Relaxing
Reading and Volunteering
Posted May 20, 2019 by Peggy Hogan-Rao
It has been about two weeks since classes ended for the semester, and I celebrated with friends last Thursday in a bit of an unusual way: by giving out food to the homeless. Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen is a group organized through St. Clement’s Church, located on Boylston Street in the Back Bay area of Boston. A couple of SLIS friends and I met at six a.m. in front of the church, and we prepared to go out into the streets. Carrying bags of bananas, granola bars, sandwiches, socks, and water bottles, the group of us enjoyed conversations with the people we encountered while handing out whatever they needed from the items we had on hand. I hope to volunteer with Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen on a weekly basis this summer. Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen is just one way to get involved in volunteering when I am not swamped with studying. After my friends and I volunteered in Back Bay, we went out to dinner in the Prudential Center. The Prudential Center…
April Showers, Bring Last Half of Semester Jitters (and Good News!)
Posted April 2, 2019 by Maria Reilova
March was a complete blur for me. As cliche as it sounds, I can’t believe it’s already April! March was a crazy month since it started off with Spring Break and I had some major assignments due. To start off though just a quick, little humble brag about how I was able to go over to Scotland to visit a friend there for spring break in the beginning of March. It was an amazing trip full of hiking, pubs, and castles! Oh, and lots of Highland cows (photos for evidence because it’s too cute not to share), which are just as adorable in person! My brain always seems to get a little fried mid semester and being able to take a week to decompression is such a blessing as a student. Speaking of having your brain fried, this may not come as a shock to many, but grad school is hard, and in my personal opinion graduate level online courses are even harder. So coming back from break was a little rocky at first! Don’t…
And We’re Back!
Posted January 23, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
Happy 2019 everyone! The Fall 2018 semester wrapped up a little over a month ago and school is officially back in session. Additionally, because I work in an academic library, I got almost three weeks off of work because of the intersession. I must say, as much as I love school and work and libraries, it was nice to not think about any of that for a few weeks. So, what did I do during my time off? I had such grand plans for my break, because I wasn’t going to have any homework, and I wasn’t going to be at work, and I had a nice solid chunk of time off where I could actually do things and go places. However, absolutely none of my plans came to fruition. I did absolutely nothing over my break and it was wonderful. I have no regrets. I did see Mary Poppins Returns if that counts as doing something, but aside from that, I really just spent most of my time hanging out at home in my…
My view from the trenches
Posted December 12, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
It’s Thursday morning as I write this, with only 2 more days until The Last Day!! It’s a mental game now, a test of endurance. Can you stay calm and resolved as the deadline marches closer, the nights get later, your freedom so close you can taste it? I was reminded again about the importance of self-care. Self-care is such a trendy word these days that I cringe to even use it, but here we are. I thought I could get through the week denying myself those little niceties that make you feel like a fully-functioning human being, like showers, exercise, sleep, good meals and leisure time. Those things are all so time-consuming and I thought I’d be better served spending every last minute I could scrape together on my assignments. Well yesterday I could feel myself beginning to crash. My motivation slumped, my body began to protest, and my mind wavered. After scaring my husband with a bunch of desperate-sounding texts, I switched tactics. I did the dishes and the laundry, exercised, and later…
A Fall Outing
Posted October 3, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
I went on a wonderful fall outing this past week! Ever since I moved to Massachusetts I’ve been working on trying to explore the area more. I research things to do and places to visit online, I ask classmates and colleagues where to go, and sometimes I just stumble across places as I go about my day. One thing that several people told me was that I couldn’t go through a fall in New England without a trip to an apple orchard. I’ve noticed that there is an abundance of apple orchards near where I live, and it feels like there are far more here than there were North Carolina. This past week, I decided to take the advice that was given to me and I visited an apple orchard with my family. We went to Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, MA. At the farm it is currently apple and pumpkin picking season. During other times of the year, you can pick other kinds of fruit such as strawberries (early June to early July), cherries…
The End of Summer
Posted August 29, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
So, I thought that my fall class started next week- I was wrong. Guess who gets two more weeks of summer?! That’s right, I do! The students in my class got an email from our professor a few days ago giving us details about the class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals), and it said that our start date is September 11, which means that I get more time before school starts! Now that I have the syllabus and some more details about the class, I can see that this is going to be different than other online classes that I’ve had. There are going to be a few “live sessions” where everyone is online and interacting with each other at the same time, which I’m really looking forward to! While I’ve gotten to interact with my classmates during online classes before, it’s been mostly through forums, and we reply to each other at our leisure. With the live sessions (I assume) we will actually be able to see one another and participate like an…
Reading Deprivation
Posted July 13, 2018 by ShanTil Yell
I’m flipping the script in today’s post, meaning I plan to tell you about what I haven’t been reading instead of what I have, or rather, why I am not reading at the moment. I’m participating in an experiment this week called “reading deprivation” as a part of this Artist’s Way book I’m working through. If you think that sounds impossible and a bit insane, then I would have to agree with you. Do you know how difficult it is not to read something, or anything at all on a given day? It takes a real concentrated effort, and maybe a blindfold too. The tool is meant to “monitor the inflow and keep it to a minimum,” according to author Julia Cameron, that way you’re able to tune into your inner voice more clearly and hopefully be rewarded with more outflow. And while it’s true that I’ve seen my writing increase, I’ve also gotten petty and annoyed about the whole idea. What about my work emails? My text messages? Those quotable images that I love…
Back in the Saddle!
Posted June 25, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
Hoo-boy it’s been a wild week! Summer has officially started. My online class has officially started. I spent two days at Hershey Park with my family, two nights at a remote cabin getaway with my husband, and have somewhat settled into the new summer routine at my folks’ house in Virginia. Everyone is healthy and things are going really well. My online class is off to a great start with the usual virtual introductions and the first forum discussion. I didn’t realize it before, but this summer class has only seven weeks and each week encompasses two “modules.” So I guess I should expect it to be more intense than a typical semester-long class? This is my second online class and as with the first, it will be a lot of reading and writing. The way I see it, the extra reading makes up for the lack of classroom lecture time and the extra writing fills in for the lack of classroom discussion. There are pros and cons to online courses that I hope I’ll…
Local Discoveries
Posted May 30, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
I’m not going to lie, I’ve kind of failed on the planned adventuring. As I said last time in my post, I was planning on discovering more of Massachusetts on the weekends, and I was going to plan out my trips, and report back. I had a great adventure planned to write about, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I initially planned to go into Boston and meet up with my sister (to see her for the first time in five months!) and I had a list of places to go, things to do, where to eat; however, I was unaware that first, the MBTA is doing construction on the Commuter Rail that I take on the weekends and that has messed with the schedule, and second, that Boston Calling was this past weekend, so I did not end up going to Boston. However, I have made some discoveries about Massachusetts in my own neck of the woods. For example, the wildlife. So, as someone who is not from New England, I have had encounters with…
A Much Needed Break
Posted May 28, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
I’m afraid I don’t have any exciting summer adventures to report on yet; with my son’s preschool still in session our summer hasn’t officially started. To be quite honest, I’ve been laying pretty low since the semester ended. I’ve written no blogs (until this one), largely ignored my school email, and given barely any thought to school or libraries. I’ve also been sick almost the entire time (thanks kids) which has necessitated taking it easy. That means watching shows, reading books, and playing silly games on my phone. But the best part of my break so far has been all the unstructured quality time I’ve been able to spend with my family, without the worry of school deadlines weighing me down and subtly siphoning away my energy and attention. My husband and kids are thrilled to have mommy back in full for a little while. And yes, as others have mentioned, spring is in full swing here in New England. It’s that brief and magical time of year when the house needs no heating or…