In the News: Library Employee Nick Demske featured in the Racine Journal Times

He found his passion by accident, but Racine library’s teen patrons benefit

BY JANINE ANDERSON
Journal Times

Thursday, May 29, 2008 7:12 AM CDT

RACINE- After graduating from Carthage College last spring, Nick Demske went west. He left his home, his girlfriend, his family, and wen to the National Outdoor Leadership School for a semester. He climbed rocks in Colorado, canyoneered and kayaked in Utah and mountaineered in Wyoming.

"I had to give up everything, " he said. "I came back and was suddenly destitute. I had a degree in poetry, I needed a job and had no skills whatsoever. I got a job at the (Racine Public) Library it turned out to be the happiest place on earth."

Now, Demske is registered at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to begin graduate studies in library science in the fall.

"I feel very fortunate that I found this passion by accident," he said. "I was hired for circulation work, but I sort of wriggled my way into programming. That's more where my passion is."

The library feels the same way, said Becky Spika, program and events coordinator for the Library.

"He saw an area that needed to be filled," she said. "We're always looking for staff to become involved in our programming. He came up with some really unique ideas.

"The library wants to use the skills our staff has. We all have something to offer. We want to make use of that."

Spika hopes Demske is here to stay.

"He's a huge asset," she said. "We want to hang onto him."

Since he was hired at the library about a year ago, Demske has turned his love for poetry outward. He created the Poetry Roundtable, which meets the third Thursday of every month at JavaVino, 424 Main St., to discuss contemporary poets.

There's also Poetic Justice, a program for teens that analyzes social justice issues through poetry and gets teens together to share their own writing. That group meets the first Saturday of the month, though it will not meet in June.

It's not all poetry groups, though. Demske is working with Youth Entertainers Supporting staying in School, and that group's talent show, "Rayscene from the Streets."

Working with teenagers in important, Demske said.

"High school-age kids are always (angry)," he said. "I think there's a lot to be (angry) about, but I think people also just dismiss them. 'Oh, you're young. You're just complaining.' That's not really the case."

"There's really good justification about the things they're bringing up and not a lot of occasions to voice them."

Demske has gone into Racine Unified schools to tell students about the youth programs, and he has been impressed with the students he has met.

“The amazing stock of really talented young people we have is overwhelming in Racine,” he said. “If we can just get them together to feed off each other it could have really powerful results.”

He’s also heading up next month’s Write-A-Thon, a fundraiser that will net the library money to expand its poetry section and give a monetary boost to the writers who participate.

Local writers, and several from the Baltic states, have pledged to write, and they have lined up sponsors. Money raised will be split: Half to the library, half to the writer.

More than 20 people have signed up to write, Demske said.

For more information about the Write-A-Thon or poetry programs at the library, go to: http://www.racinelibrary.info

“Rayscene from the Streets” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 7, in the Gateway Technical College Student Lounge, 1001 S. Main St. Racine Unified high school students (those starting 9^th grade in the fall, through 2008 grads) who want to audition can come to the Student Lounge between 9:30 and 11 a.m. that day. Information is also available at most high school main offices.