World Book Night
Apr. 23rd, 2013 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo tonight was World Book Night, and I got to spend my evening handing out copies of 'Good Omens' to people at Faneuil Hall. And it was pretty darn awesome.
It started off a little rougher than I anticipated. The weather was against me - I had kind of hoped for a warm, sunny late-afternoon/early evening, where I could hang out in front of the buildings and chat up the crowds waiting for street performers and wallow in the general throng of humanity that always winds up gathering along the Freedom Trail. Instead, I was confronted with a miserable, gray day where the sun never rose, the temperature never got above 45, the rain never either thoroughly started or stopped, and the wind turned my umbrella inside out as I walked from the T station to my appointed destination.
But I persevered on, along with my hero companions![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran and metaphysick, and eventually sheltered and set up shop inside the food court. And I put out my signs and put on my cheery grin and set about trying to convince people to take a free book.
It was harder than I thought.
The first half-dozen people I tried to talk to all blew me off - shaking their heads, putting up their hands, hurrying away, and generally reacting as though I was trying to sell them a time-share or convince them to sign up for political mailings, instead of giving them a gift. A few people agreed to take books, some cautiously and some bemusedly, but it was slow going and a little disheartening.
But it wasn't all bad. I convinced a few people to take books, including at least one young man who blew us off, continued about 50 feet down the hall, then turned around, eyes wide as he parsed what we were actually offering, came back, took a book, and stayed to chat with us for a few minutes. And slowly, more people started pausing and paying attention and listening and taking books.
And then the horde hit. A group of a dozen or so teenagers bustled in, shouting and shoving and laughing. And I figured they'd ignore us or possibly throw things, but I am also nothing if not determined, so I jumped out in front of them and said, 'Hey! Who wants a free book?'
And most of them ignored me and walked by, or made faces, but one kid stopped, and said, 'Sure!' And I tossed him a copy, and the rest of the gang laughed and shoved their way past. Until about a minute later, when he turned back, with half of the rest following, and said, 'Hey! She wants one too!' And as I passed him a second copy, another kid turned back too and said, 'Hey, what about me?'
So the peer pressure avalanche descended, and in about 30 seconds we handed out the rest of our books, and the horde wandered off reading the back covers and flipping through their books, and I couldn't stop grinning.
They weren't the only ones reading as they wandered off either, and it felt good to see that. I don't know if I changed any lives, but maybe I changed a couple of days, at least. And I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will sign up to do this again next year....
It started off a little rougher than I anticipated. The weather was against me - I had kind of hoped for a warm, sunny late-afternoon/early evening, where I could hang out in front of the buildings and chat up the crowds waiting for street performers and wallow in the general throng of humanity that always winds up gathering along the Freedom Trail. Instead, I was confronted with a miserable, gray day where the sun never rose, the temperature never got above 45, the rain never either thoroughly started or stopped, and the wind turned my umbrella inside out as I walked from the T station to my appointed destination.
But I persevered on, along with my hero companions
umbran and metaphysick, and eventually sheltered and set up shop inside the food court. And I put out my signs and put on my cheery grin and set about trying to convince people to take a free book.It was harder than I thought.
The first half-dozen people I tried to talk to all blew me off - shaking their heads, putting up their hands, hurrying away, and generally reacting as though I was trying to sell them a time-share or convince them to sign up for political mailings, instead of giving them a gift. A few people agreed to take books, some cautiously and some bemusedly, but it was slow going and a little disheartening.
But it wasn't all bad. I convinced a few people to take books, including at least one young man who blew us off, continued about 50 feet down the hall, then turned around, eyes wide as he parsed what we were actually offering, came back, took a book, and stayed to chat with us for a few minutes. And slowly, more people started pausing and paying attention and listening and taking books.
And then the horde hit. A group of a dozen or so teenagers bustled in, shouting and shoving and laughing. And I figured they'd ignore us or possibly throw things, but I am also nothing if not determined, so I jumped out in front of them and said, 'Hey! Who wants a free book?'
And most of them ignored me and walked by, or made faces, but one kid stopped, and said, 'Sure!' And I tossed him a copy, and the rest of the gang laughed and shoved their way past. Until about a minute later, when he turned back, with half of the rest following, and said, 'Hey! She wants one too!' And as I passed him a second copy, another kid turned back too and said, 'Hey, what about me?'
So the peer pressure avalanche descended, and in about 30 seconds we handed out the rest of our books, and the horde wandered off reading the back covers and flipping through their books, and I couldn't stop grinning.
They weren't the only ones reading as they wandered off either, and it felt good to see that. I don't know if I changed any lives, but maybe I changed a couple of days, at least. And I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will sign up to do this again next year....
