Yes. It’s been an age since last we met here. I found multiple subjects for blogs throughout this past school year and realized almost immediately that actually addressing those subjects in a public forum would open me up to both ridicule and censure. I live in a relatively small town, and even if I didn’t the professional community in which I exist on a daily basis is pretty insulated. This can be very supportive but it can also lend itself to a degree of judgement and oversight that render me uncomfortable with sharing my opinions on certain matters without anonymity. And I refuse to go anonymous on this blog. I am proud of my profession and my opinions. I just also have a smidgen of self-preservation. Hence my reticence to post all year.
There. I said my semi-apologetic spiel. On to “postable” material!
It occurred to me back in January or February that this will be my last summer as a graduate student. Dear God, please please please let this be my last summer as a graduate student! A combination of full-time work, geographic distance, and a general tendency toward shyness have rendered my extra-curricular involvement in both my graduate program and my field pretty nonexistent. I figured this summer would be an ideal opportunity to do something useful and career-enhancing (and potentially one of the last such opportunities I’ll have in a long time).
I had missed the deadlines for many internships. For instance, I was keen to apply for an internship at the CIA, but the deadline is incredibly early. Future Spook-internship-seekers, take note! I ultimately ended up applying for four internships: three with the Montana Historical Society and one through the University of Washington at the San Francisco Zen Center. The MHS ones all came back as a polite “Thanks, no thanks” but I was accepted for the SFZC! I’d heard about this program through a former coworker (and iSchool alum) so I was understandably very excited to get to go. I started making plans for a month in San Francisco when I got an email last week from MHS saying that it turns out they have enough funds for another internship and would I like to spend 6 weeks in Helena this summer? Yes!
What followed was an astounding flurry of emails that ended with me booked on flight from Billings to San Francisco on June 17, another flight from San Francisco to Seattle on July 11, and a plan to drive in to Glacier National Park with my family for a weekend before turning up in Helena on July 15 to work at MHS until August 23. Guess when I have to report back for the start of the school year: August 26!
Holy. Moly.
To clarify: I am a horrible home-body. My friends lament that I don’t like going out. I don’t like partying late into the night. Sleep deprivation makes me weepy and depressed. I would rather enjoy a movie marathon than go camping. Frankly I would rather do just about anything than go camping! And I have a disturbing history of severe homesickness.
I will not be home between June 17 and August 23.
To say I’m feeling a bit stressed out and overwhelmed right now would be a wild understatement!
And yet, I consider it a sign of personal growth that, shining through the muck of fear and apprehension, the incredible honor and opportunity I have this summer remains ever-present in my mind. For one thing, I get to go to San Francisco! I’ve never been to the city by the bay and, by all accounts, it is thoroughly amazing! I get to see Chinatown and Alcatraz and the wharf! And, lest we forget, I get to study at one of the foremost centers for Zen Buddhism in the West! I am going to learn more about meditation and focus and “working with both hands.” Frankly, I cannot wait! Then, I get to spend time with my family in one of the most beautiful places on earth and, incidentally, another place I’ve never been before. And I get to do all of this over my birthday! Wahoooo! And, as if that weren’t enough, I get to go to still one more place I’ve never been (and I am appropriately ashamed to admit it). Helena is the state capital of Montana. I’ve lived in Montana, on and off, since 1994, and I’ve never been there. Lame!
In both San Francisco and Helena, I will have the opportunity to learn about archival practices, digitization, and preservation. I may even get to learn a smattering about art restoration. Because of the online delivery of my graduate program, these are all practices I’ve missed out on learning. It’s not like a professor in Seattle is going to demonstrate the proper care and keeping of a rare document over a webcam with exhortations to “be careful!” when dealing with such delicate items. Please! This aspect of librarianship is one that has always fascinated me and one that I am particularly eager to delve into, and now I have the opportunity to do so under the direction of first-rate minds in environments dedicated to the exploration and preservation of learning.
I am well and truly honored.
I am also freaking well and truly out! But I know I can survive this summer, and likely even thrive. My resolution is to keep up a running blog commentary (hopefully with pictures, too!) at both my internships this summer. If all goes according to plan, it won’t be another 6 or 8 months before I post again!
High Plains Librarian 