I laugh to think that as a ten year old my childhood friend and I used to set up reading collections and vocabulary games in our backyards in Mattapan, Massachusetts during the Summer for the neighborhood kids. And, kids actually came to hang out, read, and fill out the word games.
For me connecting people to stories felt like a natural thing to do. I enjoyed studying literature and science in high school. College years in New Hampshire opened windows to a world of education and literary studies thanks to excellent professors who took time to know me. I briefly taught American literature to sophomores in high school, went on to gradate school in Washington, D.C. where I earned a masters in literature and then an M.L.S. I paid for various stages of my education by working in a glove repair factory, a pharmaceutical factory (where we made pig medicine), a medical billing firm, an independent book store, and, a university library.Again, thanks to insightful professors, I saw the possibilities of working in many types of libraries. I have been an academic librarian, a school librarian, a public librarian, a Youth Services Administrator for a Regional Library System.
Resourcefulness, responsiveness and resiliency are the positive energies of librarianship. Thanks to those energies I answered the call to move to Alaska and set up a brand new public library on Kodiak Island. I travel, enjoy music and dancing, research my Irish roots, and, cook for my friends. When I haven't cooked anything, I let friends raid my refrigerator, so we can come up with great, one-time-ever meals. I respect what I am learning about sustainable living in Alaska. A ten year old girl from Fairbanks killed her first deer in Kodiak over Christmas and presented me with a venison roast as her community offering. Never has a meal held more significance for me; however, preparing the salmon caught by a friend's husband and shared with me for good luck that fishing season comes close.
I've been working a lot these past few years. From my workplace, I look out at mountains, a cannery, wind turbines, and, a harbor whose channel leads out to the Alaskan frontiers. Frontiers lead us back and forth from what we know to the unknown. I think career readiness for young people has an ebb and flow similar to frontier living. I am looking forward to knowing the people of this cohort and collaborating on paths to the future for youth.