Vol-Star: Omar Muniz!
Omar has been a spectacular volunteer at the Open Books store for nearly 6 months now. He is well-read, wonderful with customers, always ready with a recommendation, and truly cares when he doesn’t find the right fit for a customer. He also spent 5 months teaching English in Prague! In just one week, we’ll learn even more about Omar as he steps up as a VWrite mentor at Gage Park High School. (If you’d like to join Omar in VWrite, we are still signing up mentors! Just click here to sign up.) Of course, you can also get to know Omar by stopping by the bookstore. To get a head start, check out Omar’s answers to…
The 10 Questions We Always Ask
Volunteer All-Star Stats
Name: Omar R Muniz
Neighborhood: Jefferson Park
Job: Project Specialist – Kensington Research & Recovery
Open Books programs/events you’ve participated in: Bookstore, VWrite
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon
Have you ever met (or even seen) anyone famous randomly in public? Who? If not, what famous person would you like to meet?
I’d consider meeting Tom Waits, but only in a busted old Cadillac, sailing on a lost highway somewhere with Little Anthony & The Imperials on the stereo and a full carton of Lucky Strikes well within arms reach.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Texting/Talking on a Cell phone at a dinner table or in a group setting (without stepping away from the group). Also, people who talk on their Bluetooth while buying something arbitrary like a Snickers Bar at the local convenience store. Do you really have to be that connected?
What is the earliest book you remember reading, and why was it special?
Walt Disney’s Story Land: 55 favorite stories adapted from Walt Disney Films. My mother would read it to me at bedtime every night, repeated the stories and all. When I learned to read I picked it up right away. I still own it, if only for nostalgic reasons.
What was your first job ever?
Bus Boy at Pitzaferro’s Banquets & Catering. Came home at 1am on weeknights smelling like chicken marsala. I haven’t eaten chicken marsala since.
If you could instantly be good at any given thing, what talent would you choose to have?
Singing. Put me in front of a bathroom mirror with a hair comb in hand and some swingin’ sounds on the stereo and, believe you me, a few moves will be busted. But the sound that comes out of my mouth when I sing along is a toneless dud. What a buzzkill. Think Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Still, my lack of talent has never stopped me from singing as loud as Aretha Franklin. Just ask my neighbors.
If you were a pattern, what pattern would you be?
Would you believe I had to Google “Types of Patterns” to answer this question? I’m goin’ with red checkered. It’s structured, orderly, consistent and if you stare at it long enough you’ll become disoriented.
Who is your favorite character from a fiction or non-fiction book?
Who’s responsible for these questions?! Do they know much anguish a question like this can cause someone?! I’ll ambivalently choose R.P. McMurphy. But know this is inaccurate.
[Editor's note: Oops.]
If a book were written about your life, what would it be called?
The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Are you a dog person or a cat person?
Big, dumb dog kinda guy.
Bonus Question: What has been your favorite/most rewarding moment as an Open Books volunteer so far?
50% sale at the book store. Worked me a double shift. Store was a-boomin’. Helped lots of customers. Couple came by, donating some really weird things. Felt like we cleared some shelf space, marketed our cause well and sent some new book owners home happy. Including myself. I left with a sack full of books before it was all said and done.
