The Staff Currently Reading

In case you needed some reading inspiration, here I am with some books on the go, from the team. (Admittedly perhaps no longer on the go, given how long it’s taken me to collect and collate all these photos together.)

You might recognize some of these names, or maybe they’re a bit more behind the scenes. But what a gift it is to work with people who read.

Sean, also a for-real photographer.

Elaine, fellow cat parent, as well as actual parent.

Mai, with a truly excellent choice of book.

Caleb, manga forever.

Celina, another really good choice—there’s no one like Joan Didion.

Hilary, new.

Naomi (she’s in school right now so I couldn’t consult her, but instead just found these randomly on the floor which is where our family keeps our books for easy reach and possible trip hazards.)

Jon, classic.

Brendan, a real reader on the team, and yet he and I have very, very little overlap in reading material. It’s like we live in parallel universes.

Sarah, our longest staff member, and with an excellent reading set up.

Me, a book about an octopus.

It is a gift to work with people that read, to exist in the same orbit as people who still feel the pull to discover and learn and adventure. Our staff come and go, we are a part of their lives for only a season, which is a different perspective from my own, which is that I’m tied to the mast into the sunset and beyond. Our staff walk in and journey with us for however long they do, and then they go off on their own paths. Sometimes they come back and visit and sometimes they wave hello from afar, sending a postcard or a pigeon, but for this season, where we are right now, our staff are here and reading and writing and I’m so glad for them in the fabric of our community.

People reading! What a sight. It is a lamentation, our eyes wandering, magnetically, to our phones, everything twitching and glitching. Rows of parents looking down at their screens instead of connecting around them, watching their babies floundering in the pool. We are living through a zombie apocalypse and we are the zombies. Although—I have heard that having an ebook on your phone can help you fill in gap times that might otherwise be wasted. Someone told me he read an entire Murakami book in 2-5-10 minute intervals on his phone over the course of six months. So maybe there is reading! Zombies reading, on their phones. There is hope. Who knows.

But a book in the hand. Who has time for that nonsense? None of us, in this age of rushing around and getting things done and making money to make ends meet and trying to make it to preschool pick up on time before they shut the doors and your child is left alone and abandoned in a dark hallway. But sometimes there is that hunger, that itch, that curiosity to go on an adventure, to find some answers, to see what else is out there. And we head to the library to find out.