Jen Nails It

every morning is  another chance last night was last night it's right now time there's pollen now some of it smells like rough perfume there's the sound of the fountain relentless cleansing there's breeze  lazy, swaying branches pine needles shimmying  stillness and lonely-blanket quiet when the boys are gone there's love and potential and growth and understanding there's  LIFE still this morning there's another chance to take four steps back and just hold your heart and let out a breath and say THANK YOU

I just Tweeted this in response to the post from brilliant author/former teacher @LynMullalyHunt (NY Times Bestselling FISH IN A TREE, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS) that wished us a happy Teacher Appreciation Week: Feeling like a ghost school librarian. Like I am unsure of whether or not the students are getting anything out of what I am offering them remotely. I am really fed by the wonder and curiosity of students, and I know many teachers feel the same. Sometime it's hard to feel that through Zoom, especially from the students that I know are NOT readers, really (like me, honestly, until I was about 25. For real). Library in our school is a "Special," and while I am WILDLY grateful that our school finds the library a relevant component to K-12 education and even MORE wildly grateful that they employ a licensed librarian in their library, being a Special (in the world of remote learning) translates to being an Optional part of students' day (for me, anyway). I give no...

Every weekday since my school closed, we've had to check in online by filling out this Google form. Today is day 29 of remote learning, and every one of those days, I've been able to click "Healthy." This is very high on the list of things that I take for granted.

One of our school counselors is sending me beautiful library-themed affirmations every day of National Library Week (thanks, Kirsten!). This one I thought was brilliant. When I was working toward my MLIS (received in December of 2018), there were so many important conversations that were fascinating to engage in. We talked about tech and how it's making libraries evolve and redefine and re-evaluate. We talked about the inequities of access to information, among all communities, all over the world. But I think that one of the most intriguing conversations that I remember for me was around the idea that people/patrons have the right to information that is FALSE as much as they have the right to information that is TRUE. At first that sounds really weird. But what we were talking about, essentially, was interpretation. And context and how someone's environment and lifestyle and experience influences the information that they are engaging with. We talked about how it...

Camped in our living room And in Lovell Canyon over spring break Marshmallows and candles Peppermint chocolate bars I hugged and squeezed the Nuggets hard Groping for lost time Hefting up steep and uncertain pebbles Eating chicken sausage dogs And dancing fireside to Love Songs

I have a big and beautiful aquarium in my school library (where I am the librarian). Since the school closed, the fish (five little tetras of some kind, I think they are) have been hanging out in there alone, and the maintenance staff has been graciously feeding them for me every week.  Today I was feeling like it was probably a nuisance for the staff to have to take on that responsibility - they are holding down the fort at the school during all of this. So, this morning I called and said I'd come over and pick up the fish and take them home, if that was cool. It was cool, and now I have five fish in my house. I've NEVER had fish in my house. Not when I was growing up, not as an adult. I really don't know what I am doing. In fact, last year was the first year that the aquarian was brought into the library, and through the course of the year, I think that over a dozen fish died because it turns out I am a terrible fish mother! Too much food, perhaps, or maybe when one f...