Trina Evenings

So I hired a friend of mine to transcribe a bunch of the interviews I've conducted from 2006-present regarding my research on Trina Schart Hyman. Some would say I am lazy not doing this myself, however, I have decided I'm smart. Why not delegate your time? My friend can use the money, and I can use that time to draw or write (potentially furthering my career) something no one else can do for me. Win win situation right? Plus it saves me from scrolling through the tapes when I'm looking for a quote.

Here's the interesting part, my friend is now hooked on Trina. She has actually been enjoying the transcribing and she starts to ask me questions about Trina. Friend: "So, was Trina wealthy when she died? Because if she had cancer twice, that's not cheap." Me: "I don't think so. I think she was comfortable enough that she was able to pay for her illness but not able to retire entirely." Friend: "So when you said she was a good correspondent, did you mean by email, letters what?" Me: "Trina was very routine-like, she'd sit down every night and spend like an hour or two writing letters. And they were personal letters too. People treasure them. As for email, she didn't believe in a microwave... I think she may have had a color copier that her partner used, but definitely not a computer." Friend: "Why? Was she opposed to technology?" Me: "No I think she just felt it sucked an element of creativity out of your life. Like she never felt people shouldn't have enough time to boil a cup of tea that they'd need to use the microwave for that. She never wanted to be that type of person. Same kind of thing in her illustration career. She didn't like the way publishing was becoming so commercialized...." and on and on... as we walked down the sidewalk towards Keene State College.

It was lovely. General conversation with my eyes closed on a Princess towel while waiting for her to be done running a summer camp... chronicling as much of Trina's life as I could in summary while explaining the connections of the people for which she was transcribing interviews... and then drifting into the gallery at Keene State.

"So what are these?" Me: " These are color separations; remember how I was talking about what a big deal it was when Trina got her first full-color picture book... can you imagine doing this??"

We talked about Trina for three hours.

We talked about children's books, the history, Holiday House, Trina, Trina, Trina. I love doing just that.