This session will look at the burning quest to re-invent oneself and one’s life in contemporary America. Using Jon Gordon’s international bestseller The Energy Bus as a starting point, it will explore the fascination Americans have with constantly finding new and improved ways to succeed, both at work and at home. Have we lived up to expectations, whether real or imagined? Have we made enough money? Are we in successful relationships? Are we juggling our responsibilities and priorities wisely? Have we accomplished longtime dreams or goals, or do they constantly seem to elude us in our fast-paced and complicated 21st century world? Gordon and others offer a useful focus for discussing what we might do differently, how we might live differently, in order to get where we want to go. What are the rules we should follow to have a happy life? To get on the right bus and make it the ride of our lives? Which tips work the real world and in real time? Finally, how does this never-ending search tend to play out in the music we listen to, the contemporary magazine articles we read, the other popular self-help books that grab our attention and promise us the world? How does it affect young people starting out with big dreams and tremendous expectations? How does it affect aging Baby Boomers who may be wondering if certain dreams will ever be fulfilled? Come prepared to think, to laugh, and to discuss.
About the presenterMary Quinlivan-Tomes
Mary Quinlivan-Tomes is a School Media Specialist for the NYC Dept. of Education. She has successfully written more than 20 grants over the past 15 years to enhance her school’s library program, with a special emphasis on college/career readiness, and holds masters degrees in both Journalism (NYU) and Information Science (St. John’s). The mother of four daughters, two of whom are severely disabled, is currently researching ways to thrive despite challenge in a complicated world.