A week and a half ago, I found myself in the unfortunate situation of being glared at by three different librarians simultaneously. This is a strange occurrence because I'm well known and pretty well liked in my school library.

I'm always wandering around looking for a new book. I've helped to plan Schenectady County's One County, One Book programming with two school librarians. So, it was entirely out of the ordinary to find myself on the receiving end of the librarians' death glares.

I suppose I deserved it though. I was standing in the library jumping up and down, screeching like an 8-year-old girl at a High School Musical concert. Why? I had just received an e-mail saying I could write this blog.

I was thrilled to say the least. I love to write. It's the way I express myself most clearly. I'm unsure of my career goals, they change by the day, but in the back of my head I've always harbored the idea of becoming a journalist. I love the idea of researching, and writing, and teaching others about what I've learned.

I'm a nerd, I'm the first to admit. There are few things I love more than learning and then passing that knowledge on to others. So, I'll be using this page as an opportunity to delve into issues that I otherwise wouldn't have an excuse to explore.

In this election cycle, there's been a lot of discussion of the "power of words." I'll leave the politicians to decide the power of the spoken word. For me, the written word has always held (as clichéd as it sounds) life changing power.

My favorite childhood book was Kathryn Lasky's "She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head". I loved its simple story that a small group of dedicated people changed their corner of the world by banding together and working hard.

My favorite book for the past six years has been Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird". Interestingly, I'm not alone. It's the book cited second, behind The Bible, as "the book that changed my life" in a 1991 Library of Congress poll. But that's not the point. The point is it once again inspired me to take small steps to better my community.

So, I'll be doing that here too. I'll be posting about what's going on in our community and little things we can try to do to make it better. For example, at www.arborday.org/shopping/Memberships/Memberships.cfm, you can join the Arbor Foundation for $10 and get 10 trees. My friend and I are splitting the cost of the membership and getting five trees apiece. It's hard to beat the price, and we can always use more trees in this world.

I enlisted my friends and family to help me name this blog. The results ranged from the whimsical "Lemon Popsicles," to the esoteric "Just Smash it with a Hammer," to the Beatles inspired "You Say You Want a Revolution." But time after time, I was faced with the same question. What are you going to write about? And the honest answer was, and is, I'm not 100 percent sure. I've mentioned that I'll be exploring issues and talking about community activities.

But beyond that? I guess I'm hoping to start conversations. That's what makes a blog great, not the writer, but the comments. I was at a protest in New York City two weeks ago calling for freedom of expression and speech in both Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). Amid 1,500 students screaming "Show me what free speech looks like/This is what free speech looks like." I realized just how lucky we are to have the right to discuss whatever we'd like to. So this blog will be devoted to just that: talking, discussing and exchanging ideas.

That's how the title originated. Obviously, it's a play on my last name. But beyond that, it's the point of this blog. I'll be taking my thoughts and ideas and holding them out for comment. So take advantage of it. Show me what free speech looks like.