“Self worth is so vital to your happiness. If you don’t feel good about you,
it’s hard to feel good about anything else.” ~ Mandy Hale
News came that Vermont colleague Birdie MacLennan died after a brief illness two days ago. We met when she attended our first meta|morphosis: film-to-digital institute back in 2006. I last saw her at the annual National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) awardee meeting in September 2013 (above). She was approachable and kind, soft spoken, inquisitive, and genuine. There is a special place in my heart for my NDNP peeps like Birdie, in part because we worked collaboratively to build one of the most important and sustainable digital newspaper collections in the world, but also because each of us share a passionate belief that we are professionally duty bound to save America’s records of history: the newspaper. I was inspired by Birdie’s zeal and fortitude. My hope is that the young men and women she mentored in Vermont absorbed some of that wisdom. Thank you for your service, Birdie, and thank you most of all for your kindness.
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