accoladen

This week we received a heartening but complicated surprise to learn we’re a finalist among five for the best new library in the WORLD. It almost makes me cry (and now that I’ve typed that, I’m tearing up) because yeah, it’s a nice space and all, but it’s been hard. “Challenging,” yeah, “terrific opportunities to improve and delight,” yeah, and how about demanding in ways I couldn’t imagine, and frustrating, and exhilarating, and physically mentally emotionally exhausting, and really, just really hard.

I can’t help but snerk at the laundry list of features, like it tells the whole story. It’s barely a preface, this premise of “The Future, and We’re It,” flexible spaces that demand flexible people who won’t say no, who will never break, who stiff upper lip it and maybe cry a bit at acclaim that really let’s be honest is accolades for architecture, not the human capital that sweat and slog and smile through it all.

But we know.
We are more than our building.
We are More Than Books.

We are the flesh and blood and brains, the soul in the machine, the information ninjas and professional hand-holders, the social workers and maestros of fun. Now turn down your music, get your hand out your pants, put away your weed and put your shoes back on.

There’s no award for getting shit done. Even when it’s more with less and less and less. But congratulations, us. File under: Awe, Professional. File under: Sleep when we’re dead. File under: I fucking love you all, because that’s what happens to cohorts that undergo persistent, monumental stress.