Frivolous Fascination?

 Frivolous Fascination? I can't help noticing people's bookcases behind them when they are being interviewed on TV. Some are simply full of books, either nicely arranged or looking like they are actually used. (Of course, that doesn't exclude a book being nicely arranged AND used.) Many people, I've noticed, have a plant on a table nearby, usually a gorgeous big orchid. I have an orchid, too, in another room; it's two years old, not nice and new, but it's still blooming.

I've seen people who are being interviewed who have their own latest publication propped up in front.  One copy good, but five copies?  Some books are blurred by camera focus.  I can see clearly other bookcases; I enjoy seeing what people who are being interviewed have been studying.

I've seen books on a windowsill.  I've seen bookshelves with no books on them--only little treasures.  Now, I have little treasures on my bookshelf, too. But only little treasures and no books?

I noticed one person's books shelved color coded: all the red books, together, then the blue ones, the yellow ones, the black ones, etc.  Who designed that system?  I would never be able to find a book I needed. (I arranged my books in my faculty office by the areas of research and teaching.). One person's shelf really caught my attention: all the books had plain-clothed "dust jackets" put on them.  What secret is being kept so that we don't know what books are there? That may be understandable when some in our own Iowa legislature recently brought up the idea of doing away with tenure at the three state universities because the professors there were thought to be putting all those "liberal ideas" into students' heads.

PBS' Judy Woodruff has what I would call an "ordinary bookshelf." She is well-read and her books look used.  I kept trying to see the fat light blue one with the corner worn off.  I would say to my TV, "Please Judy, move over just an inch so I can tell what it is."  Last night I paused the TV so I could look closer. It's The History of the American People."  So, what's in your bookcase? What's in mine? Unfortunately, my largest bookcase is not behind me, but on a side wall, out of camera view, so, I'm sorry, my Zoom viewers simply won't know.

Frivolous Fascination! It's time to listen closely to the interviews: COVID-19 Budget Reconciliation Bill; diplomacy and airstrikes in Syria; threats to blow up the capitol during the President's State of the Union address; the race to vaccinate, and more. . .