My work-from-home set-up during lockdown, and while we had bears in our windows.
By Anne Coppell, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Note: a version of this was originally published on my personal blog.
When you work in a job that is mostly front-of-house and in-person customer service, trying to work from home is hard. By the time of New Zealand’s August 2021 lockdowns, I — and our community — couldn’t deal with another round of online storytimes. I’d gone a bit stir crazy, posting one a day during March, April and May 2020!
So, when the August 2021 lockdowns came around — I needed something else!
What do you do when you’re at home, in lockdown, for months?
Volunteer to moderate a new Facebook group!
Then, a couple of months later, volunteer to be part of a web team!
At least, that’s what I did during lockdowns in 2021.
In July, a long-running Facebook Group — Storytime Underground — was mothballed. So one of the members — Kate, the Lavender Librarian, from Canada, set up a new group: Storytime Solidarity. I volunteered to be an admin and moderator.
In September, Kate mooted the idea of a website and called for volunteers. I had very little else going on, so put my hand up, again. Years of working on websites — either for work or as a volunteer — came in handy.
Stills from some of my online storytime videos.
Meet: Storytime Solidarity!
The rest of the team are in the USA and Canada — so I’m repping the Southern Hemisphere as hard as I can!
Most mornings, I wake up to a series of Facebook messages — I promise, my phone is always on silent.
Trying to organize meetings when your team is in at least four different time zones is tricky. I don’t think we’ve ever all made it at the same time.
The Facebook group has grown.
The website has grown.
The team has grown.
And, our friendships have grown.
Maybe it is that we don’t know each other IRL (in real life) that we can be honest and open. That we can bring our whole selves to our shared space. We work hard as a collective to keep the Facebook group that way for all involved.
This has been one of the most rewarding experiences — professionally and personally — that I’ve been involved with.
You never know what will happen when you volunteer. You might find your people.
A note from The Lavender Librarian
Re-reading Anne’s piece I’m struck by how quickly I’ve forgotten our origin story and settled in to happy work as a team. I can no longer imagine my life without the Solidarity Team.
Solidarity came about during one of the darkest times of my life. I was bedridden, recovering from major surgery. Barely a year out of an autism diagnosis and still reeling from decades of burnout. I had finally begun putting my life in order when my life was completely derailed by injury. I didn’t walk for nearly four months.
I needed a project. A project I could do from my phone. Storytime Solidarity gave me a reason to wake up in the morning. The project gave me purpose. And, it gave me solidarity, perhaps for the first time in my life. I was working with a team, leading it, however improbable that felt. And building a type of friendship that was altogether new for me.
We each bring something different to the project and so there’s a sort of alchemy. We’re greater than the sum of our parts. And we’re all growing together. Everyone on the team is in a better place than they were when we started. Magic.
There’s joy in solidarity, especially when coupled with diversity. We’re working to welcome children to storytime and I love that my team and the content we create continues to diversify. It reminds me that we are more alike than we are different. And I am grateful that we have someone in the Southern Hemisphere who isn’t bogged down with Summer Reading at the moment so we can continue to bring beautiful posts like this when everyone else is too busy.
My experience here reminds me of how much stronger humanity is when working together. And that Solidarity is the way forward. In the months ahead we’ll be releasing more Solidarity content including a new tab. I can’t wait for what we have to share. The projects we have in the works and those not yet imagined.
I am so lucky to have found my team. So grateful to have such wonderful people to share this marvelous work with.
Saved as a favorite, I love your blog!