Old Friends, New Ink!

Last fall I travelled to New England to give my first presentation on The Healing Library for the New England Library Association’s annual conference. (More on that another time!)

After the conference I took a couple days to reunite with old friends from when I lived in VT.

One unexpected meet up was with Andrew Clingenpeel. Andrew and I used to ride together and even shared an apartment sometimes. Back then he was studying art and making kick ass music. I found out he was back in VT and now sharing his talent through tattoos and knew it was time for me to get my first one.

He said yes right away to the design when I reached out being a Bowie fan himself and dug the added Dewey Decimal twist (nerdy as it is!).

Getting time to hang out one on one and talk music, art, and shows was so awesome and we’ve kept in touch since then to talk about upcoming shows and life in general.

To all my librarian friends considering ink, all my fellow punk/metal librarians – Andrew should be your man! His love of learning, authenticity, and true commitment to the piracy and outlaw side of life means your tattoo will be filled with your own meaning as well as rooted in the rich tradition behind this art form.

For now you can find him at palehorse tattoo in Brandon, VT or on Instagram at clingenpeel_tattoo. Tell him I sent you but don’t ask for old dirt on me!!!!!

Oh, and if you don’t know what 781.66 is, look it up!

The Healing Library in InfoToday!

What an amazing week I’m having.

The husband and I changed the hill in front of our house, planting a DOZEN azalea bushes which should provide us with a wall of flowers for years to come. (Did you know I was a landscaper for years?)

The husband and I also went out and got my Christmas present now that Spring really seems to be here – a kayak so we can spend this Summer out on the water as much as possible! (Did you know my undergrad is in Adventure Recreation?) It’s also a fabulous object I can acceptably put stickers all over as an adult…

Finally, my interview about The Healing Library came out in InfoToday’s April issue! While it’s not one of my longer pieces it felt very personal. In part because Justin was the one interviewing me (and he always seems to get to my emotional core) and in part because now that the project has been live for 6 months I’ve had time to bond with it even more.

Back to the emotional part – Some of you who are closer to me know that my last few years have featured the deaths of a number of people who were important to me. Even as a person with a relatively large amount of privilege I found navigating all that death to be confusing. I wound up participating in some unhealthy behaviors and had to do some searching for a set of healing strategies that would work for me. After, I felt a strong desire to share some of those strategies and the fact that healing can be mix-n-match for each of our needs with others. I think because of all those experiences the writing was more tender and considerate than it ever could have been before.

The bonding I’ve been experiencing with the project has a lot to do with the fact that launching felt a bit like sharing my “baby” with the world, but now that baby is growing and changing. The team has been talking about potential ways to move forward but I know it takes a village to raise a child so I’ll soon be asking for your feedback.

I’m getting ready to talk to more people about The Healing Library at next week’s CLRC Webinar and can’t wait to share our story, the Social Emotional Learning benefits of The Healing Library, and to hear from others about what direction they think the project should go moving forward.

If you want to read the article go ahead and subscribe to InfoToday! If you can make it to the Webinar go ahead and register! In the meantime, do a little something extra for your own well being today. Take a little walk, turn off the TV and put on some soothing music, take time out for a bath, whatever gets you more in touch with you.  You’re worth it and the world will be better with the best version of you in it! (I’ll be baking some cookies and watering my new azaleas!)