Conflicting conferences

As I often admit, I swing both ways - I am both an ALA and an ISTE member. (Now get your minds out of the gutter.) Like an increasing number of librarians, I have a tough choice to make nearly every summer: Do I attend the NECC ISTE conference or the ALA conference?

Librarian Diane Chen sent an e-mail to a listserv asking why this situation continues and I sent her question to Leslie Connery, Deputy CEO of ISTE, who has major, major ISTE conference responsibilities. With her permission, I am posting her reply here:

We, like you, are very aware of this problem [overlapping conference dates] and would like to find a solution that works for everyone. We know that some of ISTE’s most engaged leader-members are involved in both ISTE and ALA and that they would like to attend both conferences. We have the same struggle you do with regard to dates. I think we’ve both found the “sweet spot” for people and unfortunately – it’s the same sweet spot. A time when most American schools are out for the summer but before teachers are on vacation. And we, like you, have booked convention center space far into the future.

I’d love to get creative, think differently, and come up with a win-win-win solution for ALA, ISTE, and the educators we serve. I’m having difficulty thinking of creative solutions on this one but am more than willing to give it a try. 

Please let us know if you have some ideas on the issue or thoughts about how to proceed or simply would like to brainstorm. I don’t know if Doug chose his closing quote just for us but either way, it fit: The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. - Wendell Berry

So, any creative ideas for Leslie???

Snow Day - a reprise

Originally posted March 1, 2007.

The Mankato Area Public Schools are closed today on account of snow.  You have to work in schools and live in the northern parts of the United States to understand the real meaning of "snow day."

• It is God giving you an additional day of life.
• It is looking out the window and seeing beauty in the snow and wind rather than work.
• It is getting to that movie, that book, or that task that would have eaten up a weekend - guilt free.
• It is digging out and fixing a favorite soup recipe that takes too long to make on most days.
• It is not being jealous of your colleagues' weather in the South - for at least one day.
• It is remembering the delight of having a snow day when you were a kid.
• And the best thing - it is not setting the alarm knowing tomorrow will be a snow day as well. 

Do I sound insufferably smug and happy? Good. I am.

Today's snow day came at a great time. I'm planning to:

• Read an advance copy of Daniel Pink's new book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• Play with and watch a Netflix movie using my new Roku device
• Get handouts updated and sent to CEESA for its March conference
• Book tickets to Mumbai for February's ASB Un-plugged Conference
• Make some homemade chicken noodle soup or chili
• Get caught up on blog reading and my blog post responses
• Finish my June Head for the Edge column for LMC
• Break out the cross country skiis if the wind goes down
• Take a nap - or two

Hope you are having a nice day where ever you are. Life is good here.

Scanning in family history

I spent sometime this weekend working on the annual family calendar - a project I've written about several times before (1, 2, 3, 4). A big part of the fun of this project is finding and scanning old family photos.

Here are a few "finds" from this year (in about the original size, colors not "corrected"):

My sister in the late 60s? I remember that TV set!

My great uncle Bob and great aunt Ora - both in drag. What's the story?

My maternal grandparents in 1959. I get my style sense from my grandfather.

My aunt with some very nice catfish!

And finally...

Some poor soul who only had a ? on the back of her photo. Label your photos, people!

I am now convinced that I have to live at least six months past the day I retire. Not only do I need to convert all the family 8mm and VHS movies to digital formats (and do some editing), but I need to create an online "family" scrapbook that can be shared and used by the rest of the family.

I love these old photos and the memories and questions they engender. While some see technology isolating us, it can also be a marvelous tool for sharing our bonds, our past, and our stories - in both small and extended "families."

Oh, one last one from not THAT long ago:

Grad school graduation, 1979