Who am I?
By Jim
Zola
My name is Jim Zola. I am 42 years old and live in
Greensboro, North Carolina. I work as a Children's Librarian
at The
High Point Public Library. Previously, I worked as a
Library/Media Coordinator at The Central North Carolina
School for the Deaf. Other jobs in my lifelong quest for
what suites me best include stints working for the publisher
of Mailbox
Magazine and Teacher's Helper, cataloging a private
collection of Thomas
Wolfe books, letters and miscellania, managing a
wonderful independent bookstore in Kalamazoo Michigan (one
of the few independents still left), and working as a
Returns Manager for the largest Textbook Wholesale Company
in the United States. I always seem to have some contact
with books. But this is not who I am.
I am a husband of 16 years (this August) with a wonderful
wife (Tricia) who works as a pediatric occupational
therapist. I have three children -- Dylan Scott (13), Ariana
Bryn (3), and Ethan Tobias (2). Also, a turtle named Myrtle
(about 9) and the newest member of the Zola zoo, Bela (about
9 months), a dog of questionable lineage (more about Bela in
the next article). This is getting closer to who I am. But
close only counts in Ping-Pong and taxes, or something like
that.
I am the son of educators -- a father who was a science
teacher and then a guidance counselor, a mother who was a
school librarian. The brother of two occupational therapist
sisters (imagine what our family get togethers are like
surrounded by OT's). I am a poet of sorts with poetry
published in a milieu of obscure small press magazines and
with one chapbook titled "One Hundred Bones Of Weather"
(available upon request to those interested enough to ask --
I still have a few dozen copies tucked away in a box in my
attic).
What I am not -- an expert in anything. I know a little
about a lot and a lot about a little. I have opinions. If
you are looking for authorities, turn to Dr.
Ruth, Dr.
Spock, Dr. Laura
or Dr. Koop. I want
this column to be interactive as possible. I seek feedback,
advice, encouragement, condemnation, backslapping and
cheers.
I am a father, a daddy, dad. I am not Ward
Cleaver. I have only recently begun to understand the
art of carving
a turkey. Don't ask me to cook a turkey. Or even shoot a
turkey.
So who am I. Perhaps, as this column develops and a
series of rambling opinions, half-truisms and amateur advice
shoots forth from my computer, I-you-we will begin to see a
definition of me evolve. It could happen. Then the question
becomes -- Who Are You?
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About the Author:
Jim Zola is a 42 year old librarian from Greensboro, NC where he
lives with his wife, Tricia, and his children: Dylan Scott, 13,
Ariana Bryn, 3, and Ethan Tobias, 2.
Visit his
website!
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