Aaron Gryder says: READ

After decades as a cable-free household, as part of our recent move, the Quinella Castle finally joined the world of many channels. And it turns out that we've arrived in the cabled world just in time for Jockeys, the Animal Planet reality show that has been critiqued on numerous sites throughout the blogsphere.

While many others have critiqued the series, and others have focused on the awesome hit-generating power of female jocks Chantal Sutherland and Kayla Stra, here at Turf Luck, we know that inquiring minds really want to learn more about that bookmark featuring Aaron Gryder.

Yes, you know what bookmark I mean. Surely you noticed the irrepressible Joe Talamo holding a book during tonight's episode, "Foul". Joe seems rather impressed that Gryder actually appears on a bookmark, and, for a nanosecond, Talamo points said bookmark towards the camera.

Immediately, I'm sure, you said: "Hmm, can't afford the horses, the cars, or even the damn silks. But, by gum, I'm wondering, where, oh where, might I find such a useful and fashionable bookmark?"

Wonder no more, pilgrim. Your friendly neighborhood librarian has tracked down the source of this gotta-to-have-it item. You'll find Gryder grinning next to Captain Sparrow on a bookmark produced by Arcadia Public Library -- with some assistance from Santa Anita Park. You can even see pics of the photo shoot on the library's blog and Flickr stream.

And yes, dear readers, I understand that you're dying to know just what book Gryder is reading to the sanguine Sparrow. It's Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral by Kat Shehata, a book for the mid-elementary set that captures the feel of Depression-era racing by telling the tale of perennial favorite Seabiscuit. Back in 2005, I remarked upon the odd yet effective use of the actual call throughout the book, and though the illustrations by Jo McElwee are a tad murky, they do capture the feel of the great match race. The book is out of print, but used copies may be purchased through Barnes and Noble and Amazon. And of course, you can always check with your local librarian to borrow a copy for free.

And now, as author and poet Julia Alvarez knows so well, it's time for me to disappear.

Why I Am in Love with Librarians:

I love how they know things
only to pass them on,
how they fade into the faux-wood-paneled
walls of the reference room,
their faces hidden between the covers of books,

how they look up only to help you:
What is the capital of Afghanistan?
How do the Maori bury their dead?
Who invented Barbie? How many were murdered in Guatemala in '84?

—every query worthy of their attention,
any questioner taken seriously,
curiosity the only requirement.
I love how they listen, their lined faces opening,
their eyes already elsewhere:

scanning a plain for the lights of a distant city,
hunting for bodies in the highlands,
searching the web for Barbie—
their minds like those flocks of little birds in winter
swooping over a landscape, looking, looking.

And always when they get back to you,
that sweet smile on their faces,
pride and deep affection for what can be known,
as if Barbie's invention
or the tally of the massacred

could save you, could save the world!
And who knows if Stalin or Hitler
had spent their youth in the library,
history might be rewritten,
re-catalogued by librarians?

Curiosity sends us out
to a world both larger and smaller
than what we know and believe in
with a passion for finding an answer
or at least understanding our questions.

That road is paved with librarians,
bushwhackers, scouts with string
through the labyrinths of information,
helpers who disappear the moment
you reach your destination.

-- Julia Alvarez, as reprinted in Library Journal.

G'night!