Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

snaphot-Alana-Meloni

Full Text:

SNAPSHOT: ALANA MELONI

Occupation: I have been the children's librarian at Newtown Library for the

past year. I work with all ages on a variety of projects, from storytelling to

research.

Family: My husband Alberto and I have three children: Gina, Matthew, and

Angela.

Pets: Keesha, a silver and black Keeshond, has an obsession with the kitchen

table. She waits at my feet while I cook until I invariably drop some food.

Biggest Change in Town: The biggest change in town has been at the library. We

completed our move from Fairfield Hills to our present building.

Hobbies: I used to have many hobbies. I used to sew, I used to crochet, I used

to decorate. Still, I have retained the most important hobby: reading.

Books: I enjoy works, particularly biographies, that attest to the strength of

the human spirit. Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes is such a work. The memoir

details the unfathomable poverty people faced in Limerick, Ireland, a poverty

where people put cardboard in their shoes to make them last and considered

bread with jam a luxury. It was their spirit that allowed them to face these

adversities and to conquer them.

Movies: Only after seeing Titanic did I understand why so many people have

been carried away by it. The film allowed you to feel the impact of the

tremendous loss of life in an intimate way; from the mother tucking her

children into bed as the ship went down to Ben Guggenheim sipping his brandy,

resolved to die like a gentleman, the film captured the courageous manner in

which both rich and poor prepared to face eternity.

Organizations: Although work and my three teenagers give me plenty to do, I'm

thinking about going back to school. I finished a master's degree in library

science last year, and I miss the homework.

Personal philosophy: Too many people take their lives and themselves too

seriously. It's important to laugh just a little bit harder and a little bit

more.