The world needs more safe places, and we as advocates can become the safe people we lacked in our younger lives. We can create resources that never existed when we were younger. We can surround ourselves with fellow difference-makers and, together, accomplish great things.
In my adult life, I serve in two roles. As a foster care alumni advocate and as a librarian. There have been many times in my life when books provided me with a lifeline when I needed it.
This is one of them:
As a teen, in between foster care placements, I spent two weeks at an emergency shelter. The first night I spent there, eight girls jumped me and beat me up. It wasn’t anything personal; they were hurting and the pain and anger they were each experiencing made them look for a temporary scapegoat.
At that particular time and at that emergency shelter location, staff were neither highly paid nor highly trained. It was a minimum wage job, and I’m not sure if they received any trauma or de-escalation training at all. The staff member on duty didn’t intervene in the moment. But later, he let me know that I had two sleeping options: in the room with other residents, or I could lock myself in “the book room.”
So I did. For two weeks, I locked myself in the book room every day while I was there. I read every book on the shelves - and as I read them, my mind traveled far away and far beyond that emergency shelter. I lost myself in books, until I was moved to the next placement.
Words have power. Books have power. They can take you to a better place when you are in a negative one. When a situation makes you feel powerless, and you are not sure how long it will last - books transport you.
But my love for libraries goes far beyond just that. Because public libraries provide so much more than books. They are a “third place” for people to gather and build community.
Library services include school help centers, after school snack/summer lunch, Kindergarten readiness classes, reading buddies to support students in Grades K-3, and resource pathfinders for teens and young adults.
Libraries also serve as a Safe Place for youth in crisis. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for Huckleberry House (and for Star House as well).
Teens and young adults need and deserve safe spaces and safe places, as they navigate challenges and complications, while seeking to lay the groundwork to build successful futures.
