Hi curious cat, long time no see! I apologize for my delay in blog writing. I have had such a busy and fantastic few weeks between visiting college friends, running my first marathon, Halloween, and as of most recently attending my first conference!
A few month's ago my co-worker and I were invited to be the Community Archiving Workshop (C.A.W) collection partner as part of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museum's (ATALM) 2024 conference. This is a story of resiliency, gratitude, and joy. This is the story of my first conference, ATALM 2024.
Day 1- Travel
You may be thinking, why resiliency?
On Nov 11th, the morning of the flight to Cali, I got a phone-call from my co-worker. Randee informed me that her son unexpectedly fell and she needed to take him to urgent care. She asked me if I could pick up the boxes of our audio/visual (A.V.) materials for C.A.W.. I agreed, wished her well, and hoped she would find a way to join me. Upon arrival at the airport, I immediately realized traveling with the boxes would be a pain. Upon checking in my suitcase I was told I would not be allowed to travel with the boxes unless they were secured shut. I went to three different airlines before finding tape. Ultimately, I was proud I didn't cry. A few hours later, when I was at my layover in Chicago, I received a text that Randee would not be attending the conference at all. Suddenly, I was all alone as my excitement for a girls-work trip faded away.
I decided to try and keep positive and focus on my excitement for the conference. On the flight to Palm Springs I wrote several journal entries focused on gratitude. Gratitude like being in the middle of two kind strangers. Next thing I knew, I was in Palm Springs, CA.
I ordered my first lyft and the driver kindly helped me with my luggage at the airport and hotel. I checked in to the Riviera Resort and Spa and made my way to the pool as I waited for my room to be ready. Hunger hit me and after wasting like an hour on door-dash without a sound about my room, I decided to get a Lyft into town. My next Lyft was funny chatty woman who informed me that there would be a president's day parade in town.
I went to The Front Porch. Despite being surrounded by beautiful views, I couldn't help but feel a little blue as groups of people around me laughed in conversation with each other.
But I wanted to remain positive. So I walked along the block watching the parade and texting Alix and Gerri live goofy updates. In the end I had fun wandering and I even got to end the night with fireworks!
Day 2- The workshop!
On the morning of my second day- I cried. I was overcome with the beauty of the desert mountains and longed for loved ones to share the moment with me. I felt so alone. I called my mom, expressed gratitude for the kind hotel staff, practiced yoga, and recouped.
Our C.A.W. partners generously picked me and my boxes up and to the conference. Upon meeting the other staff I immediately felt better. I gave a brief presentation then went into full on learner mode. I continued to socialize at lunch and was moved by Lily Hope's speech to focus my energy on the important things.
The second half of the workshop I found myself fascinated by the digitization demonstrations. I even got permission from the boss man to document my experience on our social media and I had fun doing so!
Post workshop I said farewell to my new friends and headed to the Emerging Network Professionals happy hour! There was times I felt very awkward as my mentor was missing. I did my best to make my way table to table meeting people. I had some exciting conversations including meeting a forensic environmentalist for the NPS who discovered you could identify a community's dietary pattern through their hair! I met someone who also used the same database software as my organization. Finally, I met two people who would soon become my closest friends at the conference!
Day 3- The conference officially begins!
Wednesday, kicked off the official conference full of exciting sessions. ATALM uses the WHOVA app for communication. Through the app I found out about a morning hike. I would wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready to join a small group of new people for the hike. We did introductions, made our way downtown and began our climb up the "Cactus to Cloud's" trail. I felt so alive socializing, learning, and taking in the views.
I hiked a little extra longer with two other girls from our group before parting ways. I sped walked back to the hotel and quickly got ready before catching the shuttle. I met two super cool girls from Canada, and they put me in touch with their co-worker pursuing science communication! At breakfast I finally met my mentor and we talked a bunch about dinosaurs and her next project for the Ghost Ranch! The opening ceremony was a beautiful song of the conch from our Pacific neighbors. Then it was time for sessions!
For Wednesday I attended: "Community Voices: Co-Facilitating Listening in Native Communities for Inclusive Engagement". Which was an interesting conversation dealing with a project in digitizing boarding school records and hosting makerspaces to build trust and safety for survivors. I honestly struggled at lunch that day as I randomly chose to sit at an Emerging Professionals table but unfortunately did not 'click' with those around me. Luckily it was soon time for the next sessions to begin. I attended "3D Digitization for Preservation, Repatriation, and Reproduction: A Blueprint" and "Fort Sill Apache History, Language Documentation, and Audio Restoration Techniques". My mentor was then kind enough to help me with my boxes which the conference organizer's kindly let me store the night before. I'm telling you those boxes were the biggest grievance and the bane of my existence. My final session of the day and the one I was most excited for was "Relativizing our Ancestor's Vision through Food Sovereignty". This session had me engaged and empowered to make a change in food related health disparities! I ended my night attending a "Database Meet Up" that was sponsored on WHOVA and had fun meeting people in similar positions as my own. After, I wandered aimlessly and awkwardly hoping to join a group of people for dinner. Unfortunately, I texted people I knew too late and had to fetch dinner on my own. On a positive note, I ended up getting a lyft driver which I previously had before and really liked. Later I was invited to attempt crash one of the ticketed events which would've been EPIC. But with my lyft situation and general tiredness I decided to not take the risk of being caught and headed to bed.
Day 4- One of the best days of my life!
I was so exhausted the night before, part of me considered skipping the morning hike. Thank dino nuggies and kitty snuggies I didn't because you wouldn't believe what we saw on this hike... Big Horn Sheep!!! 8 of them including a baby!
As if the day couldn't get any better, I got to:
❥ Catch an uber with a friend (was planning on taking shuttle)
❥ Get Breakfast with my mentor and her friend who struck me as a cute dorkier version of myself.
❥Attend 3 fascinating flash talks focused on reclaiming history which is where I met a cultural anthropologist named Brigid (same way my mom spells it)!
❥ Learn about splicing cassette tapes in a hands on digitization workshop.
❥Grab lunch with Cara and Lance and met Kate all who would become cool buds of mine! I also spoke with social scientists and laughed and felt with artist Gerald Clarke's speech.
❥Realize that I have a western science mindset and that I need to ask for others perspectives more often after attending a talk regarding a really cool traveling exhibit on water.
❥Went to my first round of speed sessions where I felt smart and valued as I joined a discussion about a really cool project of creating an Indigenous Film Archive.
❥Spontaneously sent people from the American Museum of Natural History if we could meet and got an overwhelming answer of yes! I learned so much about darker innerworkings, I felt like a journalist lol!
❥Cry?! Apparently I do have a heart. The ABCseeds presentation and the work people are doing towards food justice had me deeply moved. I even met the kindest elder who bought me a stack of cards after I gave her my seat 🥹
❥ Be a raffle winner! And be totally enthralled as I fangirled over Sean Sherman and his speech.
❥Have way too much fun goofing around in the art museum and chatting about grad school.
❥Try El Salvadorian food.
❥Date a shake and become Pepita 💋
❥Karaoke without karaokeing all night long lol.
The next morning it was time to say goodbye to the desert mountains and accept the conference was over 😔. My 'mom' friend was a total boss 🍑 queen and woke up early to come to my hotel and help me with the boxes. She even left her car at the airport to make sure the boxes got checked in okay 🫶🥹
