Rodentia Intelligentsia

What do squirrels talk about, seated at tiny tables on sunny piazzas, clothed in the tiniest of berets, drinking strong espressos from acorn cups? Library politics, of course.

Learned today that the head librarian of a regional library system in my province, Saskatchewan, has been charged with defrauding the library system over the last 10 years. With all the money being leeched from - don't say it - the book budget. Squirrel rage. Obviously this man is not a library squirrel. Perhaps a badger. Or a dreaded library chipmunk, which as we all know is the worst of animals: a faux squirrel.

There is some sort of metaphor in the human collective unconscious that librarians tie into - people are especially appalled when a librarian goes bad. Librarians are too nice and good to commit fraud. What is at the base of that thinking? It would be interesting if we could figure it out.

Intelligent rodents also discuss the state of the world, from the colossal to the mundane. This squirrel painted the living room trim today. Sand fossil. I'll leave it up to you to establish what that colour could possibly be.

Which brings me to the topic for another blog posting.