Benefit Birthday Bash & other projects

Oops, I see I haven't posted here in quite some time. What has happened? Well, it has been a busy time these past few months - In July I had a Birthday Benefit Bash and raised $1000 for Breakthrough Urban Ministries - a homeless ministry in East Garfield Park, Chicago, IL. Some friends and colleagues from Merit School of Music and I performed everything from the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets, to Gershwin, and Indie pop. The concert took place at the Lincoln Park Cultural center and we had an audience of around 40 people. Then in August I moved to a larger apartment in alas, the suburbs of Chicago, but only a short green line train away in Oak Park/River Forest.

Finally, over the past couple months I've been revisiting my Masters level research on the Russian composer, contemporary of Stravinsky, Arthur Lourie 1891-1966. By the end of the year I plan to have an article submitted for publication and at this point I'm planning on sending it first to "Notes" which is the Music Library Association's journal.

Alas, I've missed you Web 2.0 project, but now I see the new fad is a project called "Library 101." I don't want you to miss out, so check out the video/photo/song produced by some crazy librarians at http://www.libraryman.com/library101/

Some College & Career Related Websites

Did a last-minute presentation last Tuesday in which I spoke to parents about some websites where they could explore college and career-related topics with their kids.

Here they are for your perusal as well. . .

http://www.ilcis.intocareers.org/ - Sponsored by the Illinois Career Resource Network this has a career exploration feature for kids called “CIS Junior.” TIP - Create a free profile if you don’t want to loose the results of the interest inventory your child can take. Adults may find helpful job resources on their main site at http://www.ilworkinfo.com/icrn.htm which is powered by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. I highly recommend this site for students. Start early thinking about careers and interests !

http://www.collegezone.com/ - Sponsored by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, this site has an online exploration center where you can discover your career interests, get matched with colleges via Illinois Mentor, find out about financial aid and much more. There is a listing of programs/speakers/events on their website as well.

http://www.collegeboard.com/ - Sponsored by the College Board, the organization who hosts the SAT and publishes many college guides and helpful educational resources. Their “college search” feature expands your search outside of Illinois and allows you to find schools that may be the perfect fit yet not necessarily ones of which you’ve ever heard. Lots of other information too!

http://chooseyourfuture.org/ The website for the Chicago Public Schools Department of College and Career Preparation includes listings of what to do each year of school and ways to make sure you are preparing now for college and investigating your options. They have online programs for college/career exploration, Choices Explorer and Choices Planner. These are similar to ISAC’s Illinois Mentor, but you must be a CPS student.

ENJOY - Jana

New Thoughts & Actions 2009

Yes, it is a new year and as usual I anticipate the possibilities and think of new schemes - I am going to post at least a couple of times on this blog, although I confess I'm becoming more of a facebook junkie than necessary - it keeps me away from thinking about all things Web 2.0 and being an information specialist. Yes, I am still that helping out kids as a librarian at a not-for-profit music school here in Chicago.

As for my "new thoughts and actions" in 2009 or my, don't say it, resolutions, I will list the following -
1) Keeping up with information happenings and posting here 2x a month.
2) Networking with other information specialists and making an effort to hang with new people.
3) Being more in touch with the spiritual - my relationship with Jesus and daily walk with him.
4) Performing music at the homeless shelter and senior center, yet looking for additional trumpet gigs as well.
5) Adopting a dog.
6) Considering a move to a bigger apartment that allows dogs.
and finally . . .
7) Making a difference in the world - forgetting myself and seeking for a life of service, living my most heroic life as God calls me - it's not what I want from this world, but living the kind of life the world needs from me.

****Consider reading Wide Awake: The Future Is Waiting Within You by Erwin Raphael McManus (Author) . That is my first read for the new year and hearing him at the Breakthrough Urban Ministries Banquet in November was a life changer.