Wandering Boston Gardens
Posted June 2, 2016 by Tara Pealer
Since the spring semester ended, I started a new job, Boston got hit by a heat wave, and I’ve been bouncing back and forth from Boston to CT to handle a few things, like getting an air conditioner and getting my dog vaccinated. However, because it is finally summertime, I’ve been doing my best to walk around Boston and just get to know more of the city. Recently, I’ve been wandering aimlessly and stumbling into some of Boston’s cultivated green spaces. For example: (On the top is the Rose Garden near Simmons, and the bottom is in the financial area near Downtown Crossing) My undergraduate degree in American Studies focused heavily on the history of the environment and environmentalist movements of New England, so I’m always fascinated by these green spaces. A pretty amazing book that discusses Boston’s green spaces in particular is Michael Rawson’s Eden on the Charles. Rawson takes a serious look at green spaces like the Boston Common and this economic, socio-cultural and historical influences which shaped it from an area for cows…
Life After Graduation
Posted May 24, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
This past Friday something incredible happened: I graduated from Simmons with a Masters in Library and Information Science. Three years, seven semesters (including one summer session), and two internships later, I have emerged from the other side with my shiny degree in hand ready to take on the professional world. Huzzah! And yet, here I am, still blogging for SLIS. Just when I thought my time with SLIS had reached its end, I was asked if I wanted to continue blogging for the program over the course of the summer. Having done so for the past two summers, I was happy to take on the challenge. Submitting posts for the SLIS student experience blog has been apart of my Boston life since moving here in the Fall of 2013. It’s really fun to go back and read old posts and see how far I’ve come since then. But enough reminisces, let’s talk about what I have in store for this summer. This summer I have two major projects to tackle. The first will be completing…
Salem In A Day
Posted May 17, 2016 by Tara Pealer
My semester ended last Tuesday so, on Thursday, my friends and I went out to Salem for the day. It’s a fast, cheap trip (14 dollars for a round trip ticket on the commuter rail!) and about thirty or so minutes from South Station to the Salem MBTA station. We basically just wandered around the central tourist part of Salem, hitting up the Witch Dungeon museum, which was kind of corny but in that nice tourist-y way. They did a reenactment of one of the trials and then lead us on a tour of a replica dungeon, and discussed the history of the jailing of the witches. We then wandered down to the Peabody Museum, which was amazing and rich in both classic and maritime themed art and newer, more modern pieces. If you haven’t been, the offer a student discount and it’s really affordable to go in. Of course, spending the whole day in Salem, we had to grab lunch. If you’re looking for good food and a nice environment, I would recommend the…
Guest Blog Post About Medical Librarianship
Posted May 3, 2016 by Katie Olivo
We have a special guest blog post this week by current SLIS student Jessie Cass. Jesse is currently (Spring 2016) in her last semester at Simmons SLIS. She is finishing up an internship at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester doing collection development and creating a libguide. She hopes to continue to do similar work in the future, though she would also love to combine her interest in cognitive science with the skills in library and information science gained throughout her time at Simmons. She has always lived in Massachusetts and will be remaining in the Boston area since it has so much to offer! When she is not doing homework she loves walking her dog and reading science fiction novels. You can learn more about her academic career at www.jessiecass.com Medical Librarianship Guest Blogger, Jessie Cass In the spring of 2016 I completed an independent study which I called “Comparing Medical Librarian Roles: Circuit Riders, Clinical Librarians, and Informationists”. I worked with a medical librarian (Catherine Carr) from…
The End
Posted May 2, 2016 by Jill Silverberg
The Fab Four (AKA The Beatles) once sang: And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love You make While the lyrics above might not directly correlate to my thoughts and feelings towards reaching the end of graduate school, I just really wanted to kick-off a blog post with something Beatles related. But, let me make some slight word modifications to make the four lines above a bit more topical. And in the end The experience you take Is equal to the work You make Okay so it’s not as good as the original version but I think it was worth a shot. Even so, I think my alterations work with the situation that’s going on here. Indeed, my time as a graduate student is dwindling down; about twenty days, I am going to walk across a stage to receive my Master’s in Library and Information Science!* Can you believe it ’cause I really, really, REALLY, can’t. It seriously feels like just yesterday that I attended SLIS (or GSLIS as it was known then) orientation…
A Weekend in the Big Apple
Posted April 29, 2016 by Katie Caskey
Last week I posted about the process of packing for and anticipating my upcoming trip to NYC. Well, as promised, this week I will share the highlights of what was one of the best trips EVER! The adventure began on Friday night when we caught a bus from Boston to Manhattan. Now, if any of you have ever ventured to New York, you will not be surprised when I tell you we hit a massive grid-lock on the freeway (at 11:30pm!) and ended up arriving at our destination an hour and a half later than we were supposed to. But we were so excited it didn’t matter! We woke up Saturday morning and went to stand in line for Rush tickets for some Broadway shows. If you don’t know, the Rush policy allows people to purchase suuuuuper cheap tickets (like $35) for shows that day, if they haven’t already sold the seats. We ended up getting tickets for both She Loves Me with Zachary Levi (swoon) and Fiddler on the Roof. Both shows were amazing,…
Keeping Busy
Posted April 28, 2016 by Tara Pealer
Yesterday, my mom finally came up to Boston to visit me, so I did what any normal daughter would do: I dragged her out to dinner with my two best friends and paid the tab. We went to Walhburgers, which, by the way, was amazing. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was low key and perfect for chilling with close friends and family, and the staff was fun and relaxed. The drink selection was pretty good too, though their online menu did not match their in restaurant menu. That was only part one of my plans for her birthday. I also got her a book on Mark Twain that a friend picked up at ALA Midwinter and highly recommended, and we’re going to be going out today or Saturday for a fun, relaxing day at the local malls. My friends are worried about how I’ll manage to get all of my homework done, and despite my amazing time management skills, I understand their worry, because I’m also wondering the same thing. I usually pull through,…
Boston By Foot
Posted April 23, 2016 by Amy Wilson
One of my goals for 2016 was, as soon as the weather was nice enough, I would walk to work. From my house, it’s only 2.7 miles, which takes me about an hour. Normally, if I am taking public transit, I need to leave by 8:15 to ge to work for 9am; walking the same route only adds 15-20 minutes to my commute (which doesn’t say much for our transit system). One of the top women runners at the Marathon Attending the Boston Marathon on Monday inspired me to step it up (pun intended). After the marathon, I walked to Simmons to do some homework. Unfortunately, the computer lab was closed, so then I decided to walk home across the Charles (I live in somerville). My 3.5 miles was definitely no marathon, but I felt proud of myself because normally it wouldn’t even corss my mind to walk. View after crossing the Charles I think it’s easy to forget what a small city Boston is when you take public transit, because it can take so…
Planning for the Big Apple
Posted April 22, 2016 by Katie Caskey
I’ve now lived on the East Coast for two years, and I have just loved it! Being from the Midwest, I’ve always been drawn to the history and culture available out here. I’ve tried so many new foods, learned to deftly navigate public transportation, and taken in quite a few shows, recitals, and art exhibits. But there is one thing I have sworn to do before I move away, and this weekend I’ll finally get my chance to do it! My roommate and I are neck-deep in the final planning stage of our first trip to New York City together! We’ve both been before, but it’s been quite some time since either of us has gone, so we are more than ready to get back to the energy of that wonderful city! I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t take advantage of Boston’s proximity to NYC while I was out here, so this trip is coming just in time (as I’m finishing up school and heading for home in May!) Because my roommate has…
Sunshine and Seventy-Five
Posted April 21, 2016 by Tara Pealer
Today, as a friend put it, is the “First Nice Day In Boston”. Although my phone is trying to tell me it is partly cloudy, the skies are a clear blue, the 75 degree temperature is perfect, the grass is a lush green and the trees and flowers are in bloom. You can almost forgive mother nature for turning Boston in this two weeks ago: (Almost) At any rate, the weather has turned from winter to spring, and it is finally gorgeous enough out to just start walking everywhere again. This is wonderful, especially considering the fact that my commute home takes me through Fenway and Kenmore, and the Boston Red Sox opened last week for the season. As much as I’m a fan, I’m waiting excited for those nice, relaxing commutes in the summer when there are no games and there are a lot less undergraduates. (Do I sound like a grumpy old graduate student yet? I’ve been working on it.) While I don’t have plans for this weekend–yet!–I’m happy to force my friends…