The Good Things on the Road Ahead
“If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't matter which path you take.”
Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland
- Lewis Carroll
We certainly know where we want to go; our new building plan provides us with that map.
In recent weeks, as the path to a new library building has become “curiouser and curiouser”, I confess to having been drawn to reconsider Alice’s adventures Through the Looking Glass in search of some avenue that might just pull us up from the rabbit hole.
“Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – The White Queen
Amazing! Little did I know that six impossible things before breakfast is the very diet, the perpetual tea party in fact, that our hardworking library and building project teams have been nourishing themselves with for years. All so we can arrive at our final destination – a state of the art, highly functional, futures-focused library and landscape.
Now if we are on a journey to a library of the future, to get there we surely have to blaze a new trail, one that is necessarily marked by change and choice, even by sacrifice.
If we are to finally embark on this journey, the time has come for us to look not at where we have been, but at what lies ahead.
Let’s start by finding true North. For our team, that compass point is the principle that the new building and green should aspire to be transformational. The inviting, open, light-filled spaces will enable much more learning, productivity and sheer enjoyment than most of us can imagine. But let’s try anyway.
Picture a safe and walkable after-school destination for students, a content-rich and supportive learning environment for our seniors, an oasis for early literacy for our youngest friends, a weekly girls’ or couples’ night out at a world-class lecture, a weekend outdoor activities for families, NYC level musical concerts, cooking classes, performances and author talks, film series and technology programming that meet the needs of our highly educated, curious community.
Let’s picture a new way to learn and have fun, with wide ranging cultural gatherings inside and out that will connect our community members to ideas and to each other.
Why not engage in a discussion among friends as to how the Green will enhance beloved NC’s traditions, like the Memorial Day parade, or how we can create new annual events to celebrate? The beautiful, cohesive building and Library Green design will be a first-class attraction for new and current residents alike. Let’s talk together on our daily walks about the economic impact a destination like this will have on our downtown shops and how it will influence new families as a desirable community-selling amenity.
The story of Alice In Wonderland was born of a summer’s picnic (yes, on a grassy lawn) with nothing more than proximity to young children and nature as guides. The new library’s thoughtful design plan aims to provide the very infrastructure for imagination that will inspire all New Canaanites to flourish in the gardens of their own minds.
In the end, the successful completion of the new library project will itself be a monument to honor the collaborative efforts of New Canaan’s citizens and government to meet the promise of a new generation.
Lewis Carroll once remarked, “One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.” No doubt that every one of our hundreds of volunteers and donors would agree.
Please write to our representatives at Planning and Zoning at the email below. With your crucial advocacy and support, I hope we will not find ourselves to be late, late, for this very important date.
Lynn.brooksavni@newcanaanct.gov
Best wishes,
Ellen