Elizabeth Skene

Another new year, another reflective blog post.

Notable events from 2011:
I have been at the AANM one year as of Monday – a busy year packed with learning, laughing & discovering my place in the organization.

I survived grad school!

I did a good amount of running & biking – a total of 525 miles this year (341.79 were running).

I joined the circus (well, I wish I could)

I celebrated 5 years of marriage

I lost my stepdad to lung cancer

I gave up being a vegetarian. [And ate a LOT of hotdogs!]

2012 Goals:

• Stay active: train hard for Hood to Coast, do at least 1 more half marathon, do more circus
• Grow professionally: present at a conference [or at least develop & submit some proposals], join some committees, expand my networks, work hard on new museum projects
• Be responsible: save more money, do some house projects [the front lawn!], eat candy in moderation
• Have fun: connect with friends, go easy on myself, to cultivate gratitude and kindness

By-NC-ND

Related posts:

1. Professional Goals for 2011
2. These Days
3. 13.1 & the circus

I hope you all had a tremendous Thanksgiving! I really love this holiday because, gluttony aside, it’s focused on gratitude, togetherness and is always a really positive day for me [see last year & two years ago].

The holiday started off the best way possible – at the Detroit Flyhouse. I’ve just started up my second series of classes & have been having a blast!

Thursday morning we attending the “Ypsi Turkey Trot” – a run I made up, then invited everyone to. It was a lovely 3.33 miles around Ypsi. Even Joel came along for what he claims to be the furthest he’s ever run in his life.

This year, Joel & I hosted for our families for the Thanksgiving meal – a total of 11 people were able to make it. Everyone pitched in & the day went amazingly well, not a single mishap! And, not exaggerating, we made the best turkey I have ever eaten. Ever. And the best cranberry sauce. And dressing. Basically it was all very, very good.

Things we made:
Turkey – a 24 apple brine, then butterflied, rubbed with butter & cooked for two hours
Gravy -  flavored with drippings after the turkey cooked
Dressing – with homemade cornbread & toasted pecans
Cranberry sauce
Buttermilk rolls 

Everyone else brought salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, banana & lemon bread, lots of wine &, of course, PIE.

Unfortunately we were too busy to take any decent photos, but here’s a quick shot I got with my cell phone when we sat down to eat [it's hard to capture 11 people in our dining room]!

All  yesterday we been snacked on mini sandwiches made from leftover rolls. For breakfast I had greek yogurt with cranberry sauce. We took a walk to the food coop & picked up ingredients for turkey curry & I baked a loaf of whole wheat buttermilk bread for more sandwiches. I’m a little disappointed our leftovers will be gone so soon!

Now it’s back to drinking coffee, dreaming about apron-front sinks & planning the mini apple strudels I’ll be making this afternoon…

Related posts:

1. Cookies & ice tea = success!
2. High Five for the Mitten
3. These Days

Yesterday, Michael Moore met with Occupy Wall Street protestors and helped to draft a vision statement and a list of 10 goals & objectives – you can read them all on his website.

I won’t get political, but one thing did stick out in point 10:

a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots. 

This appeal reminded me of the electronic records class I took, where we wrestled with the ideas of trust and authenticity in electronic record making and keeping.

This 2006 info graphic was used to highlight some of the complications. Things can change and improve and, of course, are different in each township/city/jurisdiction, but I don’t think the OWS trepidation of computerized voting is completely unfounded.

You can check out all of the content from the electronic records class, including the syllabus and lecture slides, at Open.Michigan. [HUGE props to David Wallace & Margaret Hedstrom for graciously allowing their work to be shared via a Creative Commons license.]

No related posts.

At the end of a 12 hour work day on Friday, I got some really good news:

I’ll be running the 2012 Hood to Coast relay in Oregeon next August!

It’s 200 miles, it’s the 12,600 runners, it’s the world’s largest relay. It starts at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and goes to Seaside, OR, on the coast.

Check out this documentary trailer about the race:

Hood To Coast Movie Trailer from Film For Thought on Vimeo.

I’ll also be fundraising for the American Cancer Society – a cause that’s especially timely, given the loss of my stepdad to lung cancer last month.

Since I’ve never been west of Chicago, Joel & I plan to take the week after the race & have an epic road/camping/biking trip. Basically I want to go to as many National Parks as possible. And a whole lot of other things. Feel free to offer suggestions!

Only 176 days to go!

Related posts:

1. Bob Schuelke, 1943-2011

Last Sunday was The Day – my first half marathon.
And it was great! [I'm even pretty pleased with my time.]

My running companion was my coworker Devon [our Deputy Director] & it was nice to have someone to chat with along the way. I stole this photo from him, in which we both look awesomely goofy.

I had so much fun that I’ve already signed up for another half, the Rock CF Rivers Half Marathon in Grosse Ile – a run that raises awareness & research funds for cystic fibrosis.

Besides running, I’ve been taking classes at the Detroit Flyhouse for the past 2 months. They’re called “ariel yoga” classes, but it’s easier to tell people I go to circus class. It’s an amazing upper body workout [I have shoulder muscles!] & the most fun [as evidenced by my giant smile in all the pictures below]. I also got a hair cut.

I’m signed up for classes at the Flyhouse through January [& may stay on longer].

Next project  - building a pull up bar in the basement.

Related posts:

1. These Days
2. Crossing the wide blue sea
3. !!!!!

This morning I had the honor of returning to my alma matter to be on a panel as part of the SAA student chapter’s “A Day in the Life” series that lets students learn what Real Archives Professionals actually do. As a fairly recent grad, I was slightly intimidated, but very excited, to speak alongside Jennifer Schaffner, an OCLC program manger, and Lisa Schmitt, the Electronic Records Archivist at MSU.

I’m not a huge fan of PowerPoints [both watching & delivering], so I made picture-heavy Prezi presentation. You won’t have the pleasure of hearing me explain everything, but if you’re interested in the many different things I do, it’s worth clicking around.

Also, COME INTERN WITH US! Do it!

Related posts:

1. A day off, a break from life, a pause from the busyness
2. Professional Goals for 2011
3. Tolling the bells & my aspirations for life

I love this season.

The weather has been incredible lately. We visited my mom this weekend & spent Saturday wandering around Frederik Meijer Gardens. Yesterday we had an awesome ride with Bike Ypsi – 20 miles of sunshine & gold leaves & friendly faces. Then we came home & made curried butternut & lentil soup, apple oatmeal yougurt bread & nachos.

Tomorrow I’m going to see Beirut in Royal Oak. [!!!!!]

Every fall, this poem runs through my mind.

October Fullness
Pablo Neruda

Little by little, and also in great leaps,
life happened to me,
and how insignificant this business is.
These veins carried
my blood, which i scarcely ever saw,
I breathed the air of so many places
without keeping a sample of any.
In the end, everyone is aware of this:
nobody keeps any of what he has,
and life is only a borrowing of bones.
The best thing was learning not to have too much
either of sorrow or of joy,
to hope for the chance of a last drop,
to ask more from honey and from twilight.

Perhaps it was my punishment.
Perhaps I was condemned to be happy.
Let it be known that nobody
crossed my path without sharing my being.
I plunged up to the neck
into adversities with were not mine,
into all the suffereings of others.
It wasn’t a question of applause or profit.
Much less. It was not being able
to live or breathe in this shadow,
the shadow of others like towers,
like bitter trees that bury you,
like cobblestones on the knees.

Our own wounds heal with weeping,
our own wounds heal with singing,
but in our own doorway lie bleeding
window, Indians, poor men, fishermen.
The miner’s child doesn’t know his father
amidst all the suffering.

So be it, but my business
was
the fullness of the spirit:
a cry of pleasure choking you,
a sigh from an uprooted plant,
the sum of all actions.

It pleased me to grow in the morning,
to bathe in the sun, in the great joy
of sun, salt, sea-light and wave,
and in the unwinding of the foam
my heart began to move,growing in the essential spasm,
and dying away as it seeped into the sand.

BY-ND MichaelNPatternson

<3

Related posts:

1. Sleeping away the holidays
2. Better than nothing

I had two cups of hot apple cider today & Joel made butternut squash soup for dinner, so I guess it’s officially fall, so it’s probably time to reflect on my Summer Goals.

Guess what – I didn’t complete them all.
I was feeling a little bummed about that, because I really like completing lists, but our deputy director tweeted this article: Study Says Ambitious Goals Make People Happy & then I read this article: What If the Secret to Success is Failure  & then I felt a lot less bad [although let's not talk about how my "11,000 pages in 2011" reading goal is going...]

Completed:

• Bills Hogdogs & Root Beer
• Shadow Art Fair [Joel's band is playing this]
• Ypsi Beer Fest
• Eat a hotdog [Liz]
• The Henry Ford
• Washtenaw Dairy for ice cream
• Detroit food tour 

Not completed:

• The Arb
• UMMA
• Museum of Natural History
• AA Food Carts
• The Gallery Project
• Nordhouse Dunes
• U-Pick [we will go to pick apples this month]
• Hope’s Harvest [I was out of town, so I don't feel too bad about this one]

Overall it was fun & motivated us to do things we normally don’t because they were “on the list.”

Goals for fall/winter?

Keep running. Stay happy.

It’s a rough time of year so the simpler, the better.

Related posts:

1. Summer 2011 Bucket List
2. Professional Goals for 2011
3. Seriously?

I’ve had these typed up for a while now, but life gave me a few other things to do besides post them.
But here they are, my messy/un-cohesive notes from SAA11, lovingly typed & hyperlinked for my [& possibly your] reference pleasure.

Thursday

What Happens After “Here Comes Everybody”: An Examination of Participatory Archives

• Archival work can be viewed as a form of service
• An organization’s reputation is key
• Archives 2.0 must be a co-creation between archives and users
• Submit photos to discussion boards, Flickr groups, etc – be proactive
• Past focus has been on impact to profession – need to focus on impact to users/contributors
• What is the motivation for contributors? Shared pursuits, combined knowledge, enhanced offline life, “serious leisure”, knowledge sharing tradition
• what is a community and who constructs it – can an outside authority create it?
• feedback loop is an incentive to show off and creates investment
• downside includes people who don’t have expertise don’t want to commit
• need to intake newcomers to contribute, ESP with small simple tasks but PRODUCTIVE
• oldweather.org appeals to a wide group, awarded by promotion ***gaming
• crowd and community are at opposite ends of the spectrum
• DISCUSSION
  • How do we reconstruct our authority models??
  • motivation isn’t as important as he result (increase in knowledge)
  • motivation to NOT participate is still important
  • ** The crowd is not unlimited
  • oclc report on participation and types

Open Forum: Social Media

Which Hat Are You Wearing: “You Need What? When?” – Lone Arranger session

• Archival work can be viewed as a form of service
• Advocacy:
  • Monthly bulletin board/exhibits
  • Column in org. newsletters “Post from the Past”
  • Working with students – gauge perception of archives vs reality, relate US history to local area/holdings, forming research questions and search statement
  • Participation in National History Day
  • Participation in Digital Horizons
  • Radio ads

Graduate Student Archivists Paper Session

• Poster outlining the activities of our SAA Student Chapter at U of M last year

Section Meetings I: Museum Archives

• Must buy a copy of Museum Archives: An Introduction

Mixers / Alumni Parties

• Free drinks/my [former] professors are archival superstars

SAA11 Tweet Up @ Clark Street Ale House

Friday

Archiving the Civil Rights Movement: North and South, Past and Future

• Personal libraries as collections – “political tools,” = books constitute identity
  • Books have value by association, preserve marginalia as “reading evidence,” shows “engagement beyond ownership,” should be taken into consideration during appraisal
  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History
    • Digital archives contains powerful collections
    • Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
      • Incredible Oral History project – “to collect and make available the voices and the nameless and the faceless”
      • Published two volumes based on oral histories [Foot Soldiers for Democracy & Black Workers’ Struggle for Equality in Birmingham]
      • Youth exchange program with the Apartheid Museum and the Mandela House in South Africa
      • Assure donors that oral histories live, they don’t merely rest in the archive
      • To read: The Grace of Silence by Michele Norris
      • Connect stories to global movements
      • Civil Rights Digital Library
        • 2005 IMLS project
        • Lots of resources
        • Incredible amounts of metadata – all objects can stand on their own, CONTEXT
        • Browsing available bye: time, place, person, media, repository, collection & topic
        • Designed with school IT in mind (plug-ins/bandwidtch/etc) = 3 videos options
        • Have digitized 30 hours of news footage (10 were proposed)

Graduate Student Poster Presentations

Running break

Cooperation Makes It Happen: Collaboration in Museum Archives

• MOMA
  • Archive is important – included in mission statement
  • 75^th anniversary book told story with primary sources
  • Harvard Art Museum Archives
    • Archives open house to introduce staff to archives
      • Do/don’t for records
      • Games [eg. Match the fallen off adhesive label with the object]
      • Collections make over – what we can do for you
      • Historic New England
        • Collections Access Project – wow
        • Unified accession numbers
        • Each object has an accession number PLUS a globally unique serial number (GUSN)
        • Awesome “search help”
        • Use ResourceSpace for DAM
        • Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries(PACSCL)
          • MPLP goal of 2 hours/linear foot
          • SO MANY incredible resources
          • Send student workers to 3-day “archival boot camp”

Exhibit Hall Ice Cream Social

All-Attendee Reception @ The Field Museum

Saturday

Visit to the Chicago Cultural Center

The Giver Who Keeps on Giving: Donor-Assisted Appraisal and Description

• Include historical/research value as option on appraisal forms
• Record oral histories/meetings with donors = will help describe collection/bio info/etc later on
• UT Austin Briscoe Center Guide for Donors
• Create collection-level EAD & MARC when accessioning
• Ask donor to help with scope/content, dates, subjects, etc
• Structure a feedback loop for donors – regularly scheduled check-ins
• Donor funded digitization & processing projects (ethics??)

Hotdogs at Wolfy’s

Beer Roundtable @ Local Option

Prussia @ Schubas

There was a  Hollinger box cake at the reception!

Baby Hollinger box now holds business cards.

I stayed with my friend Victoria, who has a sweet view from her apartment in the West Loop.

 

My badge left me feeling like I was in Office Space.

Next year’s conference is in California, so I doubt I can go, but hopefully I’ll be back in 2 years!

Related posts:

1. Fall break
2. Reflections on MAA 2011
3. I went to camp!