We had a wonderful day Saturday, starting with Barbara Filet participating in a four-hour yearly library event The Living Library. This was started by a group in Copenhagen, Denmark to reduce violence in the community by enabling one on one conversations, and building understanding. People pose as books that can be checked out for a half hour on a particular subject: home schooler, union organizer, police detective, atheist, communist, transvestite, teenager, Blue Bus driver, Muslim, bicyclist and others. The topics were chosen based on questions the library receives.

Barbara had four readers plus some good conversations with others that just happened to be at the library:
Diane Meyer and her husband, who interviewed the home schooler for a film or play they are writing.
Chris Harding, the lawyer for the Hines Corp development at Bergamot.
A bee expert, with whom Barbara is rescuing a bee hive.
And a former co-worker, who talked about the bad behavior she sees amongst bike riders in her Sunset Park neighborhood.

Barbara felt her “packaging” could have been more interesting. “I thought they would describe me as a bike advocate; or they might have described me as a car-free bicyclist, that might have drawn in more readers.”  Still, she felt it was worth doing, and one way to make connections in the community.

Learn more about the Human Library Project at humanlibrary.org