Episode 13: The (Im)possible Cake Pans: One Book One County edition with Brooke Whipple from ALONE

This episode is an out-of-the-office, off-the-grid adventure as we dive into this year's Montcalm One Book One County selection! We are joined by Brooke Whipple, native Stantonite and star of The History Channel's Alone and National Geographic's Yukon River Run. Brooke has a million fascinating stories about adventuring and surviving under harsh conditions, and this episode features my conversation with her as well as highlights from her presentation at the One Book One County kickoff. We're also joined by (almost) all of the library directors in Montcalm County. We hint at (and then finally reveal) this year's selection title, then talk about creative and unique projects and items for checkout that each one offers. We recorded before the kickoff, so sections about the OBOC book this year were added later, so don't be alarmed when I start to go a little NPR on you. Put in your earbuds and go for a walk with this special outdoorsy episode of Flat River Front Porch! 

Episode Transcript

Stef (00:12):
I am Steph Reed.
I am the director of theFlat River Community Library.

Mic 2 (00:18):
Horrocks.
I'm from Richland Township

Stef (00:23):
My

Mic 3 (00:31):
Riggleman and I am the director of the Tamarack District Library in Lakeview.
My name is Janelle Ball andI'm the director at Home
Township Library in Edmore.
My
name is Beth O'Grady, and I am

Mic 4 (00:47):
the director of the Carson City Public Library

Brooke and Stef (00:53):
I am Brooke Whipple and I have a YouTube channel.
I consider myself an adventurer,an educator and I'm a joy miner.

Cory (01:04):
Welcome to the Flat River Front Porch.

Stef (01:09):
I am taking the show on the road this time, which, uh, meant a lot of
chords going every which way and trying
to find

Mic 3 (01:17):
outlets, which

Stef (01:18):
there are some really funky looking, machines in this room that
kind of look like creatures from Dr.
Who possibly.

Mic 3 (01:27):
possibly?

Stef (01:27):
So if they start coming toward us, we might need to be aware, but,
I'm doing something a little bitdifferent as opposed to what I would
typically do with one of these episodeswhere I, I sit down and talk to.
One of our staff members, Iam bringing in the X Men of
the Montcalm County Libraries,
the elite super powered librarians ofthe county, so I'm taking advantage

(01:50):
today of the fact that we were allgetting together to talk about the
last few moments as we get to theOne Book, One County kickoff event,
which is very exciting for all of us.
Hopefully it's exciting for you too.
and since we're all in the room together,let's meet our local librarians for
any of you who have not had a chanceto, I'd be surprised if anybody who was
listening knows everyone in this room.

(02:10):
So, unless you're Maureen Burns.
So if you're listening, Maureen.
Then you can just tune out for a minute.
so I'm going to have each of yousay who you are and then what your
role is and what your library is.

Mic 4 (02:22):
Hello,

Mic 2 (02:23):
Horrocks.
I'm from Richland Township Library and I
I'm the director there.

Stef (02:28):
My

Mic 3 (02:34):
Riggleman and I am the director of the Tamarack District Library in Lakeview.
My name is Janelle Ball andI'm the director at Home
Township Library in Edmore.
My
name is Beth O'Grady, and I am

Mic 4 (02:45):
the director of the Carson City Public Library in Carson City, Michigan.

Stef (02:50):
And one of our public library directors who in the very glamorous
way that always happens when you're apublic library director had to at the
last minute check books in and out.
So, so she wasn't able to make it today.
And I'm going to have somebodyelse actually say the name of her
library because I've never actuallysaid it correctly, successfully.
Can any, can anybody do it?

(03:11):
Can anybody say,

Mic 3 (03:12):
I can.
I think
so.

Stef (03:13):
Go ahead.
go for

Mic 3 (03:14):
she is Cheryl Smith
of
the Timothy C.
Feinstein Reynolds township
Library

Stef (03:20):
Well done.

Mic 3 (03:22):
City.
Very nice.
Make

Stef (03:24):
done.
I will make sure that she knows that you

Mic 3 (03:26):
correct.
If I
said that incorrectly,
I'm sure someone will send it back.

Stef (03:29):
And then, outside of our public library representation, we also have,
an alternative sorts?
An additional?
Um, so go ahead and introduce yourself.

Mic 4 (03:38):
name is Lisa Johnson, and I'm a library assistant
at Montcalm Community College.

Mic 3 (03:43):
one of the fun aspects of

Stef (03:45):
One Book One County, process, is that it is a collaboration
between all of these public librariesin our county as well as MCC.
And,
pop quiz for our listeners.
Did you know that MCC had a library andthat you are actually able to use it?
So, can you tell us a little bitabout what that would mean for
the students and for the public?

Mic 3 (04:04):
What's unique

Mic 4 (04:04):
unique about the MCC library is that

Mic 3 (04:06):
we're focused on serving college students.
So we offer research databaseslike JSTOR and ProQuest.
We have more than amillion academic e books.
And our print collection includes more

Mic 4 (04:17):
non fiction and more

Mic 3 (04:18):
scholarly material than

Mic 4 (04:19):
you would normally find in

Mic 3 (04:21):
a public library.
But we

Mic 4 (04:22):
do also have a great collection of new releases and popular fiction.

Mic 3 (04:26):
But anyone in the

Mic 4 (04:27):
community can get a library card.
Most of the people that wetalk to don't realize that.
They think they have to be a student at

Mic 3 (04:33):
MCC.
Library cards at MCC are free toanyone with a driver's license

Mic 4 (04:38):
or a Michigan

Mic 3 (04:38):
State ID.
Our databases are restricted to students.
That's part of our contract with

Mic 4 (04:43):
the database

Mic 3 (04:44):
vendors.
But everything else, every other resource,

Mic 4 (04:47):
is available to everyone in

Mic 3 (04:48):
the community.

Stef (04:49):
I'm sure there are some residents in this area that you would
be potentially their local librarybecause you are the closest to them

Mic 3 (04:57):
I think so.
I think we're convenient for many people.

Mic 4 (05:00):
we're a little bit different from a public library.

Mic 3 (05:02):
So if somebody's looking for more non fiction, or maybe
a specialized subject, we mightbe a good place to check out.

Stef (05:08):
Or if you're anything like me and you have ADHD and you are
suddenly deciding that you need toknow a lot about a very specific

Mic 3 (05:16):
topic

Stef (05:18):
or something,
really, it's always,

Mic 3 (05:19):
There's
only

Stef (05:20):
something, yeah, that's one of the beauties of, utilizing an academic
library is that they can get you in touchwith some very specific sources, so.
Yeah, and I know that it sounds likeit's something that's only available to
your students, but I love JSTOR so much.
I have, warm feelies for

Mic 3 (05:38):
was a
great resource to me.
I

Mic 4 (05:39):
me.
I went to Aquinas actually.
And that was for my last two years.
I did my first two at

Mic 3 (05:43):
MCC So what I did is

Mic 4 (05:45):
We did not at

Mic 3 (05:46):
file from

Mic 4 (05:46):
I was so excited when we added that to our database

Mic 3 (05:49):
database collection.
That's really cool, right?

Stef (05:50):
and then another advantage to that too is that, a lot of people
don't realize that, You know what?
Google is never goingto replace libraries.
You can tell yourself that allyou want, but it's just not true.
Because Google is only as good aswhatever junk you are feeding into it.
If you go to an actual library, thereare people there who are trained

(06:12):
and prepared to actually help youanswer these questions and fill in
some gaps you don't even think of.
So if MCC is local to you, even ifyou're not necessarily looking for
a book to check out, they couldalways help you with research too,
So,

Mic 4 (06:23):
we're happy to help community members with research as well.

Stef (06:26):
as I said, the reason we are all coming together, other than just sort of
sharing horror stories and, and programideas, we don't really get together all
that except for this one book, one county.
event that we do every summer,and it's been how many years now

Mic 3 (06:44):
we've

Stef (06:44):
that we've done it?
You said this was the 22nd, right?
Yeah,

Mic 4 (06:47):
That's a

Mic 3 (06:48):
question
I had in my

Mic 2 (06:49):
my head

Mic 4 (06:50):
earlier.

Mic 3 (06:51):
I,
it's somewhere
a little over the 20 year mark.

Stef (06:54):
so for a while, yeah.

Mic 3 (06:55):
am I the
only one here who's around?
No.
Johnno.
Okay.
I
think the very first book
that we

Mic 2 (07:01):
chose was My Sister's

Mic 3 (07:03):
Keeper.
Okay.
Um, by Jodi

Mic 4 (07:05):
Pico

Stef (07:06):
and you have been part of it through this whole process then, right, Beth?
Yes.

Mic 3 (07:09):
Yes.
Okay.
Alright.

Stef (07:10):
can somebody give some background as to why you would choose
to do a program along these lines?
what is the value of having,
an annual book selection that is sharedacross an entire county like this.

Mic 4 (07:22):
people in Montcalm County or Montcalm County
community

Mic 3 (07:26):
have

Mic 4 (07:27):
a focus book to discuss.
it's motivational.
the fact that

Mic 2 (07:33):
book and

Mic 4 (07:34):
other people are reading the book and we have events,

Mic 3 (07:38):
you

Mic 4 (07:38):
surrounding the book.
it's really just to drawpeople into the libraries also.

Stef (07:43):
Yeah, we're being sneaky about that.
Yeah.
Are you interested in the one bookthat we're all reading together?
Well, we have copies of it at the library.
Come and see.
And we have other things, too.
very covert.
Right,

Mic 3 (07:59):
to

Mic 4 (07:59):
be a community event that brings people together also.

Stef (08:03):
it is a really fun event to get, to take part in.
And, we also have to be a littlebit covert because we don't announce
it until the actual kickoff date.
And it's been around long enough thatpeople will like, try to sneak the
information out of us beforehand.

Mic 4 (08:17):
That's right.
There's mystery that surrounds it.

Mic 3 (08:19):
and
that makes
it

Mic 4 (08:21):
a little more exciting and
enticing.

Stef (08:23):
Right.
we're not telling you what the book is, sodon't try to get it out of us, but, does
somebody want to talk a little bit about,how we are doing our kickoff this year?
What we are using as our lead in for this?

Mic 2 (08:34):
Because the book is about survival in the wilderness, I'll
give you a little hint there.
That's all we're
going to give
you.
That's right.
We are bringing in a local,
Celebrity,
yes, that, um, bringing in Brooke Whipple.
She's been on the show alone, twice.
once with her husband and once on her own.

(08:55):
she's gonna just come andshare some of her experience.
I'm just kind of coming home forher because she doesn't live in this
area now, but, she grew up here.
And, we're just so excited to have hercome and share with us at this kickoff.

Stef (09:06):
hopefully we learn some survivalist techniques here for
When we against our will have tosurvive out in the woods or whatever
happens it is beautifully situatedright along the nature trails here.
So it's, you're gonna walk outsideand be like, okay, I gotta make sure
to veer towards the parking lot.
So I

Mic 3 (09:23):
don't

Stef (09:23):
Have to use the skills that I've just learned, they are really
beautiful nature trails too.
I keep hearing that, but Inever have the time to actually

Mic 3 (09:31):
come

Stef (09:32):
check them out.
Have any of you done thenature trails up here at all?

Mic 3 (09:35):
trails up

Mic 2 (09:36):
lost

Mic 4 (09:36):
I get lost a lot.
They're, they're, they're very extensive.
Yeah.
Actually more than you
would think

Stef (09:41):
our author of our title this year is actually going to be.
Featured at our finale,which is really exciting too.
It's always great to be able tohave the author present for that.
So if you read the book andlove it, you can tell her.
And if you read the book andhate it, maybe keep it to

Mic 3 (09:54):
hate it, maybe keep it to yourself.
Because

Stef (09:57):
we, we
do have people
every year.
I don't

Mic 3 (09:59):
That's almost

Stef (09:59):
that's almost my favorite part in a weird way is the people that will.
come up to you in your library andsay, I read the selection this year.
I
just
hated it.
I'm Like,
okay,
well, you're part
of the

Mic 3 (10:12):
of the
conversation.

Stef (10:13):
great.

Mic 3 (10:13):
great.
Um, when everybody

Stef (10:15):
everybody in the same county is reading one book, you're bound to have
people who are not going to be huge fans.
That's inevitable.
but we like having people participate.

Speaker (10:23):
So I think at this point, since the actual One Book One County kickoff
has passed, we can probably disposeof the cloak and dagger a little bit.
we don't have to be quite assecretive as we were beforehand.
we can reveal to you that The titlethat we've selected this year is
called These Silent Woods by anauthor named Kimmy Cunningham Grant.

(10:46):
She's a phenomenal author

Speaker 2 (10:48):
These Silent Woods, tells the story of a father and his young
daughter who live remotely in the woods,very secretively and off the grid, and
do a lot of fending for themselves and,and only have contact with one person.
and the mystery of it is ofcourse how they ended up in this

(11:10):
situation and then what happenswhen the world intrudes again.
So it's going to be areally interesting read

Mic 4 (11:17):
And the author

Mic 3 (11:18):
has a

Mic 4 (11:18):
new
book
coming

Mic 3 (11:19):
out in
June
too.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Kimmy Cunningham Grant's, uh, new title that's coming out in June
is called The Nature of Disappearing.

Mic 3 (11:27):
I
think
she's
gonna be a

Mic 4 (11:28):
a wonderful

Mic 3 (11:29):
speaker
yes, In September.

Stef (11:31):
yeah, that'll be fun.
will all have copies of those titlesavailable once those have been released.
I think we're trying to get themas in as many formats as we can.
if you were a digital reader, therewill be digital copies of it as well.

Mic 3 (11:44):
copies.
So yeah, something to

Stef (11:46):
So yeah, something to look forward to.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Since we try to maintain the mystery about the title before it
is announced in our opening event inthe spring, we like to have someone
speak at the kickoff event that hassome relevance to themes and aspects

(12:08):
of the title for the year that willpresent a compelling and conversation
starting Introduction to our book and theseason so we were really lucky to get a
fantastic Speaker and a very interestingindividual to do our kickoff this year.
So without further ado,here's Brooke Whipple.

Webcam Recording (12:32):
A few years ago, my husband and I were laying.
in a very, very beautifulwilderness retreat.
On.
The edge of British Columbia, Canada,right outside of Vancouver island.
We had just had the best.
Gourmet meal.
Entertainment with our new friends.

(12:52):
And it couldn't help a fake.
What in the world did I get myself into.
Because.
It's cozy and warm and delightfulas I was in that moment.
Tomorrow.
The very next day.
I would be dropped completely alone.
Into the wilderness withonly 10 items to survive.

(13:16):
And he would have to hike to me.
On the opposite side of the island.
We were on a show.
Call alone.
On the history channel.
Alone as a show whereyou are allowed to pick.
The items.
To survive off the land foras long as you possibly can.
Here's the catch.
The last.

(13:36):
Person standing.
Wince.
Half a million dollars.
We were in it to win it.
I look outside the window of that.
Beautiful lodge and there'snothing but deep darkness.
Extreme isolation.

(13:56):
Nothing.
I was familiar with.
I'm from Stanton.

Brooke and Stef (14:02):
So I'm sitting down with someone and I feel weird introducing
other people that feels weird to me.
So can you say who you are?
Yeah, this is Brooke Whipple.
Okay.
If, if you were trying to give somebodycontext for what your place, this is
gonna sound really dramatic, but youknow, what your place in the universe is.

(14:23):
I am Brooke Whipple and I, Yes.
I am Brooke Whipple and I like toencourage people and inspire people
to get outside and get happy.
So I have a YouTube channel.
I consider myself an adventurer,um, an educator and I'm a joy miner.

(14:44):
Oh, I like that.
Okay.
Is that, is that trademarked?
Not yet.
Something to put on the to do list.
Definitely.
Yeah.
Brooke was nice enough to be the,the opening presenter for our One
Book, One County event this year.
And part of how we got turned on toyou was because, while you've obviously
been a, wide traveler, wide adventurer,you are originally a, a Montcalmian?

(15:08):
I don't know what that would, whatthe end of that word would be.
Right.
Yeah.
Stantonite.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
We'll do that.
I don't know.
Okay.
So, how long ago did you, did you ventureoff from, from this area originally?
Oh, I left in 91.
Okay.
Okay.
And, Went out west and came back, uh,a little while to finish college at

(15:28):
Ferris, although I started at MCC andthen left again in about 97 to Alaska.
So now we split our time betweenReed city and Alaska in the summer.
So, so what, what was it aboutAlaska that originally called you?
Oh, I don't know.
It was just the, the farthest removedwilderness that was still in the US.

(15:53):
You go any farther and you hit the ocean.
Yeah.
Yeah, you actually can't Russia across.
Oh, yeah, we're just a verystraight Yeah, absolutely.
So that just called me thisdeep wilderness and you
know, so are you ultimate?
Are you a cold person then?
Is that your would you saythat's your natural temperature?
I definitely prefer Colder over hotter.

(16:16):
Yeah for sure.
Okay It was 70 the other dayand I'm like, that's about it.
Yeah.
Okay.
73 75.
I was like, you know,I'm really hot right now.
I'm like, that's about what I can take.
All right.
So what I'm learning from thisis that we probably have very
similar blood and probably Ineed to start heading north too.

(16:38):
Yes.
That's why indoors is usually my thinghere because it gets pretty too hot.

Webcam Recording (16:44):
My first college experience was here at MCC.
And I'm going to tell you.
I was 100%.
Distracted.
Aye.
Was here thinking.
This was going to be easy.
This was going to be.
What I would start with.
And I had no idea what Iwanted to be when I grew up.

(17:08):
No one ever really sat down and walkedme through that, the whole college
thing, like, what is that all about?
I want it to be an adventure, but there'sreally no college trapped for that.
I thought, well,elementary school teacher.
I like kids.
That'll work.
Try that for awhile.
I was like, well, maybe not,maybe, maybe criminal justice.

(17:28):
My dad was a cop and Ithought I liked the outdoors.
I can maybe be a CDO, aconservation officer, get me out.
In the wilderness, theone of those people.
I don't know.
Wildlife biologist.
Hey, there's something that'skind of outdoorsy in animals.
But then.
I found out I had to haveall these math classes.

(17:52):
I withdrew failing twice fromMCC, with my algebra class.
So that wasn't going to work.
What I was doing here most of the time.
Playing ping pong.
I was skipping class to play ping pong.
But one day I was walking through.
I don't even know what building.

(18:12):
And I saw a poster hanging up on theside of the wall that said, You know,
Hobbes in Yellowstone national park.
That is, that is calling me.
I needed to get out of non-com county.
I needed to see.
Other things and do other things.
And I thought.
Maybe just maybe.

(18:34):
I can make a trip toYellowstone and get a job there.
Call my friendly.
Listen.
You're applying on the plane.
We're getting jobs at.
Also national park we're out of here.
Okay.
She's like, all right.
We both got jobs.
And I took my very first.
Road trip.
Out of the state of Michigan.

(18:54):
10 Yellowstone nationalpark with my best friend.
And boy did I have some adventures?
It was like the world had opened up to me.
No offense to MCC.
Okay.
But I needed to go somewhere else.
Wonderful.
Wonderful things happen to me.
I got to see some of thiswilderness that I just.

(19:15):
Really crave and I justhad the best time you had.
Get out of your cabinand look both ways for.
For the Buffy's.
Around all the time.
Yellowstone's where I camea big fan of gig work.
Next stop was Vail, Colorado.
Because it was wintertime summerseason and Yellowstone was over now.
It was on a Vail, Colorado.

(19:36):
I got a job as a lift operator.
So this gig work was working out.
I got that.
Ski for free and Vail, Colorado.
Do you know, where I learned to ski?
Canonsburg.
So this Stanton girl was getting prettyimpressed by the west and the mountains.
Next thing I'm going to do.

(19:56):
It's go see something else.
It really wanted to see Montana.
So I got a job as a wildland firefighter.
Girls.
At that point.
We're doing a lot of this kind of work.
I met this, this gal.
She was a track star at her college.
And you know what to be awildland firefighter, you
have to pass physical tests.

(20:17):
So we smoked it in the mile, smokedall the guys and we made the crew.
So it was me and her on the crewand a bunch of other people.
And we did all kinds of, uh, Projectwork throughout Montana and Oregon.
And it was just a fantastic time.
I'm just addicted to hard work.
I literally love hard work and labor,so it was a really good fit for me.

(20:40):
And.
In a way again.
Do you have room and board and a job andyou get to see things at the same time.

Brooke and Stef (20:46):
so some of what you've done very independently and very,
self sufficiently in your, in your,Survivalist adventures is going off
either on your own or very close to onyour own and, trying to make it work.
have you always been comfortablewith that sort of level of
solitude and trusting yourself?

(21:07):
Yeah, I think there's a bitthat's always been there.
Me, definitely an independent soul.
I think more than anything, I'mjust a really, really hard worker.
Uh huh.
And I don't have much quit in me.
So, if you combine that being okaywith being alone, or doing things
independently with a good work ethic,and I, I just think it, it works.

(21:30):
In the long run.
And the more you do that,and the more success you have
with that, it just snowballs.
Uh huh.
It just starts to make you think.
Uh huh.
Um, which is true that you can do waymore than you think you actually can.
And so it convinces your own beingof the possibilities of what you
previously thought was impossible.

(21:51):
Right, absolutely.
I really feel like there was somethingbeautifully resonating about the
message that you were conveying inyour talk about, making the decision
to, to trust in your own abilityto make the impossible possible.
and one of the things that I havealways found fascinating, and also

(22:12):
sometimes heartbreaking about peopleI've met over time is like trying to
overcome that idea that you have storesof, self confidence and ability to
problem solve that you're not aware of.
what do you feel provides thatlevel of confidence for you?
is there a voice inside yourhead that you kind of have to.
Silence at moments about like,Oh gosh, this is a crazy idea.

(22:35):
Can I actually do this?
I don't have those thoughts, but Ithink most people's problem is, they
haven't given themselves permission tohave a wild idea that is seemingly an
impossible idea and exploring the ideasof the possibilities of the impossible.

(22:56):
It's more of a mindset.
I think the mindset of allowing yourselfto say, I can, instead of the, I can't,
the, I can't comes first for most people.
Yeah, I agree.
I can't, I won't, I don'thave blah, blah, blah.
I'm too this, I'm too that.
So it is a mindset shift first.
And then just a permission of, I, I'mallowed to have an impossible thing

(23:20):
that I can chase because it will becomepossible if you work hard enough.
And.
And stick with it long enough.
there was a whole, two plushours of conversation that you
missed in the hallway, listener.
So I apologize that you weren't apart of that, but, one of the topics
that came up as everyone was talkingoutside was something that, that you
got to experience when, when you wereyoung, which was basically to make

(23:41):
the decision To dive into that sortof the, what you were calling gig
work, the idea of just sort of likejumping from rock to rock, so to speak.
And it's like, okay, well, once I finishedwith this adventure, what comes next?
And not necessarily aiming for somethingthat involves stasis, that involves
sitting still like that, that not beingthe ultimate goal, which I think a lot of

(24:03):
us are trained to think that's what we'resupposed to choose, um, for ourselves.
there is a way to be that does notinvolve staying put did you ever have
moments as you were sort of jumpingaround like that, that you were
genuinely about what was coming next?
Yeah, I remember one timewhen I was driving to Montana,
thinking I should turn around.

(24:25):
Like, I wasn't really sure.
but something just said, keep going.
you know, half of me, too, is not theone to admit a failure or a defeat.
So there's part of thatthat motivates at least me.
To be successful in the thing that Ichoose to do it's kind of like this self
imposed pressure of well You said you'regoing to do it So my whole life And more

(24:48):
so even as an adult I am very carefulto say what i'm going to do Because
when I say it I'm committing to it And Iwill get it done Unequivocally, uh huh.
So I kind of don't give myself any breaksthat way, I'm the person that is like,
if she says it, she's going to do it.

(25:08):
So there's that.
I feel like that's a nice bookendto the concept of giving yourself
permission to, it's like, you're givingyourself permission to say yes, but at
the same time, you're sort of puttingthat stopping block on, on saying
no and, making it that much harder.
To back up once you've givenyourself, because that's that it

(25:29):
feels like they have to go together.
it's one thing to say yes, but it'salso so easy to put a toe in the water
and then being like, okay, maybe not.
but then to hold yourself to it,that is really important too,
Yeah, I'm a very squirrel kind of person.
Me too, me too.
And I remember when I startedYouTube, I said, Brooke, if you
start YouTube, You will not quit.

(25:51):
This is not a dip your toe in the water.
This is a long game.
This is like you have to bein it and figure this out
and I'm eight years in today.
It's the longest job I've ever heldand so I'm very proud of myself.
But again, I kind of gave myself thisultimatum at the very beginning and
that kind of has snowballed sincethose eight years have progressed.

(26:12):
I'm just this Intense learning and doingthat is kind of non negotiable, right?
Yeah, and Challenging yourself isa beautiful thing like yeah, you're
you don't need necessarily need toowe this to anyone, but you do owe
it to you and that's Very empowering.

Webcam Recording (26:29):
it will snowball in your life.
Once you start to do things thatyou thought were impossible.
Like you won't even recognize yourself.
This is just a quick rundown ofsome things that I would have
never thought were possible inmy life that I became possible.
I got to work at the AlaskaRaptor rehabilitation center and

(26:51):
was holding this Eagle one dayand Barbara Walters walked in.
So Dave and I got to caretakethis remote homestead at the
end of the Alaska peninsula.
For seven months.
And the most stunning landscape,the most lots of landscape.
I got to see killer whalesand sneak up on caribou.

(27:11):
I got to meet this guy,Neil Eklund in Alaska.
Who hired me to work on this law rep,he's the only guy in the world making
these kind of log graphs going down theYukon river, any river for that matter.
That's amazing experience.
Can you even imagine.
I would take guests down the Yukon river.

(27:32):
I would help cook and I wouldhelp take people fishing.
Things that I would've neverthought were possible in my life.
I discovered a race in Seward calledthe mountain mirror mountain marathon.
And that is Mount marathon.
And it starts at the level of the town.
And then you go at the top ofthe mountain and come back.
It's stupid.

(27:52):
Crazy.
And I ran one year and I thought.
Nobody sees this race.
You only have spectators,obviously at the bottom and town.
So I thought I walk, I want tomake a documentary about this race.
I was just starting to learnfilmmaking skills and I went
ahead and ran the race again.

(28:13):
I've got Holly cam on there.
I also had a camera.
I was carrying, I hired two camera guys.
And I made a documentary.
I called the mountain marathon experience.
I had no experience at all.
With making a documentary.
And there's something called theRasmussen foundation in Alaska.
It's kind of an arts foundationand you apply for grants and.

(28:36):
I said, Hey, you know, I'm a,nobody making this documentary.
Can, can I read some money?
And you're playing?
No.
And so I went ahead anddid, did the documentary.
Anyway.
I spent all my own moneyand did all the things.
And I came back the next year and Isaid, Hey, I actually did that thing.
Can I have some money now?
And they said, Well,yeah, I think you can.

(28:59):
I got $5,000 grant because I actuallyfell through what I said it was going
to do, even though I had no idea whatI was doing, it was an impossible ask.
And it still happened.
I want to be Alaska stateblueberry pie champion show.
And a few years ago for Thanksgiving.
I made 128.

(29:19):
Pies in two days to sellcommercially and then,
Herniated a disk, trying to get asupplies out of the oven, that data.
The couch for a week.
So that was impossible.
Things happen.
And then around comes nationalgeographic going, Hey, you want
to build that long breath again?
And we'll do a show on it.
So here we are again.
Family and Neil and his son, onceagain, get aid to go down the

(29:43):
Yukon river in a raft in this.
Absolutely beautiful setting.
All the building that Dave andI have done over the years,
I've never done anything solo.
And I said, I want to build my own cabin.
I did it.

Brooke and Stef (29:56):
I have one question for you that comes back to my own
personal fears I did have my own sort ofadventuring period when I was younger,
when I was much more independent.
But now I have two young kids anda mortgage and, and, a job that
requires me to be somewhat, available.
but even discounting that aspect ofit, even just the children aspect,

(30:19):
I am so in awe of anyone who wasable to continue that sort of self
challenge with children in the scenario.
You know, like, do you.
How do you feel like you adaptedto being a parent on top of that?
Oh, it's super tough.
And you have to, I think as momstoo, you kind of lose yourself
a little bit when you have kids.

(30:40):
You know, you're putting yourwhole life and self into them.
You lose your own identity.
And so filmmaking became just thisbeautiful way of, capturing my
kids lives when they were younger.
and also feeding mydesire to be a filmmaker.
So as a stay at home mom for the fiveyears when they were young, you know, I
was filming, I was learning the craft onthe side, yeah, it's super challenging

(31:05):
when you're a parent and especially aparent of young ones, but I also think
it's very important not to let go of yourown, artistic desires and your want to
be part of a community or be involved.
I was involved in, a churchgroup with other moms.
It's called Mops, Mothers of Preschoolers.

(31:27):
And what a wonderful time to get togetherwith other moms and have time apart from
the kids, but be together with other moms.
So there's definitely a community that canbe built with moms to help support them.
to be involved in that isreally important, I think too.
But yeah, job, home, kids, it's tough.
There are a lot of pieces.
Yeah, there's a lot of pieces to juggleand there is definitely sacrifices you

(31:49):
have to make for a while till they'reold enough to even, you know, even
getting them off to school and youget a little bit of a break there.
Mm hmm.
But you know, working moms, it's tough.
Yeah, absolutely tough.
There's no doubt about it.
But it sounds like you found a way tointegrate them into the self challenges a
little bit too because as they were partof your creative endeavors, That's clever.

(32:09):
Yeah.
It's a good way to do it.
And then we did the freshsqueezed lemonade stand.
So they were my employees.
Oh, yeah.
They would help.
They would help everySaturday and Wednesday.
So that was part of like thefamily thing that we did.
That's so much fun.
Oh, you know, I don't know.
You'll have to ask them about that now.
Oh, that's fair.
That's fair.
I think it was good.
It was good.
Good for all of us.
So the things that feel good toyou in the moment, especially when

(32:32):
you're a kid and you're in thatimpulse zone is totally different.
And you're just, you might be hatingevery minute of it, but then, you
know, 15 years later, you mightlook back at it with nostalgia.
Yeah.
I feel like that's a tricky thingto remember as a, as a parent too.
It's like, you might feel like inthe moment that dealing with them
whining or being frustrated is hard,but like, think about how much they're

(32:52):
going to get out of this later.
Yeah.
I think they've got very goodmemories of the lemonade days.
They just didn't like getting upat 5:00 AM and I don't blame 'em.
I didn't like it either.
Yeah, nobody does.
Nobody does a mile drivefrom Delta to Fairbanks yet.
It was a big watch twice in that day.
It was 14 hour days.
Like it was insane.
Right.
With two little kids.
it was hard.
Yeah.
It's just life.

(33:13):
I mean, if you're a mom, youknow what I'm talking about.
Yeah, absolutely.
I don't have to talk about itin my own experience, you know?
I do want to get back to, and then I'll,I will set you free, I promise, the idea
of, as human beings needing community,needing, connections to people that
create meaning in our day to day lives.
Obviously a huge part of your experiencewith of the survivalist stuff, especially

(33:39):
with the TV shows has been living inliteral solitude where you just have no
human contact for lengthy periods of time.
how do you feel like that experiencesort of underscored that for you?
how you experience that humanconnection again after you've
been away from it for a while.
how you appreciate thata little bit differently.
those really long periods ofsolitude are, really difficult.

(34:00):
Yeah.
I personally really like being alone.
really crave it.
I need it to, I need to be innature and I need to be alone.
But those extraordinarily longalone, moments are quite difficult.
You really realize how much youabsolutely do need to connect with people.
And it's very rare to have a person saythey really absolutely don't need anybody.

(34:25):
I think everybody needs people in theirlives that are loving and supportive
and Yeah, there's difficult people too,and they help you as well sometimes,
help you to be a better person.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Help you know how to deal withthem and other difficult people.
So it's all lessons, and it's justrecognizing that they're in the
moment, and being graceful and loving,and you know, it can be tough, but I

(34:49):
just pointed out to me like how muchI actually really just need people.

Webcam Recording (34:53):
So the last amazing thing, but I never
thought would be possible.
Is this.
But I could fail algebra three.
Because I also feel that.
At another university.
remember, don't takeyourself too seriously
But don't ever.
Let, what you think is impossible.

(35:17):
Stop you because I, Iget to camp for a living.
And it's completely possible.
So.
I encourage you to change.
Whatever is impossibleand cross out the, I M.
And make it possible.
Thank you so much.

Brooke and Stef (35:34):
I think one of the things that we experience more now,
too, is less that very literal solitudewhere you're in a space where there's
no one for miles, as opposed to whatmore and more people are experiencing
now, which is slightly more figurativeloneliness, where they are, In a manner
of speaking, surrounded by people, butpeople with whom they have no actual
connections and so they feel extremelybecause they're mentally or emotionally

(35:57):
isolated, I don't even know where I'mgoing with this, it's interesting to me
how much that's changed for people, thatit gets to the point It's harder and
harder for people to make connections,I feel like, than it used to be.
Yeah, that's the internet.
I mean, I'm so thankful I didnot grow up with the internet.
Even through my college years, I barely,there was no internet through the 90s.
And that is something I'm so gratefulthat I did not have that to deal with

(36:23):
because I think it's shaping people'sminds, it's shaping their habits in
their brains, which it sabotages you.
Uh huh.
You.
You really have to takea break from technology.
You really have to become a creatureof Saying no and actually turning it
off and looking people square in theeyes And um, I get a kick out of it.

(36:46):
I i'll stand in lines and and Besome places and I purposely will
not have my phone and I will justlook around to see if I can catch
somebody's eye just to give them asmile and to get that eye connection.
Simply, it's so powerful.
It's so good for you, but you have totake power in charge of that yourself.

(37:08):
You can't make somebody do it.
They have to choose it for themselves.
And it's not until they realizethe benefits, but you know, these
phones are designed to be addictive.
The technology is designed to beaddictive and it's definitely succeeding.
And I don't think we're shaping.
the future mind for handlinghuman connection much.

(37:29):
I would argue too that there is a levelof community that you can experience
even through nature too, that it'snot necessarily human community in the
same way, but letting yourself be apart of that sort of, ecosystem, like
letting yourself actually, engage with.
with the natural environment.
you can get some of thosesame moments from it too.

(37:50):
Absolutely.
I am in the process of becoming acertified nature and therapy guide.
And those are some of the components ofthe deep connection in the wilderness
with trees and with living beingsthat are not human, but they all
are live and living in the forest.
And just that connection is so healing.

(38:11):
So calming is actually medicalresearch about lowering.
Your blood pressure, you have lessstress, you sleep better, and these
effects can last for days or evenover a week or two after one exposure
into the woods and the wilderness.
So that nature connection is incrediblyhealing and calming and restorative.

(38:33):
And that's a, that's a no phone zone.
Yeah, there we go.
It feels really good.
So the, yeah, the moral is stoplistening to this and go out,
go outside for a little bit.
My tagline is get outside andget happy on my YouTube channel.
I say that at the end of every video andI when I am stressed, I go for a walk.
And I don't take my phone and I just.

(38:56):
gaze, and I enjoy, and I feel,and I engage all the senses,
and it is just so great.
Yeah, absolutely.
I want to make sure people knowwhere to find your channel.
Yep, Girl in the Woods on YouTube, Girlin the Woods with a Z on Instagram.
You can find me at Facebook.
I think it's a girl in the woods.

(39:17):
I mean, just Google my name, you'llprobably find everything you need
or maybe could not care less.
So it's either or, andI'm fine with that too.
Well, thank you so much for sittingdown with me for a few minutes.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
Have a great day.
Get outside and get happy.
Yes.
Yes.
Turn this off right now.
Okay.
Bye.

(39:38):
All right.

Stef (39:41):
I'm back again with my, Montcalm library crew.
I've been trying to think of some thingsthat we sort of have in common that
would make sense to library listeners.
Because if I start explaining to themhow we're funded, I think their eyes
will probably roll up inside their heads.
we do share millage.
that, um, You will not haveto vote on anytime soon.

(40:02):
So don't worry about

Mic 2 (40:03):
it.

Stef (40:03):
we enjoy a lot of support from the,
the community.
We did it.
the millage vote last time there wasa pretty decent margin, wasn't there?
Yeah.

Mic 4 (40:10):
a strong yes

Stef (40:11):
Yes.
Which there's a small possibilitythat we might've lucked out there
because it was in March, 2020.
So it was right before the world
came tumbling down, but
mean, we don't even necessarily,this is going to sound like
we're being petty, but we don'tnecessarily even share books with each
other.
We do, some of our libraries do, but,

Mic 2 (40:29):
but.
Yeah, we're all

Mic 4 (40:31):
self sufficient,

Mic 3 (40:32):
I think.
We
all do our own thing,

Mic 2 (40:36):
thing,

Mic 3 (40:36):
but when we need to come
together with questions or, um,problems, we get together and
we can figure them out together.

Mic 4 (40:43):
hmm.

Mic 2 (40:43):
out together.

Stef (40:45):
thing
I feel like most directors have incommon, too, is that, We are really good
at holding things together, no matter
what is, is needed.
Like, like duct tape and string.
We just, we just make it happenand we do it enthusiastically.

Mic 2 (41:01):
too.

Stef (41:04):
yeah, we, uh, we're, we tend to be good problem solvers as a group.

Mic 2 (41:08):
group.
And

Stef (41:09):
and we all have very different size staffs too.
You, how many peopleare at yours, Janelle?

Mic 3 (41:14):
There's only two full time and then I have two part time.

Mic 4 (41:17):
Okay.

Stef (41:18):
Yeah.
So string and duct tape.
Definitely.
Yeah.

Mic 3 (41:21):
all.
How many

Mic 2 (41:22):
all.
Yeah.
How many staff do you have, Steph?

Stef (41:25):
Um, 17 as

Mic 2 (41:27):
right now.
Okay.
We have about 12, so.
Yeah.

Stef (41:30):
we've had a little bit of fluctuation too, some
of that at any given time.
There's always some fluctuationwith our shelver because they tend
to mostly be high school students.
And, um, we just had a shelver.
offer to come back for
the summer.
And I know I hired her because Ivaguely recognized the name and I'm
like, I have no idea who this is.
Like, she, yeah, she can come back.
And then she came in andI was like, oh, right.

(41:52):
I

Mic 4 (41:53):
know who

Stef (41:53):
who

Mic 3 (41:53):
you are,

Mic 2 (41:54):
are.

Stef (41:54):
But like, it all kind of
blurs together after a while.
Beth, how many, how many peopledo you think you've hired over
the course of your career?

Mic 3 (42:01):
of your career?
Well,

Mic 4 (42:02):
Well, I've been very fortunate at this moment.

Mic 3 (42:07):
have

Mic 4 (42:08):
seven staff members, but that's between two buildings because we have
a branch at Crystal Lake, CrystalTownship, the crystal community library.
And okay, I have tocount on my fingers here.
Okay.

Stef (42:23):
no one will be able to see.
I can cut that part out.

Mic 4 (42:25):
see how many people have I hired?

Stef (42:28):
Can you count on your fingers that many people?
Oh, I can't distract her.
Okay.
Let's talk about something else while

Mic 4 (42:32):
does that.
I'm, I'm counting, yes.
You carry on the conversationand then I'll let you
know.
Um,

Stef (42:37):
we've got some, we've got some, library newbies at the table too.
People who have, who are just sort ofin the last few years diving it into
the first, um, for the first time.
And so I'm going to putyou guys on the spot.
Deanna, where did youcome into libraries from?

Mic 3 (42:51):
from?
Um, I actually, uh, was a preschoolteacher for about ten years,
um, in the Montcalm County,Greenville actually, but um,
three years ago made thistransition to library world and
love it and have learned so much.

Stef (43:06):
I'm really glad you love it because that could go so badly.
I mean, you never know.
That's, I mean, becoming a director,it's already a little bit of a
crapshoot, but like coming in,like, We'll just see what happens.

Mic 3 (43:18):
I feel like I learn every day and the last week my son was like,
Mom, how do you know so much already?
Because I opened a drawer andfound the paperwork that I needed.
And I was like, buddy,I'm learning every day.
Trust me, I don't know everything.
I just know where this paper is thatI need for this project right now.
Okay.

Stef (43:35):
get so good at faking it.
Like you, it's just thatauthoritative voice.
That's what it is.

Mic 3 (43:41):
I think Beth and I have been directors for many, many years, and
I'm sure she would say too, thatwe are both learning constantly
every day still.

Mic 4 (43:51):
It's true.
I probably learned something new everyday or, um, discover a better way of
doing something, you know, that I'vebeen doing the same way for a long time.
I learn every day, but back to the, okay.
I have probably hired only

Mic 2 (44:08):
or

Mic 4 (44:09):
hired only 10 or 12 people over 30 years.
Okay.
I have.
I feel like I've done

Stef (44:15):
done that many in the last

Mic 4 (44:16):
last three.
Okay, so that's why
I said I
was

Mic 3 (44:19):
you have small staff, you

Mic 4 (44:20):
small staff.
but

Stef (44:22):
too, like I think that's, that's part of it as well.
I mean, you can have a small
staff that's just

Mic 3 (44:26):
you can have a
small staff that's justconstantly Yeah, me and my, um,
library assistant.
Uh, I
have both been there for
30 years or more, so I startedpart time and then took over, but
yeah,

Mic 4 (44:38):
so,

Mic 3 (44:39):
we've only hired part
time people in the

Mic 2 (44:41):
the last
25 years or so.
You don't
even

Mic 3 (44:44):
don't even
look 30.

Mic 4 (44:48):
have to
include a

Mic 3 (44:49):
so much.
Please include that.
Um.

Stef (44:51):
my one year mark.
I'm

Mic 2 (44:57):
Um, I just hit my one year mark actually this month.

Stef (45:00):
still, still trudging

Mic 2 (45:03):
here.
I'm still, still trudging along.
Um, I do feel like I learn something everysingle day that I didn't know before.
And most of it is from my staff.
They are fabulous and theyhelped me along the way.
And, um, I'm just thrilled with them.
You know, have a great boardand that is, I think that'll
make it or break it for you.
You know, if you, if you havethe board support and your staff

(45:24):
support, I think that's huge.

Stef (45:26):
It really does.
and then on the flip side,
I think all of us, if not, if we
don't
have not worked ourselves with,difficult board situations, we've
heard the horror stories and,

Mic 2 (45:36):
it's

Stef (45:37):
really important to have a board that is representing community needs.
but inevitably there's going to be somepeople Who come into it for for the wrong
reasons as with you know as with anythingHow long have you been doing it Sherma?

Mic 4 (45:52):
I've been here 17 years.
Okay.

Mic 2 (45:54):
and the one, the best thing I've learned
through this whole experience
is when you work in a library, ifyou don't know the answer, you have
other directors in the area thatare more than willing to help you.

Stef (46:08):
Yeah.
I mean, that comes right back tolibrary culture in general, right?
Like we may not know the answer to things.
In fact, we usually don't, butwe know where to find the answer.
That's the, I mean, if you go tolibrary school, that's more or less
the only thing valuable that they
teach you because, these days youhave to, you're supposed to have the
master's degree, at least at a higherlevel, but I feel like they just

(46:28):
gave me some books to read and I readthem and that was pretty much it.
I feel like it wasn't the
most arduous
master's degree that one can get.
But, um, but yeah, you learn a

Mic 4 (46:37):
lot
on
the life experience that's

Stef (46:39):
Yeah,

Mic 4 (46:39):
absolutely.
The on the job experience.
Um.
Like
Anything,
probably.

Stef (46:43):
yeah.
And, and being open mindedenough to, to let yourself grow.
Yeah, absolutely.
so, if any of you weren'ta librarian, do you
know what
you would be
today?

Mic 4 (46:56):
would be one, but I had a desire to maybe be an archaeologist.
I'm interested in archaeology,
and

Mic 2 (47:03):
and

Mic 4 (47:04):
um, genetics, and DNA and
just family history
also.
You know, anything about the
past.

Mic 2 (47:11):
past.

Mic 4 (47:13):
yeah,

Stef (47:13):
picturing, I'm picturing a fedora and a bullwhip, the
full Indiana Jones experience.
Yeah.

Mic 3 (47:18):
whip.

Mic 2 (47:19):
right,

Mic 4 (47:20):
That's right, I
have those
at home.

Mic 2 (47:21):
mind.
Alright,

Stef (47:22):
So, we're talking retirement plan here.
We're all set with that.
Yeah.
Okay.

Mic 2 (47:27):
I'll chime in.
I actually, uh, I have ainterior design degree.
Oh.
And I also have my teaching degree.
Okay.
So, um.

Stef (47:35):
And you
became

Mic 2 (47:36):
a
librarian.
And I became a librarian.
So, um, there was reasons I didn'twant to continue doing those jobs.
But, um, for the mostpart, I enjoyed them.
And, uh, I think anything artistic,working with kids, uh, you know, just
Lots of fun things, but I do also enjoythat my, my degree is in history, so I
love all the research and the diggingdeeper and the genealogy and all
that.
So

Mic 3 (47:56):
yeah.

Stef (47:57):
So
they knew that they were putting up abrand new building and it was about to be
finished and they're like, let's hire an
interior
designer to be our director So
they can make
it

Mic 4 (48:06):
really nice.
Oh, by the way, Jessica, do youknow what we should do here?

Mic 2 (48:11):
Have you

Stef (48:11):
you
had to utilize that alot in your new building?
Because for anyone who doesn'tknow the White Pine Library, the
new building just, it's, that'sbeen about a year or two, right?

Mic 2 (48:19):
It opened, um, last year, about June 30th was our opening open house date.
Um, they actually had pretty mucheverything set when I came on
board, but, um, lots of displayissues once we were moving.
Um, things didn't want to go rightwhere they had planned to put them.
And so I was able to come along and justbe like, Oh, let's tweak this a little

(48:41):
bit and, and get things to work right.
Um, So that's been kind of helpful,I guess, in that aspect, but just
putting together like displays and,you know, spacing and things like that.
I think it's helpful.

Stef (48:52):
Yeah, I can definitely see how that would be.
I'm going to, I'm going to have tokeep your number in my back pocket
because I keep, I keep wanting
to
rip things out of my library, but then I'mlike, well, what do I do in that space?
Like, um, I want, I'm comingfrom my reference desk.
That's my current goal.
It's this big hulking circular thing inthe middle of our floor, but if we took
it out, we would probably get another.

Mic 3 (49:14):
feet,

Stef (49:15):
I don't know, 3, 000 square feet at least that we
could use for other purposes.
And it's like, why do weneed a reference desk?

Mic 2 (49:22):
It's

Stef (49:23):
2024.

Mic 2 (49:25):
People

Stef (49:25):
ask how to print things these days.
Um, no, I mean, there arereference questions, but,
but usually they're not, um,

Mic 3 (49:34):
it.

Mic 2 (49:35):
they

Stef (49:35):
require a specific desk for it, so.
And
the average person does not knowwhat a reference librarian is,
that's my next, that's my nextthing that I want to rip out.
But what, I don't know whatI'm going to put there.
Something else.

Mic 2 (49:47):
there.
Something else.
I

Mic 4 (49:48):
have to tell you something.
I
used to

Stef (49:51):
tell me not to do this?

Mic 4 (49:52):
at the reference desk at the
Greenville public

Stef (49:55):
oh my gosh.

Mic 4 (49:56):
Yes.
And we were very busy,but things have changed.
Yes.
It
was, things have
changed so much

Stef (50:03):
Right,
yeah.
People

Mic 4 (50:05):
people were kind of They would walk in the door and they
walked right up to the reference

Stef (50:09):
right right.
But they,
they don't,
they're doing
that because it's right
in front
of them.
They don't necessarily do that becausethey know that the reference librarian
is going to get them what they need.

Mic 4 (50:19):
No,

Stef (50:20):
it isn't,

Mic 4 (50:21):
up
with
questions on locating materials.
But that was,
our regular customers knew, youknow, go to the reference desk
when I want to find materials.
A book on a certain subject or by
a certain author,
and they need to go to the circulation
desk
to check their book out or
pay
a fine
or whatever.
It
is so
different now.

Stef (50:41):
Right.
Whereas I get people accidentallyringing through to my extension
all the time in my office askingme to renew something for them.
And I'm like, I'm the director.
Why did you pick my line?

Mic 2 (50:52):
Like,

Stef (50:53):
there were
so
many options
before
me.
But,
um, but whatever I have Sierra open onmy computer anyway, it doesn't matter.
I'm happy
to help.
So, how many of you havedone the leadership, Moncalm?
Um,

Mic 3 (51:06):
I have, I just finished it

Stef (51:08):
Oh,
okay.
okay.

Mic 4 (51:10):
had

Stef (51:10):
had it in my head that, that, that, um, there were others of you that had
done it at some point, like, farther back.

Mic 3 (51:15):
I

Mic 2 (51:16):
this

Stef (51:16):
I would recommend it, Jessica.
I don't know why I'm looking at it.
Because you're still new

Mic 2 (51:19):
okay.
I

Mic 4 (51:20):
process,

Stef (51:20):
but.
Apparently Deanna nominated me,
Oh,
okay,
I didn't
even know that was
something
you could do.
You could just

Mic 2 (51:24):
You could just bully people into doing

Stef (51:26):
um,
um, I think
I
technically suggested that they reachout to all the directors in the county
when I did it, but I don't, I don'tknow if Michelle, um, did it or not,
but, I'm putting you on the spotwith this, Deanna, do you feel like,
um,
Like, there are things that you pickedup from, from that that you might
never have come across otherwise?

Mic 2 (51:46):
Oh,
for
sure.
I learned a lot about

Mic 3 (51:47):
community
and
I, I was working in thecommunity for now the last

Stef (51:50):
Right, right.

Mic 3 (51:52):
um, in the, in the county and I still learned a lot about the
community County and what it has tooffer and also how those offerings
connect to the library and how we cangive those services to the public.
Um, and be that, um, go between for alot of organizations and a lot of, um,
different entities in the County.

(52:12):
So it was very helpful to me,
um,
just to know more.
about the County

Stef (52:17):
And they take you through the prison, too,
which, like, oh my god, I wish
you

Mic 3 (52:22):
Um,
I, that was one of my favorite, um,actual sessions that they had because
I guess I didn't realize, um, allthat the prisons do for individuals as

Mic 2 (52:37):
they

Mic 3 (52:38):
exiting,
like the exiting part of it.
lining up potential jobs and housing andconnecting them with the correct people.
And, and it's not so much of what youhear of the like, here's your bus ticket.
Um,
see

Stef (52:52):
right.
right.
Or even just like, we'regoing to let you out the door.
Yeah, that's definitely interesting.
it is an overwhelmingexperience, definitely, but
it was definitely valuable.
I thought it was interesting, one,that they have inmates who train

(53:12):
service dogs.
Yeah.
On
the,
on
the
premises.
Like they keep the animals in theircell with them and they train them for
several months before they're sent outto use, to, to complete that duty, which
I thought was a really cool program.
and also they have a fairlyrobust culinary program.
They make the lunches for the leadershipMontcalm attendees and they like.

(53:36):
Serve
them and
stuff

Mic 2 (53:37):
as
well,

Stef (53:37):
which made
I I was a little
uncomfortable
with
that.
I'm
not
gonna
I'm not
it was a fabulous meal It was verygood, but I was just like I feel very

Mic 3 (53:45):
feel
very
Privileged

Stef (53:46):
sitting

Mic 3 (53:47):
and having

Stef (53:48):
you
serve
me.
Yeah, but yeah, they theydo a really great job.
It's a

Mic 3 (53:52):
cool
program.
Yeah, I, I thought it was amazing also,and, and like I said, it was just one
of those steps, like, yeah, let's trainyou so that when you do leave here,
you have, you have, skillsthat you can offer, and
so

Mic 2 (54:03):
I
thought
that
that
was amazing.

Stef (54:04):
Yeah.
So if you haven't done it,then you definitely should.
Cause it's, it's a very cool program.
So I'll look at the both of you, eventhough you've been here forever and
you've never had a chance to do it.

Mic 2 (54:12):
do it.
I

Mic 4 (54:13):
I think
I
did.
Oh,
you're not
sure
you did?
Have you did it or not?
You're bringing things, okay.
Okay, like bells are ringing.
We're talking about
30 years.
Yes, bells are ringing.

Mic 2 (54:23):
Okay.

Mic 4 (54:23):
But it

Mic 3 (54:24):
would have been

Stef (54:25):
Yeah.
I
think
they've
been
doing it for like 25.
because you know, people
are
going
to do their
research and be like,
Beth,
you
did
not actually do

Mic 4 (54:32):
Right,
and
I, I
just, it was 15 years ago at least,
if I did.

Stef (54:37):
do we want to do our guess which library
thing
that I,
okay.
So
I did some extremely low key research,um, a Google equivalent research, to
see some aspects that, that people inour community, in our county might not
know that our local libraries are doing.
So I'm going to say what the.

(54:59):
Service, program, whateverit is, is, um, and we have to
try to, we'll have to see if,
if
Those of us,

Mic 2 (55:08):
um,

Stef (55:08):
for whom it is not actually your library that's doing it.
So keep it to yourself.
Um, if we have any ideawhich library is actually
doing

Mic 2 (55:16):
Um, And

Stef (55:17):
we have to cheat a little bit because one of these is for
our, our missing representativefrom Howard City, Cheryl.
So with the longest libraryname ever known to man.
Um, okay.

Mic 2 (55:27):
So,

Stef (55:28):
which one of our libraries circulates a bubble machine?
Nope, we don't have,
our Library
of Things collection is not up and
running yet.

Mic 4 (55:35):
It's Tamarack.
No,
it's

Mic 3 (55:37):
not
Tamarack.
We have
lots and lots of special

Mic 4 (55:40):
use,
but
that

Mic 3 (55:41):
not one of
the

Mic 2 (55:42):
use.

Mic 4 (55:42):
Then it's Howard
City.
Nope,

Mic 2 (55:44):
Nope.
It's

Mic 4 (55:47):
hold on.
Ding, ding.
ding.
You kept such a poker face, that's

Stef (55:53):
Right!

Mic 4 (55:54):
I didn't guess.

Stef (55:55):
That
uh, that
you all, despite having a smaller library,have put together a nice collection
of Library of Things stuff, so um,

Mic 3 (56:03):
just started that a year or so ago,

Mic 2 (56:05):
really
cool.
Through our, we

Mic 3 (56:07):
And, um, we got a grant
through our,
um, We receive a local grant.
It's called the Glenn Curtis Fund, andfor many, many years, um, they have left
money to the, community and to the libraryspecifically, um, and we can ask for grant
monies to pay for some of these things.
So any of these extra things we do,

(56:27):
our computers, special programming,
that
type
of
thing,
they, you

Mic 4 (56:32):
We receive

Mic 3 (56:32):
funds for those.
So yeah, we've been building
up our
library
of
things collection.

Stef (56:37):
So
if you
don't have a library cardalready, but you really want to
get a bubble machine for your

Mic 4 (56:40):
kids
or

Stef (56:41):
for yourself

Mic 3 (56:42):
um,
to check
out.
And it's
really fun

Stef (56:45):
yeah, I
bet it is.
Yeah.
I

Mic 3 (56:47):
grandkids love

Stef (56:48):
Who can say no to bubbles?
Yeah, that's amazing.
this summer, this library hascoming up a, an event, uh,
hosting a Beatles tribute band.

Mic 3 (56:57):
it Richland?

Stef (57:00):
Yep.

Mic 3 (57:01):
I

Stef (57:01):
Yeah.

Mic 3 (57:02):
lots

Mic 2 (57:02):
have lots of free tickets if anyone's interested, you
just have to come to the library

Mic 3 (57:07):
pick
them
up.
Because you've done

Mic 2 (57:09):
we've done Elvis three
times and

Stef (57:13):
It never gets old.
Yeah.
It's totally.
And this sounds like it's going to

Mic 2 (57:17):
be
fun.
Sherman,
what's the date on
that?
19th

Stef (57:22):
There we

Mic 2 (57:22):
7 to

Mic 4 (57:22):
From 7 to
8.

Stef (57:23):
It only took her a couple seconds.
That's not bad.

Mic 4 (57:25):
Way
to

Mic 2 (57:26):
put
her
on
the spot,
Jessica.
I know, right?

Mic 3 (57:27):
an

Stef (57:28):
you,
If
you
hadn't, I would have.
So that, thank

Mic 2 (57:30):
you
for

Stef (57:30):
making
me seem

Mic 4 (57:31):
less
of a,
What

Stef (57:32):
a bully.

Mic 2 (57:33):
Um, it's at the high school gymnasium at Vesterburg Community
Schools.

Stef (57:39):
but people who are attending, they need to have tickets in advance

Mic 2 (57:42):
If they want to have floor seats, they need to come and get tickets ahead.
But if they don't mind sittingin the bleachers, um, you
can come to the door that
night.

Stef (57:52):
yeah, that
sounds like fun.
Awesome.
this library has, is archivinginformation about local veterans.

Mic 3 (57:59):
people in Atlanta.
Is
it Flat River?
No.

Stef (58:02):
We're running out of people at this point.

Mic 3 (58:03):
good.

Mic 2 (58:05):
Is it Flat River?
Carson?

Mic 4 (58:08):
Yes!

Stef (58:09):
Yeah, yeah,
I
saw that again.
This is

Mic 4 (58:12):
the
beauty
of

Mic 3 (58:13):
of

Stef (58:13):
level
research,
but I saw that on your website and it
sounded

Mic 4 (58:17):
sounded like a
really interesting program.
So we have a form and
if you
have information

Mic 2 (58:23):
put a

Mic 4 (58:24):
about

Mic 2 (58:24):
to honor them.
And, um,

Mic 4 (58:26):
um,
just so we can, we put a booklettogether to honor them and um, we have
it separated by
the Various, you know,World War I, World War
II,
Korea, Vietnam, um, and Any timethat a person, a veteran has served,
we're collecting that information.

Mic 3 (58:46):
long have you

Stef (58:47):
have you been doing it?

Mic 4 (58:48):
five years.
I
promise I
am
not

Mic 3 (58:50):
I

Stef (58:51):
you all on the spot with these

Mic 4 (58:52):
off.
I
would

Mic 2 (58:55):
say
about
five
years

Stef (58:56):
Okay.
That's really awesome.
this library has a true crime bookclub and offers free notary services.

Mic 3 (59:06):
That's Flat

Mic 4 (59:06):
We
do
have notary

Mic 2 (59:07):
services.

Stef (59:08):
That was, That was
a
misdirect though.
because this is another librarythat has notary services.

Mic 3 (59:12):
Wait, hang on.
Have we picked,

Mic 4 (59:14):
this is
Cheryl.
This is Cheryl.

Mic 2 (59:16):
Okay.
And

Stef (59:17):
Cheryl
is
actually one
of the, she is one of the notaries.
I thought that was kind of cool.
They have a monthly true crime book club.
That sounds like fun.
I mean, You meet a very specializedcross section of people who want
to just read true crime books.
And those are my people.
I
don't know
about
you all,
but
that sounds like fun to me.
this library hosted a fundraisercalled the battle of the classes

(59:38):
that Um, it was something

Mic 4 (59:43):
That's very funny.
That must be like you.

Mic 3 (59:45):
one library.

Stef (59:46):
came up

Mic 3 (59:48):
together?
Um,

Mic 2 (59:49):
it is.

Mic 3 (59:50):
that

Mic 4 (59:50):
Nope.
I thought it was a cool idea

Mic 2 (59:52):
though.

Stef (59:53):
raise some
funding.

Mic 2 (59:57):
It was something that our board members came up with to try to raise
some funding, um, for part of our,you know, new build and all that.
But, um, we actually were goingto use the funds for a new sign
for the building because we

Mic 4 (01:00:08):
don't
have
a sign yet.

Mic 2 (01:00:10):
they just decided to go with the, the Montcalm County Schools and,
well, actually mostly Central Montcalm.
But, just the reaching out tograduates from different grade
levels or different, uh, years.
they, um, We tried
to,
you
know,
put
a lot of pressure on other classes
to
be generous and
donate.
And so, uh, we actually had, um,two classes that came up really,

(01:00:31):
really close to one another.
I think it was 82 and 83 andforgive me, I cannot remember which
one won.
It
was 82.
It was 82.
Okay.
The

Stef (01:00:39):
forgive

Mic 2 (01:00:41):
the year I was born.
Uh huh.
And that's

Mic 4 (01:00:43):
remember that

Stef (01:00:44):
cannot remember

Mic 4 (01:00:48):
I like, I was good.

Mic 2 (01:00:49):
I'm not
that young, honestly,

Stef (01:00:51):
it was But anyway, but yeah, that's why that stuck in my head.
But that was a really cool

Mic 2 (01:00:58):
good idea.
Yeah, we raised quite a bit of funds.
I think we have, um, almost5, 000 to use for our sign.
So,

Stef (01:01:04):
Awesome.
That's fantastic.

Mic 4 (01:01:06):
Yeah.

Stef (01:01:07):
one more.
This library, uh, circulatescake pans and kayaks.

Mic 3 (01:01:12):
that's,

Mic 2 (01:01:13):
Like,

Mic 4 (01:01:14):
for sure.
That's

Mic 3 (01:01:15):
it
away.
I

Stef (01:01:16):
I feel
like
the
cake
pans give it, gave it away.
You guys have a million of those,

Mic 3 (01:01:20):
those, don't you?
Yeah, actually I was at a meetingbefore this and we have 300 and some.
Oh

Mic 4 (01:01:24):
Oh
my gosh.
Yes.

Stef (01:01:25):
Well,
weren't most of them donated

Mic 3 (01:01:27):
donated by one
person?
Yes, I believe that there was oneindividual that donated most of them
and then, you know, Once, once thatinformation got out, then anyone
else in the community who had anyremaining cake pans donated what they
had to, to fill out our collection,

Mic 4 (01:01:40):
but
yes.

Stef (01:01:41):
Because, you know, when you have 250 plus of them,
people are like, You need more.
Let me give you more.
What's, do you know what the most, like,sort of different, unique, or one of
the, one of the ones you can think of

Mic 4 (01:01:52):
that's, like,

Mic 3 (01:01:53):
The

Mic 2 (01:01:54):
the most

Stef (01:01:54):
because they're all like in different

Mic 3 (01:01:55):
shapes Oh, right?
Yeah.
I mean, we have every sportsball that you could ever imagine
along with every superhero.
a stadium to like if you needed thefootball stadium to go with your
football cake, you know, we can do

Mic 4 (01:02:09):
it all.

Stef (01:02:10):
that's fantastic,

Mic 3 (01:02:11):
by do it all I mean we're not decorating it or
baking it for you, you have to
do that.
But after you do it, pleasepost a picture on the Tamarack
District Library so we can see it.

Stef (01:02:21):
Please let us use your efforts to promote our own stuff, but
we will not help you in any way.
Yes.
That's a good library motto too.
We will help you, we willfacilitate you making it
happen, but we're not

Mic 2 (01:02:31):
doing
it for you.

Stef (01:02:33):
I could have put some stuff on here from our list, but people are probably
sick of listening to me talk about thisstuff at some point because they're
used to me, One of my favorite randomthings that we have available is that
we have all of the, the daily news andit's, predecessors back to the 1850s
digitally archived in our collection.
So, um, If you want to readsome really unprofessional news

(01:02:56):
items from like pre civil war,
like
really
catty,
politics from back then.
it is a lot of fun to just sift through.
we've got a lot going onthese days, but our library of
things stuff has not evolved
yet, it's our poor, tech servicesperson has a whole pile of it that
I mostly bought on Amazon PrimeDay that she's like, okay, now I

(01:03:17):
got to put these all in containers
and
I got
a
catalog.

Mic 2 (01:03:19):
know?
It's

Mic 3 (01:03:20):
a
lot of
work.
Yeah,

Mic 2 (01:03:21):
and
I got to do

Stef (01:03:22):
fun
part.
which was picking it
out and buying it,

Mic 2 (01:03:25):
which I'm like,

Stef (01:03:26):
like, I'm sorry,

Mic 3 (01:03:27):
picking it up.

Mic 4 (01:03:29):
Can I give a shout out to the Crystal Community Library?
of course I can't rememberthe date of the first

Mic 2 (01:03:36):
be starting

Mic 4 (01:03:37):
but
they
are going to be starting Cards and
Coffee.
So,
Crystal has a really, there's theFriends of the Crystal Community Library,
they're a great group of people thatare very supportive of both of our
libraries, and, they're sponsoring thecoffee, and they sponsored some board
games, and playing cards, and it's,

(01:03:57):
an event at the crystal community library.
People can drop in, see what thelibrary has to offer, maybe get
a library card and make some newfriends, play board games or cards
and drink coffee.

Mic 2 (01:04:10):
not
succeeding.
It's not
on

Mic 4 (01:04:11):
trying
to look
at it.
So it's not on the website
yet, so well, it's, it'scoming up in later July.

Stef (01:04:22):
Okay,
okay.

Mic 2 (01:04:23):
the

Mic 4 (01:04:23):
info out there yet.

Stef (01:04:24):
All right, well, we'll try to,

Mic 4 (01:04:26):
to, we'll
try to remind you.

Stef (01:04:26):
to follow up as
we get a little closerto give the actual date.
I was tickled to find though that yourlibrary website still has a list of
digital escape rooms from the COVID era.
And what tickled me is notthe fact that they were still
there, because I mean, you can
still
have them.
But one of them
is

Mic 4 (01:04:42):
mine.
Oh,

Stef (01:04:44):
The
Cinderella
one
was
one that
I,
I made
in April, right.
after everything got really messy
and
COVID.
And like, I saw one library somewherethat had put together a Hogwarts one.
I'm like, that's a really cool idea.
So I put together one that was Cinderellathemed, like a couple days later,
cause I was sitting at home bored.
Um, and because I was one of the firstpeople that, you know, in the country

(01:05:07):
that started making those things.
It's been circulating thisentire time and I think I've had
something like, I don't know.
90, 000 people do it in the last

Mic 4 (01:05:17):
in the last three

Mic 2 (01:05:19):
wow.

Stef (01:05:19):
I
get
clicks
on it a lot at the end of every semester.
I can always tell when the teachers aretrying to find something to distract their
students before the marking period ends.
Cause I've got that one and then I've gotanother one that's, that's for older kids.
It's based on the Titanic.
Um, and that one.
I'm like, okay, the high schoolers

Mic 4 (01:05:34):
need something to

Mic 2 (01:05:35):
do
for

Stef (01:05:36):
while.
So they gave them
this, but, I was entertained tosee that that was still out there.
I hope I didn't just
get
somebody in your
staff in trouble.

Mic 4 (01:05:44):
staff
in trouble.
who put those together and put themon our website did a great job.

Stef (01:05:49):
thank you all for, for sitting down and And being patient with this thing that
I just kind of threw at you at the last
minute.
And nobody said no.
I'm impressed that nobody said no.
You guys just, Bethanswered me and everybody
else just

Mic 3 (01:05:59):
sat silent.
We just

Stef (01:06:00):
hoping that You could

Mic 2 (01:06:01):
could get
out
of the
room in

Stef (01:06:02):
But
I
appreciate
you all sitting down and doing it.
Thank you all very

Mic 2 (01:06:05):
right.
all very much.