Tag: Grow

Family, Fidelia Hall, Life, Titusville, PA

Let It Grow

Justin Hoenke

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The idea of home being the most important thing has always been a big focus of my life. My life has always been focused around my family and where we live. A lot of who I am came from my upbringing in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA and a lot of who I am now as an adult comes from the home that I’ve built together with Haley over the past 12 years.

For the last two years we’ve made Fidelia Hall in Titusville, PA our home. At almost an acre with a house and an old church on the property, we’ve got a lot of space to grow and learn about the world around us right in the middle of our little town of 5,500 residents. One of the things we’ve been learning about are gardens and what most people call weeds. We want to understand why these things grow around us and how we can make a garden that incorporates things that we love to look at AND things that are helpful to the environment. We’re getting there. In our two years at Fidelia Hall we’ve planted things that we love (sunflowers, black-eyed susan, mint, chamomile, borage, and much more) and let a lot of what comes naturally grow without interruption. Things such as purslane and dandelions may not be desired by most people in the world, but they’re welcome in our gardens at home.

Our days in the spring and summer are spent preparing and maintaining the gardens as well as sitting back and enjoying them. Sitting in a hammock or chair and doing nothing but looking at how the bees are enjoying the borage become one of my favorite activities. When your home all around you thrives and grows your life becomes just a little bit more magical.

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This morning as we watered the gardens our children Finn and Aero ran around and begged us to spray them with the hose (which we did). The birds all around us chirped, our dog Sonic ran around like a crazy person, and the bees enjoyed the borage. As we watered the gardens, Haley and I talked about what was growing and made plans for years to come. I collected some of those “weeds” to feed to our chickens and rabbits. Those “weeds” were their food for the day, and boy oh boy did they ever enjoy it.

When we have a connection to the world around us, our lives can be significantly better. Everyone deserves a home where they can explore the amazing world we live in. When it comes to life, I say let it grow: let the “weeds” and other plants around you grow and from their growth you will have your own personal growth.

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Benson Memorial Library, Libraries, Library Director, Management, Tales From The Library Trenches

Tales From The Library Trenches

Justin Hoenke

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I’m really happy to be writing a four part series for Information Today titled Tales From The Library Trenches. Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing stories and ideas about movin’ on up in the library world and becoming a director. I also got a chance to talk to some great folks along the way (Laura Koenig, Kenley Neufeld, and Jack Martin to name a few) and hear their amazing stories as well. I hope y’all get to check it out and enjoy it.

If you haven’t already, you should head over to InfoToday.com and take a look at some of the great stuff they’re sharing.

If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to their most awesome and excellent newspaper Information Today right here. They make a nice newspaper about important stuff and I enjoy reading it. In fact, I took the picture above while I sat in my hammock on a nice spring day reading the latest issue.

Enjoy!

Chattanooga Public Library, Chattanooga, TN, Great People, Libraries

GREAT PEOPLE: Lee Hope

Justin Hoenke

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I wanted to take a moment to talk about Lee Hope, the Children’s Services Coordinator at the Chattanooga Public Library.  Since I arrived in April 2013, I’ve got a chance to work very closely with Lee on a number of projects involving kids, tweens, and teens in Chattanooga….and it has been an awesome experience, one that deserves sharing.

Lee worked her way up in the Chattanooga Public Library, starting as a shelver, becoming a kid’s librarian, and now as the Youth Services Coordinator.  She’s been with the library for over twenty years and has done great things for her community.  It’s been super awesome to work with her. She’s been a great manager and mentor, being there when I needed guidance but also listening to my ideas and letting me implement them.  There’s a great balance between the two of us and how we work.  We trust each other, we listen to each others ideas, and we question each other.

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We call each other Goose and Maverick, a nod to the film Top Gun.  In our eyes, we’ve gotta have that balance.  Sure, (SPOILER ALERT) Goose dies in Top Gun, but that’s not the point.  The point is that Goose and Maverick work together.  They trust each other. Plus, it’s just really fun to be constantly making Top Gun references through the work day.

Lee’s mentorship means a lot to me. She helps me see the whole picture and has taught me how to collect my thoughts, create a plan, and put that plan into action. That’s huge. Her teachings have really helped me grow.

Now that I’m Coordinator of Teen Services for the Chattanooga Public Library, I get to work even closer with Lee. We’ve got one big project that’s almost ready to share. I can’t wait to put it out there in the world.

Thank you Lee for everything!

Chattanooga Public Library, DEV DEV: Summer of Code 2013, Libraries

DEV DEV

Justin Hoenke

I’m so happy to share this video with you. It was produced by Colt Helton during our DEV DEV Demo Day which occurred on The 2nd Floor of the Chattanooga Public Library on Friday August 2, 2013.

I’ve said a lot about DEV DEV over the past month but I’m gonna say it again: it was an amazing experience not only for the teens, our partners, and the library but for the community.  Many thanks from the bottom of my heart go out to every single person involved in this program. This program was the single greatest experience of my library career.

Libraries, Teens, Three Things

Three Things That I Learned in Three Years (4.9.13)

Justin Hoenke

When you move onto the next chapter of your life, you can’t help but look back to see what you’ve learned and how you can continue to grow.  The past two weeks have been full of that and a flood of other emotions for me.  It’s cool.  I embrace this.  However, keeping this all locked up in my head and in my heart doesn’t do any good so here goes: a soul baring blog post about the things I learned.  Warts and all.

ONE
When I came into town three years ago I was a bit naive.  I thought that no matter what the situation was that I could use my positive approach and all of the love in my heart to change things.  While I still believe in the power of positivity and a good heart, I now understand that there’s more to consider.  Some people can’t be changed.  Some mountains can’t be moved.  And that’s ok. 

Out of this came Three Punk Rock Lessons for Surviving 21st-Century Library Hell.  If the system doesn’t respond to the way you approach things, you circumnavigate the system.  You find something that works that is a blend of your style while pleasing the mountains that cannot be moved.  You get things done, you’re happy because you’ve served your community, and no one bugs you.

TWO
I would love to say that what I got most out of working in Portland, Maine came from my community and the teens I worked with but this was not the case.  That’s what I got from my previous job at the Cape May County Library.  But that’s not to say that I didn’t get anything from these two powerful groups: what they did was REINFORCE everything I learned at the Cape May County Library.  If it wasn’t in my head and my heart enough in 2010, it is now embedded there forever and has no chance of slipping away.  Folks: if you don’t have your community in the front of your thoughts, your library is not winning.

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I learned a lot from managing a small staff of people in the teen library.  What I did learn the most during my time is that freedom, respect, and support for your staff is the most critical thing to have when you are working with others.  If you have a staff that doesn’t trust or respect you, forget about it.  INSPIRE them.  Say YES.  Let them run wild in the library.  Your library is stronger with everyone’s ideas working together.  It will form an institution that is not only dynamic but full of personality.

One of my favorite moments in Portland was when I noticed that one of my staff members was an amazing artist.  What did I have him do?  I had him draw amazing things while he watched over the teen service desk.  Call it a bit of performance art and a little bit of library decoration: the teens and other patrons got to see the creation of art in progress and the end result still proudly hangs in the library so that patrons can go OMG WOW when they see it.  It’s a beautiful thing.  The best part?  Having my employee not be bored while watching over the teen desk and seeing them look forward to working in my part of the library.

THREE
And finally: Your happiness in your job has a lot to do with your happiness in the world.  Remember, your job is not your life but it does have some impact on it.  Are you unhappy?  Frustrated? Tired?  Grumpy?  Have you tried to change things and you keep hitting a brick wall?  Have you REALLY tried to change things and STILL keep hitting that brick wall?

It is time for you to find another job.  

This is difficult to say and even more difficult to comprehend, but PLEASE do yourself a favor and go down that path.  Your heart will smile in the long run.  Don’t get caught up on the what/who/when/where/why/how of it all.  Just do it.