Full Circle

“Life is a full
circle, widening
until it joins
the circle motions
of the infinite.”

▪︎-Anais Nin

▪︎I once stood in this place as a high school student… the Poeh Culture Center… in my hometown… longing to belong to this cultural institution. Today I am able to provide knowledge there driven by two decades of experience. Life always comes full circle. Trust… you are always in that place which God intended you to be at any given moment.▪︎

My Kind of Math

Happiness is…

She hadn’t been in for a while and I just happened to choose this poster to put up because I love It! I had no idea she played any part in it’s creation. She’s the longtime friend who introduced me to WordPress +I love her Happy Place! 😉

Maddie♥

Over the years, some people return to the archives and it’s always nice to see them again. This was the first of four long trips out to Santa Fe that we got to meet Tracy’s adoreable kids. We had fun making them feel at home and creating a kid friendly room for movies, reading and art!

After a month, when Tracy, Alan, Ben and Maddie (my favorite 7 year old who loved my office dragons) left the archives, Gail made us some tasty root beer floats in the break room and I brought Maddie two dragons of her own. She promptly and intricately named each.

Intellectuals Love Pop Culture

I had a great learning experience at the 2016 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Conference thanks to scholarship funds. If I can’t find outside funds to attend this conference again next year, I would gladly pay my own way. I thought ARMA San Diego was the best conference I had been to until SWPACA. I love being around like minded intellectuals. There is really nothing like it. I do want a PhD someday.

I made it a point to keyword search the program (which was close to 150 pages) for the words archive(s), culture, history, and New Mexico. I focused my time at the conference on those sessions for the greater good. I love learning things to benefit both my knowledge and my agency. Everytime I could, I supported New Mexico professors and students by attending their presentations. There was so much great research presented during this conference. I also made a presentation there.

I did attend a small handful of sessions that were chosen because of personal interest. One was a session titled “Myth and Metaphor in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien,” which happened to be delivered by a University of New Mexico (UNM) professor. Another awesome presentation gave an analysis of “Penny Dreadful,” which I love, by a teacher from Texas. That session featured another presentation on the research of a UNM professor and student on violent video games and children. There was one on how Batman’s suit employs STEM!! Then there was one on fetishism and the villainess. You know I went to that one!!

The mission of SWPACA is “to promote an innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences and to celebrate America’s cultural heritages. To provide an outlet for scholars, writers, and others interested in popular/American culture, to share ideas in a professional atmosphere, and to increase awareness and improve public perceptions of America’s cultural traditions and diverse populations.”

Amazing…

Whatever It Takes

What will I do?
Whatever it takes.

•Digital composite by Felicia•

A Frosty Halloween

I finally got all of our Halloween photos together and it is almost Christmas! Yikes! Where does the time go? Everyone had great costumes and everyone in the archives dressed up this year. I loved that Rachel coincidentally picked my favorite super villain to come dressed as. She so pulled it off! All of the the costumes created by archives staff were custom builds. None of these were out of the box from Party City costumes! They are all so creative. I love it!

Gail, Sibel, Pam, Felicia, Amanda, Rachel, Britney, Elena, Juanita

•♦•Desk Paraphernalia•♦•

•♦•Desk Paraphernalia•♦•

“Pain? You can’t stop me by hurting me! Don’t you know me at all? Pain is my boon companion! My stalwart friend! I am alive with pain every moment of every day! Ever since that fateful day when I was baptized in a vat of chemical goo, that corrosive stuff has burned through my skin like fire. Pain is my one true♥!”

•♦•The Joker (New Earth)

Archivists’ and Records Managers’ Identities

This post is a good read. I completely agree with #2, as #1 is a reflection of professional ignorance! The articles cited at the end are interesting as well.
~~F

Archivists’ and Records Managers’ Identities – Two Opinions: Different Species or United as One?.

An Educational Trippy Trip to the Lone Star State

•••Flight Out•••

Last week I went to a conference in Austin, Texas to make a presentation and accept a leadership award. I learned so much during the course of the week and networked with many people. I visited the beautiful capitol and the Texas State Archives while I was there. 

Austin is an interesting city to say the least, and I can see why they have the saying “keep Austin weird.” After 5 was always a trippy adventure… from the crazy street people, to the bat bridge, to good eats. I didn’t take photos of the weird stuff though!

Amongst a gazillion bars, there was one real gym. It was a Gold’s. I like having a few drinks occasionally, but a gazillion bars is a far cry from my cup of tea! In my off work/downtime, I had the most fun on Lake Travis on my last day there.

•••Amazing Stonework Here•••

•••TX Archives actually had up a NM Archives Poster and a View of the Capitol from my Hotel Room Window•••

•••D Loooooved This Car and Lady Bird Lake•••

•••Me and D on the Bat Bridge on Congress Street and Our Ride in an Electric Car•••

The “Felicia Effect”

I recently accepted a new position in my agency. I have devoted many years to our mission and I am honored to have the chance to take the position on. It took me time to prepare an application for this one because I never take anything for granted.

I put together a hard bound book with my application and all the supporting documentation which included these outstanding letters of recommendation. The letters were from two people with a Ph.D. (both are authors), a Certified Archivist who is the Administrator of the Nevada State Library and Archives, and the owner of a business for writers.

I had four great letters from some seriously amazing people. I thought it would be great to share them. I appreciaited all of these accomplished professionals taking time out of their busy schedules to do this for me, but the letter from CB McKenzie was really perfect. It spoke so much to how I feel about myself and I appreciate this coming from someone else!

Eventually, hard work and sacrifice pays off.

*My Application Booklet*

A Visit to Tierra Amarilla

These are photographs from a recent work trip to Tierra Amarilla in Rio Arriba County. It is about a two hour drive from Santa Fe. Four of us went out there last week on a site visit. I was really impressed with their Records Management Program. It was so touching to see the hard work that has been done.

That county is currently building an archive to preserve history. The county had a handle on security of their records and they were using biometric technology. I enjoyed some yummy udon noodle soup for lunch at a cute little coffee shop there. It was a good, informative trip.

Flowers for Admin Profesh Ladies

These are the two arrangements I made for the admin profesh ladies in the archives. I appreciate all that they do for us. Each arrangement had half a dozen fuchsia roses, yellow spray roses and purple Statice. Take a look at Hallmark’s historical look at Administrative Professionals Day.

Thank God for Good Work Ethic

••Meme by Felicia

I can’t feel anything but sorry for people who insist on reinforcing professional silos. “I can’t help you with this because that is your job!” I’m always shocked when I hear that some people still think that way since we work toward the same goal?! That’s one sentence I have never muttered. True professionals work together for the greater good behind the mission of an agency. We are all under one roof and that is how it should be.

It is the night before my interview. If there are three things that I can thank God for giving me they are: my excellent work ethic; a genuine loyalty to my agency and sister divisions; and my willingness to help other professionals without thinking twice. I believe those are things that my boss has recognized in me after so many years. I believe these things set me apart from others.

I work for the public. I work for other agencies and local government. I admire and respect the role my agency plays in the grand scheme of things. Technically, I work for every person, every bureau, and every division of my agency. That’s because I actually believe we are a team!!

A Holiday Gathering

Met the work gang at Zia Diner after work for a mini Christmas party and birthday celebration. I eyeballed French fries on the menu and I kept thinking about how the lusciously divine treat was missing from the table. I didn’t order any, drooled just thinking about it, and I’m laying here *craving* french fries so much right now that it hurts. But I never eat french fries you say??? I know. I know. Can someone hand feed me fries please? It was a fun night…other than a steady craving for some deliciousiosity and all.

••Mmmmmmmm... Yeah. I really want some.••

••Lady Vader's Birthday Balloons••

••Andrew and Meghan- awwwe- I love these two.••

••I joked and asked if this could be our division's annual report photo. Left to right- Sib, Meghan, Jerry, Melis, Linda, Fabian, Jonah, Margaret, Gail, Me, Rach, Em, and Brit (not pictured Steve, Elijah and Andrew)••