{"id":1261,"date":"2023-05-01T09:49:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2023-06-28T11:43:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T15:43:31","slug":"get-to-know-commissioner-george-comeau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/2023\/05\/01\/get-to-know-commissioner-george-comeau\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know Commissioner George Comeau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What is your favorite thing about being a commissioner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love traveling the Commonwealth and seeing the richness of the collections and offerings at public libraries. I once held an original draft of “Stopping By the Woods” by Robert Frost – and it was in the archives at the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts. This was transcendent for me, and something I will never forget. You can walk into almost any public library and experience a world beyond the imagination. Knowing that librarians are at the core of knowledge and helping unlock questions – it is a power that I appreciate the most about these institutions and speaks to the highest of democratic ideals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A photo of the original draft of Stopping by the Woods” that Commissioner Comeau shared. From a note he wrote in 2014: ‘Today I got to behold the original Robert Frost poem, Stopping By Woods. Plus an original manuscript of A Further Range. Interestingly, the person before me that photographed the poem was Annie Leibovitz.’ “<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What do you love about your local library?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love the staff, the patrons, the special collections, and the fact that we have been opening minds for such a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you like to do when you\u2019re not being a commissioner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep bees. I preserve old buildings. I travel. I produce large events and help market Downtown Boston as a destination. I also write historical essays. My favorite activity though is hiking with friends and spending time in the solitude of the woods – just like Robert Frost!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What books have inspired you? *or* What book changed your life? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure… Endurance<\/em> – the story of Shackleton\u2019s voyage. Also, The Prophet<\/em> by Kahlil Gibran is a book that has spoken to me in each stage of my life thus far. Every few years, I will turn to that book for new reflections upon my own life and where I am going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you reading right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ah, the NYT recommended a true crime book called Who Killed Jane Stanford <\/em>and I recently wrote about Leland Stanford and a fabulous racehorse he sold and was stabled in my hometown (Canton, MA). So, the book is on my iPhone courtesy of Libby and it is a real digital page-burner. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Former MBLC Director Robert Maier and Commissioner Comeau present Patience Jackson with a commemorative map of the 177 successful construction projects in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is your favorite thing about being a commissioner? I love traveling the Commonwealth and seeing the richness of the collections and offerings at public libraries. I once held an original draft of “Stopping By the Woods” by Robert Frost – and it was in the archives at the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1290,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}