snowstorm.)

March 31 | Book Review | Why Weren’t We Told? A Personal Search for the Truth about Our History by Henry Reynolds, a prize-winning Australian historian. Reviewer: Tom Ellis, educator & activist.

Thankful month, part 1

friends from kindergarten

I decided to write a blog post for thankful month. Lazily, I picked November 2025. I’m not including the Thursday night choir rehearsals or Sunday morning church services, both of which would qualify. Then the exercise appeared to run too long. So this is part one. I realize it’s rather diaryish, but that’s how it wrote itself.

DATE: Monday, the 3rd. Back in April 2021, I had lunch with three of my oldest friends—I’m talking KINDERGARTEN at Daniel S. Dickinson in Binghamton, NY — Carol, Karen, and Bill, along with Karen’s old friend Michael, whom I’ve known for a good while. That first lunch in Latham, NY, after we had gotten our COVID shots, was replicated at a diner in Albany. It’s strange when you have friends for 67 years, I suppose. But some memories diverged, which is expected after so many years.

DATE: Tuesday, the 4th. I had already voted the previous week. Before early voting, I would get up extremely early and be the first or second person in line. I miss it a little, but not enough to return to the tradition.

At the FFAPL author talk, Peter Balint discussed his memoir, The Shoe in the Danube: The Immigrant Experience of a Holocaust Survivor. This was a fascinating book. His father, a Hungarian Jew, died in the Holocaust; he, his older sister, and his mother, a German Catholic, survived. There’s a lot about personal identity that I found relatable.

I got to see one of my housebound friends. After I dropped off some prescriptions, we had another lovely conversation.

The shopping cart

Then I went to my local Market 32 Price Chopper to buy some food and get a new shopping cart. My existing transport was beginning to wear out. I did not realize that the cart required assembly. So at the end of the counter, I’m struggling to put this thing together. The cart was made in China, as were the instructions.

The young man who had rung me out was trying to help me, but he also had customers. He asked if he could turn off his aisle light, and he helped me assemble it. Or so we thought. As I was rolling it out of the store, filled with groceries, the doohickey holding the back tires together sprang off. The young man came and helped me tighten those whatchamacallits, with some advice from the security guard, who had been busy protecting the produce.

DATE: Wednesday, the 5th. I participated in a community reading of a William Kennedy book for the third time. Two years ago, it was for the book Ironweed, and last year for Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game. This year, we are reading Legs, the fictional account about the very real gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond, who lived in Albany and was murdered in the 1930s.

This year, the event made the New York Times. Participating in this event makes me feel more Albanian; that’s pronounced ALL-bah-nee-an, not AL-bah-nee an. Michael Huber, the communications guy for the New York State Writers Institute, and a truly swell guy, wrote: “In a time of desperate need, this marathon reading of Legs raised $1,605 for the food pantry at Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, which was Kennedy’s childhood parish.”

Zooming to France

Then I went home and talked with my dear friend Deborah, whom I met in NYC in the summer of 1977, on Zoom. My wife and I went to Deborah’s and Cyrille‘s wedding in western France in May 2023.

DATE: Friday, the 7th. I attended a lovely flute and piano concert by the Hardage Chirignan duo, featuring two women named Mel, for First Friday at First Presbyterian Church in Albany.

DATE: Sunday, the 9th: I attended a meeting to learn more about how to address ICE activities. Zoom call with sister Leslie. I was going to write about the Northeast blackout of 1965 on my blog, but I forgot; at least I touched on it in 2005.

DATE: Monday, the 10th. It was 50 years since the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Someone I know thought the event had taken place long before then. Kelly wrote about it.

My wife went out with her friends for dinner, so I went out and had a lovely conversation with a member of my church choir, which touched on some similarities and at least one revelation.

More on Thanksgiving.

Libraries are bellwethers

Libraries are bellwethers. “The mission of the American Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

In the current issue of the ALA magazine, American Libraries, there is an interview with John Green, whose latest book is Everything Is Tuberculosis.

You’re also a staunch supporter of the freedom to read. What would you say to those who are concerned about the future of book challenges, especially in this political landscape?

“I’ve never been so worried about it. I’ve never experienced attacks on my work like the ones I’ve seen in the last couple of years, and that’s even more true for authors of color and LGBTQ authors. It is really upsetting to live in a world where the freedom to read is at such risk, where so many kids are denied access to the breadth of literature because of activist parents going and trying to get books removed from libraries.

Power

“I think it speaks to the power of literature. I think it speaks to the fact that these books are important. But the old saw that it’s good news when your book gets banned because it’ll sell more copies, that’s just not true. At least it’s not true now. What’s true now is that there has been a fair amount of success at removing books from the hands of kids who would otherwise read and be transformed by those books, and that worries me a lot.”

Here are the Banned and Challenged Books data from the ALA. Also, check out the FAQ: Executive Order Targeting IMLS. On Friday night, March 14, an Executive Order was issued to dismantle the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), as well as six other agencies.

Albany Public Library

As previously noted, there are Two Open Seats on the APL Board. Albany voters will select two trustees for the Albany Public Library Board in the May 20 election. Both positions carry full five-year terms, which commence on July 1.

Trustee nominating petitions, with at least 51 signatures, are due to the Clerk of the City School District of Albany by 5 pm on Wednesday, April 30. The library’s trustee election and budget vote are held in conjunction with the city school district. The library trustee candidates will be announced after the school district validates submitted nominating petitions.

I am aware of at least one trustee candidate whom I shall actively oppose. I won’t mention them here until after April 30, in case they choose not to run, although I’ve already seen their campaign literature, which appears to “oppose the property tax increase.” Nearly simultaneously, they’re also running for another public office, which I think is overly ambitious.

I haven’t voted AGAINST a candidate in over a decade, when a neo-Nazi was on the ballot. To show how nervous I was, I considered running myself.

The library is hosting the following public forum:

Meet the Trustee Candidates Forum and Library Budget Session

May 6 (Tue) | 6-7:30 pm | Washington Ave. Branch | 161 Washington Ave.

Talks!

Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library Author talks/book reviews in May, Tuesdays at 2 pm, 161 Washington Ave, large auditorium:

May 6 | Book Review | Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages by Gaston Dorren. Reviewer: David Brickman, longtime writer & editor, language lover, and FFAPL treasurer.

May 13 | Book Review | Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson. Reviewer: Frank S. Robinson, JD, philosopher, author, & blogger.

May 20 | Book Review | Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends by Marisa G. Franco, PhD. Reviewer: Hailey Hamias, FFAPL volunteer & community development professional.

May 27 | Book Review | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Reviewer: Elaine Garrett, BFA, MA, STEM Outreach and Workforce Development, SUNY Research Foundation at NY Creates and the NYS Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology, UAlbany.

Sunday Stealing: Searching for Solid Ground

Patricia Fennell

This week’s Sunday Stealing is about books. I buy many more books than I read, or more specifically, than I finish reading. Books are often presented at the Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library’s Tuesday book talk. When it is an author talk, I tend to buy the book.

This Tuesday, December 3, at 2 p.m., at the Washington Avenue branch of the APL, musician Reggie Harris will discuss Searching for Solid Ground, the memoir he wrote with Linda Hansell. I will almost certainly buy it because I greatly enjoy Reggie’s music.

Has reading a book ever changed your life? Which one and why, if yes?

There are lots of them: Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer, which helped me become more assertive; Bartholemew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss, which speaks truth to power; Lying by Sissela Bok, which “challenges the reader to consider the effects of lying on the individual, relationships, and society”; and The Sweeter The Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, which is an interesting treatise on race in America.

Do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction?

Nonfiction, although historical fiction, can work for me, too.

If you could be a character in any novel you’ve read, who would you be?

Yossarian in Catch-22.

Has reading a book ever made you cry? (Which one and why?)

Absolutely. Among others, I read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood in 1995, about a decade after it came out. I read it while in a book club at my old church. Almost all the people in the group were women, and the narrative was, to be understated here, untoward.

Started…

How many books do you read a year?

I started a dozen or probably even more. Usually, I read a chapter or three. Then I get a new book, and I’m attracted to that. I begin reading that instead and seldom get back to the previous book. I probably finished three this year. One of the things I’ve done in the FFAPL book review group is schedule myself to be a reviewer so that I must finish a book.

Name a book you had to read but hated. Why did you hate it?

The play Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, which I think I had to read in college freshman English class, was a bloody piece that frankly bored me

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called?

I had no idea, so I asked my wife. She suggested Roger That! I like it!

Have you ever written (or started to write) a book?

Yes, started.

If you could pick a book you’ve read to make into a movie, what would it be?

Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles by James Overmyer. It’s a story about a woman who ran a baseball team in the Negro Leagues.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I believe it was Message From Moscow (1966) by Brandon Keith, a novelization of the NBC television series I Spy.

What are you reading right now?

The Chronic Illness Workbook: Strategies and Solutions for Taking Back Your Life by Patricia A. Fennell, MSW, LCSW-R.

Watching people work

Fargo?

Here’s another day in the life post: Tuesday, March 26. For some reason, many of these are on Tuesdays. Reflecting on it, I spent a lot of time watching people work. The ones I watched for the longest time were the half-dozen people taking down that tree across the street from my house, especially looking out my middle bay window. It was better than television.

The process involved a guy in the cherry picker trimming the branches of two trees and tethering the damaged section with rope so it would not fall too quickly. The guys below were putting the small branches in the wood chipper – wood chippers always remind me of the movie Fargo. The chips flew into the back of a truck like the one pictured. A guy was running a tractor-like vehicle that carried logs to the chipper. One fellow was carefully controlling passing traffic in both directions.

It fascinated me because I would have had no idea how to take down the tree without potentially damaging a house or car. And the tree is gone; there aren’t even signs of the roots. I love Men At Work.

Library

I helped facilitate the interview of author Ian Ross Singleton by educator Geri Walsh concerning his book The Two Differences, which is a lot about Detroit but especially Odessa, Ukraine.

They had invited the Ukraine Solidarity Capital District to table at the event. The group stands for the country’s “independence and territorial integrity.”

Kudos to reference librarian Susan, the new liaison with the FFAPL for Tuesday book reviews and author talks. Oddly, we went to library school simultaneously but only realized this a few months ago.

I saw the interim branch manager, Deanna, at the circulation desk. Librarians do it all.

Indian food

I agreed to order takeout from our nearby Indian restaurant. I usually order takeout to pick up around 5:30, and it’s relatively efficient. Because of my wife’s work schedule, I arranged for a slightly later slot. I called at 6 p.m. and was told it would take about 25 minutes.

When I arrived at the restaurant at 6:25, I was asked to sit at a table. People arriving after I got there were told the same thing. There was some confusion; the guy at the register was not a native speaker, I gathered, and it became incumbent for me to explain to them that we were all in the same situation.

However, an increasingly impatient couple was there before I was. He said repeatedly, “How long will this take?” with an increasing edge in his voice. She counted up: “It’s been 35 minutes!” “It’s been 40 minutes!”

When the next order came out, the guy at the register asked them, “Is this your order? Aloo gobi, chicken tikka masala, and lamb saag?” Er, no, that was mine, which made them more disgusted. I wondered, in retrospect, if they were walk-ins. I understood their frustration, but their attitude made me uncomfortable.

Still, the usual manager or owner might have diffused the situation with free mango lassis or another strategy.

And finally

Our daughter complained online that her parents hadn’t gotten her anything for her birthday. “I didn’t know what you wanted.” “I made a list online on Saturday!” That would have been useful to have known.

So, some mail-order workers will get some items to our daughter soon.