Hello everyone! My name is Liv (she/her) Sampogna, I come to you today from my very sleepy writer’s desk in Roanoke, Virginia. I settled here after attending Roanoke College, from which I graduated with a BS in environmental studies and creative writing in 2021.
If my life were a Muppet movie, I would be played by a lost and troubled Gonzo who, having no idea what planet she belongs on after college, moves in with her stranger of a roommate, Fozzy Bear (my dear friend Audrey). Luckily for Gonzo, Fozzy Bear has already found her life path as a Librarian, and enlightens Gonzo about all that it means to be a Librarian, Gonzo quickly realizes this is where she belongs and expresses this epiphany in song. Gonzo would first be accepted by a library down in Fraggle Rock where, though she has a great deal of fun and finds her footing, doesn’t find herself able to relate well enough to the cave-dwellings Fraggles. After earning enough experience, Gonzo begins working for the library on whatever planet he’s from, where he meets the rest of the Muppet’s cast, all of whom play a part in Gonzo’s library journey!
I am realizing now I don’t want to make the whole post in that format because it’s very discombobulating. I’ve been working as a Youth Librarian for Roanoke Public Libraries since 2022 and though I had never realized I was a kids-and-teens-person, I’ve definitely found my calling! I do a couple of Storytimes every week with wildly played-out themes, I have a group of artistic teens who started off as a “Zine Club” and now is just generally an art club, and I do many other miscellaneous things! This is my fourth semester at FSU, I’m very grateful that my system allows me to work as a capital “L” Librarian in the mean time.
Outside of librarianship, I also work at a historic theatre in my neighborhood as a bartender which is, unsurprisingly, a very fun gig. I love to read, watch YouTube videos about books, and spend hours on my book logging app, please feel free to add me on StoryGraph! I love collaging, painting, sewing, writing and unabashedly love (slow) fashion. As to why I’m excited about this class, I feel like digital media allows everyone to be an artist, as well as for the collaging of different mediums (visual, audio) which brings ease to expressing bigger ideas. Also, because digital media is so widely shareable, nurturing digital art/artists makes the internet a more inspiring and creative space. Speaking of, has anyone ever used Are.na? It’s sort of like Pinterest but for research: you can connect links, journals, videos, quotes and pictures to different topics (“channels”).
I LOVE your title! The analogy is so, so fun! I can’t wait to get to know you more!
Hi Olivia. I really like the title of your blog, as well as how you tried to stay with the storyline but was honest about not wanting to totally stick with it for the entire blog post. I appreciate your creativity and the nostalgic memories from childhood watching The Muppets. It’s great to hear that you have found your calling and that you are actually working in a field that you enjoy. Having a side gig working as a bartender has always been a secret fantasy of mine and does indeed sound fun and probably very lucrative. Like you, I like to watch Youtube videos and read. I wonder what slow fashion is. I would love to hear more about it in future class posts. Thank you for sharing different websites that I was totally unaware of. I will make sure to check out StoryGraph, as it seems to be something that I could utilize to keep track of the books that I have read. As far as Are.na, I had not heard of that either. I did check it out, and it seems very interesting, to say the least. I can imagine a scenario where I could utilize Are.na for my classes here at FSU.
Hey Liv! I loved your reference to Gonzo from the muppets to describe finding yourself. I also love the muppets and remember the movies and shows from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I would agree after graduating college I found myself feeling a little lost as well until finding library science. I’m hoping to go into youth services or K-12 libraries full time after graduating. I can’t imagine going from a quiet library to a busy bar every week as I feel like I would Mees up everyone’s drinks. As I also fall down too many rabbit holes in YouTube when I should be more productive.
Pleasure to meet you Liv! You definitely have the writing style of a story teller and I love the analogy to Gonzo. I have to say you are so much braver than I am when It comes to doing story times. I am not cut out for the sort of thing in front of kids (and their parents), so hats off to you. From the sounds of it, your story times have to be so fun for the kids. I imagine your work in theater really helps with being thematic(and Dramatic) to the patrons of your during your events.