Joan Kramer

-Former Teacher Librarian/Coordinating Librarian/Coordinating Field Librarian at LA Unified School District;

-Studied Elementary Teaching Credential at University of California, Berkeley;

Studied Library Media at Cal State Long Beach;

-Studied World Literature at UC Berkeley;

-Went to Hollywood High School;

-Lived in Los Angeles, California;

-From Washington, District of Columbia.

Joan Kramer fought for justice and equality. She was a beautiful, compassionate and loving woman. She loved poetry.

Death, be not proud by John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy'or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

from Meditation 17 by John Donne (1572-1631)

From "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII:

Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris –

"Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."

No [wo]man is an island,

entire of itself;

every [wo]man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

[America] is the less,

as well as if a promontory were,

as well as if a manor of thy friend's

or of thine own were:

any [wo]man's death diminishes me

because I am involved in mankind,

and therefore never send to know

for whom the bell tolls.

It tolls for thee…

Joan Kramer (February 26, 1947 - June 28, 2017)