Gearing up For Spring: Snow Boots and Scheduling

Posted February 2, 2026 by Brooke Thomson

Hi readers! We’re baaack. I hope the Spring semester has been treating you all well the last week or so. It’s going to be a particularly busy one for me. Here’s a quick look at my class schedule:

LIS438 Intro to Archival Theory & Practice with Jiarui Sun

LIS438—Field Experience (not yet disclosed, I’ll find out in February) 

LIS415 Information Organization with Kyong Eun Oh

LIS505 International Archives with Joel A. Blanco-Rivera (online)

There’s not much to say about them since we just started, but I’ll come back with an update later on. I’m definitely looking forward to 438 and its accompanying internship the most.

I’ve also been elected as the new Chair of Panopticon, so I’m doing a lot of work to prepare a fun roster of arts-focused events for SLIS students this year. The previous Chair, Aurora Daniels, was amazing—I’ve got big shoes to fill! But I’ve got a good team I look forward to working with too. We’ll have our first meeting on February 1st to really nail down an event schedule, and things will go from there. I hope to see you guys at some of those events! We’re looking at doing some really cool site visits, arts and crafts, and a book club!

Outside of that, the real schedule killer is work. I’m still grinding away at the Tatte job. So far I haven’t had any disasters with my new commute, but it’s certainly no fun to trudge through shin-deep snow and face-freezing wind on my way to the bus stop at 5AM. I’m from Florida guys. This is…a lot. One hundred thousand thank-you’s to my parents, who had the genius idea to get me real winter boots for Christmas. I literally can’t go anywhere without them. Or the puffer coat, and gloves, and two pairs of pants…You get the picture.

I’m sure a lot of you are just as busy and probably busier than me. I’ve found that the best way to keep track of my life is to update no less than three different calendars regularly—I’ve got a wall calendar, a portable planner, and a very active Google Calendar. I also keep an insane sleep schedule in an effort to not be a zombie when I work opening shifts. I jokingly call 7PM bed time (except I’m usually not joking). If you know me though, then you know what I always make time for: my movies and books! 

Speaking of, I wandered back into my old neighborhood to visit the library and grabbed some more last week. I walked out with 6 DVDs and an anthology of short stories called Buried Deep by Naomi Novik. Once I finish this blog, I’ll plop down on the couch to hit play on Movie #5. I’m halfway through the book too, and enjoying it a lot! 

I also did something really random: after stuffing all those library wares into my backpack, I wandered into a church. I’ve taken many a picture of the exterior on my way to and from the library and always wanted to know what the inside looks like, but as a non-church-going person, it was hard to shake the feeling that I’d be clocked on sight as some kind of trespasser, or (irrationally, I know) that someone would leap at the opportunity to expound the Catholic doctrine at me. Bottom line, I was sure it’d be really obvious that I’d never been there before and thus bring some kind of attention to myself. Well, those fears were naught. I had the place entirely to myself.

For a few minutes, I just picked a pew near the back to sit down and take in the sheer scale of the place. Sky-high arched ceilings, what felt like a hundred pews, two walls of stained-glass windows and an elaborate shrine at the end of it all. The architecture was stunning. Then I left my bag on the bench and meandered around to get a closer look at it all. I was particularly interested in the organ above the entrance—what I wouldn’t give to hear some Hans Zimmer play there. I sent off a few pictures to friends and family to share the experience, and my mom asked me to say a prayer for our relatives in poor health. It was a nice visit. I’d like to go back sometime. Maybe even to quietly do some homework in the back, but I’m sure that one’s a weird request. 

That’s it for this month’s little student-life update! I’ll come back soon to give you the inside scoop on my classes and field placement. Stay warm!