2025-11-12
An excerpt from a conversation where I explained the Delrita Reading Room's origins.
Our recent attentions here in This Old Clown House have been primarily dialed in on finishing up the library.
The space was a complete disaster when we got here, and undoing that has been a string of seemingly unending renovation chores. We recently made a few big steps forward, and as a result we finally had space to get some things out of boxes!
This was was a big emotional boost which we desperately needed. I've been more or less living out of cardboard for the last two years. A few days ago I laid hands on my theater books for the first time since they were packed for the journey. It felt like a reminder of why we're here doing all this work.
There are of course critical bits of infrastructure like trim and baseboards and a door left to resolve in there. Still, there are now shelves up...and that technically means the space we lovingly call "Delrita's Library" is open for business.
Delrita, so it's on the record, is a sassy elder showgirl who captured my heart some years ago. She's retired to Hugo, Oklahoma after a long career in the circus. I met her there, and despite considerable language barriers we bonded instantly. I made the decision to name the library after her, and I have plans to hang one of her massive footprints on the wall. It will be lovingly framed over a comfortable bench painted a similar hue to her skin.
Sadly, I suspect she'll never get to see it. As an elephant, she's well over the safe weight restriction for the stairs leading up to her tribute. I like to think she'd still appreciate the sentimental gesture.
As an interesting epilogue to the tale, I had an opportunity to speak with some clowns who had worked with her back in her glory days. They confirmed my read on her personality, referring to her as "that sassy redacted broad".
Like Delrita, the library project is both larger than life and not just for me. One of the things which motivates me to keep working on every inch this place is the fact that everything we do will be for the baby clowns and other creatives we will eventually host here.
More about Delrita and her friends: https://www.endangeredarkfoundation.org