library conference - day 3woke up early to my complimentary breakfast which was way way better than my mediocre breakfast. then i was off to the exhibit hall to network and look for schwag. it turns out that they don't have as many recruiters at the midwinter conference as they do at the annual conference. they also don't have as much schwag. oh well.
anyway, i met up with my new friend who is the librarian for incarcerated teens, and she and i went around the exhibits together. then we had lunch and she was trying to recruit me to work with her. you might be thinking, "oh no miss dewey decimal, don't work with incarcerated teens! they will rape you!" good point. it is a fear. BUT i will be allowed to wear jeans AND i will have the summer off. JEANS! and this girl has worked there for a while, rape-free.
you would think that the prospect of working in a jail would be sad and depressing, but there is something very appealing about it to me. for the first time ever i feel like i am really doing something. i feel like i am really helping children and helping the community. other places i have worked i always did a good job. i always enjoyed my work. i probably enjoyed my work more at other places. but what did my work mean? when i worked out in long island i certainly did an amazing job and provided a great environment for teens and provided a community center and all that jazz. but did they need it? would their lives have suffered without it? probably not.
here is an interesting fact ... so this woman works in jails in 4 of the 5 boroughs. and when i told her the location of my branch, she said that the majority of kids in the detention facility in my borough all come from the neighborhood where my branch is. so the kids i work with right now are in danger of becoming the incarcerated teens that this woman works with. i am the last stop before jail. what does that mean?
1. i have to save these kids from becoming criminals because it is a VERY likely future for them.
2. working with incarcerated teens is not much different from working with the kids i currently work with. they will just be a few years older, and will have committed the crime they are thinking of committing now, but haven't yet.
life just gets curiouser and curiouser.
Posts
2 comments:
A victorious breakfast experience! Yes!!!!!
That is quite a job opportunity and I really admire your desire to help others. I am sure, from what you've written, that you've affected so many of these kid's lives positively already. That must be a great feeling!
Yeah, who else is looking out for your favorite little guy & making sure he's in a safe & stable home? Huh? Did his teachers call in some cavalry for him? Nope. His librarian did. That's something to be pretty frickin' proud of.
Of course, if you feel led to help incarcerated teens in their struggle for literacy & some semblance of normalcy, we'll totally support you & teach you some fierce self-defense moves.
Post a Comment