Meet me.
Who am I?
Who am I? According to Pinterest, I’m a “casual chef, semi-compulsive organizer, puppy snuggler, weekend hiker, DIY wanna-be, world traveler, book lover, aspiring minimalist, adventurer, nerd.” While a good description for the casual observer, I’m not sure it gets to the meat of the question any more than an elevator speech would or could. Although I consider myself to be fairly introspective, this is certainly a question that, when given any real depth of thought, makes you wonder precisely how you should break down 35 years of life, revelation, blunderings, experience, and just trying to figure out what the hell the meaning of it all is.
Given that, I’ll start with the easiest of my parts. I am an educator. With the exception of the short and grandiose notion that a girl who doesn’t particularly like fish could be a Cousteauesque Marine Biologist, I have always been drawn to education. Although my scope and students have changed, I still relate to the girl who hopped off the bus from Kindergarten, lined up all her stuffed animals and (unfortunate?) younger sister in front of a chalkboard, and proceeded to teach them everything she had learned that day. The same girl, who, when a favorite teacher missed a day, informed the substitute that she was running the class inappropriately and I would be happy to demonstrate our teacher’s method (I was 7 and my Dad still has the (sarcastic?) note she sent home thanking me for my “help”). Suffice to say, education is in my blood. I love learning, I thrive on questions, and I drive anyone who thinks students should be silent recipients of knowledge absolutely nuts.
I am a lover of stuff. Not just any stuff (aspiring minimalist, remember?), but the objects and items of history and our collective past. I grew up with my grandparents living next door and, God love her, my grandmother would let me riffle through her cabinets and drawers, seeking grand treasures and the stories of our family. When I found an unfamiliar object (such as ration stamps from World War II), she shared her recollections of the event, our family’s experience, and how that shaped our future. Further, my mother’s passion for history meant we spent at least one vacation a year traipsing through a museum, across a battlefield, or visiting some site of historic importance. So, even as small child, I understood the importance of the stuff of the past and I saw the relationship of my family (and therefore my personal story) to its events.
It should surprise no one, then, that I chose history teacher as my first profession. In this role, I believed my priority to be less about dates and far more about teaching students to think on their own and engage in inquiry to discern truth from analysis of and interactions with primary sources. I often bemoaned our reliance on textbooks and students’ belief that history was an absolute and quantifiable truth. I never thought to change anything, however, until a department chair asked me what I was going to do about it. I laughed it off but fast forward a year, a move, and only being able to find a job in a middle school (shudder!) and graduate school started to look awfully appealing. Although history seemed the logical choice, instead, I opted to pursue a Masters in Library and Information Science with concentrations in Archives and Museum Education. Never one to take no for an answer (a friend’s father once compared me to a Iowa-class battleship (think the U.S.S. Missouri)), I created an internship with the National Archives where none existed and completed a Capstone project which enriched President Johnson’s Daily Diaries with primary source records. After graduating, I spent the next three years working for the National Archives training educators on effectively incorporating primary sources into their classrooms to build inquiry and encourage students to act as historians.
Although most would wonder how I left the perfect (for me) job, I had three compelling reasons. Like a good percentage of the women I meet in Alaska, it all had to do with a boy. Or, in my instance, two adorable boys (reasons #1 and #2) who absolutely stole my heart. (In case you can’t figure it out from that statement, I’m also a crazy-about-my-nephews-aunt). Although I was in a job I loved and was incredibly passionate about, moving to Alaska to be near the boys and build a relationship with them was a decision I will never regret. Plus, for reason #3, my job comes complete with free tuition…which is how I ended up working on a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. After fighting bureaucracy and a “this is how we’ve always” system to try to change how we educate about archives and empathizing far more with Sisyphus than any successful adult should, I decided, much as that Iowa-class battleship might, to change tactics.
Rather than trying to change the system from the top down, I’m working from the bottom up. My research focuses on testing students’ retention, inquiry, and engagement when interacting with contextualized, curated primary sources. I know it’s lofty, but as someone who is incredibly passionate about primary sources, I really hope to affect how we educate students about history. I want to see students actively engaged with primary sources, participating in inquiry, sourcing and determining bias, and acting as historians rather than passive receivers of the “truth” as told by ____ (the textbook, media, pop-culture, etc.). I’m about a year into the process and, if we’re being honest, some days the idea of being “Dr. ____” (insert my last name here – it’s on Slack if you want a laugh) is the only thing that gets me through but, on the whole, I still am excited about the work. (And, yes, I will 100% do the Dr. Evil pose when I’m in that gown and, no, I don’t care how silly or outdated it is. Nerd, remember?)
Enough about professional me and I do apologize for the length…it’s hard to summarize 30+ years of experience that led you to deliberate choices to get to a certain place in a paragraph or two. While I’m proud of the work I’ve done and what I’ve achieved, my career and education are only a small part of who I am. On the surface level, I think the Pinterest bio actually does a decent job – “casual chef, semi-compulsive organizer, puppy snuggler, weekend hiker, DIY wanna-be, world traveler, book lover, aspiring minimalist, adventurer, nerd” – so let’s run that down.
- Casual chef: I love to destroy a kitchen in the throes of foodie creativity and think nothing of hosting a four course meal for 10 with recipes I’ve never made before. A dinner with friends is an excuse to play and (if we’re being honest) show off a bit. I love cast iron, open flames, and I hate the lack of grocery options here because I deeply miss beautiful rows of local produce that stay fresh for more than three days. Fun contradiction? I’m seeking the highest degree you can attain and yet I’m actually happiest barefoot in my kitchen.
- Semi-compulsive organizer: If you can see my Pinterest page, you know this is a lie. There’s nothing “semi-” about it! I’m a Type A, anal-retentive, alphabetized DVDs, sleeve length and color-coded closet, books in alphabetical/historical period order kind of girl. I also keep meticulous records, generally have a life plan to rival any of Stalin’s 5 year ones, and have an organizational structure that would make Dewey cry tears of pure joy (perhaps, envy?). Another fun contradiction? For all that I love a good plan and can be dogged in my determination to see it come to fruition, I’m pretty flexible and can roll with the punches. After all, if Plan A doesn’t work…there are 25 other letters.
- Puppy snuggler: I have two, they’re adorable – one fluffy, one floppy. The floppy one is currently snoring next to me as the fluffy one is wrapped around my feet. They add joy to my life, make sure I’m never short on love, and I wish I could go through every day as excitedly as they do.
- Weekend hiker/adventurer: I’m a country girl (Texas originally…hush) who loves the outdoors – camping, off-roading, climbing mountains, the wide-open sky, biking trails, walking around ponds in fields of green, and seeing the majesty of where we live each and every day. It still takes my breath away. (That said, I deeply miss thunderstorms that soak you to the bone, lightning that tears across the sky, and booming thunder.) I also have been known to do crazy things like jump out of perfectly good planes. I only get to do it once, why not try it all? As long as I don’t break something the first time, I’ll probably do it again. Just ask my mom.
- DIY wanna-be: Admit it, you have that Pinterest board too. You know the one with the 50 million home DIY projects from mason jars as herb planters, to wine corks as creative corkboards, to the million and one things you can do with reclaimed pallets. I have that board, I occasionally reference it during the winter, and then bemoan the lack of time I have currently to do any of the wonderful things I pin. These days, the preparing food in the kitchen is the extent of my DIY.
- World traveler: While I’ve by no means traveled as much as I’d like to, I’ve been in 12 countries on three continents and I’ve visited 41 of 50 states. Although I imagine others have been to more, I had a few years in school where I was unable to travel, so I’m making up for lost time! I try to do at least one domestic trip and one international trip each year now; doesn’t always work out, but that’s the goal. I love to see different ways of living, experience local culture, and #itravelforfood. 😉
- Book lover: I can’t remember the first book I read, but I do so voraciously. I love Mark Twain, Flannery O’Conner, The Giving Tree, Maya Angelou, Harry Potter, Faulkner, Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Chaucer, the fluff books that you buy at garage sales and leave in hotel rooms when you travel, finance books, Freakonomics, etc. I love reading, I love learning, and I love when you find an author who has a way with words that sticks with you.
- Aspiring minimalist: When I moved to Alaska I used it as an excuse to clean house, throwing away old files, giving books to teachers, etc. After traveling to Asia last year, however, it’s become a bit more. Although we are some of the most blessed in the world, our lives don’t seem to reflect it. I met individuals who had far less than I who were far happier than I’ve been in a while. It really made me start asking a lot of questions about why we do the things we do and why we keep the things we keep. I’m not what I would call minimalist yet (by any stretch of the imagination), but I try to be mindful of not letting “stuff” (or the need for it) overrun the rest of my life.
- Nerd: I’m insatiably curious, inquisitive, open-minded, and I love a good debate. I was on my high school quiz bowl team, I love Geeks Who Drink, I’m counting down the days to Game of Thrones, I wore Leia braids to kindergarten, and I want to do Dr. Evil when I get my PhD…need I say more?
I’m also stubborn. I joke that my spirit animals are mules, donkeys, and/or goats. If you’ve liked on a farm, that will likely mean more. I say it’s a joke, but there’s a lot more truth than humor in that statement. That said, the stubborn often ends up to my favor because I work hard and I persevere even when others might give up.
Although each of these things represents a part of me, of all the things I do, the time spent with my family and friends is most important to me. Daughter, aunt, granddaughter, niece, and friend will always be titles that mean more than any degree, job, etc. My father often told me, as I was growing up, that you can dedicate your life to a job and it will hand you a watch after 40 years with a thank you note and no handbook on how to reclaim a life you’ve neglected. His message, based in part on his experience growing up, resonated with me then, and still does today. As such, my family comes first and I thrive on those connections. Much as I am a collector of stuff, I am also a collector of people – for those who I decide to “keep,” I will do anything in my power to encourage, support, and uplift them. I have an elephant’s memory and I like to be right, so I sometimes have to remind myself that forgiveness is imperative and it’s better to be happy than to be right. Although I am human and far from perfect, I do try to remember that grace, compassion, and a non-judgmental approach is the best way to deal with those we love…and the world in general.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and sticking it out. It’s an odd challenge to be asked to describe yourself in a way anything beyond the surface interactions we tend to share. Further, “who am I” can really be a loaded question if you give it the time it deserves!
Where can you find me?
For someone who loves the application of technology, uses it daily at work, and spends time studying the implications of cutting edge advances on education, I’ve made a pretty deliberate choice to minimize my footprint in the ether. I can’t pinpoint when or where I made the decision – perhaps it was the Library of Congress announcing the archiving of Twitter, the inane and/or irritatingly political conversations that seem to drive Facebook, or my growing belief that Social Media and technology are changing how we interact with others (and not always for the better) – but it’s one I don’t regret a bit. Personally, as far as social media, I only began Instagram for my mother who declared she never knew what I was up to anymore when I deleted Facebook…plus the pictures are beautiful and it functions a bit like a diary of my cooking and travels.
I have a Google+ account tied to my personal email that has three posts from three years ago and I pretty much only use that to follow two friends who post there. I use Pinterest somewhat religiously to store links but more for convenience than anything. I got tired of trying to track all the lists of things “to do later” that I was keeping. Pinterest is a nice way to organize the things I want to keep and forget about them when I don’t need them. Finally, the PhD has done what the Masters did not – I’m being forced (in some ways it really does feel that way) to use technology that I had no interest in using…Twitter being the key application I never really wanted and will only keep as long as I’m in the program. I may reevaluate at a later date but, at this point I have no real interest in keeping up with it beyond what is required.
Professionally, as an Instructional Designer, there’s only so much I can do to “hide.” I maintain
Google+ and UAA Commons pages to enable me to interact with my peers. I also have a Yammer account, which is very similar to Twitter or Slack for engaging around professional literature and concepts. While these are expedient for work, I only minimally maintain them.
Where am I that you cannot see?
As far as what you cannot see, what I said above holds true here as well. I try to minimize the amount of information I make publicly available and try to limit the amount of time I spend in front of a computer when I leave work. (Being back in school is, of course, making this more difficult). I have email accounts with Gmail and Hotmail, take full advantage of Google Drive and Dropbox for online storage, use quite a few productivity or organization softwares both for home and for work (Canva, Evite, Google Suite, Emaze, Prezi, VoiceThread, Blackboard, PlayPosit, Diigo, Paper 53, etc.), and have a variety of accounts for online shopping, banking, tracking my health/fitness, etc. The majority of the apps on my phone mirror the ones above and provide the added bonus of a few games, access to digital media, planning travel, and searching for real estate.
On the whole, I try to remember that the Internet is a tool to supplement and/or create ease in those things we already do and not something that should consume our lives. For instance, it’s easier for me to access my banking statements online and sync them to Quicken where I can see everything in one place (Another fun fact? I’m a huge Quicken junkie – I love tracking numbers, budgeting, and managing accounts). That said, I am always cognizant that convenience can come at a price; rather than inputting my passwords into Quicken, I choose to visit the bank and do a manual download. It takes a few more minutes, but it’s worth the peace of mind. Beyond this, I’ve recently debated instituting a “no electronics” policy after 8:30. There is something to be said for a quiet, peaceful evening without the hum of machines in the background.
At some point I will likely have to reconsider my stance and some days I just want to make a list of all the accounts I have so I can manage and streamline my e-use and data storage, minimize redundancies, and delete what’s unused (that’s the Information Scientist in me rearing its ugly head). Beyond management, the further I go into my degree and professional career, I will likely have to maintain more of a professional presence. I’m just not really ready to do this yet.
List myself #1: A soundtrack of my life
I’m from the era of mixed tapes, so I thought this would be a fun way to tell my story. Much as Brandi Carlisle sings in The Story, there are “so many stories of where I’ve been and how I got to where I am”…and sometimes that tale just needs a different spin. Some of the songs are mine, some are favorites of others who played a significant part in my life that year, some remind me of a moment, some I played on repeat until they wouldn’t play anymore, most are within proper chronology, some are anachronistic, and for each year there were many, many songs I wanted to choose.
1981 Welcome to the World
1982 First Daughter
1983 Growing Up with Gram
1984 Dancing on Dad’s Feet
1985 Working Night Shift
1986 8-Tracks in the Barn
1987 We Never Stopped Dancing
1988 Windows Down (Mom’s at the Wheel)
1989 The Flipping Gymnast
1990 Road Tripping, Part I
1991 Growing Up Texas
1992 Private School Peeps
1993 Avoid the Drama
1994 She’s a Teenager: The Alien has Landed
1995 Freshman Year
1996 The Boy
1997 Calm the Angry Teenager
1998 Purple Hair
1999 Graduation (Cliche, I Know)
2000 The Reality of Life
2001 Never Far From Home
2002 Road Tripping, Part II (Floating the River)
2003 Loss, too Soon
2004 Jeepin’
2005 Teaching in Misery (You Can Do Anything for a Year)
2006 World Traveler
2007 Road Tripping, Part III (Jeep Hair)
2008 Should Have Listened
2009 Failure
2010 At Peace (Finding Happy Again)
2011 Loss; Loved
2012 Beautiful Houston (Fast Porsche, Hot Day)
2013 Once More for the Cheap Seats
2014 Summer in AK
2015 Dancing with Nephews (Motown’s a Must)
2016 Warning (See, Listen, Hear)
2017 Me, Now
List myself #2: (Weird?) things I’ve collected at one point or another in my life…
- Hippos
- Porcelain masks
- Tiny condiment bottles
- Rocks
- Magnets
- Christmas ornaments
- Dinner menus
- Beer pint glasses
- Funky wine bottles
- Bricks
- Happy Meal toys
- Snow globes
- Mushroom-shaped candles
- Letters, cards, and postcards from loved ones
- Keychains
- Antique toys
- Movie ticket stubs
- Concert wrist bands
- Receipts
- Star Wars paraphernalia
- Wine and cheese label signs
- Jeep stuff
- Books
- Camping gear
- School IDs
- Text messages from friends
- Odd one-use kitchen gadgets (cherry-pitter, strawberry huller, avocado scoop)
- Hotel toiletry bottles (full)
- Student evaluations
- Buttons from restaurants, museums, etc.
- Conference nametags and lanyards
- Bears from around the world (bought for and then inherited from my grandmother)
- Nail polish
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