Monkeys

I sit at work. I often sit at work. Tonight, I sit at work, and watch the monkeys play on the microfilm machines. 

And by monkeys, I mean college students.

I know the pattern forward and backward of how to load, unload, resize, reshape, progress, print and focus all the microfilm machines in our library. However, when a newcomer comes and wants access, I must relearn it for them. I teach, I show, I demonstrate, and they stare at me. Sometimes with glazed eye, sometimes very attentive, and always with questions.

Tonight, however, I have neglected to show anyone anything, and am letting them figure it out for themselves. They work in teams or alone, they work slowly or quickly. I even saw one woman get nervous when confronted with the idea of working her own way around the gears and lenses. But regardless, they poke and prod, screw, unscrew, depress and recalculate every action they take, and it’s very fascinating.

I should play with monkeys more often.