Sophistik8

Finally!  It is confirmed.  I cannot (must I repeat CANNOT) wait until I can have this phone.  No phone is worth switching to Sprint (aka the cellular devil) and I am super excited that the palm pre is coming to Verizon right around the time I qualify for a phone upgrade.  It was meant to be!

Well I am back from Chicago and still catching up.  I felt like I have been behind on everything all day.  I will leave all the boring ALA stuff for later, since you probably don’t care, unless you are a librarian.  I was in meetings and sessions and bars pretty much all the time so I didn’t really see much of Chicago, except for a most awesome tour from my cousin Jenny that went past Obama’s house!

Today was difficult, catching up on all my email and feeds.  Forgetting about a meeting (for a committee that I chair!) and having to reschedule after the fact.  Then just trying to get stuff done for tomorrow when I have a teen craft program and some booktalks.  But the best (and worst) part was my last session of Changing Lives Through Literature.  Seven guys passed the class tonight, and I miss them already.  I know they are glad it is only a seven week program but I wish it could go on forever.  You can really see how we have grown as a group, being more open to discussion and even asking some discussion questions of their own.

I know I am supposed to be in this to help the guys, and reduce recidivism (blah blah blah) but really I am in it for just sitting around with these guys and talking about things in their lives.  Sometimes it is about books, and sometimes it feels a little like a group therapy session but most of the time it is just awesome.  I am honored to get to work with them, and I can’t wait to start the next group!

On Friday I leave for Chicago to attend the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. There will be much wining and dining and free books! But that means I am going to pretty much drop off the grid for a while. Hopefully I will have lots of interesting stories when I get back. My major goals are: attend as many sessions as possible and bring back the knowledge of the ages for my library, meet Neil Gaiman!! and meet Laurie Halse Anderson, the writer who got me interested in YA lit in the first place (and consequently changed the course of my life!)
I can’t wait! Catch you on the flip side!