My Town Monday: Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, Oklahoma City

The Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library in Oklahoma City is one of the coolest library you'll ever step foot in. In general, I'm partial to old libraries with heavy oak bannisters and high ceilings and mysterious lighting. This library is an exception.

It's a four-story, 112,000-square-foot white, gleaming library and learning center named for former Mayor Ronald J. Norick.

Odd facts:

As part of the opening ceremonies, staff and supporters passed books BY HAND from the old to the new library.

Mayor Ron's dad (James Norick) was also mayor of OKC, once upon a time.

The stacks and other library services are located on the first two floors. There's a business information center and small meeting rooms on the third floor. On the fourth floor, there's a conference center and auditorium.

Child #4 and I walked into the library to the sound of live music and the aroma of decent java. We took the elevator up to the fourth floor where (in alpha order by last name) PJ Hoover, author of The Emerald Tablet; Jenny Meyerhoff, author of Third Grade Baby; Stacy Nyikos, author of Dragon Wishes and I

WERE EACH INTERVIEWED FOR TV!!!

Sorry, I had to shout this out.

BJ Williams is the producer of Read About It. She and Doug Benton do the interviews. They interview 48 authors each year.

Doug Benton and me just before the start of the interview. He'd read the Advance Reader Copy of I So Don't Do Mysteries and prepared enough questions to fill up our 8 minutes.

Gulp. Deep breath. Sorry to report that I don't think I gave that great an interview. Sad but true. It's like I just couldn't relax or something. It all felt too weird. It wasn't the people; they were super nice. There was BJ Williams and Doug Benton, the inteviewers I already mentioned; Jon and John, the camera guys; and Lesli the makeup person. I don't really know what my problem was. I mean, I'm generally a pretty chatty Cathy. The cameras, the having to look in a certain direction, the little coffee table that didn't actually live anywhere? I don't know.

And guess what was in the back of mind for the entire 8 minutes (which is actually an eternity when you're ill at ease)? I hope I don't cough. Because a cough would've been so loud with the mic attached near the collar of my sweater. Well, the second I thought about not coughing, I got a tickle in my throat.

Anyway, it's a done deal. I guess I'll know more after I see the DVD. The show only airs in the metro Oklahoma City area. On the upside, if I ever do something like this again, I think I'll be better at at.


On the upperside, I did learn about a couple of great makeup products from Lesli. Which I'll gladly share: Eye Bright by Benefit is whitish eyestick which, when applied to the inside corner of your eye, totally opens the sucker up. You immediately look bright-eyed and alert. Then there's Sally Hansen's Skin Firming Line Minimizing Liquid Powder makeup. Leslie used "beach" on me. This product obliterates the circles under your eyes. Obliterates. With these two products, you could pull an all-nighter and look none the worse for the wear and tear.

Please visit Travis Erwin, the guy who spearheads My Town Mondays. He'll have a list of links to other Mondayers. I bet everyone, unlike me, got their posts up in a timely fashion.

(Oh yeah, and sources and where you can get more info too:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_/ai_n28000114
http://www.eventective.com/USA/Oklahoma/Oklahoma+City/)