There's so much to blog about...

There is so much to blog about as of recently I simply cannot decide where to start. I have been observing and experiencing all sorts of "funniness" that I just laugh to myself and say I need to blog about this. Then after I make my mental note and file it away into my faulty 33-year old cataloging system (library rubbing off already, eh?), I tire and decide I'll get to it at some point. LOL

However today, as I sit here drained from working on taxes all night and realizing that it doesn't pay to be "middle class" if that's even what you wanna call it, seriously; let's go for "working class" - more accurate. I figured a blog is all I can do to lift my spirits and take my mind off the fact that all the tax breaks I've been accustomed to in the past have somehow be placed just beyond my grasp this filing year...who'da thunk! HA

So as many of you know I'm working at the library, but not as LIBRARIAN...oh no - just a lowly library technician. Anywho I head several programs (by default I think: my spouse is the only one not on orders to PCS and my degree). One of my programs is the displays placed around the library. Seeing as though I've been putting up bulletin boards for the past half decade they figured I could do this successfully (insert wink). Well my Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. displays did so well and received so much attention that they were noticed by the "Ops group"- Darryl said these are the people "in charge" so that gave me a sense of pride. The books that I selected to support the displays were in regular circulation and even selected by the EOC and used in post wide programming. I was given a special acknowledgement (of which my supervisor accepted on my behalf unbeknownst to me but later made me aware). The ops group donated a painting of Dr. Marting Luther King, Jr. for the library to display and gave the entire library staff t-shirts - I received mine last she stated because she could not locate me when they arrived...lovely). The display remains up through today so I'll post the some pictures for you to view. Afterwards she informed me excitedly that could not wait to see my displays for African American History Month (regular church attendance is doing wonders for my self control).

That's the painting I was "presented" to the right.

But that's not all, from that I was stopped and interviewed by the post news paper: The Fort Polk Guardian. They feature a spotlight section on the people around base called Viewpoint. People kept coming to me telling me they saw me in the paper so when I got a copy there I was speaking on behalf of my profession, no not library technicians, silly billies...educators

Kenchasa Swann: "I'd be an educator like I already am. It makes an impact. It is the one profession that creates all others."

But once I looked through the entire section I saw something else. An entire page on another program I head. My favorite program too, Story Time. It's the closest thing I have to a classroom at the moment. In conjunction with the childcare development centers (CDC) on base I create a curriculum and pull books to read stories to students from the CDC weekly then we complete and enrichment based activity to support the reading. My picture is not featured in this article, but my name is and its my program. This particular lesson was centered on Thank You month and we were discussing the importance of saying "thank you". After reading books on the topic to the students, we made thank you cards of which we we into the main areas of the library and distributed to soldiers saying simply, "Thank You". My counterpart Kathy does the same thing, but with the public children, I'm thinking that because I'm licenced I oversee the "official" component. Anyway, Kathy is super creative, has wonderful ideas, and we feed wonderfully off of one another - so after collaborating this was an excellent brainchild!

If you click the picture it will maximize in another window and you can read the article.

Look @ my babies...they did so well!

It was great, the soldiers and the students loved the activity. And as you see it even caught the eye of a local reporter! I even saw soldiers tuck the cards carefully into their pockets and some take second peeks and they scribbled colored cards when they though we'd left the area. Kathy said she saw soldiers tear up, how great is that. When I found this article I knew what had to be done. At 5:30 after I left work I grabbed like 7 papers and tucked them into my work tote...they are free after all!

So that's all for now...it's much more "goings on" but since I'm "Fort Polk Famous" I don't really have that much time for blogging - I have to sign autographs (no flash photography please) HA HA HA