5 Things You Don't Know About Me

Denise over at Family Matters tagged me as part of a genealogy bloggers "get acquainted" exercise.

Here's my five things about myself that you probably don't know:

1. I never wanted to be an archivist when I grew up. When I applied to the University of Wisconsin - Madison as a high school senior, I was forced to declare a major. So I chose "Journalism" because (a) I was really into photography and (b) I loved rock and roll. I figured a+b = Annie Liebowitz, so J-school it was.* This is what happens when you ask an 18 year old what they want to be when they grow up. Especially one who subscribed to Rolling Stone at the tender age of 14.
   
   *If you aren't familiar with Annie Liebowitz's photography, let me just explain that this was an utterly impossible dream. Sort of like deciding to become the next Michael Jordan. Not long after I arrived in Madison, I gleefully abandoned photojournalism in favor of history and archives management. A career path that landed me in the Library of Congress Prints and Photos Division...where I was able to view prints in the Masters Collection that Ms. Liebowitz exposed and developed herself.
   


2. I'm an information geek. I've always loved research. When I'm tracking down something I get in that zone where there's no such thing as time. My love of research is what led me to become an archivist, actually. Future posts will include my favorite research tips. Some that I picked up in library school, as well as ones that I learned by doing when I was the historical image researcher at American Girl.
   


3. I'm not a genealogist...yet. That day will come, I promise you, but for now I'm holding off. I know myself well enough to realize that once I start this project it will consume me and I will never be able to stop.
   


4. I tell people it's OK to throw out photographs. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that already. But if a genealogy link is what brought you here, I feel like we need to get this out in the open right away. In my workshops, it's the genealogists who have the hardest time with reducing the size of their photo collections. Before you totally freak out, let me point out that I'm not talking about your ancestor photos, or your favorite photographs. I'm talking about the fact that ever since about 1970, you've taken too many snapshots and you don't have to keep them all. Keep the ones that are good enough to go in a photo album, find another home for the others or use them to make something cool like a birthday card. Intrigued? Here's a blog entry from earlier this month that goes into more detail.
   


5. I often get the Doris Day Parking Spot. I have an uncanny ability to find the perfect parking spot at the perfect moment. My buddy Martin is the one who taught me the nickname, since this is precisely what happens in every Doris Day movie. I have no idea how or why I obtained this ability, but I try not to question it too much. OK, I realize it's not a super power like invisibility or laser eyes, but golly it sure comes in handy every now and again.

Now it's my turn to do the tagging and invite five others to participate. Apologies to anyone who has been tagged already:

The Photo Detective (a.k.a. Photo Goddess Maureen Taylor)
Dead Fred (Joe Bott)
Tracing the Tribe
Dick Eastman
ephemera

Photo credit: Bob Dylan by Annie Liebowitz.