Read 'em (if you can) and weep

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August 5, 10:33 PM

by Tony Long, North Beach Examiner

 

 

North Beach Library is a full-service asset, not least because branch manager Robert Carlson understands the neighborhood he's serving. Thanks to funding provided by the Friends of the S.F. Public Library, Carlson has been able to organize regular events that provide the creative people in this most creative neighborbood a place to showcase their work -- and take their egos out for a stroll, if that's what pleases them.

Since coming to North Beach in 2001, Carlson has established a regular reading series featuring local poets and writers, who are only too happy to leave their sanctum at Caffe Trieste to wander down Columbus Avenue for a few hours of literary hobnobbing. Knowing that a lot of these people are living a hand-to-mouth existence, Carlson usually slips them a few bucks for their trouble.

Now this little slice of North Beachiana is threatened as money from the Friends dries up. Carlson said Tuesday night that he's used up his budget for the rest of 2008 and the library can host only the two or three programs already in the pipeline. Ironically, money's tight because other libraries around town, which have not been as aggressive as North Beach in staging local events, are catching on. So the pie is shrinking.

Friends of S.F. Public Library is a member-supported nonprofit, so if you like the idea of helping the cause of creative expression and prize the endangered species that is literacy, you might consider donating, or perhaps even joining these good folks.  There's something soul-cleansing about fighting a good fight.

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