Infiltrator

Here in The Land Where Time is Forgotten (along with car keys, passwords, and eating after 5:30 p.m. – aka Florida) I’ve tried to do at least a little something constructive with my time.

          Last year I volunteered at the library, but the only slot available to me in a town filled with legions of eager volunteers was 4:30 in the afternoon, when even libraries experience a slump in business. Fewer people return books and therefore fewer books need to be re-shelved. I often found myself alone in the back room re-routing books for other libraries, but often also making a pile for myself. And after you’ve shelved one cart of books you’re kind of done with the whole process. Kind of like filing, only with more pages. And who ever embraced filing?

          This year I’m working once a week at an organization whose mission is to promote our town and plan events for that purpose. And after I confessed to being a former English teacher, I was immediately assigned people to interview and articles to write for a local paper, in addition to proofing work by other writers.

          So my first article was about SunFiesta, a three day charity

event packed full of parades, arts and crafts vendors, food, and even a bed race through the streets.

          I’m learning quite a bit about our little city in the process, having no knowledge of SunFiesta until I wrote about it, since it takes place in October, and snowbirds that we are, we only arrive here in January.

          Still, I wonder if my supervisor realized the irony of my assignment or if the members I interviewed realized they were speaking to the other camp.

          In the actual words from the organization’s website:

The first official Sun Fiesta was in October 1973. It originated to provide the community its last chance to get together before the 'snow birds' started migrating in November!