Rungs From the Chair
Janice Elvidge, CILH Section Chair
Summer 1999

This newsletter comes at an exciting time for all interpreters. It is a new summer season for most of us and the Cultural Interpretation & Living History Section is planning for the upcoming National Interpreters Workshop in October in Syracuse, New York and the section workshop in April in St. Louis, Missouri. All of these activities are what we train for and live for. But, these can also make for stressful times.

Each year in August I get "bored' or "tired" of the everyday grind of doing interpretation. Day in and day out, the same questions over and over. What seemed invigorating in June gets more and more difficult as the days go by. Add on top of that daily effort the work many interpreters are doing to prepare for the pre-workshop sessions and the concurrent sessions for Syracuse and the major plans underway for the section workshop in St. Louis, and those things that are normally enjoyed become difficult at times.

I would like to encourage all of you to remember that we really enjoy what we do and to take some time to regenerate. I find that reading Bill Lewis' book "Interpreting for Park Visitors" to be just the charge I need. His book is a lighthearted way of putting what we do into perspective. I am sure that there are many other resources out there that can be used to recharge an interpreter's battery. Take the time to recharge your batteries and enjoy what you love to do!