today at work, i was interviewed by 2 film students who had an assignment to “interview the librarian.” I guess they wanted to know how I came to be the person they do not know at all today. I told them that as a child, I wanted to become either a robot or a writer, but I wasn’t sure if there was a difference.

They asked me if I could give them some sort of inspirational motto or a quotation that had inspired me. I stared blankly at the camera for about 10 minutes before I asked them if we could try another take. I started to say “Being born is like being kidnapped, and then sold into slavery” (which has been attributed to both Warhol and Shakespeare), but decided that they might take that the wrong way. So I said, “always carry a light bulb.”

They asked me to describe a transformational moment in my life. I told them that I could not describe that very vividly because it was yet to happen. And that I am not very good at reading the future.

After another 10 minutes of screen silence (in homage to Warhol), I told them about the dream I had last night. I was at the graduation ceremony of the school that employs me. although I am not faculty, i was leading the procession of faculty. but I was crawling on my hands and knees, and they were following. when we reached the edge of the stage, i wasn’t sure if i was supposed to turn left or right. and the procession came to a halt. at first, i felt embarrassed because i clearly had not understood the instructions. But then I got angry because it was clearly their fault for assigning me to lead the procession. Clearly they should have understood the risks.

And then the film students asked me if I could turn off the lights and leave the library because they wanted a shot of me opening the door and turning on the lights. They shot one take after another, and finally I asked them if they could shoot another, this time with me wearing a hat. And we nailed it.