For the next couple of months, we will be doing a series of blog posts from our staff members called “Who Are You?” The following is the third of nine and is from Kathy Pottetti, Gell Center Director of Operations & Programming & Front Office Manager.
I enjoy the challenge of word games such as Boggle or Scrabble and coming up with various words in a short amount of time, then comparing them to the words other players have found.
During the summer months when I was growing up in Rochester, one of the pastimes I remember with great joy was walking to the Maplewood Branch Library with the neighborhood kids for story time. Afterwards I’d check out many children’s books to take me to new and different places or amuse me! Nancy Drew Mysteries by Caroline Keene was one of my favorite set of books to read. Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham was another top favorite!
I was also one of those students in grammar & junior high school that looked forward to spelling quizzes! Some of my friends totally dreaded them, not me, I thought they were fun and I was good at it. Dictionaries are interesting to look through and see how they change with the times.
Keeping this in mind, my friend Lynda and I started a book club in 2009 entitled “LitChicks”. We have about 10 women that attend on a regular basis. We meet once a month at Writers & Books, and each year we read and discuss the “If All of Rochester…” book, we’ll be discussing this year’s book Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea next month.
Another thing I enjoy are the sound of words from various places – such as Houston St. in NYC vs. Houston, Texas. Spelled the same & pronounced very differently or Chili, NY vs. Chili’s Restaurant. It’s a part of the English language that I’ve found quite interesting in the various places I’ve lived and traveled.
How words come alive on stage, all the various genres and how words are used, how they sound & look, how they flow together. How every aspect of life uses words, and how working at Writers & Books instills in each of us every day the importance of literature in our lives.