Shelter in place. Quarantine. Social distancing. What started as buzz words turned into a way of life the last six weeks. What seemed to be a safety measure for just a couple of weeks is stretching into months.

Life is different. And thank God I work for MSIA and the J-R Library. I am no baker, and streaming free yoga classes is not for me. Now, my days start with John & Leigh’s daily blessing online. This gift of a twenty minute block serves to inspire, to come into gratitude and calm. Then the day gets BUSY!

As soon as we were advised to stay home, our small and highly experienced army of Library volunteers kicked into high gear. The emails started pouring in, asking for more projects. They are proofreading, checking, and transcribing John-Roger and John Morton recordings. They are turning around jobs within 2-3 weeks, sometimes even days, instead of the usual four weeks. We even received emails from new people who want to start volunteering. The newly digitized recordings we’ve done over the past year are getting transcribed, including J-R interviews he did with Rama Fox in Miami in the early ‘70’s. More than thirty new and finished transcripts have been archived in the Library since March. A new record! This means they are now searchable and useable in many forms that will reach our community. The Library is becoming richer with content by the day.

Along with nature, our air quality, our planet’s health, another beneficiary of this time when the earth stood still, is the J-R Library & Archives.

Now, gummy bears for lunch, because who’s got time to cook?

 

Look for the good in all things and situations, and you may be surprised at what you see. –John-Roger