Read All About It!

Hi, all literacy lovers! I’m so happy to be joining your ranks as an intern. For a long time I’ve read hungrily and written creatively, and I have the pasty skin and strained eyesight to prove it. I grew up in Philadelphia (birthplace of America’s freedom, and me) and Naperville, Illinois, and now I live in Evanston. In autumn I’ll be a senior at Northwestern, completing a double-major in gender studies and journalism.

I’m coming to Open Books as a passionate but slightly lost soul. This past spring I interned at a newspaper in Cape Town, where the “what am I going to do with my liiiife?” question became sharply, terrifyingly real. As the world grew bigger and more complicated in my mind, I focused energy on basic loves, like reading, writing, and talking with others. Open Books seemed like the perfect place to celebrate the things I love, and to become more involved in my city.

In my spare time I write poetry, take long walks around trees and talk gender issues. I also occasionally sing songs about jungle animals in a children’s band, Octopus & Monkey. My favorite books are (at the moment) The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Eros the Bittersweet, and my favorite poet is Rainer Maria Rilke.

Hey Open Books!

My name is Marie Elliott, and I’m thrilled to be starting my summer literacy internship here. Expression is one of the most important parts of my life. I have been a performing writer and musician for longer than I can remember, and I feel so lucky to have the chance to help other people explore all the possibilities of expression.

I was born in Houston, TX but grew up in Ann Arbor, MI. I come from an extremely musical family (think the VonTrapp family from The Sound of Music, but with stringed instruments), and being around such creative, vocal people has lead me to where I am today. I did a lot of creative writing in Ann Arbor, and performed and participated in poetry slams and poetry shows throughout the city. I think it’s incredibly important for people to be able to tell their stories and share their ideas, and that’s a big part of why the development of literacy is significant to me. I’m also a self-proclaimed bookworm, currently beginning Emma by Jane Austen. I’m constantly sniffing around for new things to read.

I’m approaching senior year at DePaul University and will be graduating with an Art History degree. After that I plan to spend my life traveling, volunteering, and having as many adventures as possible. My ultimate dream is to someday open a high school for the study of the humanities, so if any of your dreams include teaching kids about art, music, literature, philosophy and history, we should talk! Some other things I love: roadtrips, rooftops, nature, cooking, music festivals, and mangoes.

Those are the essentials, I think. Can’t wait to start!

Hi everyone!

My name is Shara Zaval and I am one of the literacy interns at Open Books this summer. After going to school at Northwestern University for three years and realizing that between homework and extracurricular activities I had barely had any time to explore Chicago even though it was only an el ride away, I decided that staying for the summer was a must. It was definitely a good choice – now I get to wander around the city, go to the beach (since it’s finally warm weather), and (best of all, of course) intern at Open Books!

Although it is only the first day, I am already extremely excited about working with this organization. I have always loved to read, as my parents tell me that I would pull all of the books in our living room off the shelves when I was two years old and “read” them one by one, and literacy is very important to me. I am interested in exploring the writing side of literacy as well, and last summer interned at Teen Ink, a magazine written entirely by and for teens that contains fiction, nonfiction, and reviews. I also recently co-led a Writers’ Circle workshop at Christopher House through Literacy Works where GED students wrote autobiographical pieces that we compiled into a book. I am looking forward to doing more literacy programming work with Open Books and learning about the nonprofit world in general.

For some other basic info about me:

-I am an American Studies major and earned a Certificate in Service Learning

- I spent the fall studying urban planning in Argentina, India, and China

- I love animals of all shapes and sizes

- I am attempting to learn to cook things more complicated than stir-fry… we’ll see how that goes

Thanks for your interest in Open Books!

-Shara

Hi! I’m Alex Heimbach, one of the new summer literacy interns. I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, but these days I’m living in Hyde Park, on the South Side, where I attend University of Chicago, as a third-year English and Anthropology major. This means that I can usually be found reading, whether it be a classic of Western literature or the latest book on the culture of the Islamic Reformation in Egypt. Luckily, over the summer I have time to read for my own enjoyment, which lately has meant a mix of the latest novels by my favorite contemporary authors (Salman Rushdie, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood, among others) and those books I’ve been meaning to read forever but never quite got around to until now. As it turns out, Jane Eyre is still good, even when you’ve had the end spoiled a dozen times.

As you can tell, I really love books, and over the years I’ve become involved in attempts to further the cause of literature in the wider world by engaging in community service. I volunteered at the public library during high school, and have been tutoring kids of diverse backgrounds and ages for the past three years.

Most of my non-literacy related time goes into working on my photography, exploring the city, and attempting to teach myself Hindi script in anticipation of studying abroad in Pune, India this fall. I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot, but I’ve never been to India before and I’m super excited. In addition to traveling, my other somewhat neglected love is skiing, which has fallen by the way side since my move to the very flat city of Chicago. Really though, most of my life is taken up, in one form another, by books, which is perfectly all right with me.

P.S. I apologize for the picture. I’m not a very photogenic person, especially when photobooth is involved.

I’m new to Open Books, having fortuitously learned about an internship opening (a different one) through North Park University, where I’m working on a Masters in Nonprofit Administration, and then forgotten all about it until I saw Development Director Dani’s name tag at a Loop conference.  Turns out, she was looking for her first Development Intern, and hadn’t even posted the opening yet. 

It’s somewhat of a hike downtown from my home in St. Charles (try two hours each way if the traffic is somewhat light), but it’s well worth it – I believe in books, and reading.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be unable to read, unable to navigate your daily life or sink between the covers of a good book.

When I’m not reading, I’m singing (over 20 years in a community chorus, the Elgin Choral Union), listening to music (classical to contemporary), or nagging my three sons to clean up after themselves.  My husband David is very supportive of my taking this position, especially if it means getting rid of some of the books that are threatening to take over the house.

I’ll primarily be providing Dani with background information about potential donors and funders.  I’m glad to join such an enthusiastic, fun, and committed group.