Our staff are our pride and joy! They keep this place running smoothly; making sure our community has the materials they need while offering original programming and library services for our treasured patrons. We’re excited to share more about the amazing staff who work at Wood Buffalo Regional Library in a new blog feature: Staff Spotlight!
One of our Community staff, the fashion-forward, artistically gifted, and most likely to be voted “fluffiest hair that’s full of secrets”, Michael Thornton, sat down with us for our next staff spotlight interview.
WBRL: What is your role at our library and how long have you been working here?
Michael: I’m a Community Engagement Associate and I’ve been here just under a year. In my role I create and facilitate programs and events for all ages, but with a current focus on the teen demographic.
WBRL: What is your educational or professional background?
Michael: I have a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communications with a specialization in 3D Modeling, I also have experience doing arts programming with Mac Island.
WBRL: Describe a library memory or moment that brought you joy.
Michael: Mine is from this library—I met my best friend Shauna Murray before I started working here. (Readers may know here from the first Staff Spotlight Interview!)
WBRL: Do you have any talents that don’t get a chance to shine at the library?
Michael: I am very good at cat-napping and sarcasm, I feel like the library doesn’t get to see that side of me often enough. But other than that I would say sewing, or 3D modeling and printing.
WBRL: Is there a random subject that you are so knowledgeable about that you could write a whole book on it?
Michael: I devoured everything I could find on medieval female rulers and queer history, so I would have to say those.
WBRL: Oh, those sound like interesting topics, any recommendations off the top of your head?
Michael: Game of Queens: the Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Gristwood is a good read if you wanted to learn more about female rulers in medieval times. For queer history, I read an interesting graphic novel this year, Queer as All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me by Shelby Criswell that introduced figures from queer history through the lens of an artist who grew up in the American South.
WBRL: Is there a book or film that changed your life?
Michael: Not a film, but a recent tv show called Agatha All Along. It had a character called Wiccan and he was a queer superhero. He is originally from a comic series called The Young Avengers which I read as a teen. That was the first time I had seen such a powerful queer character and that stayed with me all these years, so it was wonderful to see it again in a different media format. 
Keep an eye on our blog to read more Staff Spotlight interviews!
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