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Category Archives: Miscellaneous

10 women

10Women

Over the last few days, people on Twitter have been sharing their tweets about ten women that have inspired them. Today, I joined the crowd. But I couldn’t let it end with tagging them. Here’s a little more:

  • Stacey S.– A former colleague in education turned MBA grad who now works in the non-profit world a few hours away.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that power is confidence, food and drink is life, and friendship can range from a book recommendation before a plane ride to a breakfast while in town.
  • Stacey R.– A librarian colleague who doesn’t work in the same district nor at the same level, but the connection is undeniable.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that passion and purpose make our profession (and matching leggings to her 2nd graders is just a bonus on why I love her).
  • Kristen– I’ve already written about her before, but I’ll never get sick of talking about her.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that we can be serious, be silly, and be good at what we do… together. And encouragement always helps; matching our outfits is just a bonus.
  • Silvia– A librarian and entrepreneur, she speaks her mind and shares the beauty of the place that I have come to call home but that has always been hers.
    • What I’ve learned from you is to never wait if you want to travel. Live a life of abundance in food, style, and merriment.
  • Ruta– An author of hidden histories with a powerful pen and a big heart.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that listening has the power to give a voice to the voiceless.
  • Molly– I’ve known you less than a year but I know you love what you do in a banana costume or hosting an author.
    • What I’ve learned from you is loving what you do makes it that much easier to work and that book criticism comes easy for some– your mind is like a steel trap!
  • Annie– Stepping in to an administrative position was the next logical step for you and you’ll shine for sure.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that leadership is kindness and knowledge is power because learning never stops.
  • Lisa– Your work can’t be easy but your wordsmithing skills are superb.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that hard work as a team is easier than going at it alone.
  • Heather– My oldest friend. And ironically one who also works in education but in a different field but with the same goals to be good at what we do and inspire others to do the same while impacting young lives.
    • What I’ve learned from you is that women should never be in competition with each other. We should spend our energy building each other up and that takes time and an investment.
  • Alea– Leading a committee of fabulous women who were once strangers and giving us direction and guidance from afar couldn’t have been easy. But you did it.
    • What I learned from you is that leadership is quiet but it can also be loud: use your voice. (And give the best damn present ever– I still get misty-eyed looking at mine).

BePicky

Think about the women in your life and how they inspire you.

We should all spend a little more time thinking about what we’re grateful for. And, rolling in to the Thanksgiving season, it is the perfect time to stop and think about. And sometimes you just need a old-school chain tweet to remind you about it too.

 
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Posted by on November 10, 2019 in Blogging, Miscellaneous

 

I never apologize

INeverApologize

I never apologize to myself or others for reading hiatuses, just like I don’t apologize if it’s been four weeks or four days since my last blog post.

I never apologize for taking a break from reading fiction so that I can read a graphic biography.

I never apologize for reading picture books at lunch even though I’m a high school librarian, and I will count each book including those picture books in my overall total.

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2019 in Blogging, Miscellaneous

 

National Book Lovers Day

NtlBookLoversDay

I’m grateful to live in a world where there is no shortage of reading material to satisfy curiosity, escapism, and the beauty of the written world to evoke a range of emotions in readers.

Thank you to all authors for feeding the book lovers of the world.

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Posted by on August 9, 2019 in Events, Miscellaneous

 

Bringing it together

BringingItTogether

I regularly contribute to a few other blogs in addition to this one. This has taken shape over the last several years and focuses on a different kind of audience though ultimately it still boils down to books, reading, teaching, and librarianship. So in an effort to share out some of the other posts that often don’t make it back to this one, here is a post to bring it all together.

  • YALSA’s The Hub
    • A division of the American Library Association the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) uses The Hub to share out current recommendations for some of their virtual committees. This year, I sit on the Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) 2020 committee. You’ll see several of my posts alongside other committee members’ and the other committees as well.
  • Times Union‘s Books Blog
  • Nerdy Book Club
    •  A national blog that celebrates a love of reading when it comes to children’s and young adult literature and is the brainchild of Colby Sharp, Donalyn Miller, Katherine Sokolowski, and Cindy Minnich.
 

Packing with no reading in sight

PackingWithNo

This past weekend I was going to be doing an overnight with family and running a race. Literally no ability to read because there would be a birthday party, a race, and a family lunch. But what did I do?

I packed two books.

 
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Posted by on July 15, 2019 in Blogging, Miscellaneous

 

Pleasures

Pleasures

Sometimes they go too quick, but when waiting for my Goodreads app to load on my phone, there’s always a quote that pops up. Yeah, you like those too? Who doesn’t love a good quote? I have no less than four quote images saved to my phone’s camera roll and many more on Pinterest to ponder. Here was the most recent one that struck me:

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Why yes, Mr. Lewis, you are correct. I blogged about my foray into making every sandwich in the Sandwiches! book by Deering and Lentz. I’m reading through every book Bee Wilson, a food academic, publishes. So clearly I have the food thing down (and my Instagram is a lot of the yummy treats I bake). And this blog? It’s pretty much all about my life and career as a school librarian reading my way through young adult like… it’s my job.

I’ve yet to find the best way- other than reading on a device- to read and eat at the same time because I always get gunk on the pages or can’t hold the book right while stabbing at something on my plate. No matter what, tea usually nearby. They certainly combine admirably.

Are there food/beverage combinations that you find yourself regularly pairing? Is there some larger cosmic reason that food and reading go well together? I agree and love the mystery of why.

 

 
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Posted by on July 8, 2019 in Authors, Blogging, Miscellaneous, Quotes

 

In the club

InTheClub

Monday is the last day of regular classes before exams. So this past Friday was the last Friday of the school year and also the last meeting of our school’s Anime Club. It meant a two-hour party that included senior sendoffs, food, officer elections for next year, and more food… and a few tears.

The president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary were all seniors. They said a few words while fellow club members shared kindnesses back and just as I was finishing up to transition us to the next activity, my voice broke and I was a bucket of tears. These kids. Each week for 1-2 hours in addition to their regular visitation of the library proper every day, I had a lot of face time with them. And I won’t forget it.

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That’s why as librarians we get out and get involved in more than just what’s happening in our libraries. We’re running clubs, we’re providing community service, we’re volunteering ourselves to enrich the work we do each day with our students. With that, take a moment to think- if you’re not already involved in the larger school community, what’s one thing you can do to contribute?

 

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2019 in Miscellaneous

 

Sons’ six sensational book series

Sons'SixSensationalSeries

Today we celebrate our sons’ 10th birthday. As active fourth graders who love music, Judo, soccer, Legos, origami, and Transformers along with eating, they’ve always had a love of reading. So in honor of their birthday, here are their six sensational book series.

  1. Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey
  2. The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
  3. All of the Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson comic collections
  4. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
  5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
  6. Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce

SonsSixSensational

 

Dresses

Dresses

I should already be in bed but I must post after finding out that today is National Dress Day. I mean ultimately it’s like the holiday that was created for me. I should have already known it existed but it took an email from one of my favorite stores (sharing a sale no less for the thing that it’s celebrating and the thing that I buy the most there), then I double-checked to confirm it was a real thing. Then, I visited the national dress day website and found a quote that says it all–

“Because no great story ever started with jeans”.

Amen to that.

There’s a reason the bio for my public-facing Instagram account is “You’ll find me drinking tea in a dress and reading… or making lists”. And why my “Dressed” Pinterest board is majority dresses and a play on that attire (if they can all magically appear in my closet, that would be great). And also why my colleague lovingly broke the “rules” governing gift-giving and gifted me a dress in celebration of an achievement.

I’ve shared, especially in professional conversations that preparing for presentations or important events like author visits almost always includes a new dress. If not a dress, new jewelry or heels. And it’s literally just a mental game, with a long-term effect. All of my dresses then have memories.

Just last week I had to throw out a dress after an irreparable rip, but before I did, I sat for a few minutes remembering the summer presentation that I gave it in;  I have my Ruta dress and my Zentner dress. The one from my first paid presentation. I remember our first author visit ever, Ellen Hopkins, and the dress I wore that no longer fits but was lovingly sold on consignment. I remember it and the day itself in association with it. I will never give up my obsession for dresses because that’s the day that I begin to forget emotions surrounding events that happened in them.

I’ll add that as I’m finishing the last half of What We Keep: 150 People Share the One Object that Brings them Joy, Magic, and Meaning by Bill Shapiro with Naomi Wax, and I can say that I don’t keep the dresses I must retire for one reason or another, but I do have a folder of pictures to go back and revisit whenever I’d like.

I’m dying to know– is there something undeniably “you” in how or what you dress in?

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2019 in Miscellaneous, Style

 

Taking time

TakingTime

This week is our winter break which is always a staycation for me. It means catching up on the stacks of books that have been piling up (with no end in sight, but I’m not complaining) and also arranging some brief encounters with my colleagues who otherwise are stacked with a to-do list a mile long being their fabulous librarian selves. This post is a reminder to take the time to cultivate these relationships when you can.

We do a disservice to ourselves professionally when we don’t take the time to share what we’re doing with colleagues while simultaneously learning from them (and occasionally stealing their ideas). They can reflect and question why and what you’re doing while also encouraging you to be at your best. And having these conversations over a beer or a walk in nature is even better.

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We rarely stop to take a picture together, so this was a run in with each other this past summer! 

I have several quick meet-ups this week, but it started with my friend Stacey Rattner last night. Getting back home made me think how lucky I am to call her a colleague though she works in an elementary library and I work at a secondary one  in separate districts. We have so much in common, but we operate so differently. We want and believe the same things for our students and that kind of passion rekindles and spreads like an infectious disease. So how do we do it? We schedule it!

So you’re homework this week is to pick a former colleague, work wife or work husband, or current colleague that you just don’t see enough of and contact them for a meet up. It could be a quick drink or a quick walk, but don’t miss out on the opportunity.

 

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2019 in Miscellaneous, Style