We Could Use a Wisconsin Version of This Advocacy Story Right About Now

LINK

Rafael Anchia: How the local library helped shape my path to Austin.  (Dallas News, 1/27/2011)

Excerpt: When I was a child, I spent countless hours in my local library. Like many Americans, I am the son of immigrants. My father is from a small town in northern Spain. My mother is from Mexico City. I grew up in a neighborhood of immigrants, and English was not my first language. One of the ways I learned the language was by going with my mother to the public library.

We didn’t have a lot of money and could not travel to exotic places, but by going to the library, I could intellectually travel all over the world. I could learn new concepts that I might never have been exposed to otherwise. The library was a place that opened my mind to the world and helped me learn English, an all-important tool that gave me a foundation for success in this great country.

But my association with libraries doesn’t end there. My mother-in-law was the head librarian at Hebbronville High School in Jim Hogg County, in deep South Texas. My wife is on the board of the Dallas Public Library. I think my mother-in-law would have never approved of my marrying her daughter if I had not pledged my continuing support for public libraries.

Anchia's key message:

Despite the difficult challenges we face in this trying budgetary session, we must do everything we can to avoid cutting essential library services.

I'm sending this article to my State Senator and Representative with a note that reflects the sentiment of this post's headline.