Head Tale

I feel so fortunate to have grown up with parents who instilled a love of reading, news, politics and community engagement into me from a young age.

Whether it was my dad reading the Leader Post from front-to-back every evening or my mom’s involvement on the Board of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, I have followed and increasingly been involved in politics at the federal, provincial, and local level in a variety of ways – working on campaigns, door knocking, coming up with strategies, writing policy, serving on constituency associations, provincial boards, and more.

I strongly believe that everything we do is political and I’m always taken aback by people who aren’t interested in, let alone, involved with politics.

Some of the best things I’ve learned about the importance of relationships, working with people who don’t share your viewpoints, communication strategy, long-term planning and more have come from my volunteer work in campaigns over the years and observing politics regularly (and maybe even obsessively?)

This has always been part of my life but became real in University when I attended the obligatory protest against tuition increases that seems like a rite of passage for new students.  Or, much more memorably, joined my inlaws to spend a night occupying the Legislature as part of a farm protest in the year 2000.

It’s probably no surprise that perhaps my single most favourite class in library school was Advocacy, taught by former CLA President and Hamilton Public Library CEO, Wendy Newman.

So many great lessons – from Wendy and so many other successful, accomplished leaders!