A Librarian in Iraq

Courtesy of LISNews, Sunday's New York Times describes how a librarian from Chappaqua, NY, has ended up as an embedded journalist in Iraq:

WHY would someone give up a cozy life in this leafy bedroom community for the muck and peril of writing about our soldiers in Iraq, without even a paycheck as consolation?

Shelby Monroe, a librarian here, did just that. Footloose at 44, with no journalism experience, she persuaded the 101st Airborne Division to let her be embedded, not once but twice in the past two years. As you’re reading this, she’s at a base somewhere south of Samarra in a sky-blue flak jacket purchased on eBay and a helmet that hides her honey-brown hair, sleeping in her own trailer and figuring out how to share latrines and showers with the men.

Through her laptop, this combat correspondent is posting blogs with titles like “The Adventures of a Restless Librarian in Iraq” and articles for the Mount Kisco and Pleasantville Examiner weekly newspapers and for a weekly in Tennessee.


Ms. Monroe has not one but two blogs where she is recording her experiences and observations. They both look like interesting reads with plenty of photos. I applaud her courage.