Magdalena Public Library, Magdalena, New Mexico

As you would expect, the public library for a town of less than a thousand people is small. Though it turned out to be not nearly as small as I originally thought. My first impression was that the room I walked into was the library, but it turned out the Magdalena Public Library had much more in store.

According to the librarian, this stately, yellow-walled room served as the town hall back in the day, but there is now a new building for that, so they commandeered the old building and re-purposed it into the public library. I arrived, sat down at the one desk space (complete with power strip, thank you), and didn't bother to look for the bathroom until I had to leave. It was then that I realized the library extended back much further and offered a much larger selection than I ever would have guessed.

There is an old train car out front which is part of the Box Car Museum, though whether it houses the museum or is just an interactive part of it, I'm not sure. I was in serious catch up mode at that point. Gwen had told me I just needed to ask and they would let me in but I had to finish posts before a very long day of driving.

A steady stream of people came into the library, and as I've seen with many libraries, it did a very healthy amount of DVD loaning. When I walked in, the librarian was collating new DVDs and talking to various people that came in. It was abundantly clear that everyone knew everyone. When I asked for the wifi, she asked if I was local and I told her I was one of Gwen's AirBNB guests. She brightened, shared the password, and commented on what a lovely place it was. I couldn't have agreed more.

I got the distinct impression that a lot of town business takes place in the library...then this was confirmed when about six people congregated in the main room and commenced with the Board of Education meeting, complete with calls to order and so sayeth we all and so on. Bonus governmental procedure!

No one told me to leave so I continued ticky typing away (I was writing about Roswell and its library if you are keeping track--forgive me for any brevity, but you can start to see why). It was impossible not to eavesdrop! I was greedy to be in the know, and delighted in the little factoids I picked up. However, as an honorary, single-day member of the Board-by-proximity, I must keep what I learned under the strictest of confidence. There were some good morsels of information in there, too. So very sorry, but it's the self imposed and totally arbitrary rule.

It's weird to be supercharged about a Board of Ed meeting for Magdalena, New Mexico, but I've always been fascinated by small towns and their politics. It's not that small town politics are all that different from big town politics (or even big country politics)--people still want the wool pulled over their eyes as long as the trains run on time and the harvest is plentiful. Now, if that requires genuine, philanthropic benevolence or gladhandling, amoral chicken sacrifice, most people don't care as long as all is well in their world and they don't have to get any blood or poor people germs on their hands. (Also, this goes both ways, so no whining. It's the American way and 100% true.)

A small town has a much smaller base to cajole, convince, and connive, so requires a certain kind of skill. As a national candidate, you can bathe the world in platitudes and generalities, but on a micro-local level, people's problems are far more specific and immediate. And there are only so many levels of next-level government a small-town politician can blame (e.g. the county, the state, the governor, the president, congress, etc.).

It was a delight to be a spectator, even if it was just for a little while. I will tell you that all I heard in this particular meeting was happy news--no backbiting or manipulative maneuvering in sight! I had to book it for the VLA and then spend almost 6 hours driving to Tucson, an experience I was not prepared for at all.