What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

Things have calmed down considerably in my life. The weather is cooperating with cool, fall-like temperatures (although 80s are predicted for next week). My first paper is due Tuesday in intro to archives. I took the class to see if the interest generated from a field trip last semester could be sustained, and if this was something I wanted to consider as part of my career strategy. I think it's safe to say that while archives themselves interest me, and I will enjoy visiting them, as I do museums and historical areas and monuments, I will not be including archival work in my future plans.

My favorite class of the semester (and of the program so far) is one titled materials for youth, which I refer to as Kids. Kids would rank as one of my top 5 favorite classes of any I have taken (and with all the classes I've taken for my many degrees, that's a lot of classes with which to compete). The instructor knows her material and is practical, the text is great, and the assignments are both interesting and challenging. Besides, we have to read at least 70 kids books..... what could be better than that?

Kids has really helped me see that my passion lies in working with both children and books, and does not lie in the realm of academic libraries. Just because I have a graduate degree does not mean I want to work in a university setting. I think, that would be okay; I guess I could handle it. The whole point in returning to school is to be able to find a job I like, though, not one that would be okay. I've had those types of jobs for the past, oh, 25-30 years. I want something I will like, love, that will make me happy to get up in the morning, AND will give me mental energy for my own writing and creative efforts. More and more, I'm thinking public libraries in children's services or possibly school libraries.

We've looked at a range of books in class, and I find myself thinking, that would be really cool for a unit on the environment, if you put it with this other book and maybe this one, and you could use it with older kids who are reluctant readers or maybe more visually oriented..... and .... I come out of class energized and with many, many ideas. The class is allowing me to use what I already know, to add to that, and to reshape it, which is what learning should be. I'm more convinced that I want to share this enthusiasm and interest with kids (and adults - parents, teachers, etc.). So maybe it's taken me 47 years to start figuring out what I want to be when I grow up, but at least I'm getting there.