64: buen camino!

5.11.25 - 5.15.25

To say it has been a while is no joke. These last few months have been chaos spun out of graduate school courses, a special collections job, a bookselling job, a reference librarian job, job appliCATIons, and trying to not to be a hermit living under a rock. Now am I complaining about this chaos? Absolutely not--it has been such a rewarding last two years getting to dip my toes, then sink, into the waters that are libraries/archives/special collections/books. But I AM using this chaos as an excuse for why I have been absent from this little ol' archive of mine.

So where do I pick up?

Let's start with a few updates that feel significant at the moment:

- I have graduated grad school with a 4.0 and completed my MLIS (Masters in Library and Informational Sciences)...I also got an award for librarianship in the visual arts, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy. But more so, proud.

- I am emPLOYED! As a full-time librarian! A research librarian, in fact! And at an architecture library! But wait, there's more...it's a research librarian job at the Frances Loeb Library serving the community at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Is this a dream come true or a dream come true?

- I have said adieu to two formative library roles at the Harvard Law Library's special collections and at the Bostom Athenaeum. I will miss cage runs, standing next to 12th century legal volumes, being wowed by Charles J Ogletree's legacy, and Theresa/Katie' amazing trivia gatherings. But I will not miss getting scolded at for answering the question that member just asked. Alas.

But this is all in Boston...what about life outside of Boston? Well, here is my cue to tell you about...

Walking. On. The. CAMINO DE SANTIAGO!!!!!

The Camino de Santiago (Camino, for short) is a series of pilgrim paths that start from various parts of France, Spain and Portugal and end at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Santiago, Galicia, Spain. It is traced back to the 9th century when people started travelling the route titled "the Way of St. James" to visit, of what's said, the various relics of St. James himself.

Though there are multiple routes of getting to the cathedral, I set afoot starting at St. Jean Piet de Port in the Basque region of France. From here, Karla and I traversed (in full hiking backpacks, poles, sock liners, and more) Orisson (one house in the middle of an endless valley), Roncesvalles (a small medieval village, though it was more just a hostel and two churches), Zubiri, and then Pamplona (where the bulls charge). As I write this essay, Karla is on day 45 and so close to finishing her whole Camino...while I just did a meager 5 days. But the other 40 are for sure waiting for me in the future!

It was the most wonderful peek into a bucket list dream I've had for a long time...to wake up only to walk and allow your feet get from one place to another carries so much simple joy.

And to be a pilgrim means to be known. Not for accomplishments or status or beauty or any other of those flavors with which we tend to value ourselves. But for walking and breathing and appreciating and laughing and talking and crying and dancing. For being human. Just in my five days, I received generosity (free apples and lollipops!), smiles, impromptu dancing sessions, and constant "buen caminos" as another one out of the sea of pilgrims. And of course, blisters were blossoming, legs started lagging, sweat did drip. But my encounters with the surrounding pilgrims/peaks/valleys/rivers/tadpoles/alligato teeth, and even more so with Karla, will leave an imprint on me even more greater than my small steps left on the Camino trail.