Check It Out!

Usually, the phrase is, "Baptism by fire."

For Shari Ireton, Director of Communications for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, her introduction to emergency management was baptism by mud.

It was March 22, 2014, a Saturday, and Ireton was out with the family shopping for science fair supplies when she got a message about a slide that had closed Highway 530. "I didn't think much of it because slides happen all the time," Ireton said.

What was unusual is that she heard nothing else for the next several hours. "Usually, there's a flurry of activity, but this was completely silent," Ireton said. "A couple of hours later, I called."

Starting that afternoon and for the next five days straight, Ireton was the on-site public information officer for the massive Oso landslide that claimed the lives of 43 people.

And Ireton, still relatively new to her job, had not yet been through the training provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration that virtually all public agencies use manage responses to such events. "I was on the waiting list," Ireton said.

"There were lots of others helping," she said. "And, I have to give a shout-out to the Everett Herald … those reporters; we walked through it together from day one."

Ireton notes that she is not a commissioned officer, doesn't carry a gun and can't arrest people.

What she can and does do is interact with the media and public and tell the stories of the Sheriff's Office.

"The role is changing," Ireton said. "Deputies are doing more social work, mental health work that we've ever done before."

Ireton made note of effort that started in 2015, pairing a deputy with a social worker. Together, they visit homeless camps and make other contacts with the goal of addressing underlying causes. Ireton said that almost always they find a combination of untreated mental health and addiction issues. The approach, she says, "has been really successful."

Episode length: 47:20

Links

• Snohomish County Sheriff's Office
• Sheriff's Office on the opioid crisis
• Sheriff's Office on Twitter
• Oso landslide resources at Sno-Isle Libraries
• Sno-Isle Libraries support during Oso event
• Linda McPherson dedication event
• Oso landslide wiki
• "Check It Out!" podcast on "Finding Fixes"
• "Finding Fixes" podcast
• University of Idaho
• Gonzaga University

Chapter 1

Did you know that July 17 is Yellow Pig's Day?

Podcast co-host Paul Pitkin didn't know either when he brought it up, but you will now.

According to a not-quite exhaustive online search, two Princeton math students - David C. Kelly and Michael Spivak – began in the early 1960s celebrating July 17 as Yellow Pig's Day in honor of mathematics and the number 17, a prime number. The day continues to be celebrated at the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, which is headed by Kelly.

Why a yellow pig? Even Google isn't sure, but rumors say Kelly had a collection of yellow pigs. The mascot of the holiday, a yellow pig, has 17 toes, 17 eyelashes and 17 teeth.

Closer to home, other fun things happening in July include the literally hundreds of Explore Summer events at all 23 community libraries in the Sno-Isle Libraries district, plenty of community events and summer-fun resources listed online at "A Sno-Isle Summer" and two Hogwarts summer day-camp events at the Granite Falls and Snohomish libraries.

And, co-host Jim Hills confesses that he didn't know what he was talking about in podcast Episode 27. Hills said that Spokane's Bloomsday celebration (which happens in May) is related to all the other Bloomsday celebrations around the world. The non-Spokane, non-May events happen on June 16, which is the day depicted in James Joyce's novel "Ulysses." The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in the book. Spokane's Bloomsday Run is not about the book and also not affiliated with the area's Lilac Festival, but both happen around the same time in May.

Links

• Explore Summer with Sno-Isle Libraries
• Harry Potter-themed events at Sno-Isle Libraries
• A Sno-Isle Summer: Adventure Awaits
• Events calendar for all community libraries
• Prime number-related materials in the library collection
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• Spokane's Bloomsday Run
• Hampshire College summer math program
• Didgeridoo in the library collection

Chapter length: 23:24

Chapter 2

Paul Pitkin is here to have an impact.

And, having an impact requires money.

Which makes it really fortunate that Pitkin is Executive Director for the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation and in charge of raising money for library programs that have positive impacts on lives and in communities across Snohomish and Island counties.

Paul talks about the opportunities that are available through the foundation to build communities.

The foundation funds a variety of programs and services that the tax-supported library district

cannot, including things such as:

• Third-Grade Reading Challenge
• TedXSnoIsleLibraries
• Bookmobile services
• Issues That Matter
• The Nysether Family Collection
• Children's Services
  • Expanding science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) initiatives through programming, training for both staff and caregivers and community library space enhancements.
  • Videos showing parents how to prepare their children to read early and establish a lifetime of reading and knowledge.
  • Helping improve overall childcare and education by providing STARS training to child caregivers and educators.
  • Providing opportunities with Structured Play kits for children to enhance language and literacy skills.
  • Presenting the Every Child Ready to Rock and Read Concert Series.

• Other ongoing programs

• Ready Readers
• Cultural and literacy programs
• Leadership development
• Teen programs
• Summer learning programs.

Links

• Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation website
• Issues That Matter
• TEDxSnoIsleLibraries
• Third-Grade Reading Challenge
• Ready Readers
• STARS training
• Nysether Family Collection
• Sno-Isle Libraries Library on Wheels
• Paul Pitkin LinkedIn profile

Chapter length: 23:45

First thoughts of a library likely evoke mental images of librarians and shelves full of books.

This episode of "Check It Out!" looks at two positions that might not spring to mind when imagining libraries, but play critical roles in managing the business aspects and communications needs of a large public agency

Gary Sitzman is Administrative Services Director and Communications Director Ken Harvey both sit on the leadership team for Sno-Isle Libraries. Each of them has extensive professional experiences outside of public libraries and bring those skills to the opportunities to serve communities and customers.

Together, they share their thoughts on leadership, tips on success in the business world and what's next for public libraries.

Sitzman joined the library district five years ago following a career primarily in the wood-fiber products industry. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the avowed "cheesehead" who unabashedly wears a Packers jersey during the football season, Sitzman started at Scott Paper in Wisconsin. He moved to Snohomish County and a position at the former Scott Paper mill in Everett. His career came full circle when he helped oversee the closure of that plant after it transitioned to Kimberly-Clark ownership.

Harvey came to Sno-Isle Libraries in 2011 following stints at Community Transit and Sound Transit. With additional prior experience in TV, radio and emergency management, Harvey can look through many lenses at the needs and ways to communicate library district information to customers as well as non-customers.

Sitzman shares that the lessons learned about adapting as a child growing in a military family that was often on the move have helped him in the business world. "I think there is an element of (adaptability) in leadership," Sitzman says. "Leaders have a sense of where they want to go and some enthusiasm for how to get there, but also not being afraid to step out and be adaptable to the outcomes."

Harvey agrees that growing up with a family with military service brings such benefits along with a sense of something greater than the individual and sense of service.

Away from the job, the pair say that it's important to have a way to leave the pressures of the day behind.

For Sitzman, that includes mountain biking at the moment and Harvey says he enjoys a variety of activities including relearning to play the viola and dabbling in arts and crafts projects.

As for the future of where they work, both say libraries always have and will continue to evolve to serve customers.

"(Some) ask do we need brick-and-mortar libraries anymore?" Sitzman says "That's a myopic view for what a library brings to a community."

Harvey says the definition is continuing to transform. "The physical space is an important gathering place and giving access to materials, while at the same time, libraries are also serving outside those four walls."

Episode length: 55:18

Links

• Library funding and budget
• Sno-Isle Libraries news
• Library strategic priorities
• Issues That Matter community discussions
• Ken Harvey LinkedIn profile
• Gary Sitzman LinkedIn profile
• "Military families" in the library catalog
• "Organizational change" in the library catalog
• "Work/life balance" in the library catalog
• "Naming and Taming Overwhelm" by Sarri Gilman
• Sarri Gilman's TEDxSnoIsleLibraries talk
• Duthie Hill bike trails

Chapter 1 – Third-Grade Reading Challenge, Part 2

There is so much going on with the "Sno-Isle Libraries Mega-Fun, Biblio-Trivia, Rockem-Sockem Third-Grade Reading Challenge" that it takes two segments to get it all in.

This literary trivia program for students enrolled in public schools throughout Snohomish and Island counties. Part 1 explores the origins of the reading challenge and the important academic and development reasons it is aimed at third-graders.

In Part 2, Sno-Isle Libraries reporter Abe Martinez continues his conversation with Joy Feldman, Lead Librarian for Early Literacy, and Jane Lopez-Santillana, Children's Librarian at the Oak Harbor Library. They explore the origins of the reading challenge and the important academic and development reasons it is aimed at third-graders.

Feldman points out that while the program is focused on reading, introducing students to teamwork is a significant part of the reading challenge. "Teamwork very important," Feldman says. "Teams with that do have a mix of abilities tend to do better."

There can be benefits to the families of the participating students, too, Lopez-Santillana says.

"Many (school staff members) mention that the third-grade reading challenge brings parents in who they don't otherwise see," Lopez-Santillana says. "Parents mention they are having more interactions with their children. Students have said, 'This is the first time reading in English in my house' and 'I'm reading to my little brother and he likes it so much he's making me read every night.'"

The third-grade reading challenge encourages children to have fun and enjoy reading while honing their literacy and teamwork skills. After reading six books, children participate in in-school, semifinal and final Reading Challenge events. These competitive events are styled like a knowledge quiz bowl, testing the teams' knowledge of the books.

In 2018-19, 1,334 third-graders participated on 193 teams from 51 schools across Snohomish and Island counties.

Links

• Reading challenge Part 1 segment
• Third-grade reading challenge website
• 2019 Reading Challenge video
• Understanding the reading challenge video
• 2019 Reading Challenge photo gallery

Chapter length: 5:51

Chapter 2 – Spotlight on a Community Hero: Shaelyn Charvet Bates

Libraries have long been part of Shaelynn Charvet Bates' life.

Growing up in Snohomish, Bates says her parents would let her go by herself to the library, then housed in the Carnegie building, knowing she would be safe and entertained.

"I spent a lot of time there in high school," says Bates, now a Lake Stevens resident. "I read a lot of stuff. I read a lot of science fiction, I read a lot of historical fiction."

Bates adds that books, and the library, first caught her attention as a student at Cathcart Elementary where she discovered choose-your-own-adventure books. "You could read 15 different endings in one book and I just thought it was so clever," she says.

At college to get a teaching degree, Bates says an "off-hand comment" by a professor put her on a path back to the elementary-school library and Snohomish where she is now, serving as school librarian at Riverview Elementary.

Bates says familiarity with library resources paid off on a recent cross-country family vacation by car, even though they were far from home. "We downloaded audiobooks from OverDrive," Bates says. The result was family-time listening to and then discussing the stories.

Links

• OverDrive at Sno-Isle Libraries
• Choose-your-own-adventure books
• Lake Stevens Library Board
• Snohomish Carnegie Foundation
• City of Snohomish Carnegie Project

Chapter length: 5:29

Chapter 3 - Book Notes with Marie Byars

Oak Harbor Library staff member Marie Byars offers two recommendations:

• "Something in the Water" by Catherine Steadman, is a "fast-paced, twisty thriller," Byars says.
• "Our House" by Louise Candlish is the story of divorced parents take turns coming back to the family home to raise their children until one day the mother finds a moving van at the house and a new family moving in.

Chapter length: 1:38

For some longtime Puget Sounders, it's a treasured memory, an anchor point of local TV culture.

For those with, shall we say, shallower roots? It's the stuff of legend, lore and YouTube.

And for Bill Stainton, "Almost Live!" on Seattle's KING-TV was all of that and more, it was his job.

The Snohomish County resident joins Check It Out! podcast co-hosts Ken Harvey and Jim Hills in this episode. Stainton brings stories about just how rare the show was and his role as executive producer and cast member.

Stainton recalls that "Almost Live!" had such a loyal following that for 10 years, Seattle was the only market in the U.S. that delayed airing "Saturday Night Live" to give the local show top billing.

Today, the 29-time Emmy winner is translating the lessons learned from producing laughs every week for 15 years to lessons on how to produce results in the business world. Stainton brought his message to the TEDxStanleyPark stage in 2017 and served as an emcee at the 2017 TEDxSnoIsleLibraries event. Stainton notes that creativity is often about combining existing ideas in new ways, a process that can be planned for and cultivated. And in the process, maybe get a few laughs.

Episode length: 1:16:03

Links

• Bill's website
• Bill's presentation at TEDxStanleyPark 2017
• KING-TV interview with Bill
• "Almost Live!" on YouTube
• "Almost Live! The Show That Wouldn't Die" book
• Presidents of the United States of America in the library collection
• Caspar Babypants website

Chapter 1 – Library Surprise: Beyond Bestsellers

Rilee Louangphakdy says that "bookworm" might not be a great description for him and that his favorite library resource is graphic novels. Even though he's a fan of the form, Rilee admits he doesn't always know how or where to find the next graphic novel that will capture his attention and imagination.

Then, Rilee says, he found Beyond Bestsellers.

It's a "digital bring-your-own-book club" led by Jackie Parker, Lead Librarian for Readers' Services. Each month, Parker and her team of librarians take a deeper look at a genre, book title or author. The goal is to uncover "read-alikes," titles and authors that are similar and may also appeal to readers.

In addition, Rilee says, Beyond Bestsellers encourages library customers to use the features in the Sno-Isle Libraries catalog to connect and share their favorites with other readers.

Links

• Beyond Bestsellers
• Bibliofiles blog
• "We Suggest" reading suggestions
• Rilee's TEDxSnoIsleLibraries talk
• Rilee and friends podcast episode

Chapter length: 2:51

Chapter 2 – Book Notes with Kristi Sheeler

A member of the Sno-Isle Libraries Readers' Services team, Kristi Sheeler is most often found traveling around Snohomish and Island counties on the Bookmobile. At those stops, Sheeler brings suggestions for her customers and she has two for listeners in this chapter.

"When She Woke" by Hillary Jordan is a dystopian novel that fits some of the political discussions of today. Kristi says that readers who liked "A Handsmaid Tale" might like this book. "When She Woke" is available as a book, eBook, audiobook CD, audiobook download and in large print.

Kristi's favorite book from 2017 is her next suggestion. "Everyone Knows You Go Home" by Natalia Sylvester is a story about a woman who marries into an immigrant family and meets the ghost of her father-in-law on her wedding day. Kristi says "Everyone Knows You Go Home" is about how the immigrant experience can affect individuals as well as entire communities.

Links

• "When She Woke"
• "Everyone Knows You Go Home"
• Sno-Isle Libraries Bookmobile services

Chapter length: 4:19

Chapter 3 – Spotlight: Third-Grade Reading Challenge

The "Sno-Isle Libraries Mega-Fun, Biblio-Trivia, Rockem-Sockem Third-Grade Reading Challenge" is a literary trivia program for students enrolled in public schools throughout Snohomish and Island counties.

In this chapter, Sno-Isle Libraries reporter Abe Martinez speaks with Joy Feldman, Lead Librarian for Early Literacy, and Jane Lopez-Santillana, Children's Librarian at the Oak Harbor Library. They explore the origins of the reading challenge and the important academic and development reasons it is aimed at third-graders.

The program encourages children to have fun and enjoy reading while honing their literacy and teamwork skills. After reading six books, children participate in in-school, semi-final and final Reading Challenge events. These competitive events are styled like a knowledge quiz bowl, testing the teams' knowledge of the books.

In 2018-19, 1,334 third-graders participated on 193 teams from 51 schools across Snohomish and Island counties.

Links

• Third-grade reading challenge website
• 2019 Reading Challenge video
• Understanding the reading challenge video
• 2019 Reading Challenge photo gallery

Chapter length: 6:31

Chapter 1 – Hmmm, I didn't know that about … June and July

Once they decide who gets to speak first, podcast co-hosts Ken Harvey, Jim Hills, Cindy Tingley and Paul Pitkin have a bunch of fun chatting about what happens during June and July in the Pacific Northwest and what's new at Sno-Isle Libraries.

Two new videos posted on YouTube focus on early literacy tips and how to find great books to read.

And June and July have official days for lots of things such as dairy, turkey, candy, flip-a-coin, hug your cat, yo-yo's, doughnuts, chocolate ice cream, VCRs, Juneteenth and lots more including … Bloomsday!

In the interest of full disclosure and righting an ill-informed wrong, one of the hosts (shhh, its Jim) noted that June 16 is called Bloomsday in commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce. The date is observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere around the world as the day in Joyce's novel "Ulysses" of protagonist Leopold Bloom's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle.

However, the Bloomsday Run in Spokane is traditionally the first Sunday in May, part of Spokane's Lilac Festival and not tied to Joyce's book. At all. Ever.

But wait, there's more!

Chapter 2 – Hmmm, I didn't know that about … Kurt Batdorf

Kurt Batdorf is a recent addition to the Communications Dept. at Sno-Isle Libraries. Kurt brings 25 years of journalism experience covering communities within the library district across Snohomish and Island counties.

Kurt recalls what it takes to sit through a school board meeting where even the school board members are falling asleep. Kurt even acknowledges that, on occasion, a source may have given him "the stink-eye" after a story was published. Kurt's experience includes being the editor of a local business publication and started his tenure during the recession that affected many local businesses.

Kurt also opines on the difficulties facing journalists today working to bring forth facts that inform communities.

And some of the things that Kurt didn't know about Sno-Isle Libraries include the Snohomish Library's Hobbitt painting and just how dedicated library employees are to helping others.

Episode length: 1:01:33

Claudia Castro Luna was a teenager when she came to the U.S. with her family fleeing war in El Salvador.

In just two years, her growing English language skills earned Castro Luna the top English student award as she graduated from high school.

Now decades later, Castro Luna was named this past February as Washington State Poet Laureate and in April received an Academy of American Poets Laureate fellowship!

"It's a huge honor to be granted this chance to serve in this capacity at a statewide level," Castro Luna tells Check It Out! podcast co-hosts Ken Harvey and Cindy Tingley. "I thought long and hard about applying … I decided this historic juncture we're in, it made sense for me to apply because if selected; I'd be the first immigrant selected.

"(This is) an opportunity to lead by example to both inspire other immigrants … and also as a way of dismantling stereotypes of what immigrants do or can do."

Castro Luna says she came to poetry relatively late, after her children were born, and started by taking community college poetry classes. "For me, it was always, poetry," she says. "I say (poetry) chose me."

Castro Luna has written two books, "Killing Marias" and "This City."

Castro Luna also served as Seattle's Civic Poet and started a drop-in poetry writing program called, "The Poet Is In," taking place in Seattle's public libraries. "Libraries are these wonderful civic spaces," she says. "Libraries are hubs of life."

Castro Luna will serve a two-year term as poet laureate. She succeeds Tod Marshall. Prior to Marshall, Elizabeth Austen (2014-16), Kathleen Flenniken (2012-14), and Sam Green (2007-9) were in the position.

The Washington State Poet Laureate program is jointly sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA).

Links

Claudia Castro Luna's website

Claudia Castro Luna work at Sno-Isle Libraries

Media reports on Academy of American Poets fellowship

• Crosscut
• The Spokesman-Review
• Seattle Times
• The New York Times

KCTS documentary

Episode length: 48:01

This is a special episode of the Check It Out! podcast.

It brings four special young people together for a conversation between themselves and moderator by one of their own: Rilee Louangphakdy. Each of these young adults presented themselves and their thoughts at a previous TEDxSnoIsleLibraries.

In this episode, they talk about their experiences on the TEDx stage, how it shaped them and what they are doing now. See the photo gallery of their conversation at the Edmonds Community College Black Box Theater.

Rilee is committed to helping and motivating others to emerge from their teen years transformed by their experiences. He has shared his stories of personal loss and gain in a commencement speech, at the 2015 YMCA Minority Achievers Program banquet, and to students at the Marysville Getchell High School International School of Communications. Rilee is a graduate of Marysville Getchell 2015 graduate and Everett Community College, He is attending Washington State University, working toward a degree in Integrated Strategic Communications.

• LinkedIn

Mark is living his childhood dream to be a motivational speaker. A graduate of Henry M. Jackson High School, mark attended Cascadia College and is now a student at the University of Washington. In addition to his studies, Mark is work with Houston Kraft, another young and inspiring motivational speaker. Mark says his goal is to be a speaker who inspires people to make their mark on the world.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Mark's website

Sargi says being a TEDx speaker not only helped giver her voice, but it also helped start her career in public speaking. Just six months later, she spoke at WE Day Seattle at KeyArena in front of 16,000 people. Sargi transferred her skills in speaking to writing and co-authored, "20 Beautiful Women" Volume 6, which is on its way to becoming a film documentary. A graduate of Kamiak High School, Sargi also attended Western Washington University.

• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Like many seven-year-olds, Dhruvik like dinosaurs. Dhruvik, however, translated that into a conviction that he would grow up to be a paleontologist. That may still happen, but now attending Stanford University, Dhruvik has many more experiences. He was valedictorian and earning a perfect 4.0 at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek. He is lead software engineer for a firm developing a solar micro-grid solution for unelectrified communities in Zimbabwe. He did computational biology research at the University of Washington. And, he interned at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology the summer after high school. When he's not learning in school, Dhruvik is learning on his own in subjects such as organic chemistry and machine learning.

• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Harshu is studying at Stanford University, which is an accomplishment in itself. But there's more. As a student at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Harshu was already earning national recognition for her research in thermoelectrics. She interned at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was a curriculum director of the non-profit Girls Rock in Science and Math. She was also a 2016 Davidson Fellow Laureate and student researcher in a University of Washington chemical engineering lab.

• LinkedIn

Episode sponsors

The Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation proudly supports the innovative work of Sno-Isle Libraries through private donations.

Edmonds Center for the Arts provides an array of outstanding performing artists from around the world, hosts events and serves more than 75,000 patrons annually.

Chapters 1 & 2

Managing the variety and number of facilities in Sno-Isle Libraries is a big and multi-faceted job.

To Facilities Manager Brian Rush, facilities management is also an opportunity to show good stewardship of the environment and taxpayer dollars.

"I'm really into this stuff," Rush says in this two-part discussion. "The goal is to reduce cost and provide the best service and support whatever we need to do."

Rush's says the approach is working. In the custodial area, service has been added to buildings while the cost is going down by about $100,000 a year and the environmental impact lessened.

Sno-Isle Libraries has implemented green cleaning practices and is the first library system in the state to be LEED and GS-42 certified, Rush says. All libraries are now recycling and composting, he adds.

And then there's energy use.

Using what he calls a "synergistic approach," Sno-Isle Libraries is consuming less energy in its buildings and paying less for it. "We reduced natural gas consumption at (the Snohomish Library) by 90 percent," Rush says. And at the Service Center in Marysville, electricity use has dropped over th past seven years from about 900,000 kwH to a little over 400,000 KwH a year, he says.

The efforts, he says, can "save the public a tremendous amount of money."

Chapter length: 08:59

Chapter links

• GS-42 standards
• LEED standards
• Cedar Grove
• Sno-Isle Libraries locations

Chapter 3 – Book Notes

Like Jane Austen films like "Pride and Prejudice?" Looking for bit more grit?

Librarian Michelle Callihan suggests watching "North & South," a miniseries available on DVD.

"North & South also has a healthy dose of 'smoldering,'" Callihan says.

An audiobook suggestion from Callihan is "The Wall of Winnipeg and me" by Mariana Zapata, the New York Times bestselling author of "Kulti" and "Under Locke."

Callihan says this contemporary romance novel combines football and secret inappropriate hand salutes into a slow-burn romance where hatred gradually changes to understanding and liking.

Chapter length: 04:21