@ Holden

I've been trained in at the Bookstore now and have made a few friends. I'm still learning my way around and getting acquainted with all the people, places, and rituals of life here. It's been extremely cold the last few days by "summer in Minnesota" standards. In the bookstore, we've started a new system of inventory that involves (woo-hoo!) an electronic scanner. It records most of the information we need by scanning the bar code, but everything. As the only "junior" member of our staff (my generation) and being well versed in how to communicate with a computer, it is my job to sit at the 'puter with a walkie-talkie and type in all the information that is radioed in from the floor by the person(s) who are scanning. It's a good thing I'm a swift and accurate typist (most of the time!). There are several that haven't worked through the program. It searches off Amazon.com. This means that if Amazon doesn't have it, we have to type in EVERYTHING manually... which is hard for a store with a lot of small private publishers. The neat thing about this program is that it allows us to search our inventory on the computer by keywords, authors, publishers, categories, etc. The bad thing is that there is no way to edit the number we have in stock as they go out the door. This means it won't be much help in letting us know what we need to reorder or restock... this is, of course, sad because it is why we originally wanted the program. Oh well. It's still better than piles of paper inventories! Even though I initially thought I would have been best suited to the crafts cave or in work with the village kids, I think it's a blessing to this operation to have someone with computer experience around and I'm really grateful that I have gifts such as this one to add into the stew.
My first evening here at Holden, Caleb and I went for a hike up to "third level". For those of you who don't know Holden, that is the top tier of the tailings that were left piled when the old mining operation was halted. As long as you stay away from the edge, they are very sturdy and safe. We stayed out late and talked about first impressions of Village life, my travels from the Midwest, what's going on "outside" the village, and various other topics. It was amazing to see such a tiny place nestled in such a huge valley and realize that it will be my world for the next several months... puts life into perspective. As the moon-shadows of one mountain ridge slid down the opposite face, we hiked back to Holden and I prepared myself for the first day of work.
These past two days, I have learned the register, done the inventory, learned out stock a bit, started a wool hat with some help from my two new friends Leah and Liz, helped (well, tried to help) brew a batch of home brew that some of my staff-mates were working on, assisted my friend Marsha start an exercise/stretching class that will meet Monday, Wednesday, Friday on they lawn by being her first pupil, gone to two lectures a day showing the relation between the Babylonian creation story and Genesis as a response to it (explained through the fact that the Jewish people were under the fist of the Babylonian people and listening to their story through which the world was created through violence and that they needed to morph their own story into one of healing and rebirth for their own mental/emotional well-being... VERY interesting), and have rounded up a group of four + dancers who want to create and perform a piece by the middle of next week! I'll write more later, but what a blast I'm having!!
Peace and love to you all!
Lauren
PS: I suggest looking into the Holden recordings of one Richard Swanson's talks at Holden at the end of the week. They were extremely informative, a very interesting look into the formation of the Genesis creation stories, AND because it's a discussion, you will get to hear my voice (I don't know if they videotape them, but if they do, you will also see some small performances of mine!) Look for them at the start of next week! I'll try to post their location as soon as I find it... it's somewhere online!